Research News

December 02, 2024:

Dr. Jingqi Yan has received an American Heart Association (AHA) Institutional Research Enhancement Award (AIREA) in the amount of $200,000 for his work on disability induced by stroke. The grant is titled “Brain targeted delivery of Cofilin1 siRNAs prevents synaptic loss and disability induced by stroke.“ Institutional Research Enhancement Awards provide funding for small-scale research projects related to cardiovascular diseases and brain health. Congratulations, Jingqi!

November 15, 2024:

Dr. Nithya Gnanapragasam has been invited to give a platform presentation at the Hemoglobin Switching Meeting - "Hematopoiesis and Hemoglobin Switching: From Mechanisms to Therapies" held at Hyatt Regency Grand Reserve Puerto Rico, November 10-14, 2024. Dr. Gnanapragasam has been selected to give a talk titled "Delineating the functions of PUM1, an RNA binding protein, in hemoglobin switching and erythropoiesis". Congratulations, Nithya!

 

September 30, 2024:

Majdi Aljohani, a PhD student in Dr. Xue-Long Sun’s lab has been selected to receive a travel award for the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology to be held on November 10-13, 2024, at the Omni Amelia Island Resort in Amelia Island, Florida. The 2024 Meeting of the Society for Glycobiology will bring together leading glycobiologists from around the world to discuss a wide range of topics including the structure and function of various glycans, the involvement of glycans in pathogenesis, and the latest technologies used to study glycosylation-related processes. The scientific program will include an exciting series of plenary lectures, short talks, and poster presentations from invited speakers and participants who are conducting cutting edge research in the glycosciences. Congratulations, Majdi and Xue-Long!

 

August 26, 2024

Dr. Anshul Mishra (a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. G. Valentin Boerner’s lab) has been selected to give a platform presentation at the upcoming Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Germ Cells meeting 2024, to be held at Cold Spring Harbor, NY, October 6 - 10, 2024. The title of Anshul’s presentation is “A Distinct Proteasome Requirement for Cohesion Removal and Sister Chromatid Disjunction During Meiosis II." Congratulations, Anshul and Valentin!

 

July 22, 2024:

Antara Roy, a PhD student in Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder's lab, has been selected for a platform presentation at the 2024 Society for Leukocyte Biology (SLB) Meeting, which will be held on October 22-25, 2024 in Lansing, MI. SLB is an inclusive global community of like-minded scientists in the field of Leukocyte research and far reaching related disciplines. The title of Antara’s talk is "Role of Ribosomal-Protein L13a in Bone-Marrow Macrophage Polarization and Diversity." Antara has been also selected to receive a Presidential Scholar – Graduate Student - Merit Finalist award from SLB. Congratulations, Antara and Barsan!

 

July 25, 2024:

Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam has been invited to serve as an adhoc reviewer at a study section on Hemostasis, Thrombosis, Blood Cells and Transfusion (HTBT) to be held on October 15-16, 2024. Congratulations, Nithya!

 

July 24, 2024:

Dr. Anton A. Komar has a distinct honor to serve as one of the co-organizers (together with Drs Marina Rodnina from Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Germany, John Christodoulou from University College of London, UK, Gunnar von Heijne from Stockholm University, Sweden, Zoya Ignatova from University of Hamburg, Germany and Susan Marqusee from University of California, Berkley, USA) of the Protein Folding on the Ribosome meeting 2024 to be held December 15-18, 2024 in Berlin, Germany. The meeting will discuss the emerging concept of the translational tuning of protein folding. The focus of this meeting will be on nascent polypeptide chain structure and folding, regulation of translation, and nascent chain targeting and translocation to membranes. Congratulations, Anton!

 

July 18, 2024:

Additional kudos to Dr. Kailash Gulshan, who got invited to serve on the American Heart Association (AHA) Basic Science Grant Review Committees for Cardiac Biology (Fellowships) and AHA Transformational Project Award (TPA)!

 

July 15, 2024:
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at NIH awarded a 4 year (07.05.2024-06.30.2027) renewed R01 grant in the total amount of $2,076,366 to Dr. Kailash Gulshan for his research on Atherosclerosis and Inflammation. The title of the grant is "Phosphatidylinositol Metabolism and Trafficking in Atherosclerosis and Inflammation". This project will identify novel pathways that can be targeted to prevent inflammation and Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). CVDs are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. Congratulations, Kailash, for your continued success in getting NIH funding and other extramural funding!

 

June 24, 2024:
Ohio Cancer Research (OCR - an independent, statewide, nonprofit organization that has been funding life-saving research in Ohio since 1982) awared a two year grant (07.01.2024-06.30.2026) in the amount of $80,000 to Dr. Kailash Gulshan for his research on lung cancer. The title of the grant is "Tratgeting inflammasome activity in lung-cancer". Congratulations, Kailash!

 

June 12, 2024: 

Dr. Valentin Boerner has been selected to give a platform presentation at the upcoming 2024 FASEB conference on Yeast Chromosome Biology and Cell Cycle to be held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, June 23-27, 2024. The title of Dr. Boerner's presentation is "Special proteasome requirements for pericentromeric cohesin removal and sister chromatid disjunction during meiosis II". Since 1990, this important and unique conference continues to focus on the structure, replication, and segregation of chromosomes as well as cell cycle regulation using yeast model systems to understand genome maintenance and its link to disease. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

June 05, 2024:

Dr. Peng Jiang has been invited to serve as an early career reviewer at the NIH Study Section meeting for Aging, Injury, Musculoskeletal, Rheumatologic, and Dermatologic disorders (AIMR) to be held on July 18,19th, 2024. Congratulations, Peng!

 

March 24, 2024: 

Noopur Joshi, a PhD student from Dr. Valentin Boerner's lab, has been selected for a talk at the MAYosis 2024 webinar series, which will be held on five consecutive Thursdays from May 2nd through May 30th, 2024. The MAYosis series aims to expand and strengthen the community of researchers studying meiosis and provide a forum to spotlight junior researchers. Each of the five sessions (3-hour sessions) will feature six speakers; one invited keynote and five talks selected from submitted abstracts. The title of Noopur’s talk "The Dot1-mediated H3K79 methylation mark limits recombination and meiotic cell divisions during heat stress to preserve gamete quality." Congratulations, Noopur and Valentin!

 

February 23, 2024: 

Mariam R Khan, a doctoral student in Dr. Kailash Gulshan's laboratory has received the so-called People's Choice Award for the 3-Minute Thesis Competition. This award is granted to graduate students who have demonstrated merit in summarizing their research in 3 minutes or less using the University of Queensland guidelines. A diploma to commemorate the award has been presented to Mariam by Bill (Vasilios) D. Kosteas, PhD, Dean, College of Graduate Studies on February 21, 2024. Congratulations, Mariam and Kailash! 

 

February 22, 2024: 

Dr. Kailash Gulshan has been selected to give a platform presentation at the symposium titled "New Insights into Ion Channel Regulation" that was held during the Biophysical Society 68th Annual Meeting, February 10-14, in Philadelphia, PA. The title of Dr. Gulshan's talk was "Cholesterol modulates PIP2 levels and localization for maintaining cellular lipid homeostasis." This dynamic five-day meeting brings together nearly 5000 attendees and provides them with opportunities to share their latest unpublished findings and learn the newest emerging techniques and applications. More than 500 speakers were selected from the submitted abstracts, represting those working in academia, industry, and agencies throughout the world. Congratulations, Kailash!

 

February 21, 2024:

Kudos to  Dr. Kailash Gulshan, who  got invited to serve on the American Heart Association Basic Science Grant Review Committee for Cardiac Biology for 2024!

 

January 14, 2024:

Dr. Xue-Long Sun has a distinct honor to organize a minisymposium titled “Chemical Sialobiology and Medicinal Chemistry for Coronavirus Infection”, which will take place during 2024 Fall American Chemical Society  (ACS) Meeting to be held in Denver, Colorado, August 18-22. This symposium will focus on the topics of the chemistry and biology of sialic acids and sialidase in coronavirus infection, which includes Glycomics, Glycoproteomics, and Chemical Glycobiology of SARS-CoV-2 Infection, Inhibitors and mRNA Vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress, ACS is one of the world’s largest scientific organizations with more than 173,000 individuals in the global scientific community across 140 countries. Congatulations, Xue-Long!

 

January 09, 2024:

Kudos to Dr. Nithya Gnanapragasam, who got invited to serve on the Scientific Committee on Red Cell Biology at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for a four year term starting January 2024. ASH scientific committees are in particular responsible for recommending to the Program Committee and the Annual Meeting Accredited Education Committee (AMAEC) two scientific sessions, including potential topics and speakers for the Scientific Program of the ASH annual meeting. The scientific committees are also responsible for building on ASH’s expertise in basic and translational science to help define a research and policy agenda for hematology. This includes responsibility for (1) reviewing the scientific content of annual meeting, (2) advising the ASH Executive Committee on science policy priorities, (3) identifying new and underserved areas for research, and (4) updating the ASH Agenda for Hematology Research. The scientific committees also aid in the identification of opportunities for interdisciplinary research related to hematology (e.g., immunology, vascular biology, cardiology, and trauma) by identifying related scientific disciplines and assisting in the recruitment of researchers in those fields to contribute to ASH programs and publications. The scientific committees also recommend member scientists for consideration by the Nominating Committee for service on scientific committees.

 

December 22, 2023: 

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded two resarch grants in the total amount of $507,256 each (07.01.2023-06.30.2024) (subcontract from the University of Pittsburgh) to Dr. Peng Jiang for his research on wound healing and fibrosis. Award titles: "DARPA Wound Repair" and "DARPA Fibrosis". Congratulations, Peng!

 

December 06, 2023: 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at HIN awarded a 5 year (12.06.2023–10.31.2028) R01 grant in the total amount of $2,167,454 to Dr. Bibo Li for her research on the mechanisms of variant surface glycoproteins (VSG) switching in Trypanosoma brucei. The title of the grant is “Essential functions of  Trypanosoma brucei RAP1.” T. brucei causes human sleeping sickness and sequentially expresses immunologically distinct Variant Surface Glycoproteins (VSGs), its major surface antigen, to evade the host’s immune response and establish a long-term infection. Dr. Li's lab found that T. brucei RAP1, a telomere protein, is not only essential for telomere integrity, but also VSG monoallelic expression. The grant will investigate how RAP1’s nucleic acids binding activities and its interactions with other telomeric proteins, histones, and chromatin remodelers contribute to monoallelic VSG expression and proper antigenic variation. Congratulations, Bibo, on your continued and oustanding success in getting NIH funding!

 

Nov 03, 2023:

GRHD hosted it's 10th annual GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Nov 02, 2022:

GRHD hosted it's sixth John and Patricia Thompson Lecture delivered by Dr. Abby F. Dernburg, Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, affiliate of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). The title of Dr. Dernburg's presentation was: “A mechanical signal mediates oocyte quality control in C. elegans.”

 

October 19, 2023:
Congratulations to Abigail Ansah-Zame, a PhD student in Dr. Aimin Zhou's lab and a NHLBI CD-Cavs T32 scholar, for securing a coveted spot in the prestigious Clinical Chemistry Fellowship program - a 2-year program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Clinical Chemistry (ComACC). She will start her fellowship in July 2024. Abby will embark on her CC Fellowship at the University of Virginia, a program dedicated to a comprehensive exploration of laboratory medicine. It significantly emphasizes clinical chemistry, laboratory management, toxicology, laboratory informatics, hematology, and evidence-based laboratory practices. The goal is to equipping fellows to excel in the American Board of Clinical Chemistry examination and ultimately become accomplished laboratory directors.

