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BiotechUniversity of Virginia Biotechnology Training Program Volume 12, Number 1 Summer 2011

@Biotechnology UVa

BTP Fellows participated in the 2010 United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring, p. 5.

We warmly welcome and congratulate Kaity Allen, Jaymes Beech, Gregory Faust, Stacey Gorski and Tom Men-del on their recent acceptance into the BTP.

Kaity is in new BTP mentor Michèle Sale’s lab in the Center for Public Health Genomics and is a Clemson biology grad (thus with some affinity to fellow Tiger Mike Stadnisky).

Jaymes is in Kim Kelly’s lab in BME. Jaymes is an Ohio native and a grad from the University of Akron in BME.

Gregory holds an undergraduate degree in Computer Science/Math from the University of Michigan and a Masters in Computer Science from MIT. Gregory is in Computer Science working closely with Ira Hall’s lab in Biochemistry.

Stacey is in new BTP mentor Tom Braciale’s lab in Microbiology and is a Biology grad from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Tom is a recent UVa MD grad, now setting out on a PhD in new BTP mentor Paul Yates’ lab in Ophthalmol-ogy/Neuroscience. Tom is a Duke grad with a major in Economics and minors in Chemistry and Biology.

New Fellows, Fall 2010

~ Anthony Awojoodu

What do you get when you mix a patent lawyer, biotechnologists and amazing food??? That’s right! BTP’s new students’ dinner. On September 10th, 2010 students and faculty in the biotechnology training program came together for the annual dinner. The purpose of the dinner was to acquaint the new fellows to the program and hear about the extern-ship experiences from the students who most recently finished their industry externships.

The dinner began with a casual meet and greet session with the 5 new BTP fellows, cur-rent BTP fellows and BTP advisors. Following the meet and greet, two BTP students, Annika Hedin and Joseph Kilroy, both from the Department of Biomedical Engineer-ing, presented work that they completed at their industry externships. Annika worked at ATCC in Manassas, VA on a project to identify cell lines from the ATCC catalog for a prostate cancer panel. “I gained perspective on what a real job in industry entails, which is a perspective I had lacked from being in academia,” said Annika. She also was able to expand contacts for her network and pick up some useful research techniques. Joseph traveled to Eindhoven, The Netherlands and spent the summer working for Phillips. He worked in their Biomolecular Engineering Department and performed in vivo mouse

Welcome Dinner and Seminar, Fall 2010

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Biotech@Biotechnology UVa

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Welcome Dinner, continuedliver experiments as well as evaluated a tunneling phantom model of extravasation with their Therapy Imaging Probe System (TIPS). These students provided two great examples of exciting industrial work that is being done by our own BTP fellows.

The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. Rodney Sparks from the University of Virginia’s patent foundation. Sparks, a trained scientists but practicing lawyer, is a token example of the diversity in career paths that exists for scientist and engineers. Dr. Sparks spoke about biotechnology and pharmaceutical patenting and gave a lot of great advice about how we, as scientists and engi-neers, should treat our ideas and inventions. Tom Mendel, a new BTP fellow, was especially intrigued by Dr. Spark’s talk and gained a lot about protecting intellectual property in the midst of grant submissions.

The annual New Students’ Dinner was a success. Jaymes Beech, a new fellow in Biomedical Engineering, appreciated the time to meet and mingle with other new BTP members as well as the existing members. As the coordinator of the dinner, I enjoyed planning the event and coordinating with the speakers and new members. I am already excited about the dinner this upcoming fall – and not just for the free food!

Dr. Barbara Merk is originally from Germany, and moved to the States when she was 12. Merk went to undergrad at Sweet Briar College, then entered the Molecular Medicine PhD program at UVa. Merk joined Isa Hussaini’s lab, and studied Signal Trans-ducers and Activators of Transcription (STATs) and their role in glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant brain tumor. Merk is loving her position teaching Biology as an adjunct professor at Sweet Briar College. Her main hobby is riding horses, and she currently leases a small farm where she gets to ride horses every day. Dr. Merk expresses her gratitude to Dr. Laurie and BTP for continu-ous support throughout her time at UVA.

