September 2024 News and Publications

September 2024

Appointments & New Faculty

Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, began his appointment as an Honorary Professor in the Developmental Neuroscience Department at University College in London, UK.

Yilun Sun, PhD, Assistant Professor, joined the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development in August 2024. 

Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops

Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, gave a talk entitled "Calcium Signaling in Dysferlin-Null Skeletal Muscle" at the Jain Foundation's biannual meeting in Houston, TX, on May 10, 2024. He also presented “SLC34A2: A Biomarker for FSHD in situ" at the FSHD Society’s meeting in Denver, CO, on June 13, 2024.

John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, presented an invited keynote lecture at the 8th Annual International Meeting on Cardiotonic Steroids and the Na-Pump held in Sao Joao Del-Rei, MG, Brazil in August entitled "Ouabain and Endogenous Ouabain in Pregnancy and Preeclampsia.”

Matt Trudeau, PhD, Professor of Physiology, gave a talk at the Ion Channels Gordon Research Conference (GRC), Mt. Holyoke College on July 10, 2024, entitled "Mechanisms of PAS domain regulation in hERG K channels."

Grants & Contracts

Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a $130,800 grant from the Association Française contre les Myopathies, through a subcontract with University College London, for “Therapeutic approaches for FSHD using a xenograft model."

Christina M. Ferrer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development and the Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, received from the 2024 V Scholar Program a 3-year $600,000 grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research for “Investigating Purine Salvage Dependencies in CDKN2A-deleted Pancreatic Metastases.”

Thomas Longden, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, received a five-year, $2.17 million R01 grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for “A pericyte Cl- clamp controls capillary electrical signaling and brain blood flow.”

Alexandros Poulopoulos, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Ivy E. Dick, PhD, Associate Professor, in the Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development, received a two-year, $349,995 grant from the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) for “iPSC Platforms to Develop Genome Restoration Strategies Using Cas9-RC.”

Honors & Awards

Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was presented an "Award for Research Contributions" from the Jain Foundation on May 10, 2024. 

Publications

Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, and Hans Moldenhauer, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from the Department of Physiology, published the study entitled “Structural mapping of patient-associated KCNMA1 gene variants,” and an image from the study was featured on the cover of the Jul 16, 2024, issue of Biophysical Journal.

Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, and Ria Dinsdale, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development, authored the study "Evaluation of four KCNMA1 channelopathy variants on BK channel current under CaV1.2 activation," to be published in the December 2024 issue of Channels (ePub ahead of print September 1, 2024).

Alexandros Poulopoulos, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development & UM-MIND, is an author of "BEAM: A combinatorial recombinase toolbox for binary gene expression and mosaic genetic analysis," which was published in the August 2024 issue of Cell Reports.

Alexandros Poulopoulos, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development, was the last author of "Region-Specific Phosphorylation Determines Neuroligin-3 Localization to Excitatory Versus Inhibitory Synapses," which is being published as the cover article of the November 2024 issue of Biological Psychiatry. Adam Puche, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurobiology, is also a co-author.

Min Yu, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Drug Development, was last author of "Hypoxic memory mediates prolonged tumor intrinsic type I interferon suppression to promote breast cancer progression,” which was published in Cancer Research on July 11, 2024. Dr. Yu was also among the co-authors of three papers: "The Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) and international astronaut biobank;” "A second space age spanning omics, platforms, and medicine across orbits;” and "Molecular and physiologic changes in the SpaceX Inspiration4 civilian crew,” all of which were published in Nature on June 11, 2024.