 

October 06, 2023:
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at NIH awarded an R56 (bridge support) grant (09.18.2023-08.31.2024) in the total amount of $478,001 to Drs. Candece L Gladson, MD (Cleveland Clinic) and Michael Kalafatis, PhD (Cleveland State University) for their research on cancer. The title of the grant is “Endogenous synthesis of TRAIL by glioma cancer stem cells and resistance to TRAIL therapy.” This project will determine whether endogenous-TRAIL expressed by glioma cancer stem-like cells (CSLCs) promotes a pro-tumorigenic function in glioblastoma tumors, and the signaling pathway that is necessary for this function. This study may provide novel insights into cancer treatment options for glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Congratulations, Candece and Michael!

 

October 03, 2023:
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded the so-called "REPAIR phase 2" grant (07.01.2022-06.30.2024) in the total amount of $508,568 (subcontract from the University of Pittsburgh) to Dr. Peng Jiang for his research on wound healing. Congratulations, Peng!

 

August 16, 2023:
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH awarded an R21 grant (08.14.2023–07.31.2025) in the total amount of $408,375 to Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder for his research on SARS-CoV-2 mRNA translation. The title of the grant is “Translational Regulation of SARS-CoV-2 in response to viral S protein-induced signaling.” The project will investigate the translational control of viral mRNA by a host-cell generated signal triggered by interaction of the S protein with ACE2 receptor on the cell surface. This study will provide novel insights into host-virus relationship for SARS-CoV-2, and will have a significant impact on the development of novel antiviral drugs and improved design of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Congratulations, Barsan! Recently, and in connection with his breakthrough research Dr. Mazumder has been interviewed by DD Bangla an Indian Bengali-language free-to-air state-owned television channel, formerly known as DD-7 and DD National Kolkata. It broadcasts from Kolkata, Shantiniketan and Jalpaiguri and is available to 97.1% of the population of West Bengal in India.

 

August 10, 2023: 

Kara E. Timinski a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Kailash Gulshan's lab has been selected to give a platform presentation at "The Don S. Fredrickson Lipid Research Conference", formerly the Southeast Lipid Research Conference (SELRC) to be hosted by Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN (September 6-8, 2023). The title of Kara's presentation is "Disulfiram Reduces Atherosclerosis and Enhances Efferocytosis, Autophagy, and Atheroprotective Gut Microbiota in Hyperlipidemic Mice". The meeting brings together scientists and trainees investigating the impact of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism on the development and treatment of cardiometabolic disease. The Fredrickson Conference employed an institutional host model in 2016 at the University of Kentucky in conjunction with the University of Kentucky Cardiovascular Research Day.  The Fredrickson Conference has since been hosted by Vanderbilt University (2018), the University of Cincinnati (2019), the University of Kentucky (2021) and Duke University / University of North Carolina (2022). Congratulations, Kara and Kailash!

 

July 10, 2023: 

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at NIH awards an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Aimin Zhou for his research on RNAse L. The title of the grant is “The role of RNase L in kidney function.”  The proposed research will investigate, how RNase L regulates the epidermal growth factor (EGF) excretion in urine and the role of RNase L in kidney function under normal and pathological conditions and explore whether RNase L is involved in acute kidney injury (AKI) to chronic kidney diseases (CKD) transition. Congratulations, Aimin!

 

July 06, 2023: 

Kudos to Drs Roman Kondratov and Valentin Boerner for receiving admnistrative supplements for their NIH funded projects in the respective amouns of $58,072 and $106,995. Dr. Kondratov's "Diversity Supplement for Circadian Clock and Dietary Restriction" project will support research of a pre-doctoral (PhD) student, Jonathan Frirz in Dr. Konaratov's lab and Dr. Boerner's Equipment Supplement "Replacement of Fluorescence Imaging System" will support acquizition of the Olympus BX63 Motorized Upright Microscope System that will replace an old BX60 Olympus manual microscope in Dr. Boerner's lab. Congratulations, Roman and Valentin!

 

June 30, 2023: 

Dr. Peng Jiang has been invited to give a platform presentation at the Military Health System Research Symposium (MHSRS) to be held 14-17 August 2023 in Kissimmee FL. The title of Dr. Jiang's talk is "Exosomes as a Non-Surgical, Customizable, Cell-Free Therapy to Accelerate Musculoskeletal Healing". The MHSRS is the Department of Defense’s foremost scientific meeting. It provides a venue for presenting new scientific knowledge resulting from DoD/DARPA funded research and development. The MHSRS is an annual four-day symposium that draws approximately 3,500 attendees Congratulations, Peng!

 

June 19, 2023:

Dr. Kailash Gulshan has received an American Heart Association (AHA) Transformational Project Grant Award in the amount of $300,000 for his work on the role of cholesterol in cardiovascular disease. The grant is entitled “Role of cholesterol mediated modulation of PIP2 in cardiovascular disease.“ Transformational Project AHA Awards support highly innovative, high-impact projects that build on work in progress that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will accelerate the field of cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular research. Congratulations, Gulshan!

 

June 12, 2023: 

Dr. Valentin Boerner has been invited to give a platform presentation at the EMBO workshop symposium, entitled, “Meiosis” to be held on 18 – 23 June 2023 in Pamhagen, Austria. The title of Dr. Boerner's presentation is "Cohesin cleavage and sister chromatid disjunction depend on a meiosis II-specific proteasome requirement". From the conference website: "The Meiosis field is driven by fascination in how evolution has implemented and perfected the meiotic program, and also by its significance to both plant breeding and human health." EMBO workshops stimulate exchange of the latest scientific knowledge and offer training in new techniques. They are organized by  leading scientists in their fields. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

May 26, 2023:

Dr. Nithya Gnanapragasam and her team have been selected to give multiple presentations at the upcoming Gordon Research Conference on Red Cells, titled "Erythropoiesis: Development, Function and Disease" to be held in Newport, RI, June 4-9, 2023. Dr. Gnanapragasam has been selected to give a talk titled "Functional Characterization of KLF1 and its Targets During Terminal Erythroid Differentiation". Rachael White, a PhD student, will present a poster titled "Investigating EKLF-Aurora B kinase interaction and its influence on EKLF’s function and stability" and Anita Dhara, who is also a PhD student in Dr. Gnanapragasam lab will peresent a poster titled "The role of Pumilio homolog 1 (PUM1) in human hemoglobin switching and erythroid differentiation". Congratulations, Nithya, Rachel and Anita!

 

May 19, 2023:

Oghogho Patrick Ebeigbe (a PhD student in Dr. Roman Kondratov’s lab) has been selected to give a platform presentation at the 2023 Molecular and Cellular Biology of Lipids Gordon Research Seminar to be held in Waterville Valley, NH, July 22-23, 2023. The title of Patrick’s presentation "Regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism by calorie restriction." Congratulations, Patrick and Roman!

 

May 18, 2023:

Dr. Kailash Gulshan’s innovative research on dissecting the role of signaling lipids, Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) and Gasdermin D (GsdmD), in cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been presented at the American Heart Association Conference “Vascular Discovery: From Genes to Medicine” held in Boston, MA, May 10-13, 2023. Dr. Alicia Traughber a postdoc in Dr. Kailash Gulshan’s lab presented a poster titled “FDA-approved Drug for Alcoholism Reduces Atherosclerosis by Inhibiting Pyroptotic Executor Gasdermin D (GsdmD)” and Mariam Khan, a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Gulshan’s lab, presented a poster titled “A Novel PIP2-dependent Pathway Maintains Cellular Cholesterol Homeostasis”. Congratulations, Alicia, Mariam and Kailash! 
 

April 14, 2023:

Dr. Jackson Taylor has been invited to give a platform presentation at the Annual Midwest Aging Consortium (MAC) Research Symposium to be held in Ames, Iowa, May 1-2, 2023. The Annual MAC Aging Research Symposium is the primary conference featuring the latest aging research from across the Midwest. The title of Dr. Taylor's presentation is "Sirt6 Regulates Lifespan in Drosophila melanogaster." Congratulations, Jackson!

 

April 12, 2023:

A recent article that was published in the Blood Advances, a semimonthly medical journal published by the American Society of Hematology by Dr. Nithya Gnanapragasam and her colleagues was highlighted by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney (NIDDK) Cooperative Centers of Excellence in Hematology on their WebSite that generates investigative resources that can be made available to the broader research community of hematologists. Congratulations, Nithya and the team!

 

April 06, 2023:

Two studies, entitled "Myeloid-cell-specific role of Gasdermin D in promoting lung cancer progression in mice” and "Impavido attenuates inflammation, reduces atherosclerosis, and alters gut microbiota in hyperlipidemic mice" respectively, have been published in January 31st and March 20th issues of the journal iScience by a team of researchers led by Dr. Kailash Gulshan. The team also included scientists from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. The published works highlighted the pivotal role of inflammation control in lung cancer and atherosclerosis and in particular explored the role of a protein called Gasdermin D (GsdmD), which forms pores in cellular membrane to release inflammatory molecules from macrophages and other immune cells in these processes. iScience is an open access journal from Cell Press that provides a platform for original research in the life, physical, earth, and health sciences. The primary criterion for publication in iScience is a significant contribution to a relevant field combined with robust results and underlying methodology. Congratulations, Kailash and the team!

 

March 31, 2023:

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at NIH awarded an R01 grant (04.01.2023–03.31.2028) in the total amount of $2,063,848 to Dr. Nithya Gnanapragasam for her research on erythropoiesis and hemoglobin switching. The title of the grant is “Investigating PUM1 mediated post-transcriptional regulation of human hemoglobin switching and erythropoiesis.” The fetal to adult hemoglobin switching around birth involves an expression shift from γ-globin to β-globin in erythroid cells. Effective re-expression of fetal γ-globin can ameliorate sickle cell anemia and β-thalassemia. Hence, identification of inducers of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) is an active area of research and holds immense therapeutic potential. The proposal identified Pumilo-1 (PUM1), an RNA binding protein with no previously reported functions in erythropoiesis, as a post-transcriptional regulator of hemoglobin switching. The proposed studies will determine if modulating PUM1 can be employed as a potential therapeutic strategy for fetal hemoglobin induction. The proposed research involves may collaborations, including a collaboration with a GRHD member, Dr. Peng Jiang. Congratulations, Nithya!

 

March 24, 2023:

A study, entitled "The RRM-mediated RNA binding activity in T. brucei RAP1 is essential for VSG monoallelic expression”, which identified in the telomere protein TbRAP1 an RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) with unique functions in VSG monoallelic expression, has been published online on March 22 in the journal Nature Communications by a team of researchers led by Dr. Bibo Li. TbRAP1 is a telomere protein that is essential for cell viability and VSG monoallelic expression and suppresses VSG switching and has RNA and DNA binding properties. The RNA Recognition Motif discovered and investigated by Dr. Li and the team is unprecedented for RAP1 homologs in other organisms. This study uncovered the competition between TbRAP1’s RNA-binding and DNA-binding activities as a mechanism of VSG monoallelic expression, prompting more detailed investigations and facilitating a deeper understanding of antigenic variation in T. brucei.  Notably, the RAP1 RRM domain is highly conserved among Trypanosomatids but absent in higher eukaryotes. With this feature and activity likely conserved in Trypanosomatida organisms, TbRAP1 can serve as a promising target for antiparasitic agents. Congratulations, Bibo and the team! Nature Communications is an open access journal that publishes high-quality research from all areas of the natural sciences. Papers published by the journal represent important advances of significance to specialists within each field. Nature Communications has a 2-year impact factor: 17.69.

 

March 21, 2023:

Dr. Anton A. Komar has been invited to give a platform presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2023 Spring National Meeting to be held in Indianapolis, IN, March March 26-30, 2023 at the ACS Division of Physical Chemistry and the symposium titled "The Physical Chemistry of Co-translational Protein Folding". The title of Dr. Komar's presentation is "When, why and to what extent codon usage affects protein folding in the cell?"

