News Archive: 2018
Faculty in the News: Mark Rasenick, PhD
December 17, 2018 – Dr. Mark Rasenick was installed as a member of the National Academy of Science of Cuba. This prestigious award was bestowed in recognition of Dr. Rasenick’s work over more than 2 decades during which he and his Cuban colleagues have developed an expansive network of neuroscience collaboration between Cuba and the US. Not only has this improved neuroscience research in both countries, but it has allowed scientists to form the vanguard for diplomacy.
Undergraduate Student Research Award: Theressa Ewa
December 12, 2018 – Theressa Ewa, undergraduate research assistant in the Cuervo lab has received a Chancellors’ Undergraduate Research Award (CURA) to study the function of Tbx2 in pericytes for the 2018-2019 academic year. The CURA awards allows students to gain valuable experience by getting involved early in cutting-edge research and scholarship. Congratulations, Theressa!
Fellow Award: Christopher Solis-Ocampo, PhD
November 9, 2018 – Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Solis-Ocampo from the Russell lab for being selected as the Second Place Winner in the Postdoctoral Fellows category at the 2018 College of Medicine Research Forum! Dr. Solis-Ocampo’s poster was entitled The CapZ β-tentacle interacts with PIP2 to control CapZ dynamics in response to mechanical stiffness and was co-authored by Dr. Brenda Russell.
Student Awards: Matthew Kleinjan, Brian Mao and Alexander Ticho
November 9, 2018 – Matthew Kleinjan and Brian Mao from the Kitajewski lab, and Alexander Ticho from the Alrefai lab received honorable mentions in the Graduate Student and MD-PhD Student category at the 2018 College of Medicine Research Forum competition. Congratulations Brian, Matthew and Alexander!
Faculty grant: Alexandra Naba, PhD
Congratulations to Dr. Alexandra Naba on receiving a 2-year funding grant from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium for the project entitled Quantitative Matrisomics: A Novel Approach to Decipher Fibrosis. This project is a collaboration between the Naba Lab and the laboratory of Dr. John Varga at the Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine. Other investigators part of the project are Drs. Maria Teves (Virginia Commonwealth University) and Bethany Perez-White (Northwestern University, Skin Tissue Engineering Core). This project will help identify new pharmacological targets to combat fibrosis.
29th Annual Awards Recognition Evening
November 8th, 2018 - The Department of Physiology and Biophysics gathered on November 8th 2018 to celebrate the accomplishment of our faculty, postdoctoral, student, and staff awardees. Special congratulations to Max McCann (Dr. Liew’s Lab) for the Mark R. Lambrecht Award for scholarship and commitment, Marah Armouti (Dr. Stocco’s Lab) for the Kate Bárány Graduate Student Award, and Dr. Henar Cuervo for the Dr. C. Philip L. Hawley Distinguished Faculty Award.
Faculty grant: Irida Kastrati, PhD
October 28th, 2018 - Dr. Kastrati, Research Assistant Professor from the Frasor lab, has been awarded a DOD Breast Cancer Program Level II Award as a Principal Investigator. Her project is entitled, “Exploit dimethyl fumarate to uncover druggable vulnerabilities and prevent recurrence of ER+ breast cancers.” Congratulations Irida!
Faculty in the News: Mark Brodie PhD
October 25th, 2018 - Dr. Brodie’s recent publication Ethanol acts on KCNK13 potassium channels in the ventral tegmental area to increase firing rate and modulate binge–like drinking, was featured in an article in Forbes Magazine this week. Congratulations to Dr. Brodie and his team!
Undergraduate Research Grants: Kyleen Jan, Isra Taha, and Morgan Win
October 30th, 2018 - Congratulations to Kyleen Jan, Isra Taha, and Morgan Win, undergraduate research assistants in the Naba Lab, for having been awarded Undergraduate Research Grants from UIC's Honors College!