Thank You to 2010 Editor

~ E. Kaity Allen

Virtually every human disease and disorder has at least some basis in our genes. Genetics has played a large role in biomedical sci-ences, allowing researchers to successfully identify and determine genetic causes of disease, primarily rare and single gene disorders. While genetics has proved useful for identifying genetic deter-minants of rare disorders, the diseases of highest prevalence are generally more complex, having both genetic and environmental factors contributing to disease. To address these common, com-plex diseases, genome-scale technologies have been developed in order to identify genetic variants influencing disease risk.

The Human Genome Project, the HapMap Project, and the 1000Genomes Project are all examples of large scale genomics projects that aim to help researchers study the roles of genetics in complex diseases. According to the CDC, nine out of the ten leading causes of death in the US in 2007 (heart disease; cancer; stroke (cerebrovascular diseases); chronic lower respiratory disease; Alzheimer’s disease; diabetes; influenza and pneumonia; nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis; and septicemia) have been extensively studied using genomic approaches. With the advances in genomic research, we can now understand genetic contribu-tions of not only single gene disorders, but also complex disorders which affect the majority of the population.

Each year, Science names the top breakthroughs in the field of scientific research. The list for 2011’s scientific breakthroughs included many genomics projects including the building of a synthetic genome, deciphering the Neanderthal genome, and advances in next generation genomic techniques.1 In addition, the importance of genomic research for public health advances has been recognized and highlighted in many other high impact journals as well.

To apply the advances in the genomics field at UVA, Dr. Stephen Rich created the Center for Public Health Genomics (CPHG) in January of 2007. Dr. Rich brought many notable investiga-tors to the CPHG including Dr. Pat Concannon, the Associate director of CPHG, Dr. Michele Sale, the Director of Molecular Genetics, and Dr. Josyf Mychaleckyj, the Director of Genomics/Bioinformatics. Within the Molecular Genetics component of the CPHG, the investigators include Dr. Concannon, Dr. Sale, Dr. Keith Keene, Dr. Suna Onengut, Dr. Sharon Teraoka, and Dr. Charles Farber. Within the Genomics/Bioinformatics component of the CPHG, the investigators include Dr. Mychaleckyj, Dr. Wei-Min Chen, Dr. Aaron Mackey, Dr. Ani Manichaikul, and Dr. Aaron Quinlan.

Editor’s Highlight

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Research in the CPHG includes the genetics of human, mouse and translational medical genetics; mathematical, statistical and computer methods for analyzing genomes; theoretical and evolu-tionary genetics; and genome-wide studies by sequencing, tran-scriptional and translational analysis, polymorphism detection, methylation and the identification of complex network interac-tions. The spectrum of diseases/topics studied by investigators in the CPHG include type I and II diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer, radiation sensitivity, bone development, otitis media, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

In addition to the individual research laboratories, the CPHG has a Genome Services Laboratory which provides services for genom-ics projects including medium- to high-throughput sequencing (e.g., amplicon seq, RNA seq, and genomic seq); low- to high-throughput genotyping; low- and high-throughput expression; high-throughput methylation; and DNA/RNA extractions and quantifications. The investigators in the CPHG collaborate within the center, but also with collaborators throughout and out-side of UVA. The CPHG houses many invaluable investigators who all aim to use genomics to address key issues in public health and disease.

The CPHG provides many opportunities for researchers and students to present and discuss ongoing work in an open forum. The CPHG Research in Progress (RIP) is a biweekly presenta-tion from graduate students, post docs, and faculty of ongoing research that allows for discussion and feedback of their respective projects. The CPHG also hosts speakers from UVA and other

institutions each week for the Genome Sciences seminar. The Genome Sciences seminar allows researchers and students to meet with both local and external investigators within the genomics field. The CPHG-sponsored Genome Sciences Seminar Series has hosted many UVA investigators as well as stellar external speakers, including Eric Green (Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute); Aviv Regev (the Broad Institute of Harvard/MIT), Richard Wilson (Director of The Genome Center at Washington University School of Medicine), Elaine Ostrander (Chief of Cancer Genetics Branch at National Human Genome Research Institute), M. Ilyas Kamboh (Chair of the Department of Human Genetics at University of Pittsburgh), and Jennifer Wortman (Co-Investigator of the informatics core of the Human Microbiome Project).