 

March 07, 2023: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun has been invited to give a talk at the 2023 Carbohydrates Gordon Research Seminar (GRS)  titled "Approaches in Carbohydrate Synthesis and Tools to Investigate Glycan Functions" to be held in Holderness, NH (June 17-18, 2023). The title of Dr. Sun's talk is "Sialylation or Desialylation for Viral Infection". This GRS will be held in conjunction with the "Carbohydrates" Gordon Research Conference (GRC), titled "Basic and Translational Glycoscience for Human Health and Diseases". Congratulations, Xue-Long!  

 

March 01, 2023:

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH awarded a MOSAIC R00 grant (02.24.2023-01.31.2026) in the total amount of $747,000 to Dr. Junior Gonzales for his research on a new theranostic agent to both image and treat prostate cancer. The title of the grant is “Validation of an intraoperative neuro-monitoring contrast agent for cranial nerves.” Prostate cancer is a deadly disease and the second-leading cause of cancer death in males in the United States and there is a critical need for theranostic agents for prostate cancer patients. The proposal seeks to explore a new theranostic agent to both image and treat prostate cancer. It willl employ a set of novel fluorescence imaging/photodynamic therapy methods to achive the grant goals. The proposed research may eventually lead to the development of new class of drugs to monitor and treat cancer. Congratulations, Junior!

 

January 24, 2023: 

A study, entitled "Targeting intracellular Neu1 for coronavirus infection treatment”, which showed that a newly developed sialidase inhibitor Neu5Ac2en-OAcOMe can rescue mice from death from coronavirus infection​​​​​​,​ has been published online on Tuesday, January 24th in the journal iScience by a team of researchers led by Drs. Xue-Long Sun (GRHD) and Guo-Yun Chen (University of Tennessee Health Science Center). The team also includes scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham. iScience is an open access journal from Cell Press that provides a platform for original research in the life, physical, earth, and health sciences. The primary criterion for publication in iScience is a significant contribution to a relevant field combined with robust results and underlying methodology. Congratulations, Xue-Long and the team!

 

January 20, 2023:

The National Institute of Aging (NIA) at NIH awarded an R00 grant (02.01.2023-02.28.2026) in the total amount of $738,224 to Dr. Jackson Taylor for his research on aging and age-related molecular alterations. The title of the grant is “Mechanisms of Lifespan Regulation by Sirt6 in Drosophila melanogaster.” Per the narrative of the grant "advanced age is a leading risk factor for many different health risks, thus interventions that target common underlying age-related molecular alterations would be especially beneficial. SIRT6 is a gene shown to regulate multiple cellular functions that change during the aging process, and increasing SIRT6 function can extend lifespan." The proposal seeks to better understand and optimize the role of SIRT6 as a pro-longevity gene, with the goal of translating these findings to prevent and treat age-related health issues and extend healthy lifespan in humans. The proposed research may eventually lead to the development of new drugs extending healthy lifespan in humans. Congratulations, Jackson!

 

January 14, 2023: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun's lab innovative research on glyco-biology and glyco-engineering continues to attract national and international attention. Abstract from Dr. Sun's lab titled "Systemic profiling of desialylation of moonocytes and macrophages upon LPS stimulation" has been selected for the so-called “Sci-Mix” Presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2023 Spring National Meeting to be held in Indianapolis, IN, March March 26-30, 2023. The poster authored by Majdi A Aljohani, Yu Zhao and Xue-Long Sun will be presented by Majdi A Aljohani, a PhD student in the lab.

Dr. Sun has also been invited to give a talk at Pittcon 2023 to be held on March 18-22, 2023 in Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA. The title of Dr. Sun's presentation is "Glycopolymer-Wrapped Carbon Nanotubes". The talk will be delivered at the session titled "Micro- and Nano-Probes and Multifunctional Systems for Enhancing Theranostics".

Congratulations Xue-Long and the team on your continued success!

 

December 30, 2022: 

GRHD received generous donations from its two advisory board members Drs. Paul E. DiCorleto, Ph.D. ($10,000) and Dr. William M. Baldwin M.D., Ph.D. ($4000) to support GRHD's Pilot and Bridge funding program. Thank you so much for your generous gift!

 

Nov 04, 2022:

GRHD hosted it's 9th annual GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Nov 03, 2022:

GRHD hosted its fifth John and Patricia Thompson Lecture delivered by Dr. Alan G. Hinnebusch, NIH Distinguished Investigator, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Head Affinity Group on Cellular Regulation and Development at Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD. The title of Dr. Hinnebusch's presentation was: “Mechanism of Scanning and Start Codon Selection in Translation Initiation.”  

 

Oct 19, 2022: 

Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam has been invited to moderate a session, titled "Red Cells and Erythropoiesis, Excluding Iron II" at the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, December 10-13, 2022. ASH, the world's largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatments of blood disorders and the Annual ASH meeting is the premier event in malignant and classical hematology. Congratulations, Nithya!

 

Oct 14, 2022: 

Dr. Jingqi Yan has been invited to give a presentation at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience to be held in San Diego, CA, November 12-16, 2022. The title of his talk is "Autophagy degrades proteins critical for spine morphology and cognitive deficits in Fragile X syndrome." Congratulations, Jingqi!

 

Sept 29, 2022: 

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) at NIH awarded a 5 year (renewed) R01 grant in the total amount of $2,358,685 to Dr. Roman V Kondratov for his research on the connection between circadian clocks and mTOR signaling rhythms in calorie restriction. The title of the grant is “Circadian Clock and Dietary Restriction.” Diet is an important factor influencing health and disease. Calorie restriction (CR) improves metabolism, delays aging, and reduces the incidence of many age-associated diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiometabolic. mTOR signaling pathway plays a central role in the control of aging and CR mechanisms. This project willl explore the crosstalk between diet and circadian rhythms in metabolic signaling and gene expression. It will test the hypothesis that CR reprograms the expression of mTOR regulatory network through circadian clock-dependent mechanisms. This study will help to dissect contributions of fasting and reduced calorie intake to CR improved metabolism and longevity. Congratulations, Roman, for your continued success in getting NIH funding!

 

Sept 26, 2022:

A study, entitled "Circadian clock controls rhythms in ketogenesis by interfering with PPARα transcriptional network”, which identified that blood ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate [βOHB]) level is tightly controlled and that the circadian clock is a regulator of diet-induced ketogenesis has been published online on Monday, September 26 in the journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A by a team led by Dr. Roman V. Kondratov. This study extends our current knowledge on mechanisms of ketogenesis, which was studied previously and predominantly in the context of acute fasting. The authors propose that the rhythms in blood ketone bodies may contribute to the health and longevity benefits of caloric restriction. Congratulations, Roman and the team!

 

Sept 21, 2022:

Dr. Bibo Li and members of her lab had a distinct honor to have platform presentations at the Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology meeting IX and The Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting XXXIII, held on September 13-17 and 18-22, respectively in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. The title of Dr. Li's talk at the Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology meeting (IX) was "The RNA Recognition Motif (RRM)-mediated RNA binding activity in T. brucei RAP1 is essential for VSG monoallelic expression". SK Abdus Sayeed, a PhD student from Dr. Li's lab has had an honor to present his research titled "Investigating TERRA functions in VSG switching and telomere maintenance in Trypanosoma brucei" at The Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting XXXIII for which Dr. Li also serves as a co-organizer.

 

August 31, 2022: 

Cody Orahoske a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Bin Su's lab (working on collaborative project with Dr. Li's lab) has been selected to give a platform presentation at "The Annual Congress of International Drug Discovery Science and Technology" to be held in Tokyo, Japan (May 10-12, 2023). The title of Cody's presentation is "Lead Identification via High throughput screen leads to molecular identification of Flagellum attachment zone 1 (FAZ1) filament as a binding partner of 6,7-dimethoxyquanizolone in Trypanosoma brucei". The Annual Congress of International Drug Discovery Science & Technology (IDDST), initiated from 2003 and has attracted more than 10000 participants from over 50 countries and regions in the previous years. Congratulations, Cody and Bin!

 

August 11, 2022: 

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH awarded a 4 year (R01) grant in the total amount of $1,188,000 to Dr. Bibo Li for her research on the mechanisms of telomere stability maintenance in trypanosomes. The title of the grant is “Telomere end processing and telomere stability maintenance in trypanosomes.” Conventional DNA polymerases cannot fully replicate the linear DNA ends, and most eukaryotes use telomerase to synthesize the telomere G-rich strand de novo. The terminal telomere G-rich 3’ overhang (G3OH) is essential for telomerase-mediated G-strand synthesis and formation of the T-loop structure that is critical for protection of the natural chromosome ends from illegitimate DNA processes. Trypanosoma brucei uses PolIE, a novel telomere protein and an A family DNA polymerase, to coordinate telomere G- and C-strand DNA syntheses, which is completely different from that in higher eukaryotes where OB fold-containing telomere ssDNA binding factors regulate the telomere end processing. This project will investigate the mechanisms of T. brucei telomere end processing and its regulation, which will not only greatly improve our understanding about telomere protein evolution but also contribute to future development of anti-parasite agents. Congratulations, Bibo, for your continued success in getting NIH funding!

 

June 23, 2022:

Chancellor Randy Gardner was visiting CSU campus to hear about CSU priorities and vision for the future. Randy Gardner was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine the 10th Chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education in January 2019. As Chancellor, he oversees the state’s two-year and four-year colleges and universities and Ohio Technical Centers. In addition, the Chancellor provides policy guidance to the Governor and the Ohio General Assembly and carries out state higher education policy. As part of his CSU campus tour, Chancellor Gardner visited GRHD labs. Thank you, Chancellor Gardner!

 

June 08, 2022:

The Cooley's Anemia Foundation provided a second year/renewed ($50,000) funding to Dr. Mahesh Ramamoorthy for his research on erythroid biology in normal development and in disease. The title of Dr. Ramamoorthy's project is "Investigating the role of ATRX mediated subtelomere cohesion on α-globin expression in ATRX syndrome".  The proposal is focused on the investigation of subtelomeric cohesion and its role in a genetic condition, Alpha-Thalassemia X-linked intellectual disability (ATRX) syndrome. Congratulations, Mahesh!

 

June 06, 2022: 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH awarded a 2 year (R21) grant in the total amount of $419,237 to Dr. Bibo Li for her research on the mechanisms of telomere integrity and variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) switching in Trypanosoma brucei. The title of the grant is “Mechanisms of how Trypanosoma brucei TRF maintains telomere integrity.” T. brucei similarly to many other microbial pathogens undergoes antigenic variation known as variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) switching.  T. brucei expresses its major surface antigens from subtelomeric expression sites, and DNA recombination is a major pathway for antigen switching. T. brucei TRF, a telomere protein, is essential in maintaining the telomere integrity and affects frequency and mechanisms of subtelomeric antigen switching, a key pathogenesis mechanism of the parasite, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. The proposed project will investigate how TRF maintains telomere integrity and identify additional DNA recombination mechanisms driving telomeric instability and antigen switching.The proposed research eventually will lead to the development of new drugs to eradicate this parasite. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

May 31, 2022: 

Noopur Joshi a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Valentin Boerner's lab has been selected to give a platform presentation at the Meiosis Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) "Molecular Mechanisms and Regulation of Sexual Reproduction" to be held in New London, NH (June 4-5, 2022). The title of Noopr's presentation is "The DNA Damage Checkpoint Controls Meiotic Progression Under Heat Stress Conditions". This GRS will be held in conjunction with the "Meiosis" Gordon Research Conference (GRC) June 5-10, 2022, titled "Diverse and Conserved Molecular Mechanisms Preventing Aneuploidy During Gamete Production", where additionally Noopur will be presenting a poster. For over 75 years, GRC's meetings have been recognized as the world's premier scientific conferences. Congratulations, Noopur and Valentin!  