Student Award: Brian Mao
October 18th, 2018 - Congratulations to De Yu (Brian) Mao from Dr. Kitajewski’s lab! Brian received the Outstanding Poster Award by a Graduated Student at the 2018 Vascular Biology Meeting organized by the North American Vascular Biology Organization for his work: Chloride Intracellular Channel (CLIC) proteins function to modulate Rac1 and RhoA in Sphingosine-1-phosphate signaling to regulate endothelial cell behavior.
Fellow Awards: Eli Hobeika, MD
October 12th, 2018 - Congratulations to Dr. Eli Hobeika, working in Dr. Stocco’s lab, who won the first prize for poster awards at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine 2018 Scientific Congress last week for his work: Gonadotropins And Oocyte-Secreted Factors Coordinated Regulation Of Ddit4 And Cyr61 In Primary Human Cumulus Granulosa Cells.
Faculty grant: Jan Kitajewski, PhD
October 5th, 2018 - Our head, Dr. Jan Kitajewski, in collaboration with Dr. Orly Lazarov and Dr. Naiche Adler, has been awarded a grant supplement focused on Alzheimer’s Disease and its related Dementias (AD/ADRD) on his NIH NHLBI R01: Notch in Angiogenesis and Vascular Biology – Alzheimer’s Disease Supplement. Congratulations!
Trainees in the Spotlight: David Ryba, PhD
July 23rd, 2018 - David Ryba, who recently obtained his PhD in our department working with Dr. Solaro and Dr. Wolska, was selected by the editors of Circulation Research to be profiled as part of their ongoing series of interviews designed to highlight the experiences and insights of recent trainees. Check out his interview here.
Publications from the department: Alexandra Naba, PhD
July 16th, 2018 - Don't miss the recent review from Dr. Naba's lab: The cancer matrisome: from comprehensive characterization to biomarker discovery. This article summarizes recent developments in computational and proteomic technologies that have allowed the comprehensive characterization of the extracellular matrix of different tumor types and microenvironmental niches.
Faculty awards: Alexandra Naba, PhD and Mark Brodie, PhD
May 9th, 2018 - Congratulations to our faculty members Dr. Naba and Dr. Brodie, who are the recipients of the 2018 Departmental Rising Star Award and Departmental Faculty of the Year Award, respectively. Departmental Rising Star Award recognizes a junior faculty member who has demonstrated strong potential to be a future leader in his or her chosen field. Departmental Faculty of the Year award is based on excellence in one of three areas: teaching, research, or clinical service.
Undergraduate Research Grants: Federica Violi, Morgan Win and Kyleen Jan
May 1st, 2018 - Congratulations to Federica Violi, undergraduate research assistant in the Shaye Lab, and to Morgan Win and Kyleen Jan, undergraduate research assistants in the Naba lab for receiving College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Initiative (LASURI) awards for the 2018-2019 academic year. LASURI works by pairing Undergraduate Research Assistants with Faculty Mentors and providing these research teams with financial support for undergraduate research projects.
Student Award: Anthony Arena
April 3rd, 2018 - Anthony Arena, from Dan Shaye's lab, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship for his project "Regulation and roles of EXC-4/CLICs during tubulogenesis". The GRF program recruits high-potential, early-career scientists and engineers and supports their graduate research training in STEM fields. Launched in 1952 the GRF program represents the nation's oldest continuous investment in the U.S. STEM workforce. This year 2,000 new awardees were selected from more than 12,000 applicants. Congratulations to Anthony for being one of those awardees!
Student and Fellow Awards: Sarah Baumgarten PhD and Eli Hobeika MD.
March 21st, 2018 - Congratulations to the members of Dr.Stocco's lab: Sarah Baumgarten, recipient of the Endocrinology Trainee Award for an Outstanding Publication in 2017, and Eli Hobeika, winner of an Outstanding Abstract Award from ENDO 2018, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting.
Student Award: Joseph Goldenberg PhD
March 1st, 2018 - Congratulations to former Physiology and Biophysics MSTP student, Joe Goldenberg, for receiving the 2018 Michael and Kate Bárány Research Award. Joe obtained his PhD in our department working with Dr. Lewandowski.