As a graduate student in the Center for Public Health Genomics, I have access to a number of state-of the-art technologies, including sequencing, genotyping, and cell culture facilities. Also, I have been given extensive opportunities to grow as a researcher and to learn a wide variety of topics in the Genomics field. Presenting RIP to the CPHG members has inspired discussions that have helped my research significantly. Also, attending the Genome Sciences seminars has increased my knowledge about findings of major projects, techniques, theories, and investigators in the field. Also, I have learned the issues and the needs of the field. Being able to meet with investigators in the CPHG to discuss challenges in my research and their research have been invaluable to my dis-sertation project and to my education.1. The Runners-Up. Science 330, 1605-1607 (2010).

Editor’s Highlight, continued

~ Perry Kennedy

On May 26, 2010, UVA BTP students and Director of BTP, Dr. Gordon Laurie, visited American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) in Manassas, VA for their annual company visit. ATCC is a private, nonprofit organization that caters to the research needs of domestic and international customers in both industry and academia. World-renowned for its repository of cell lines, ATCC houses much more than a staggering inventory. In addition to samples of mammalian cells, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and toxins, ATCC provides nucleic acids, reagents, tools for molecular biology, and research kits.

BTP members were met by Drs. Yvonne Reid, Robert Baker, and Frank Simione, who gave presentations on the operations and future directions of the company. Presentations by the lead scientists included the types of genotypic and phenotypic assays used to evaluate and authenticate the specimens that ATCC receives, as well as efforts to engage in offering more customized services to research clients. During the tour, BTP members were able to view laboratory sections of the 126,000 sq. ft. facility containing research equipment that ranged from manual operation to automated robotics. Overall, the visit was both enjoyable and educational – permitting a glimpse into the skill set needed as a scientist in a company, while highlighting the resources that ATCC offers for research support.

Many thanks go to Ms. Bobbe Nixon at UVA and Ms. Dionne Dyches at ATCC for helping to establish and coordinate this event. We are also grateful for Drs. Reid, Baker, and Simione at ATCC who donated their valuable time for our instruction.

Company Tour - ATCC

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The Biotechnology Training Program hosted an Internships and Careers Q&A panel on November 19, 2010. The panel was very suc-cessful, filling up the library with graduate students, post-docs, and faculty. The panel included the following industrial leaders:

Dr. Martin ChapmanPresident of Indoor BiotechnologiesDr. Chapman received his PhD in Immunology from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London, after which he completed fellowships in London and also at UCLA. He has been a faculty member at UVA since 1985, and serves on the editorial boards of numerous allergy and immunology journals. His research focuses on the molecular structure and detection of indoor allergens. Dr. Chapman founded Indoor Biotechnologies in 1995, a company who’s stated goal is to improve the lives of patents with allergies and asthma, with product lines that offer detailed allergen analysis and detection services. The company has a branch here in Charlottes-ville, and distributors around the world. Dr. Mike DanilichDirector of Biomedical Technologies, from Luna InnovationsDr. Danilich was trained at Case Western University, and now heads up the Biomedical Technologies division of Luna Innovations. Luna Innovations develops a broad array of products in a number of markets, including (but certainly not limited to) Nanomedical materials and a host of defense technology products, including sensors, bioengineered materials and biocoating, as well as communica-tions, and secure computing. The Luna Innovations, based in Roanoke, has won numerous national awards for exemplifying a small business innovation platform. Dr. Robert McKnownProfessor of Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University and VP of Biomanufacturing of EyeRx ResearchDr. McKown was trained in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at the University of California Irvine and Molecular Genetics at the University of California San Francisco. Dr. McKown serves on a number of business and educational boards that include the Virginia Biotechnology Association, the Chesapeake Bioscience Education Foundation and the Biotechnology Training Program at the Univer-sity of Virginia. EyeRx develops products that aid in vision and prevent blindness, including ocular clot prevention pharmaceuticals, improved LASEK procedures, and glaucoma intra-ocular pressure sensors. Dr. Jay ReubenChief Scientific Officer in Microbiology, Research, and Development Becton Dickinson DiagnosticsDr. Reuben was trained at Johns Hopkins in Infectious Disease and International Health. Dr. Reuben works closely with leaders in within Infectious Disease to develop new diagnostic technologies. Among his projects are bacterial identification and resistance diag-nostics, as well as health care associated infections. Founded in 1897, Becton Dickinson is now an industry leader as a global medical technology company with over 40 locations around the world, enhancing diagnostics of infectious disease, as well as improving cancer treatment, and drug delivery. Dr. Carl WhatlingAssociate Principal Scientist and Team Leader AstraZeneca PharmaceuticalsDr. Whatling was trained in biological sciences at the University of Birmingham and is now an associate principal scientist at AstraZen-eca. AstraZeneca is a global biopharmaceutical company based out of Sweden. Their product line includes therapeutics in the areas of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, infection, neuroscience, oncology, and respiratory medicine. AstraZeneca’s contributions are leading therapeutic choices in the clinic, with some of their most recognized products including Crestor and Nexium. Currently, AstraZeneca is collaborating with UVAs Cardiovascular Research Center, and Dr. Whatling is spending some time here at UVA during that collabo-ration.