 

May 23, 2022: 

Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam has had the great honor to be a speaker at the Yale Cooperative Center of Excellence in Hematology (CCEH) Rising Stars in Hematology Series. The title of her presentation held on May 20 was "Mechanisms of mammalian erythropoiesis during development and disease". Among other speakers were Yvette Yien, Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh; Daniel Lucas, PhD, University of Cincinnati; Kellie Machlus, PhD, Harvard University; Hojun Li, M.D., Ph.D. MIT, Harvard University; Kyle Hewitt, PhD, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Rami Khoriaty, M.D. University of Michigan. Congratulations, Nithya!

 

May 11, 2022: 

Dr. Bibo Li has a distinct honor to serve as one of the co-organizers (together with Drs Manuel Llinás from the Pennsylvania State University and Maryse Lebrun from the Université Montpellier) of the 33rd Molecular Parasitology Meeting, which will be held from the 18 to 22 September 2022 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA. Dr. Li will be co-organizing this meeting for the three consecutive years (2022, 2023 and 2024). The Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting covers all aspects of parasite molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, and genomics and foster an international community of parasitologists. It also provides unique opportunities for scientific discussion and collaboration. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

April 29, 2022: 

Dr. Valentin Boerner has been awarded a 4-year (2022-2026) Focused Technology Development R01 grant (totalling $1,927,600) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The title of the grant is "Assay for detection of homologous DNA Interactions". The Boerner lab will use the grant to map interactions between similar DNA segments along the genome. How the so-called homologous DNA segments can rapidly find their match among millions of DNA segments within the same cell nucleus is presently mysterious. Homologous interactions are critical for repair of chromosome breaks and gene expression with key roles in the etiology of cancer and infertility. Mapping homologous DNA interactions will also accelerate genome engineering in the emerging field of synthetic biology. The project will be carried out in collaboration with Dr. Hisashi Tanaka, a cancer scientist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

April 16, 2022: 

Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam has been invited to give a presentation at the "International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Hemoglobin Switching meeting" to be held 4-10 May, 2022 in Greece. The most current topics in a variety of fields related to globin gene regulation and pathophysiology will be discussed at the meeting. Congratulations, Nithya!

 

April 14, 2022: 

Dr. Girish Shukla has been selected to receive the 2022 SAASCR (Society of American Asian Scientists in Cancer Research) award among outstanding Indian American cancer scientists in the USA. The Society of American Asian Scientists in Cancer Research is a nonprofit organization of more than 5,000 scientists from Asia who are working in the U.S. and Canada in the field of cancer research. All SAASCR members are also members of American Association for Cancer Research. There were 10 total 2022 SAASCR awardees. Other 2022 recipients included, Dr. Mani Menon, M.D. Clinical Professor, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, Dr. Mahendra Bhandari, Professor, Vattikuti Foundation, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI,  Dr. Ashutosh Tewari M.D., Professor and System Chairman, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, Dr. Badrinath R. Konety, M.D., President, Allina Health Cancer Institute, Minneapolis, MN, Dr. Ravindra Majeti, M.D., Ph.D., RZ Cao Endowed Professor of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, Dr. Sharad S Singhal, Ph.D. Professor of Medical Oncology and Therapeutics Research, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, CA, Dr. Amit K Verma, M.D. Professor of Medicine and Oncology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, Dr. Renuka V Iyer, M.D., Professor of Medical Oncology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, Dr. Manoj K Mishra, Ph.D. Professor of Biology, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL. Congratulations, Girish!

 

March 21, 2022: 

Dr. Anton A. Komar has been invited to give a platform presentation at the EMBO symposium, entitled, “Codon usage: Function, mechanism and evolution” to be held 08 – 11 April 2022 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.

 

March 09, 2022: 

A review article, entitled "The role of cell surface sialic acids for SARS-CoV-2 infection” that was published in the Journal "Glycobiology​" by Dr. Xue-Long Sun in 2021, remains one of the top 5 most read articles in the journal. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

March 07, 2022:

A recent breakthrough research article on SARS-CoV-2 published in the Journal of Virology by Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder and his colleagues was highlighted and discussed in the Innovation & Healthcare section of the Forbes (on-line) magazine. The Forbes article titled “SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Regulates Virus And Cell Genes” was written by Dr. William A. Haseltine a scientist, businessman, author, and philanthropist. For nearly two decades, Dr. Haseltine was a professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health where he founded two academic research departments, the Division of Biochemical Pharmacology and the Division of Human Retrovirology. Dr. Haseltine is most well known for his work on cancer, HIV/AIDS, genomics and, today, on COVID-19. Congratulations, Barsan and the team! 

 

November 12, 2021:

A recent breakthrough research that was published on line in the American Society of Microbiology’s Journal of Virology and led by Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder was highlighted in a press-release published by the Cleveland State University and appeared on WKYC news, virtual channel 3, an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio. In this manuscript Dr. Mazumder and his colleagues identified novel cis-regulatory RNA elements in SARS-CoV-2 genome and described their role in expression of SARS-CoV-2 genetic information. This study is of immense importance as it provides novel insights into host-virus relationship for SARS-CoV-2, allowing for better understanding of SARS-CoV-2 replication and propagation mechanisms and may have significant impact on the development of novel antiviral drugs and improved design of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

 

November 05, 2021:

GRHD hosted it's 8th annual GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

November 04, 2021:

GRHD hosted its fourth John and Patricia Thompson Lecture delivered by Dr. George R. Stark, Ph.D., Staff, Distinguished Scientist of the Lerner Research Institute, NAS member, Royal Society UK member, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH. The title of Dr. Stark's presentation was: "Complex roles of interferon in cancer."

 

September 21, 2021:

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH awarded an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Xue-Long Sun for his research on the role of endogenous sialidases in TLR4 signaling pathway. The title of the grant is “Development of location-specific sialidase Inhibitors.”  Sialidases (also called neuraminidases) are glycosidases responsible for the removal of sialic acid (Sia) residues (desialylation) from glycan portions of glycocojugates. By desialylation, sialidases are able to modulate the functionality and stability of the Sia-containing molecules and are involved in both physiological and pathological pathways. Studies indicate that lysosomal Neu1 sialidase could relocate to the cell surface of macrophages upon LPS stimulation, where it causes desialylation of TLR4 receptor, leading to TLR4 activation and subsequent production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. However, the detailed mechanisms of sialidase-catalyzed desialylation involved in TLRs activation remain unclear. The proposed research aims to investigate the sialidase-catalyzed desialylation mechanism related to TLRs activation and develop novel sialidase inhibitors to manipulate dysregulated TLRs activation and thus to discover novel therapeutic approaches to control inflammation. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

August 03, 2021:

The National Cancer Institute at NIH awarded an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $412,416 to Dr. Girish Shukla for his research on prostate cancer. The title of the grant is “Androgen signaling and sterol metabolism in metastatic prostate cancer: Functional and therapeutic implication.” Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. Relapsed androgen signaling and intratumoral sterol biosynthesis are hallmarks of castration resistant PCa (CRPC). The proposed research approaches the disease from a novel miRNA-mediated control of the androgen signaling and intratumoral sterol biosynthesis pathways point of view and may lead to the development of novel therapeutics. Congratulations, Girish!

 

July 30, 2021: 

A recent review article, entitled "The role of cell surface sialic acids for SARS-CoV-2 infection”, published in the Journal "Glycobiology​" by Dr. Xue-Long Sun has become the most read article of the month. Established as the leading journal in the field, Glycobiology provides a unique forum dedicated to research into the biological functions of glycans, including glycoproteins, glycolipids, proteoglycans and free oligosaccharides, and on proteins that specifically interact with glycans (including lectins, glycosyltransferases, and glycosidases). Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

June 29, 2021:

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH awarded an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Aaron Severson for his research on REC-8 cohesin function during meiosis. The title of the grant is “Positive and negative regulation of REC-8 cohesin during meiosis.” In most eukaryotes, replacing the mitotic α-kleisin Scc1/Rad21 with the meiosis-specific α-kleisin Rec8 is critical to establish the meiotic pattern of chromosome segregation (which reduces chromosome number) rather than the mitotic pattern (which stably maintains ploidy). Thus, specialized mechanisms must exist to ensure the establishment of REC-8-dependent sister chromatid cohesion during meiosis and to prevent it during mitosis. The objectives of the proposed research are to identify the mediators of these antagonistic mechanisms and to understand their functions. Congratulations, Aaron!

 

June 18, 2021:

The Cooley's Anemia Foundation awards a 2021-2022 Research Fellowship in the amount of $50,000 to Dr. Mahesh Ramamoorthy for his research on erythroid biology in normal development and in disease. The title of Dr. Ramamoorthy's project is "Investigating the role of ATRX mediated subtelomere cohesion on α-globin expression in ATRX syndrome".  The proposal is focused on the investigation of subtelomeric cohesion and its role in a genetic condition, Alpha-Thalassemia X-linked intellectual disability (ATRX) syndrome. The Foundation has also provided a second year/renewed ($50,000) funding to Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam for her research on post-transcriptional regulation of human fetal hemoglobin. Congratulations, Nithya and Mahesh!

 

June 07, 2021: 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH awarded a 2 year (R03) grant in the total amount of $148,500 to Dr. Bibo Li for her research on the mechanisms of variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) switching in Trypanosoma brucei. The title of the grant is “Identify 70 bp repeat-associated chromatin components by End-targeting Proteomics of Isolated Chromatin segments (PICh) and initiate their functional characterization.” Most VSG genes are flanked by two common sequences, which provide sequence homology for recombination between the active and a silent VSG gene in DNA recombination-mediated VSG switching events. First, all VSGs have common 14 nt sequences at their 3’UTRs. Second, upstream of most VSG genes, there are so-called 70 bp repeats. Integrity of these 70 bp repeats is expected to significantly affect VSG switching frequency. The proposed research will use an improved “end-targeting proteomics of isolated chromatin segments” (ePICh) approach to isolate the 70 bp repeat chromatin and identify proteins associated with the 70 bp repeats by mass spectrometry. The proposed research will open up new avenues for better understanding of the T. brucei pathogenesis and eventually may lead to the development of new drugs to eradicate this parasite. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

April 15, 2021: 

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at NIH awarded an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Bin Su for his research on innovative treatment options for glioblastoma multiforme​​ (GBM)​​​​​. The title of the grant is “Targeting Androgen Receptor-HSP27 Signaling in Glioblastoma.” Small heat shock protein 27 (Hsp27) that is an anti-apoptotic chaperone overexpressed in GBM. Hsp27 aids in maturation and promotes the biological activity of androgen receptor (AR), which contributes to GBM progression. The proposed research will investigate the in vivo activity of the leading anti-Hsp27 small molecule drug candidate developed by Dr. Su's lab and will also test its activiity in combination with temozolomide (TMZ) (a DNA-alkylating reagent), which is the only chemotherapy treatment currently approved for GBM. Congratulations, Bin!

 

March 26, 2021: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun's innovative research on glyco-engineering has been selected for the so-called “Sci-Mix” Presentation at the American Chemical Society (ACS) 2021 Spring National Meeting to be held online April 5-30, 2021. The poster titled "Site-Specific Glyco-Engineering of Recombinant Thrombomodulin" will be presented by Joseph Keil, a PhD student in the lab of Dr. Xue-Long Sun. 

Founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress, ACS one of the world’s largest scientific organizations with more than 155,000 members in 150 countries. The ACS holds national meetings twice a year covering the complete field of chemistry. The Spring 2021 meeting is expected to gather scientists from all over the world to discuss "Chemistry for New Frontiers." "Sci-Mix" is a special session honoring the top 10 percent of abstracts submitted to each technical division of the society. Congratulations, Xue-Long and Joseph!

