Current Buzz
April 2013
Events, Lectures & Workshops
Curt Civin, MD, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, Associate Dean for Research, and Director, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, presented a lecture on “How Stem Cells are Transforming Medicine” and a panel discussion on “Stem Cell Science—Cancer” at the 2012 World Stem Cell Summit in Palm Beach, FL on December 3, 2012. He also presented “MicroRNA Maestros of Hematopoiesis and Leukemia” at the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine Seminar Series at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, TX, on January 25.
W. Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology and director of the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, gave the Dirk L. Brutsaert Lecture, entitled “Elementary Ca2+ Events: From Discovery to Their Implication for the Physiology and Pathology of the Heart,” at the European Society for Cardiology Meeting in Les Diablerets, Switzerland on January 24.
Grants & Contracts
Colin Mackenzie, MBChB, FRCA, FCCM, Clinical Professor, Department of Anesthesiology has received a three-year, $2,077,553 grant from the U.S. Air Force for “Continuous Non-Invasive Monitoring and the Development of Predictive Triage Indices for Outcome Following Trauma”; a 30-month, $398,422 grant from the Office of Naval Research for “Autonomous Critical Care Systems- Athena GTX”; a two-year, $824,552 grant from the U.S. Air Force for “Predicting Casualty Blood Product Needs Using Pre-Hospital Vital Signs”; and a three-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Army for “Use of Performance Measure to Evaluate, Document Competence and Deterioration of ASSET Surgical Skills.”
Publications
Curt Civin, MD, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, Associate Dean for Research, and Director, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, was a co-author on “Hematopoietic Stem Cells” in The Biomedical Engineering Handbook, Fourth Edition (Fischer, ed.), Boca Raton: CRC pp 9.1-9.13. 2012. Dr. Civin; Weh-Chih Cheng, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; and Tami Kingsbury, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors on “A Simple High-Throughput Technology Enables Gain-of-Function Screening of Human MicroRNAs” inBioTechniques—International Journal of Life Science Methods, 2013 Feb;54(2):77-86. Dr. Civin and Iain Farrance, PhD, former Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, were among the co-authors on “Biochemistry of Signaling in Stem Cells, and Vice Versa” inBiophysica Acta, 2013 Feb; 1830(2):2267.
March 2013
Publications
Cristina Linde, PhD, postdoctoral fellow; John Hamlyn, PhD, professor; and Vera Golovina, PhD (pictured), associate professor, all from the Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors on “Activation of c-SRC Underlies the Differential Effects of Ouabain and Digoxin on Ca2+ Signaling in Arterial Smooth Muscle Cells” in the American Journal of Physiology—Cell Physiology, 2012 Nov 28 [Epub ahead of print]. Drs. Linde and Golovina, along with Mordecai Blaustein, MD, professor, Departments of Physiology and Medicine, were among the co-authors on “Nanomolar Ouabain Increases NCX1 Expression and Enhances Ca2+ Signaling in Human Arterial Myocytes: A Mechanism that Links Salt to Increased Vascular Resistance?” in theAmerican Journal of Physiology—Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 2012 Oct 1;303(7):H784-94. Drs. Hamlyn and Blaustein were also co-authors on “Salt Sensitivity, Endogenous Ouabain and Hypertension” in Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, 2013 Jan;22(1):51-8.
February 2013
Grants & Contracts
Curt Civin, MD, professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, associate dean for Research, and director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, received a one-year, CRF Pilot grant award of $62,500 for “Interplay of miR-34, S100, and Artemesinins in Leukemias and Melanomas.”
Stuart Martin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Physiology, received a new, five-year, $1.55 million R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute for “Targeting Microtubule Stabilization to Reduce Breast Tumor Metastasis.”
Honors & Awards
Andrea Meredith, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Physiology, was one of the top three fundraisers for the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) team at the 2012 American Heart Association Stroke Walk in Baltimore. In thanks for her efforts, she was treated to lunch with UMB President Jay Perman, MD.
Dudley Strickland, PhD, professor, Department of Surgery, was named The American Heart Association’s Sol Sherry Distinguished Lecturer in Thrombosis at the AHA Scientific Sessions conference in Los Angeles, CA, in November 2012, in recognition of his seminal contributions to the field of thrombosis research. Dr. Strickland, who is also director of the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases and Assistant Dean for Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, delivered the lecture “Role of LRP1 in Protecting the Vasculature.” His laboratory was one of two that discovered and identified the LDL receptor-related protein (LRP1) as a receptor for protease-inhibitor complexes.
In the News
Benjamin Prosser, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Physiology, was the subject of the section “Postdoc Spotlight” in the December 2012 Newsletter of the Biophysical Society. The Society has nearly 10,000 members worldwide.
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD (pictured), assistant professor, Department of Physiology, was a co-author with postdoctoral fellow, Jenna Montgomery, PhD, on “Genetic Activation of BK Currents In Vivo Generates Bidirectional Effects on Neuronal Excitability” in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012, Nov 13;109(46):18997-9002. Drs. Meredith and Montgomery also co-authored “Mis-expression of the BK K+ Channel Disrupts Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Circuit Rhythmicity and Alters Clock-Controlled Behavior” in the American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 2012, Nov 21 [Epub ahead of print] with Josh Whitt, Program in Neuroscience graduate student; Breanne Wright, UMBC undergraduate student; and Michael Lai, Bioengineering graduate student at UMCP, all also from the Department of Physiology.
January 2013
Events, Lectures & Workshops
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, professor, Departments of Physiology & Medicine, presented “Role of Endogenous Ouabain in Salt-Sensitive Hypertension” at a workshop on “Unifying Theories of Hypertension: Past, Present and Emerging” in September 2012 in Washington, DC.
Joseph Stains, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Orthopaedics, presented “The Inositol Polyphos-phate/Protein Kinase C-delta Signaling Cascade Is Required for the Connexin43-dependent Amplification of Runx2 Activity” at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research in Minneapolis, MN, in October 2012.
Grants & Contracts
Curt Civin, MD, professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, associate dean for Research, and director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, was awarded two one-year, $75,000 grants from GPB Scientific, LLC, one for “High Efficiency Microfluidic Purification of Stem Cells to Improve Transplants” and the other for “Microfluidic Processing of Leukocytes for Molecular Diagnostic Testing.”
Joseph Stains, PhD, and Eugene Koh, MD, PhD, both assistant professors, Department of Orthopaedics, have been awarded a two-year, $229,412 grant from the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) for “Using Gap Junctions to Enhance Stem Cell Therapies in Osteoarthritis.” Dr. Stains will serve as the PI on this project, and Dr. Koh will be the Co-PI.
Publications
Charles Chaffin, PhD, associate professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, was among the co-authors on “Rhesus Monkey Cumulus Cells Revert to a Mural Granulosa Cell State After an Ovulatory Stimulus” in Endocrinology, 2012 Nov;153(11):5535-45.
Curt Civin, MD, professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, associate dean for Research and director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, was among the co-authors on “Generation and Genetic Engineering of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Designed Zinc Finger Nucleases” in Stem Cells and Development, 2012 Oct 19 [Epub ahead of print].
Loren Thompson, PhD, associate professor, and Yazan Al-Hasan, PhD, former postdoctoral fellow, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, were co-authors on “Impact of Oxidative Stress in Fetal Programming” in the Journal of Pregnancy, 2012;2012:582748.