Industry Panel: Internships and Careers

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~ Stacy Gorski

The Charlottesville Day of Caring (DoC), put on by the Thomas Jefferson Area United Way, just completed its 18th successful year. For the past three years the Biotechnology Training Program has participated in the DoC as its yearly act of community service. The site of this year’s project was the Church of the Incarnation on 29N, right behind Toys’R’Us. The church is one of three Catholic churches in the Charlottesville/Albermarle area and in addition to regular worship services, also hosts a variety of com-munity organizations. In order to make the church more welcom-ing to all the people and organizations that use it, the church staff asked that we do some general, but widespread landscaping. Thus all morning BTP members weeded flowerbeds, cleaned up the playground and spread mulch almost everywhere. At the end of all the hard work, the church treated everyone to pizza and soda for lunch, as an extra token of their appreciation.

United Way Day of Caring

♦BTP Day of Caring Team 2010: Back row: Ernie Perez, Kaity Allen, Perry Ken-nedy, Mike Stadnisky, Tom Mendel, Joe Kilroy, and Jaymes Beech. Bottom row: Stacey Gorski, Jason Yang, Annika Hedin, Aaron Bailey, and Kyudam Oh.

Paul Bonthuis “Acquisition of Sexual Receptivity: Roles of Chromatin Acetylation, Estrogen Receptor, and Ovarian Hormones”

Joe Kilroy “Localized Ex-Vivo Microbubble-based Drug Delivery with IVUS”

Sarah Johnson “Synchronization of Action Potentials in Vitro”

Jaymes Beech “Using Biomarkers to Enhance Cancer Therapies”

Mike Stadnisky “NicVax: Immunotherapy for Treatment of Tobacco Dependence”

Perry Kennedy “Evaluating the Properties and Utility of a Novel Spingosine 1-Phosphate Receptor Antagonist”

Barbara Merk “STAT6 Promotes Proliferation and Invasion of Glioblastoma In Vitro”

Tony Awojoodu “Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Recruitment Enhances Local S1P Receptor-Initiated Vascular Remodeling”

Greg Faust “A DNA Alignment Tool for Structural Variation Detection”

Stacey Gorski “The Role of Innate Immune Cells in Pulmonary Repair Following Influenza Infection”

Jason Yang “Regulation of Nuclear PKA Activity and cAMP Compartmentation in 293 Cells”

Kaity Allen “Genetic Determinants of Chronic Otitis Media”

Annika Hedin “Neutrophil spontaneous death is mediated by down-regulation of autocrine signaling through GPCR, P13K

gamma, ROS, and actin”

Aaron Bailey “Toward comprehensive unbiased analysis of histone combinatorial PTMs in Human Centromeric Chromatin”

Kyudam Oh “Droplet-Based Microfluidics and Microwave Assistant PCR”

Tom Mendel “Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy with Adipose- Derived Stem Cells”

Ernie Perez “Side-by-Side Comparison of Protein Adsorption and Transport In Macroporous Cation Exchangers with and without

Polymeric Surface Extenders”