 

March 10, 2021: 

GRHD received a generous donation of $10,000 from Dr. Paul E. DiCorleto to support GRHD's Pilot and Bridge funding program. Dr. DiCorleto is a world-renowned scientist well known for his work on molecular and cellular basis of atherosclerosis. Dr. DiCorleto is a member of the GRHD's external advisory board since GRHD's inception in 2008. He also was instrumental in developing a Cellular and Molecular Medicine Specialization (CMMS) program jointly offered by CSU and Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. Currently, Dr. DiCorleto is Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs and Professor of Biological Sciences at Kent State University. He is immediate past chair (2002-2015) and a current consultant faculty member of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute. Dr. DiCorleto received his undergraduate training in chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his doctorate in biochemistry from Cornell University. Dr. DiCorleto was with the Cleveland Clinic for over 30 years, having served multiple roles including as an Associate Chief of Staff and as a member of the Clinic's Board of Governors and Board of Trustees. His research has been continuously funded by NIH for over 30 years. 

 

February 01, 2021: 

GRHD member, Dr. Roman V. Kondratov, has been appointed associate vice president for research effective January 19, 2021. Dr. Kondratov has been a member of GRHD, since GRHD inception in 2008. His research has been continuously funded by grants from the NIH. He will work with the senior vice president for research and innovation, as well as faculty, staff, and students to enhance the University's scholarly productivity and to improve the research environment. Congratulations, Roman!

 

Nov 06, 2020: 

GRHD hosted it's 7th annual GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Nov 05, 2020: 

Dr. Bin Su received the CSU's Distinguished Faculty Award for Teaching.

 

Sept 23, 2020:

Dr. Bibo Li's lab have had tremendous success at the (virtual this year) Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting XXXI, September 21–24, 2020. The lab had five presentations at the meeting.  Dr. Amit Gaurav, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Bibo Li's lab has been selected to present a talk, titled "Trypanosoma brucei RAP1 has an RNA binding activity that is essential for VSG monoallelic expression", the other four presentations were posters presented by Dr. Li's students and post-docs. Moreover, Dr. Bibo Li has been honored to chair the "Nuclear and Telomere Biology" session. The Annual Molecular Parasitology Meeting covers all aspects of parasite molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, and genomics. Congratulations, Bibo, Amit and the team!

 

Sept 18, 2020: 

A study, entitled "TbRAP1 has an Unusual Duplex DNA Binding Activity Required for Its Telomere Localization and VSG Silencing”, which identified unique double-stranded DNA  binding activity of Trypanosoma brucei telomere protein RAP1, essential for TbRAP1’s telomere localization, VSG silencing, telomere integrity, and cell proliferation​​​​​​,​ has been published online on Friday, September 18th in the journal Science Advances by a team of researchers led by Dr. Bibo Li. The team also includes scientists from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.  Science Advances is publishing impactful research papers and reviews in any area of science, in both disciplinary-specific and broad, interdisciplinary areas. Congratulations, Bibo and the team!

 

July 15, 2020:  

The National Science Foundation awards a three year (2020-2023) grant to Dr. Andrew Resnick and his colleagues from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and University of Illinois at Chicago in the amount of $550,000 to study the physiological role of primary cilia in health and disease (CSU award is $199,984). The title of the grant is "Collaborative Research: Mathematical, Numerical, and Experimental Investigation of Flow Sensing by the Primary Cilium". The grant seeks to understand how primary cilium is used by cells to sense fluid flow and thus, how fluid flow can regulate biological processes. Congratulations, Andy!

 

June 12, 2020:  

The Cooley's Anemia Foundation awards a 2020-2021 Research Fellowship in the amount of $50,000 to Dr. Merlin Nithya Gnanapragasam for her research on post-transcriptional regulation of human fetal hemoglobin. The Cooley's Anemia Foundation is dedicated to serving people afflicted with various forms of thalassemia, most notably the major form of this genetic blood disease, Cooley's anemia/thalassemia major. The mission of Cooley's Anemia Foundation is to advance the treatment and cure for this fatal blood disease and enhance the quality of life of patients. The title of Dr. Gnanapragasam's project is "Investigating the post-transcriptional regulation of human fetal hemoglobin by the RNA binding protein PUM1". Congratulations, Nithya!

 

May 21, 2020:  

Dr. Valentin Börner's and his colleagues recent Developmental Cell paper entitled "DNA Helicase Mph1^FANCM Ensures Meiotic Recombination between Parental Chromosomes by Dissociating Precocious Displacement Loops” has been previewed in the same issue of Developmental Cell by Drs. Wayne Crismani and Raphael Mercier in the preview article entitled "Don’t Forget Your Sister: Directing Double-Strand Break Repair at Meiosis". Congratulations for a well-deserved recognition of your work, Valentin!

 

May 07, 2020: 

A study, entitled "DNA Helicase Mph1^FANCM Ensures Meiotic Recombination between Parental Chromosomes by Dissociating Precocious Displacement Loops”, which identified temporal coordination between double-strand break (DSB) strand exchange and homolog pairing as a critical determinant for recombination outcome during meiosis has been published online on Thursday, May 7 in the journal Developmental Cell  by a team of researchers led by Dr. Valentin Börner. The team also includes scientists from the Stony Brook University.

Developmental Cell, is a leading journal covering the areas of cell biology and developmental biology. In addition to publishing work spanning all areas of cell biology and developmental biology, the journal publishes articles at the interface of these disciplines and with other disciplines in biology. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

April 24, 2020:

The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights recent NIH grants received by Dr. Anton A. Komar. 

 

April 15, 2020:

Crain’s Cleveland Business - the leading source of business news in Northeast Ohio highlights recent NIH grants received by Dr. Anton A. Komar. 

 

March 26, 2020: 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at NIH awards an R01 grant award in the total amount of $1,485,000 to Dr. Anton A. Komar for his research on the effects of codon usage on protein folding. The title of the grant is “Safer and more effective FIX therapeutics: impact of codon optimization.”  The proposed research will investigate, how different codon optimization strategies affect the expression, folding/activity and immunogenicity of the blood coagulation factor IX and develop the best approach allowing to obtain large amounts of the protein with unaltered properties. The research involves collaboration with Dr. Chava Kimchi-Sarfaty from FDA.

 

March 12, 2020: 

Situation with COVID-19 is rapidly evolving and we will provide here some information and links to the resources related to the disease.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and now with this new virus (named SARS-CoV-2 or nCoV-19). It is believed that SARS-CoV-2 has its origin in bats as the other two viruses. Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is an enveloped, positive-sense RNA virus with large RNA genome, and a unique replication strategy. Virus particles are spherical and have proteins called spikes protruding from their surface. These spikes latch onto human cells, then undergo a structural change that allows the viral membrane to fuse with the cell membrane. For additional information see e.g. Fehr and Perlman. Coronaviruses: An Overview of their Replication and Pathogenesis. Methods Mol Biol. 2015;  Cui et al. Origin and evolution of pathogenic coronaviruses.al. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2019.

 

The complete clinical picture with regard to COVID-19 is not fully known. Symptoms vary from very mild (including some with no reported symptoms) to severe, including illness resulting in death. CDC has developed guidance to help in the risk assessment and management of people with potential exposures to COVID-19.

 

The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person. Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet, ~ 2 meters). Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs. People are thought to be most contagious when they are most symptomatic (the sickest). Some spread might be possible before people show symptoms; there have been reports of this occurring with this new coronavirus, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.

 

Usefull on line resources include, but not limited to:

1. CDC COVID-19 Situation Summary.

2. Rolling updates on COVID-19 from World Health Organization (WHO).

3. COVID-19 global cases (real-time map) from Johns Hopkins University.

4. Genomic epidemiology of novel coronavirus (nCoV-19).

5. Coronovirus situation in Ohio (coronavirus.ohio.gov).

 

 

Jan 15, 2020: 

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH awards an R01 grant award in the total amount of $1,177,720 to Dr. Anton A. Komar for his research on eukaryotic initiation factor 2A (eIF2A). The title of the grant is “eIF2A in translational control.”  The proposed research will investigate, how eIF2A functions and affects the physiological and pathophysiological processes in mammals.

 

Dec 17, 2019: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun has been invited to give a platform presentation at the symposium, entitled, “Biological and Biomimetic Materials” to be held as part of the Central Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (CERMACS) in Columbus, Ohio, May 27-29, 2020. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

Oct 28, 2019: 

GRHD hosted it sixth annual GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Oct 25, 2019: 

GRHD hosted its third John and Patricia Thompson Lecture delivered by Dr. Carlos J. Bustamante, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, Physics and Chemistry, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair of Biophysics, Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, CA. The title of Dr. Bustamante's presentation was: “Dissecting Ribosome Translation by Co-Tempered Single Molecule Fluorescence and Force Measurements."

 

Aug 12, 2019: 

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at NIH awarded an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,499 to Dr. Andrew Resnick for his research on primary cilia. The title of the grant is "Bending Primary Cilia: evidence for a structure-function relationship?" The proposed research will investigate, how cilium bending contributes to cell signaling pathways. Congratulations, Andy!

 

Aug 05, 2019: 

Dr. Valentin Börner has been selected to give a platform presentation at the EMBO Conference on Meiosis to beheld in La Rochelle, France, Aug 25 - 29, 2019. The title of his presentation is "Roles of Fanconi anemia complex components in low abundance (‘scout’) DSB processing.” Congratulations, Valentin!

 

July 11, 2019: 

Dr. Crystal M. Weyman has beeт selected for inclusion in Crain’s Cleveland Business’ list of Notable Women in Education for 2019. The women included in this list have been recognized as educators dedicated to creating and expanding learning opportunities for Northeast Ohioans of all ages, at all levels and in a host of fields. Their leadership, devotion and example are helping to shape a better future for our region and its people. Congratulations, Crystal!

 

May 08, 2019: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Bibo Li has received funding from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support her research on antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

May 02, 2019: 

Dr. Crystal M. Weyman received the CSU's Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence and a Distinguished Faculty Award for Service. The Jennie S. Hwang Award is the highest honor bestowed by the University for faculty members and recognizes individuals for bringing regional, national and international recognition to Cleveland State through exceptional achievements in teaching, research and service. The award is named in honor of Jennie Hwang, a member of the CSU Foundation board of directors and CEO of H Technologies Group.

Two other GRHD members (namely, Dr. Anton A. Komar (2016) and Dr. Bibo Li (2017)) received Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence previously.

 

April 14, 2019:

Dr. Roman Kondratov has been invited to deliver platform presentations at two prestigious meetings:

(i) The Annual American Society for Nutrition Meeting to be held in Baltimore, MD, June 8-11, 2019. The title of his presentation is "Caloric Restriction and Circadian Clock Crosstalk Reprograms Fat Metabolism" and

(ii) Harvard Medical School's 20th Annual Harvard Nutrition and Obesity Symposium, entitled "Longevity and Aging: Nutritional and Metabolic Mechanisms" to be held at Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, July 10,11, 2019. The title of this presentation is "Circadian Mechanisms in Caloric Restriction". Congratulations, Roman!

 

April 11, 2019:

Dr. Bibo Li has been selected to present a talk at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) meeting on "Telomeres & Telomerase​​​​​" to be held in Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, New York, April 30 - May 4, 2019. The title of her talk is "The oligonucleotide-binding activity of RAP1 is essential for monoallelic VSG expression and cell viability in Trypanosoma brucei". Congratulations, Bibo!

Founded in 1890, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory employs 1,100 people including 600 scientists, students and technicians. The prestigious Meetings & Courses Program hosts more than 12,000 scientists from around the world each year on the CSHL campuses.

 

April 10, 2019:

Dr. Amit Gaurav, a post-doctoral fellow in Dr. Bibo Li's lab has been selected to present a talk at the prestigious "Kinetoplastid Molecular Cell Biology Meeting" to be held at the  Marine Biological Laboratory,  Woods Hole MA, April 27 - May 1, 2019. The title of his talk is "Trypanosoma brucei  RAP1 has an RNA binding activity that is essential for VSG monoallelic expression". Congratulations, Amit!

