RESEARCH FELLOW NEWS AND EVENTS August 2010

An update on what is happening with our predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows

New people:

Welcome to Katie Motyl, who joined the Rosen laboratory in May 2010. She received her Ph.D. in Physiology from Michigan State University. She will be examining the metabolic and bone abnormalities induced by second- generation antipsychotic drugs.

Upcoming events: A library informational program for fellows and post-docs is scheduled for Thursday, September 2nd from 12-1pm in Dana classroom 10. Following the short library program, there will be time to find out what your post-doctoral colleagues are working on. Have some great leads? An interesting topic? Helpful research tools? Bring them – you might win a prize! Bring your lunch – dessert will be provided. For more information contact the library at 662-2202 or library@mmc.org. The GSBS annual meeting will be held at UMaine Orono on September 10-11. This year’s Keynote Speaker is Dr. Stephen M. Schwartz, from the University of Washington. All GSBS students will also be presenting their research as well! New publications: Masa Kawai (Rosen lab):

Kawai M, Rosen CJ. The IGF-1 regulatory system and its impact on skeletal and energy homeostasis. J Cell Biochem 2010 May (Epub ahead of print). Kawai M, Green CB, Lecka-Zzernik B, Douris N, Gilbert MR, Kojima S, Ackert-Bickness C, Garg N, Horowitz MC, Adamo ML, Clemmons DR, Rosen CJ. A circadian-regulated gene, Nocturnin, promotes adipogenesis by stimulating PPAR-gamma nuclear translocation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2010 May (Epub ahead of print). Kawai M, Rosen CJ. Minireview: A skeleton in serotonin’s closet? Endocrinology 2010 July (Epub ahead of print). Kawai M, Delany AM, Green CB, Adamo ML, Rosen CJ. Nocturnin suppresses Igf1 expression in bone by targeting the 3’ untranslated region of Igf1 mRNA. Endocrinology, 2010 August (Epub ahead of print).

Katie Motyl (Rosen lab):

Rosen CJ, Motyl KJ. No bones about it: insulin modulates skeletal remodeling. Cell 2010, 142:198-200.

Xuehui Yang (Friesel lab):

Yang X, Kilgallen S, Andreeva V, Spicer DB, Pinz I, Friesel R. Conditional expression of Spry1 in neural crest causes craniofacial and cardiac defects. BMC Dev Biol 2010, 10:48.

Yuefeng Tang (Liaw lab): Tang Y, Harrington A, Yang X, Friesel RE, Liaw L. The contribution of the Tie2+ lineage to primitive

and definitive hematopoietic cells. Genesis 2010, in press. Sarah Peterson (Liaw lab): Peterson S, Iskenderian A, Cook L, Romashko A, Tobin K, Jones M, Norton A, Gomaz-Yafal A,

Heartlein MW, Concino MF, Liaw L, Martini PGV. Human sulfatase 2 inhibits in vivo tumor growth of MDA-MB-231 in human breast cancer xenografts. BMC Cancer 2010, in press.

DJ McCrann (Wojchowski lab) published another paper from his graduate work:

McCrann DJ and Ravid K. Survivn localization during endomitosis of high ploidy mouse megakaryocytes. Blood 2010, in press.

Meetings and presentations:

Two research fellows received a travel award to attend the NIH, NCRR Third Biennial national IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence, held from June 16-18 in Bethesda, MD: Xiang-Hua Han (Yoon lab) received a Young Investigator Travel Award to present her work, entitled: Wnt signaling activator R-spondin plays positive regulatory roles during skeletal myogenic differentiation (Poster Presentation) Megan Dionne (Pinz lab) received a Student Travel Award to present her research, “Regulation of the Insulin Receptor Cascade by Caveolin-3 in Cardiomyocytes”. Megan Dionne, Cathy Knowles, and Ilka Pinz. Patrizia Stohn and Anne Cuttler (Lindner lab) both gave oral presentations at the 15th World Congress on Heart Disease in Vancouver, Canada (International Academy of Cardiology):

• “Cthrc1 – A novel cardiotropic hormone” (http://www.cardiologyonline.com/wchd10/Abstracts/PL02/1247%20Stohn.doc) J. Patrizia Stohn

• “Vascular remodeling in transgenic mice with Cre recombinase under the control of the PDGFRB

promoter” (http://www.cardiologyonline.com/wchd10/Abstracts/S25_S26_PL06/1244%20Cuttler.doc)Anne S. Cuttler

Grant Awards: Joshua Boucher (Liaw lab) received a predoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association for his project, “Differential Roles For Jagged1 and Delta like-1 in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells”. This is a two-year award. Aaron Brown (Oxburgh lab) was awarded a two-year postdoctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association for his project, “Self-Renewal and Differentiation Programs in Nephron Progenitors”. Sumithra Urs (Liaw lab) was awarded a Mentored Research Committee grant entitled, ““Does Sprouty1 Expression in Adipose Tissue Provide Protection Against High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity?”. DJ McCrann (Wojchowski lab) had his NIH postdoctoral fellowship activated in July 2010. The project is, “TSAD as an EPOR/JAK2 adaptor and erythropoietic regulator”.

CONGRATULATIONS! Thanks to our mentors and Research Administration for their support!

Please contact Lucy Liaw if you are planning a fellowship application and would like to participate in a grant writing group.

Thesis Defense: Yuefeng Tang (Liaw lab) successfully defended his thesis on June 20, 2010. The title of his thesis is, “The role of Notch and TGFβ in smooth muscle cell differentiation”. He is currently finishing up his research at MMCRI and seeking a postdoctoral fellowship position.

On July 22, Jennifer Rochira (Verdi lab) successfully defended her thesis, "Neurotrophin Receptor-Interacting Melanoma-Associated Antigen Protein in Bone Morphogenetic Protein-Mediated Apoptosis." She started a postdoctoral fellowship at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University Cardiovascular Research Center (CVRC) in Providence. She has two mentors, Dr. Dmitriy Terentyev and Dr. Gideon Koren, the Director of CVRC. Jen is settling in well, and holds fond memories of MMCRI.

GSBS student update: Three 2nd year GSBS students have committed to perform their thesis research in MMCRI laboratories. Casey Doucette has joined the Rosen laboratory, Jacqueline Ames has joined the Brooks laboratory, and Beau Rostama has joined the Liaw laboratory. We also welcome 1st year GSBS student, Deepthi Muthukrishnan, who is performing a rotation in the Oxburgh laboratory.