BTP Journal Club: 2010-2011

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~ Mike Stadnisky

May 5-6, 2011 Alumni Hall This year’s Biotechnology Training Program Symposium - Pio-neering technologies in bioscience and bioengineering: from mol-ecules to man - highlighted the roles of biotechnology in solving contemporary challenges from molecular to human scales. In a new format for the symposium, two speakers who have devel-oped exciting technology at a particular scale were invited for each session. In our first session focusing on the molecule scale, Eric Betzig of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm took us beyond the diffraction limit of light with PALM (photoactivated localization microscopy). This was followed by a fierce game of Tic-tac-toe versus nucleic acids, as Milan Stojanovic of Columbia shared his recent work in DNA computing. Stepping up a scale, the “Technologies for Cells” session showed what could be learned from their destruction in a 5500K (5226.85 degrees C) plasma and their synthesis “from scratch,” as Garry Nolan of Stanford shared his analysis immune cells via mass cytometry Michael Montague of the Venter Institute described how the genome of the synthetic cell was assembled. We came together on day 2 of the symposium like many indi-vidual cells assembling an organ, the focus of third session. Frank Costantini of Columbia used his toolbox of transgenic, chimeric, knock-in and knock-out mice to show us the signaling network of epithelial branching morphogenesis while Chris Contag of Stanford shared his recent work with in vivo diagnostic imaging of cancer using bioluminescence. Finally, Libby Higgs of NIH-NIAID led us to the population scale with her discussion of challenges in global health and building research capacity in developing countries. Students were given the chance to showcase their research with a competitive poster session judged by the speakers. The Symposium was co-chaired by Jason Papin and Jason Yang leading a committee of BTP Trainees Tony Awojoodu, Stacey Gorski, and Paul Bonthuis. Special thanks are due to Mary Hall for her help with hosting and logistics.

BTP 2011 Symposium: Pioneering technologies in bioscience and bioengineering: from molecules to man

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BTP Fellows and Symposium committee members, Anthony Awojoodu and Stacy Gorski.

Above: Symposium co-chairs, Jason Yang (BTP fellow) and Jason Papin. Right: Thomas Skalak, UVa Vice President for Research.

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Above (clockwise from top left): BTP Director Gordon Laurie and participant; BTP fellow Joe Kilroy and participant; BTP fellow Stacy Gorski and Frank Costantini; BTP mentor Kevin Lynch and participant; poster awardees (l-r) Cyn-thia Huang, Jaymes Beech (BTP fellow), and Daniel Bowers; participants; BTP fellows Ernie Perez Almodovar and Sarah Johnson; Speaker Michael Montague, BTP fellow Michael Stadniski, and speaker Garry Nolan.Right (top to bottom): Speakers Frank Costantini, Eric Betzig, Milan Stojanovic, Chris Contag, Garry Nolan, and Elizabeth Higgs.


Michael Stadnisky successfully defended his PhD in micro-biology at the University of Virginia in December. His work has examined how genetic variation in the most rapidly changing region of the genome directs both the innate and adaptive immune response to virus infection. Over the past year, he presented his work at the NK2010 interna-tional meeting in Croatia and was awarded the University of Virginia Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Sciences & Engineering and the Raven Scholarship for the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In addition, as an intern with Nabi Biopharmaceuticals this summer he developed technology contributing to their nicotine vaccine, which is currently in clinical trials. He celebrated his graduation this fall by running three ultrama-rathons – the Great Eastern Endurance Run 50K, Potomac Heritage Trail 50K, and Stone Mill 50 mile run. Mike plans to continue his research as a postdoctoral fellow at UVa over the next year, where he will be examining genetic influence on immune memory.

Barbara Merk successfully defended her dissertation in April 2011. Her work involved studying the role of tran-scription factor STAT6 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 6) in glioblastoma (GBM). It turned out that STAT6 positively regulates cell proliferation and invasiveness in GBM in vitro and its expression levels inversely correlate with patient survival based on a REMBRANDT data analy-sis. Merk is currently working as an adjunct professor of Biology at Sweet Briar College which is also her alma mater.

Perry Kennedy successfully defended this dissertation on July 15, 2011 and graduated with a Ph.D. in Pharmacol-ogy from UVA in August 2011. Kennedy’s dissertation was entitled Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Character-ization of a Sphingosine 1-phosphate Receptor Antagonist Prodrug.

Rob Deitcher successfully defended his dissertation in Au-gust 2010 from Chemical Engineering. Deitcher’s thesis was titled “Application of a Stoichiometric Water Displacement Model and Property-Retention Relationships to Adsorp-tion and Unfolding of Proteins in Hydrophobic Interac-tion Chromatography.” Deitcher is currently a Biopharm

Where Are They Now? BTP Graduates

Special Announcement: BTP fellow Sarah Johnson and her family were blessed a new member of their family. Isaac Mark Johnson was born at 9:19 pm on Dec 3rd. Isaac weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was 20 in long. He is welcomed by BTP and Elsie Johnson who is excited to finally be a big sister! Congratulations Sarah!!