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is a private, nonprofit institution founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888 and an affiliate of the University of Chicago. Among the scientists with a significant affiliation with the MBL (scientists, course faculty and students) are 58 Nobel Prize winners (since 1929); 131 Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators, early career scientists, international researchers, and professors (since 1960); 263 Members of the National Academy of Sciences (since 1960); and 227 Members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (since 1960).

 

March 31, 2019: 

On February 19, Dr. Valentin Boerner presented a lecture at the Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica in Taipei City, Taiwan on the molecular functions of the FANCM gene, which is implicated in anemia and cancer susceptibility. The title of Dr. Boerner's presentation was "Homologous Chromosome Interactions as Safeguard of Genome Stability." Academia Sinica is the national academy of Taiwan. With an annual budget of $550 million (2016), it is ranked 22nd in Reuters World's Most Innovative Research Institutions. Many world renowned scientists have been speakers in the  Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica seminar series. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Feb 19, 2019: 

Crain’s Cleveland Business - the leading source of business news in Northeast Ohio highlights a recent NIH grant received by Dr. Aimin Zhou. Congratulations, Aimin!

 

Jan 07, 2019: 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at NIH awards an AREA (R15) grant the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Aimin Zhou for his research on type 1 diabetes. The title of the grant is “RNase L contributes to lipid homeostasis.”  The proposed research will investigate, how RNase L  contributes to the homeostasis of cholesterol in macrophages and subsequently foam cell formation. Congratulations, Aimin!

 

Dec 16, 2018: 

Congratulations to GRHD Fall 2018 PhD graduates Jasmine Marie Manouchehri, Brianna Barrett, Soumyaditya Ghosh, Kuldeep Makwana, Richa Tulsian, Subhra Sankar Nag, Supriya Jindal and their advisors Drs Michael Kalafatis, Crystal M. Weyman, Roman V. Kondratov, Andrew Resnick and Anton A. Komar!

 

Oct 26, 2018: 

GRHD hosted the fifth GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Oct 25, 2018: 

GRHD selebrated its 10 year anniversary by a minisymposium. Speakers included:

Dr. William M. Baldwin III M.D., Ph.D., Staff, Department of Immunology, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH

Dr. Baldwin delivered a lecture, entitled “Organ Transplantation: Can platelet RNA predict success or failure?”

 

Dr. Alan Tartakoff, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology, Coordinator, Graduate Program in Cell Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH. Dr. Tartakoff's talked was on “Genetic Stability of Yeast Zygotes”

and Dr. Douglas Koshland.

 

The keynote, John and Patricia Thompson Lecture was delivered by Dr. Douglas Koshland, Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Chair in the Biological Sciences and Professor of Genetics, Genomics and Development, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.  The title of Dr. Kohsland's presentation was: “The good, the bad and the ugly of chromosome dynamics."

 

Aug 16, 2018:

President Harlan Sands met today with NIH R01 funded CSU faculty (Drs Boerner, Kondratov, Lee, Li and Mazumder; Dr. Kim, another R01 grant holder, couldn't attend the meeting)! The meeting was organized by VP for Research Dr. Sawicki and also attended by the Board of Trustees Chair, David Gunning II, Esq. Five out of six R01 grants are in GRHD!

 

May 07, 2018:

Congratulations to GRHD for receiving a Federal NIH grant entitled "A Digital Laser Scanner Biomolecular Imaging System: Amersham Typhoon 5" (PI: Dr. Bibo Li; Total award amount $163,076). Amersham Typhoon 5 biomolecular imager is the next generation of Typhoon scanners. This new laser scanner is designed for versatile imaging and precise quantitation of fluorescent, colorimetric, and radiolabeled proteins and nucleic acids. Congratulations Bibo and GRHD!

 

April 20, 2018: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder has received funding from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on L13a KO mouse. Congratulations, Barsan!

 

April 06, 2018: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Andrew Resnick has received the award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on the biology of cilia. Congratulations, Andy!

 

March 21, 2018: 

Dr. Aaron Severson's research on meiosis in Caenorhabditis elegans has been featured in a recent video pruduced by the Office of Research. Congratulations, Aaron! Previously, Drs. Barsanjit Mazumder's, Bibo Li's, Roman Kondratov's, Andrew Resnick's, and Girish Shukla's studies have been featured in the CSU's Office of Research video Series.

 

Feb 16, 2018: 

Crain’s Cleveland Business - the leading source of business news in Northeast Ohio highlights a recent NIH grant received by Dr. Valentin Börner. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Jan 25, 2018: 

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH) awards a grant in the total amount of $2,020,012 to Dr. Valentin Börner for his research on chromosome pairing and meiotic recombination.  The title of Dr. Börner’s project is “Role of Chromosomally Tethered Proteasome in Chromosome Pairing and Meiotic Recombination”. This project addresses the role of proteasome in juxtaposition of homologous chromosomes, crossing-over and synaptonemal complex assembly in meiosis. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Jan 10, 2018: 

Dr. Tony Berdis's innovative cancer treatment approach has been featured by Cleveland News 5 channel on January 9, 2018. The new study published by Tony and his team in Cancer Research revealed that that efficacious responses to Temozolomide (a DNA alkylating agent that commonly used to treat brain tumors) can be heightened significantly by co-administration of an artificial nucleoside (5-NIdR) that efficiently and selectively inhibits the replication of DNA lesions generated by temozolomide. Collectively, these results offer a preclinical pharmacological proof of concept for the coordinate inhibition of translesion DNA synthesis as a strategy to improve chemotherapeutic responses in aggressive brain tumors. Tony's research has been supported by the Department of Defense, the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, the CSU’s Office of Research, GRHD and the Dr. John C. Vitullo's pilot and bridge funding program. Congratulations, Tony!

 

Dec 21, 2017: 

Dr. Bibo Li, received the CSU's Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence and a Distinguished Faculty Award for Research. The Jennie S. Hwang Award is the highest honor bestowed by the University for faculty members and recognizes individuals for bringing regional, national and international recognition to Cleveland State through exceptional achievements in teaching, research and service. The award is named in honor of Jennie Hwang, a member of the CSU Foundation board of directors and CEO of H Technologies Group.

Previously, 6 GRHD faculty received CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research. Dr. Anton A. Komar also received Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence in 2016.  

2016: Dr. Anton A. Komar, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research and  Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence

2014: Dr. Aimin Zhou, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

2012: Dr. Xue-Long Sun, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

2010: Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

2009: Dr. Crystal M. Weyman, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

2005: Dr. Michael Kalafatis, CSU’s Distinguished Faculty Award for Research

 

Dec 01, 2017: 

GRHD welcomes Dr. Hee-Sook Kim from Rockefeller University (RU), who joined the Center as a research assistant professor. Dr. Hee-Sook Kim will continue her work (in collaboration with Dr. Bibo Li) on a recently awarded NIH R01 grant, entiteld “Molecular dynamics of genome and epigenome integrity in Trypanosoma brucei.” The NIH R01 proposal has been funded for $999,954 over five years.

 

Nov 27, 2017: 

A new video featuring GRHD has been released! See what GRHD advisory board members, the COSHP Dean and VP for Research think about GRHD.

 

Nov 15, 2017: 

Cleveland Health-Tech Corridor talks to Anton A. Komar about the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease.

 

Nov 03, 2017: 

GRHD hosted the fourth GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Nov 02, 2017: 

Dr. Stephen J. Benkovic, Ph.D., Evan Pugh Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Recipient of the National Medal of Science (2010) delivered the Inaugural John and Patricia Thompson Seminar. The title of Dr. Benkovic's presentation was: "The purinosome, an unique metabolon, responsible for cellular de novo purine biosynthesis." The John and Patricia Thompson Seminar Series has been established following the generous gift of CSU alumni John and Patricia Thompson.

 

Oct  26, 2017:

DAPCEL, Inc donates $15,000 to support research at the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). 

 

Sept 14, 2017: 

Dr. Bibo Li received additional funding in the total amount of $816,750 over five years as part of a National Institutes of Health research grant, entitled “Molecular dynamics of genome and epigenome integrity in Trypanosoma brucei,” which is led by Dr. Hee-Sook Kim at the Rockefeller University. The project is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases via R01 grant. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

July 24, 2017: 

Dr. Valentin Börner has been selected to give a platform presentation at the EMBO Conference on Meiosis to beheld in Hvar, Croatia, Aug 27 - Sept 1, 2017. The title of his presentation is "The Fanconi Anemia DNA Helicase Mph1 Mediates Interhomolog Repair of DNA Double Strand Breaks during Meiosis.” Congratulations, Valentin!

 

July 17, 2017: 

Dr. Barsan Mazumders's research on resolution of inflammation has been featured in a recent video pruduced by the Office of Research. Congratulations, Barsan! Previously, Drs. Bibo Li's, Roman Kondratov's, Andrew Resnick's, and Girish Shukla's studies have been featured in the CSU's Office of Research video Series.

 

July 12, 2017: 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) awards an AREA (R15) grant in the total amount of $445,500 to Dr. Xue-Long Sun for his research on antithrombotic agents. The title of the grant is "Synthesis of Biomimetic Proteoglycan and Its Antithrombotic Activity".

The proposed research is aimed at the development of antithrombotic agents with enhanced antithrombotic activity, safety, stability, and pharmacokinetic properties. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

June 23, 2017: 

Dr. Stephen J. Benkovic, Ph.D., Evan Pugh Professor and Eberly Chair in Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Recipient of the National Medal of Science (2010) will be giving the Inaugural John and Patricia Thompson Seminar, which will be held on Nov 2, 2017. The title of Dr. Benkovic's presentation: "The purinosome, an unique metabolon, responsible for cellular de novo purine biosynthesis."

 

May 19, 2017: 

Subhra Nag, a doctoral student in Dr. Andrew Resnick's laboratory has been selected to receive a 2017 Meritorious Research Travel Award from the Epithelial Transport Group of the American Physiological Society. This award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions by a trainee presenting at the Experimental Biology 2017 meeting. This award is made possible through grant support from National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). This grant is intended to defray travel, registration, housing, and meal expenses which a trainee personally incurs as a result of attendance and participation at the meeting. Congratulations, Subhra and Andy!

 

April 28, 2017: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Anthony Berdis has received the award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on non-natural nucleosides as anti-cancer therapeutic agents. Congratulations, Tony!

 

March 14, 2017: 

Dr. Valentin Börner's and his colleagues recent Science paper entitled "Control of Meiotic Pairing and Recombination by Chromosomally Tethered 26S Proteasome” has been highlighted in Cell Research by Dr. Michael Lichten (National Cancer Institute, NIH) in the article entitled "Proteasomes on the chromosome". Congratulations, Valentin!

 

March 07, 2017: 

The National Institute of Aging (NIH) awards a grant in the total amount of $1,522,125 to Dr. Roman Kondratov for his research on circadian clock system and aging.  Dr. Kondratov has been holding his R01 grant since September 15, 2011 and renews it first time for the second consecutive term. The title of Dr. Kondratov’s project is “Circadian clock and dietary restriction”. This project addresses the role of the circadian clock in dietary restriction. Dietary restriction is a powerful intervention shown to increase longevity in a variety of organisms, including humans. Data obtained as a result of this study will help to understand the molecular basis of aging and age-associated diseases, and to develop physiological and pharmacological strategies for the treatment and prevention of such age-associated pathologies as heart diseases, cancer, diabetes and osteoporosis. Dr. Kondratov is using various trangenic mice models to address the above mentioned questions. Over the past 8 years Dr. Kondratov has brought more than $3M in NIH funding to CSU. Congratulations, Roman!

 

Feb 17, 2017: 

Dr. Roman Kondratov has been appointed to serve as a member of the Cellular Signaling and Regulatory Systems Study Section, Center for Scientific Review (NIH), for the term beginning July 01, 2017 and ending June 30, 2021. Members are selected on the basis of their demonstrated competence and achievement in their scientific discipline as evidenced by the quality of research accomplishments, publications in scientific journals, and other significant scientific activities, achievements and honors. Congratulations, Roman!

