LMP News, September 24
Tsai receives NIH-NICHD research contracts
NIH’s NICHD has awarded Mike Tsai a 2-year $2.45 million contract for “Measurement of biospecimens in the FAZST-IDEAL Studies,” which are designed to determine if an intervention comprising folic acid and zinc dietary supplementation improves semen quality and fertility outcomes among couples seeking assisted reproduction. NICHD also has awarded Tsai a $434,000 contract for the pregnancy eating attributes study (PEAS) for microbiome studies and analysis of serum biomarkers to explore the differences in lipid and glucose homeostasis and lipid/fat metabolism.
Schwertfeger awarded NIH funding to study macrophages in mammary gland development
NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has awarded Kaylee Schwertfeger a 5-year $1.92 million R01 grant to study “Regulation of tissue resident macrophages during mammary gland development.”
Leadership change in Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory
Sophia Yohe has been named the Medical Director of the Molecular Diagnostics laboratory. In this role, Yohe will provide oversight for the clinical operations of the lab. Thank you to our previous medical director, Bharat Thyagarajan, for his years of outstanding leadership.
Murugan is guest lecturer
Paari Murugan presented a guest lecture and slide seminar on "Approach to diagnosis of soft tissue tumors" to pathology residents at McGill University, Montreal, August 13.
LMP adds facilities and research support
Caroline Hallstrom starts today as a research professional in LMP. In her role, Caroline will take over responsibilities for LMP facilities. She will keep our space inventory up to date, help with space requests and new laboratory set ups. Additionally, she will provide as needed research lab support. Caroline has several years of experience working in laboratories at the University, joining us from Martin Felice’s lab in the Cancer Center. Caroline is located in 760 Mayo and her phone number is 612-625-0441. Hallstrom will report to Nicole Hilmoe.
43rd E. T. Bell Pathology Symposium slated for Oct. 26
The 43rd E. T. Bell Pathology Symposium will be held Oct. 26 at the McNamara Alumni Center. This year’s theme is Dermatopathology and Pathology of Superficial Soft Tissue Lesions (pdf). The symposium is jointly sponsored bythe E. T. Bell Institute of Pathology, LMP, and Innovative Continuing Education, LLC.
ALRT asks for early notice of grant applications
If you’re planning to submit a grant proposal, please let Carol El-Ghandour know well in advance whenever possible (for example, 2 months ahead of the deadline for a federal grant). This will ensure a great spot in the grant queue. Carol can be contacted at elgha001@umn.edu or 612-625-8468.
Pankratz moves to Mayo Building
Nathan Pankratz and his team recently moved their offices from the first floor of Moos Tower to the seventh floor of Mayo where they actually have windows. The remodeled space includes a conference room and room to expand the department’s evolving division of computational pathology.
Kurata hits employment milestone
Jean Kurata has hit the 45-year milestone as a University employee. After earning a B.S. degree from the University in elementary education and working at the Hormel Institute, in 1973 she took a job in the College of Education’s Student Affairs Office, providing staff support. Then she was an assistant in the College’s Office of the Dean for nine years. She joined LMP in 1993 as assistant to LMP head Leo Furcht. Congratulations Jean!
Hoffman joins GWG public relations committee
Bill Hoffman has joined a newly formed public relations committee of the Genome Writers Guild (GWG). GWG is devoted to advancing the new field of genome editing throughout the life sciences. Bill previously served on the public education committee of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR).
Faculty publish
Amin K, El-Rayess D, Snover D, Mettler T, Vogel RI, Khalifa MA. Patterns of Immunohistochemistry Utilization in Metastases to the Liver. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2018 Sep 5. [Epub ahead of print].
Alanee, S, Alvarado-Cabrero, I, Murugan, P, Kumar, R, Nepple, KG, Paner, GP, Patel, MI, Raspollini, MR, Lopez-Beltran, A & Konety, Update of the International Consultation on Urological Diseases on bladder cancer 2018: Non-urothelial cancers of the urinary bladder. World Journal of Urology. 2018 Aug 1. DOI: 10.1007/s00345-018-2421-5
Glumac PM, Forster CL, Zhou H, Murugan P, Gupta S, LeBeau AM. The Identification of a Novel Antibody for CD133 Using Human Antibody Phage Display. Prostate. 2018 Sep;78(13):981-991.
Ganaie A, Beigh FH, Astone M, Ferrari MG, Maqbool R, Umbreen S, Parray AS, Siddique HR, Hussain T, Murugan P, Morrissey C, Koochekpour S, Deng Y, Konety BR , Hoeppner LH, Saleem MB. BMI1 drives metastasis of prostate cancer in Caucasian and African-American men and is a potential therapeutic target: hypothesis tested in race-specific models. Clin Cancer Res. 2018 Aug 7. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1394
Bellamri M, Weight CJ, Murugan P, Turesky RJ. Metabolic activation of the cooked meat carcinogen 2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo[4,5-b]pyridine in human prostate. Toxicol Sci. 2018 Jun 1;163(2):543-556.
Upcoming events of interest or things to do
The annual MPG Symposium will be held October 11 at Coffman Memorial Union with keynote speaker Muneesh Tewari from the University of Michigan. Tewari will discuss the integration of cell free DNA with wearable sensors for early cancer diagnosis. Faculty should encourage research laboratory staff to attend the symposium and participate in the career networking session from 1-2 pm.
NCI SBIR Program Director Ashim Subedee will be presenting funding opportunities and other commercialization resources to take your technology from lab to market, Oct 1, 9 – 10:30 am, in 450 MCRB. Register here.
The 8th Great Lakes Nuclear Receptors Conference will be held Oct. 18-19 in the Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Building (CCRB). The regional meeting brings together senior investigators and their trainees whose research is focused on nuclear receptor biology.
Grand Rounds are back on Wednesday’s at 8:00 am in 450 MCRB (Masonic Cancer Research Building)
LMP’s Research Forum resumes Thursday, Oct 18, 5 pm. in the Dale Shephard Room of the Campus Club in Coffman Union.
Send news to Bill
Please send publications, achievement and event information and announcements you think appropriate for the LMP Newsletter to Bill Hoffman at hoffm003@umn.edu. Also, Bill has an ongoing interest in photographs, images, and story ideas you may have for the LMP website.