Youngest BTPer

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Engineering Associate at GlaxoSmithKline, and participates in GSK’s Technical Development Program, meaning that he will rotate to various departments for his first 3 years, functions and locations. Deitcher’s first rotation was in Biopharm drug substance manufacturing, and he supported the transfer and scale-up of a 5,000 L recombinant protein cell culture process to produce the bulk antigen that is used in making Dendreon’s prostate cancer therapy Provenge. Deitcher is now in his second rotation, within the Biophar-maceutical Technologies group in R&D, developing a tech-nology to improve lyophilization of therapeutic proteins and expect to co-author a patent for this project. So far Deitcher has been based near Philadelphia, but will spend 2012 at a GSK Biopharm drug product manufacturing site in Barnard Castle, UK.

Rebekah Neal successfully defended her dissertation August 4, 2010 from Biomedical Engineering. Neal’s disserta-tion work was completed in Ed Botchwey ‘s lab, entitled, “Laminin-based Nanomaterials for Peripheral Nerve Tissue Engineering.” Neal is currently a post-doc at MIT in the Harvard-MIT Department of Health Sciences and Technol-ogy in the Langer lab. Neal also does work at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.

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Publications

Invited Scientific Presentations

M.D. Stadnisky, X. Xie, E.R. Coats, T. N. Bullock and M.G. Brown. MHC Class I regulated virus immunity: Licensed NK cells enhance CD8 T cell viral immunity. Blood. 2011 Mar 23. (Epub ahead of print).

X. Xie*, M.D. Stadnisky*, E.R. Coats, A. Lundgren, M.M.A. Rahim, W. Xu, A.P. Makrigiannis and M.G. Brown. MHC class I Dk expression in hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells confers natural killer cell resistance to murine cytomegalovirus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2010, 107:8754-9. (*shared first authorship)

Perez-Almodovar, E. X., Tao, Y., Carta, G., “Protein Adsorption and Transport in Cation Exchangers with a Rigid Backbone Matrix With and With-out Polymeric Surface Extenders”, Biotechnol. Prog. (2011)

Carta, G., Perez-Almodovar, E.X., “Productivity Considerations and Design Charts for Biomolecule Capture with Periodic Countercurrent Adsorp-tion Systems”, Sep. Sci. Technol., 45, 149 (2010)

Merk, B.C., Owens, J.L., Lopes M.B., Silva, C.M., Hussaini, I.M. STAT6 expression in glioblastoma promotes invasive growth. BMC Cancer. 2011 11(1): 184.

Benedict KF, Mac Gabhann F*, Amanfu RK*, Chavali AK*, Gianchandani EP*, Glaw LS*, Oberhardt MA*, Thorne BC*, Yang JH*, Papin JA, Peirce SM, Saucerman JJ, Skalak TC. Systems analysis of bounded signaling modules generates experimental roadmap for eight major diseases. Ann Biomed Eng. 2011; 39(2):621-35

Sample V*, DiPilato LM*, Yang JH*, Ni Q, Saucerman JJ, Zhang J. Regulation of nuclear PKA revealed by spatiotemporal manipulation of cAMP. Nat Chem Biol. Accepted.

Yang JH, Saucerman JJ. Phospholemman is a negative feed-forward regulator of Ca2+ in β-adrenergic signaling, accelerating β-adrenergic inotropy. J Mol Cell Cardiol. Accepted.

Yang JH, Saucerman JJ. Computational models reduce complexity and accelerate insight into cardiac signaling networks. Circ Res. 2011; 108(01):85-97.

Bonthuis PJ, Patteson JK, Risman EF (2011) Acquisition of sexual receptivity in female mice: roles of chromatin acetylation, ERβ, and ovarian hormones. Endocrinology. In Press.

Bonthuis PJ, Cox KH, Searcy BT, Kumar P, Tobet S, Rissman EF (2010) Of mice and rats: key species variations in the sexual differentiation of brain and behavior. Front Neuroendocrinol. 31(3):341-58.

Park JH, Bonthuis PJ, Tsai HW, Bekiranov S, Rissman EF (2010) Amyloid beta precursor protein regulates male sexual behavior. J Neurosci. 30(30):9967-72.

Sefcik LS, Petrie Aronin CS, Awojoodu AO et al. “Selective Activation of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors 1 and 3 Promotes Local Microvascular Network Growth.” Tissue Engineering Part A.