 

Feb 09, 2017: 

Subhra Nag, a doctoral student in Dr. Andrew Resnick's laboratory has been selected to receive the Excellent Award for the 3-Minute Thesis Competition. This award is granted to graduate students who have demonstrated merit in summarizing their research in 3 minutes or less using the University of Queensland guidelines. A plaque to commemorate the award will be presented to Subhra at the Graduate Student Awards Ceremony in Spring Semester 2017.  Congratulations, Subhra and Andy!

 

Jan 27, 2017: 

Dr. Valentin Börner's and his colleagues recent Science paper entitled "Control of Meiotic Pairing and Recombination by Chromosomally Tethered 26S Proteasome” has been previewed in Science by Dr. Monique Zetka in the perspective article entitled "When degradation spurs segregation". Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Jan 10, 2017: 

Crain's Cleveland Business highlights Dr. Börner's study published in Science online.

 

Jan 05, 2017: 

A groundbreaking study, entitled "Control of Meiotic Pairing and Recombination by Chromosomally Tethered 26S Proteasome”, and devoted to the mechanism of chromosome juxtaposition and segregation in meiosis has been published online on Thursday, January 5 in the journal Science  by a team of researchers led by Dr. Valentin Börner. The team also includes scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Washington State University. This study shows that the proteasome, the main cellular protease in all eukaryotes, controls three key processes during meiosis via its proteolytic activity: i) juxtaposition of homologous chromosomes, ii) crossing-over and iii) synaptonemal complex assembly. It is the first observation showing that the proteasome is specifically recruited to chromosomes as part of a cellular differentiation program. As such, Dr. Börner’s findings provide an integrated model how targeted protein degradation controls large scale chromosome juxtaposition, with important effects on meiotic crossing over and ultimately chromosome segregation.

Science is the leading scientific journal in the world. Science has been at the center of important scientific discovery since its founding in 1880. Science publishes the very best in research across the sciences, with articles that consistently rank among the most cited in the world. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Dec 21, 2016: 

Dr. Anton A. Komar, received the CSU's Dr. Jennie S. Hwang Award for Faculty Excellence and a Distinguished Faculty Award for Research.

 

Dec 20, 2016: 

Sonal Patel, a doctoral student in Dr. Roman Kondratov's laboratory has been selected to receive the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in Research in Natural Sciences, Engineering, and Mathematics. This award is granted to graduate students for research conducted for a doctoral dissertation which has the potential to make a substantial contribution to the field. A plaque to commemorate the award will be presented to Sonal at the Graduate Student Awards Ceremony in Spring Semester 2017. The title of Sonal's dissertation is "Calorie Restriction Effect on Circadian Clock Gene Expression." Sonal has recently accepted a post-doctoral fellow position at Columbia University in the City of New York. Congratulations, Sonal and Roman!

 

Dec 16, 2016: 

Crain's Cleveland Business highlights $100,000 gift to GRHD.

 

Dec 16, 2016: 

GRHD received a $100,000 gift from CSU alumni John and Patricia Thompson to support the creation of the John and Patricia Thompson GRHD Seminar Series. The series will bring in nationally and internationally-recognized scientists in the fields of molecular biology and genetics to present research seminars to GRHD faculty and students. We are extremely grateful to John and Patricia Thompson for their support of GRHD. Congratulations, GRHD!

 

Dec 13, 2016: 

Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder has been invited to deliver a platform presentation at the upcoming "3rd International Conference on Perspectives of Cell Signaling and Molecular Medicine" (January 8-10, 2017, Kolkata, India) held on the occasion of 100 years of Bose Institute. The title of his presentation is "Translational control as an endogenous defense mechanism against inflammation."  Bose Institute was founded by Sir Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose, CSI, CIE, FRS a prominent Bengali polymath, physicist, biologist, biophysicist, botanist and archaeologist. The institute was one of the earliest, perhaps the first modern research institute in India. Congratulations, Barsan!

 

Dec 05, 2016: 

GRHD hosted a special seminar: "Measuring Functional Metabolism with the Agilent Seahorse XFe Analyzer" presented by Brian Kierce, Agilent Instrument Product Specialist. The Agilent Seahorse XF Analyzer systems measure the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and extracellular acidification rate (ECAR) of live cells in a multi-well plate to interrogate key cellular functions such as mitochondrial respiration and glycolysis.

 

Dec 01, 2016:

DAPCEL, Inc donates $15,000 to support research at the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). 

 

Nov 03, 2016: 

Subhra Nag, a doctoral student in Dr. Andrew Resnick's laboratory has been selected to deliver a platform presentation at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the Ohio Physiological Society (November 18-19, 2016, Columbus, Ohio). The title of his presentation is "Effect of Hypoxia Inducible Factor 1-alpha on Functional Phenotype of Renal Epithelial Cells." Congratulations, Subhra and Andy!

 

Oct 28, 2016: 

GRHD hosted the third GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. GRHD External Advisory Committee evaluates the research programs of GRHD faculty, and discusses GRHD progress and GRHD needs.

 

Oct 26, 2016: 

Crain's Cleveland Business highlights $1 million gift to GRHD.

 

Oct 25, 2016: 

GRHD received a $1 million gift. The support, provided by an anonymous donor, will be used to fund graduate scholarships, post-doctoral fellowships, pilot and bridge research projects, and equipment needs. It will also assist in drawing additional private and public investment to further expand and strengthen the Center’s research portfolio. We are deeply indebted to the generous donor! Congratulations, GRHD!

 

Oct 07, 2016: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Xue-Long Sun has received the award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on the functional glyco-affinity ligand engineering. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

Aug 18, 2016: 

GRHD Clinical Chemistry PhD students Katie Turner (Dr. Kalafatis's lab) and Valentinas Gruzdys (Dr. Sun's lab) received best abstract awards at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting held in Philadelphia, PA, July 31 - August 4. Congratulations, Katie, Michael, Val and Xue-Long!

 

July 30, 2016: 

Congratulations to Dr. Bibo Li for receiving a three-year collaborative (with Carnegie Mellon University/Dr. Kausik Chakrabarti) NSF grant award totaling $810,000. The grant is entitled "Collaborative Research: Telomerase Regulation in Deep Branching Eukaryotes". Dr. Li/CSU is awarded a total of $295,000. This project will examine telomerase function in the early lineage of eukaryotic evolution.

 

June 24, 2016: 

Dr. Anton A. Komar's and his colleagues recent Molecular Cell paper has been recommended by Faculty of 1000 (F1000) as being of special significance in its field. Faculty of 1000 (F1000) identifies and evaluates the most important articles in biology and medical research publications. Articles are selected by a peer-nominated global 'Faculty' of the world's leading scientists and clinicians who then rate them and explain their importance.

 

June 19, 2016: 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) awards an AREA (R15) grant (second in a row) in the total amount of $436,500 to Dr. Bin Su for his research on discovery and development of novel antiprotozoal drugs. The title of the grant is “Selective tubulin inhibitors with improved cell update for kinetoplastid infections.”  The proposed research will help create novel drugs for treatment of trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, a widespread tropical disease, caused by protozoan parasites belonging to the genus Trypanosoma. This grant involves extensive collaboration with Dr. Bibo Li. Congratulations, Bin and Bibo!

 

June 18, 2016: 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH) awards a grant in the total amount of $2,182,500 to Dr. Bibo Li for her research on antigenic variation/variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) switching in Trypanosoma brucei.  Dr. Li has been holding her R01 grant since January 1, 2007 and renews it second time for the third consecutive term. The title of Dr. Li’s project is “Mechanisms of RAP1 functions in monoallelic VSG expression in Trypanosoma brucei”. Dr. Li’s research is devoted to the study of telomere function in the protozoan parasite T. brucei. T. brucei undergoes antigenic variation and regularly switches its major surface antigen, variant surface glycoprotein (VSG), to evade the host's immune attack. Telomeres, being adjacent to the expression sites of VSGs, have been shown to play an important role in VSG expression regulation. Dr. Li found that telomeric silencing and VSG switching in T. brucei depend on telomere protein RAP1. Dr. Li is a recipient of the College of Science Outstanding Research Award (2009). Over the past 9 years Dr. Li has brought more than $5M in NIH funding to CSU. Congratulations, Bibo!

 

June 16, 2016: 

Katherine Turner's abstract submitted to the 2016 American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting was selected as one of the 

two best abstracts in the Clinical Diagnostic Immunology Division (CDID) of AACC. The 2016 AACC annual meeting will be held in Philadelphia, PA, July 31 - August 4. Katie is a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Michael Kalafatis's lab. The title of her presentation is "Quantification of Death Receptors as Tumor Markers for the Prediction of TRAIL Sensitivity by Flow Cytometry". AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo is the leading event for laboratory medicine worldwide, where breakthrough innovations in clinical testing and patient care are introduced to the healthcare world. Congratulations, Katie and Michael!

 

May 20, 2016: 

A groundbreaking study devoted to the mechanism of maintainance of Ca2+ homeostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) has been published in the journal Cell by Dr. Aimin Zhou and his colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Maintaining of Ca2+ homeostasis is crucial for proper Ca2+ signaling, which impinges on many key cellular processes such as contraction, secretion, memory formation, gene transcription, cell growth, and cell death.  The endoplasmic reticulum is the main intracellular Ca2+ store. Stimulation of cells with a variety of physiological stimuli leads to Ca2+ release from ER and the depletion of Ca2+ stores that have to be refilled for proper cellular function. The general mechanism of such refill was known, however it was unclear, if there is a mechanism for ER to extrude the excess Ca2+ when the store gets overloaded. The authors uncovered the function of the transmembrane and coiled-coil domains 1 (TMCO1) protein and showed that it is responsible for protecting Ca2+ stores from Ca2+ overload. Mutations in TMCO1 gene are known to be associated with TMCO1-defect syndrome, which is commonly leading to distinctive craniofacial dysmorphism, skeletal anomalies, mental retardation, ataxia, and many other clinical symptoms. This novel finding allowed to explain the origin of these defects. This study may potentially also help development of new therapies for TMCO1-defect syndrome treatment. 

Cell is the leading journal in biology and the highest-impact journal in the world. Cell publishes findings of unusual significance in any area of experimental biology, including but not limited to cell biology, molecular biology, neuroscience, immunology, virology and microbiology, cancer, human genetics, systems biology, signaling, and disease mechanisms and therapeutics. Congratulations, Aimin!

 

May 19, 2016: 

Dr. Anton A. Komar's and his colleagues recent Molecular Cell paper has been featured by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) in the Frontier Science section, which presents information by and about HFSP awardees as well as topics of interest to scientists throughout the world working at the frontiers of the life sciences. The study published by Dr. Komar and his colleagues was supported by the HFSP Program grant.

 

May 18, 2016: 

Dr. Andy Resnick's research on the biological function of sensory cilia that controls cell and tissue responses to applied fluid motion has been featured in a recent video pruduced by the Office of Research. Congratulations, Andy! Previously, Drs. Bibo Li's, Roman Kondratov's and Girish Shukla's studies have been featured in the CSU's Office of Research video Series. 

 

May 18, 2016: 

Dr. Bin Su received additional funding in the total amount of $240,000 for his project "Targeting EphA2 in Glioblastoma," which is an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Bingcheng Wang in the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The project is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01 grant) via CWRU. Congratulations, Bin!

 

May 14, 2016: 

Rima Sandhu a graduate (PhD) student in Dr. Valentin Boerner's lab has been selected to give a platform presentation at the Meiosis Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) "Mechanisms of Sexual Reproduction Through Meiosis" to be held in New London, NH (June 25-26). The title of her presentation is "Processing of Stalled Meiotic Recombination Intermediates by a Newly Identified Chromosomal Protein". This GRS will be held in conjunction with the "Meiosis" Gordon Research Conference (GRC). For over 75 years, GRC's meetings have been recognized as the world's premier scientific conferences. Congratulations, Rima and Valentin!  