Wei-Min Chen, E. Kaitlynn Allen, Josyf C. Mychaleckyj, Fang Chen, Xuanlin Hou, Stephen S. Rich, Kathleen A. Daly, Michèle M. Sale. (2011) Significant linkage at chromosome 19q for otitis media with effusion and/or recurrent otitis media (COME/ROM). BMC Medical Genetics 12:124

M.D. Stadnisky, X. Xie, E.R. Coats, T. N. Bullock and M.G. Brown. Self MHC Class I Licensed NK Cells Enhance Adaptive CD8 T cell Viral Im-munity. Immunology 2011: 98th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists. San Francisco, CA. May 2011.

Perez-Almodovar, E. X. Preparative and Process Chromatography International Symposium Technical presentation 2010

Yang JH, Saucerman JJ. Spatial Compartmentation of PKA Activity Regulates Contractility and Hypertrophy in Cardiac Myocytes. 2010 Robert J. Huskey Graduate Research Exhibition. 2010.

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Poster Presentations

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Invited Scientific Presentations, continuedAwojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Botchwey EA, et al. “Investigating progenitor cell recruitment in local vascular remodeling via S1P receptors,” Biotechnol-ogy Training Program Graduate Research Symposium, University of Virginia, April 2010, Charlottesville, VA

Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Lynch KR, et al. “Local pharmacological control of the sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor signaling for tissue engineering,” Ghana Biomedical Convention, University of Ghana, August 2010, East Legon, Accra Ghana

Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Wamhoff BR, et al. “Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Recruitment Enhances Local S1P Receptor-Initiated Vascular Remodel-ing,” BMES National Meeting, Biomedical Engineering Society, October 2010, Austin, TX

Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Botchwey EA, et al. “Bone marrow-derived cells contribute to locally-induced vascular remodeling via the S1P3 receptor,” Graduate Research Symposium, University of Virginia, September 2010, Charlottesville, VA

E. Kaity Allen, Michèle M. Sale, et al. “Evaluation of the X Chromosome for Association with Chronic and Recurrent Otitis Media,” 10th Interna-tional Symposium on the Recent Advances in Otitis Media- June 2011

M.D. Stadnisky, X. Xie, E.R. Coats, T. N. Bullock and M.G. Brown. Self MHC Class I Licensed NK Cells Enhance Adaptive CD8 T cell Viral Im-munity. Poster presentation at 11th Annual Meeting of the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Washington, D.C. Pending June 2011.

M.G. Brown, X. Xie and M.D. Stadnisky. MHC class I polymorphism defines NK cell-mediated resistance to murine cytomegalovirus. NK 2010: 12th Meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity. Dubrovnik, Croatia. September 2010.

M.D. Stadnisky, T.N. Bullock, and M.G. Brown. NK cell-mediated resistance to murine CMV defined by MHC polymorphism determines the es-tablishment of virus-specific CD8+ T cell immunity. Poster presentation at NK2010: 12th Meeting of the Society for Natural Immunity. Dubrovnik, Croatia. September 2010.

Yang JH, Saucerman JJ. Nuclear PKA Compartmentation Manages Hypertrophic Responses to β-Adrenergic Signaling. Poster presentation at AHA Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2011 Scientific Sessions. 2011.

Yang JH, Saucerman JJ. Modeling Therapeutic Options for Manipulating Nuclear PKA Compartmentation in Heart Disease. Poster presentation at University of Virginia Biotechnology Training Program Symposium 2011.

Jaymes Beech, Gianmarco Contino, Nabeel Bardeesy, and Kimberly Kelly. Elucidating Biomarkers of Ras Dependency in Pancreatic Cancer. Poster presentation at University of Virginia Biotechnology Training Program Symposium 2011.

Paul J. Bonthuis, Kimberly H. Cox, James K. Patteson, Michelle J. Edwards, Stefan Bekiranov, and Emilie F. Rissman. Escape from X-inativation: Putting the Xi back into sex? July 21, 2010. Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Paul J. Bonthuis, Kimberly H. Cox, James K. Patteson, Stefan Bekiranov, and Emilie F. Rissman. Female Dose of X-Genes “increases” male sex be-havior: Escape from X-inactivation? March 13-19, 2010. Genes & Behavior Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, CA.

Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Botchwey EA, et al. “Bone marrow-derived cells contribute to therapeutically-induced vascular remodeling via the S1P3 receptor,” Hilton Head Conference for Regenerative Medicine, Georgia Tech, March 2010, Hilton Head, SC

Bowers DT, Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, et al. “Bone marrow-derived cells contribute to therapeutically-induced vascular remodeling via the S1P3 receptor,” Biomedical Engineering Society Graduate Symposium, May 2010, Charlottesville, VA

Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Wamhoff BR, et al. “Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Recruitment Enhances Local S1P Receptor-Initiated Vascular Remodel-ing,” BMES National Meeting, Biomedical Engineering Society, October 2010, Austin, TX


This edition of the Biotech newsletter was edited by BTP Fellow, E. Kaity Allen.

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Awojoodu AO, Sefcik LS, Botchwey EA, et al. “S1P-Induced Vascular Remodeling by BMC Recruitment,” National Meeting, Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine International Society, December 2010, Orlando, FL (TERMIS Student and Young Investigator Section Poster Presentation Finalist)

Awojoodu AO, Lynch KR, Botchwey EA “S1P3 Contributes to Mobilization and Recruitment of Endogenous Stem and Progenitor Cells for Tissue Engineering and Cell Based Therapies,” National Meeting, Hilton Head Conference for Regenerative Medicine, March 2011, Hilton Head, SC

Awojoodu AO, Das A, Martin K, Lynch KR, Botchwey EA “Manipulation of endogenous stem cells by in situ stem and progenitor cell recruitment” University of Virginia Annual Huskey Research Exhibition, March 2011, Charlottesville, VA (Huskey Graduate Research Poster Competition 2nd Place Awardee)

Awojoodu AO, Das A, Martin K, Lynch KR, Botchwey EA “Manipulation of endogenous stem cells by in situ stem and progenitor cell recruitment” UVa Biotechnology Training Program Bi-annual Research Symposium, May 2011, Charlottesville, VA

Gregory Faust and Ira A. Hall. A DNA Alignment Tool for Structural Variation Detection. UVA BioTechnology Symposium. May 2011.

Amos PJ, Mulvey CL, Seaman SA, Walpole J, Degen KE, Shang H, Katz AJ, Peirce-Cottler SM. (2011) Hypoxic Culture and In Vivo Inflammatory Environments Affect the Assumption of Pericyte Characteristics by Human Adipose and Bone Marrow Progenitor Cells. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2011 Aug 24.

Billaud M, Ross JA, Greyson MA, Bruce AC, Seaman SA, Heberlein KR, Han J, Best AK, Peirce SM, Isakson BE. (2011) A new method for in vivo visualization of vessel remodeling using a near-infrared dye. Microcirculation. Apr;18(3):163-71.

E. Kaity Allen, Michèle M. Sale, et al. “Replication analysis of GWAS loci for susceptibility to chronic otitis media with effusion,” Jackson Lab’s 51st Short course on Experimental and Medical Mammalians Genetics- June 2010

E. Kaity Allen, Wei-Min Chen, et al. “Significant linkage identified at chromosome 19q for chronic otitis media with effusion and/or recurrent otitis media (COME/ROM),” 10th International Symposium on the Recent Advances in Otitis Media- June 2011 (4th place in the poster competition)

Poster Presentations, continued

M.D. Stadnisky: American Association of Immunologists Trainee Abstract Award (2009, 2011), Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Trainee Abstract Award (2011), University of Virginia Award for Excellence in Scholarship in the Sciences & Engineering (2010), Raven Scholarship for the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (2010), Nominated for Robert R. Wagner Prize for Outstanding Research in Microbi-ology (2010)

Yang JH: Mary and Otis Updike Professional Development Award in Biomedical Engineering ($500; 2011), All-University Graduate Teaching Assistant Award ($250; 2011), 3rd Place, 2010 Robert J. Huskey Graduate Research Exhibition ($100; 2010) , University of Virginia, Teaching Pedagogy Seminar, Teaching Resource Center ($300; 2010)

Perez-Almodovar, E. X.: University of Puerto Rico Engineering Fellowship 2010, 4th Place University of Virginia Engineering Research Symposium 2010

Paul J. Bonthuis: Travel award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology annual meeting, Toronto, Canada, 2010.

Awojoodu AO: National Science Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, NSBE Board of Corporate Affili-ates Academic Scholarship – March, 2011

Tom Mendel: Second year of funding for his project from UVA’s LaunchPad Foundation, a diabetes research group

Awards and Funding

university of virginia biotechnology training …faculty.virginia.edu/biotech/pdfs/summer...

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