 

May 14, 2016: 

Dr. Anthony Berdis was selected to give a platform presentation at "The Controlling the Cancer Summit 2016" to be held in London, UK (May 17-19th). The title of Dr. Berdis's presentation is "Non-Natural Nucleosides as Therapeutic Agents Against Glioblastoma". The annual Controlling Cancer Summit is an international academic event attended by clinicians, academics and members of the pharmaceutical industry, representing a wide spectrum of cancer research, development and healthcare professionals. Congratulations, Tony!

 

May 02, 2016: 

Dr. Roman Kondratov has been invited to give a platform presentation at the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms (SRBR) meeting in Palm Harbor Florida (May 21-25th). Dr. Kondratov will present his research at the minisimposium entitled "Rhythms over the Lifespan". Congratulations, Roman!

 

Apr 20, 2016: 

Vice President for Research Dr. Jerzy Sawicki and Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Jianping Zhu have reviewed and approved GRHD External Advisory Committee's recommendation/proposal for elevating the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD) status from Type 3 to a Type 4 University Research Center (the highest at CSU). This provides the infrastructure support functions needed by a group of faculty with shared education, research or service/clinical interests. The decision was based on the outstanding accomplishments of the GRHD faculty. Congratulations, GRHD!

 

Apr 08, 2016: 

TechOhio (the Ohio Development Services Agency) that showcases how the Ohio Third Frontier initiative is helping grow the state's technology economy has recently highlighted the research done by Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC in a short video. Red5 Pharmaceuticals was co-founded by a GRHD member, Dr. Anthony Berdis, who is also serving as chief scientific officer of the company. Red5 Pharmaceuticals is developing new cancer treatment approaches and diagnostic kits. The company is working to expand its research to find new ways to treat breast, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. The company was previously awarded a $60,000 Technology Validation and Start-up Fund (TVSF) grant from Ohio Third Frontier. Congratulations, Tony!

 

Apr 07, 2016: 

Subhra Nag, a doctoral student in Andrew Resnick's laboratory has been selected to receive a Meritorious Research Travel Award from the Epithelial Transport Group of the American Physiological Society. This award recognizes outstanding scientific contributions by a trainee presenting at the Experimental Biology 2016 meeting. Congratulations, Subhra and Andy!

 

March 14, 2016: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Andrew Resnick has received the award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on the biology of cilia. Congratulations, Andy!

 

Feb 26, 2016: 

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH) awards a grant in the total amount of $1.45 Million to Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder for his research on translational control of inflammation. Dr. Mazumder is holding his R01 grant since March 1, 2005 and renews it second time for the third consecutive term. The title of Dr. Mazumder’s grant is “Translational silencing in monocytes: role of L13a”. Dr. Mazumder’s research is devoted to the study of uncontrolled inflammation – a leading cause of many diseases such as atherosclerosis, colitis and/or cardiovascular disease. Dr. Mazumder is a recipient of the College of Science Outstanding Research Award (2006) and Distinguished Faculty Award for Research (2010) from Cleveland State University. Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder is one of the founding members of GRHD and a member of the GRHD planning committee. Congratulations, Barsan!

 

Feb 16, 2016:

A recent paper by Dr. Roman Kondratov and his colleagues in the journal Bone entitled “Deficiency of circadian clock protein BMAL1 in mice results in a low bone mass phenotype” has been highlighted in Nature Reviews Rheumatology - one of the top rheumatology journals in the field. Dr. Kondratov’ research shows that impairing the molecular clock by inactivating  the transcription factor brain and muscle Arnt-like protein 1 (BMAL1) in mice leads to osteopenia, which contrasts with previous studies. Congratulations, Roman!

 

Feb 04, 2016: 

Dr. Anton Komar and the team of international researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, Germany published two high profile papers that appeared in the premier journals in the field, Molecular Cell and Science. Dr. Komar and his colleagues studied the central principles of how proteins are produced by ribosomes in cells and how synonymous codon usage regulates translation elongation, co-translational folding, and protein quality in the cell. This work was supported by the International Human Frontiers Science Program (HFSP) $900,000 grant awarded to Dr. Komar and his team. It contributes to our understanding of the origin of many human diseases caused by incorrect protein folding and gives a tool to upscale the production of functional proteins for medical and biotechnological purposes. HFSP supports innovative, cutting edge research at the frontiers of the life sciences.

 

Feb 03, 2016: 

GRHD faculty, Dr. Aimin Zhou, and his colleagues, Siu-Tung Yau, Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Harry Fox, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Technology (both from the Washkewicz College of Engineering) and Eddie T. C. Lam, Associate Professor, Department of Health and Human Performance (College of Education and Human Services) received the Multi-College Interdisciplinary Research Program (MIRP) grant award totaling $75,000 for their project “An Ultrasensitive, Non-Invasive Detection Platform for Disease Biomarkers.”

The researcher of this team is focused on the development of a novel, ultrasensitive assay approach allowing for early detection of cancer and other diseases. The Multi-College Interdisciplinary Research Program provides funding for broad and collaborative research activities that are interdisciplinary and involve faculty from multiple colleges across CSU.

 

Jan 18, 2016: 

Dr. Girish Shukla's research on prostate cancer has been featured in a recent video pruduced by the Office of Research. Congratulations, Girish! Previously, Drs. Bibo Li's and Roman Kondratov's studies have been featured in the CSU's Office of Research video Series. 

 

Dec 22, 2015: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Valentin Boerner has received the award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on proteolytic activity of the proteasome in chromose pairing and break repair during meiosis. This research may help the development of innovative treatment of multiple myeloma, the second most common type of blood cancers. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

Dec 21, 2015: 

The National Institutes of Health awards an AREA (R15) grant in the amount of $349,200 to Dr. Aaron Severson for his research on meiosis in model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. The title of the grant is "Specification of meiotic cohesin function by divergent alpha-kleisin subunits".

The proposed research will increase our understanding of the cellular machinery that forms normal sperm and eggs and reveal how defects in this machinery lead to infertility. Congratulations, Aaron!

 

Nov 16, 2015: 

GRHD hosted a special seminar: "Multicolor flow cytometry on your bench top: guava easyCyte™ Flow Cytometry" presented by Yan Nikhamin, MS, MBA, EMD/Millipore Field Application Scientist. The guava easyCyte™ microcapillary flow cytometry systems are easy to use and offering both single sample and multi-sample processing.

  

Oct 30, 2015: 

GRHD hosted the second GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes 7 world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. 

 

Oct 29, 2015:

A generous $150,000 bequest from Dr. George Stark, Ph.D., and his wife, Mary, will endow a graduate scholarship in GRHD. This gift is the largest to date pledged to GRHD. Dr. Stark earned a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1959. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Rockefeller University with Drs. William Stein and Stanford Moore (both received Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1972), he joined the Department of Biochemistry at Stanford University in 1963 (headed back at a time by another Nobel Laureate, Arthur Kornberg (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1959)), becoming Professor in 1971. In 1983, he moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London as Associate Director of Research. In July 1992, he became the Chair of the Lerner Research Institute of The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, a position he held until August 2002. He is currently the Distinguished Scientist of the Lerner Research Institute, with a laboratory in the Department of Cancer Biology. Dr. Stark was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1986, to the Fellowship of the Royal Society in 1990 and to the Institute of Medicine in 2002. He has received the Sober, Milstein and Coley awards and was the Herbert Tabor lecturer at the 2011 annual meeting of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

Dr. Stark has contributed to several different areas of modern biochemistry and molecular biology. Early work on enzyme mechanisms and protein chemistry led to the development of the Northern and Western techniques for analysis of specific RNAs and proteins. His laboratory has also studied gene amplification in mammalian cells, leading to an appreciation both of the mechanisms that generate amplified structures and the regulatory processes that prevent amplification from occurring in normal cells. A major project was to apply systematic genetic analysis to interferon-dependent signaling pathways. In collaboration with Dr. Ian Kerr, eight different mutant cell lines were isolated, each complemented by a cDNA encoding a different protein in the pathway. The work with interferon, together with that of Dr. James Darnell, led to the discovery of the family of JAK-STAT signaling pathways, which mediate responses to many different extracellular factors.

Mary Stark was trained in physics at the University of Michigan and has worked in the laboratory with George Stark for many years.

Dr. Stark is chair of the GRHD advisory committee. He also was instrumental in developing a Cellular and Molecular Medicine Specialization (CMMS) program jointly offered by CSU and Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute. 

 

Oct 19, 2015:

DAPCEL, Inc donates $15,000 to support research at the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). DAPCEL, Inc. is a research biotechnology company focused on the development of strategies for optimization of enhanced protein production in any desired host organism.

 

Oct 09, 2015:

Watch recent news from the ASHG 2015 meeting in Baltimore at the ASHG TV: Cancer Genetics in the Genomics Era, Distinguished Speakers Symposium, NIH Director on Precision Medicine Initiative (PMI) and much more.

 

Oct 05, 2015:

GRHD member, Dr. Xue-Long Sun, worked previously on a drug discovery project with a 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, Prof. Satoshi Ōmura. Three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering “therapies that have revolutionized the treatment of some of the most devastating parasitic diseases,” the Nobel committee announced on Monday, October 5th. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura won a Nobel Prize for developing a new anti-filariasis drug, Avermectin. They shared the award with Youyou Tu, who discovered Artemisinin, a drug that has significantly reduced death rates from malaria.

 

Oct 04, 2015:

GRHD is featured at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Annual Meeting 2015 in a video produced by WebsEdge  -  a global leader in web-based and conference TV.

 

Sept 25, 2015:

The National Science Foundation awarded $3,732,793 for a Northern Ohio collaborative research program. Case Western Reserve University, Kent State University, the University of Akron, the University of Toledo, Youngstown State University, Bowling Green University and Cleveland State University will collaborate to create the Northern Ohio Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NOA-AGEP): A Racially and Ethnically Inclusive Graduate Education Model in Biology, Chemistry and Engineering (BCE). Cleveland State University was awarded $239,975 within this program (Award No.: 1432864). Dr. Anton A. Komar, GRHD and CMMS director serves as a PI on the CSU's grant award. Prestigious ($21,000/year) scholarships are available for underrepresented minority (URM) students, who wish to join CMMS collaborative doctoral programs in Regulatory Biology, Clinical - Bioanalytical Chemistry and Applied Biomedical Engineering in Fall 2016.

 

Sept 02, 2015:

Dr. Anthony J. Berdis will present and discuss his research focused on developing a non-natural nucleoside that functions as a novel diagnostic tool and chemotherapeutic agent (‘theranostic’) to treat cancer in a Webinar to be held on Wednesday, October 8th 2015, 11AM EDT. This webinar is co-sponsored by Nature Publishing Group and EMD Millipore.

 

Aug 05, 2015:

A volume in the highly popular and successful "Methods in Molecular Biology" series (a product of Humana Press/Springer) entitled "Macro-Glycoligands" and edited by Dr. Xue-Long Sun is scheduled for publication on November 14, 2015. The series was the first to introduce the step-by-step protocols approach that has become the standard in all biomedical protocol publishing. This volume details methods and protocols for the synthesis and characterization of glycopolymers and their biomedical applications.

 

June 25, 2015: 

Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC (a Cleveland based startup company cofounded by a GRHD member Dr. Anthony J. Berdis) receives exclusive license to two of its innovative technologies; a kit that can quickly determine whether a cancer patient will respond to a particular chemotherapy program, and an experimental cancer drug. Read more in the press release published by Crain's Cleveland Business. Congratulations, Tony!

 

May 01, 2015: 

Dr. Aaron Severson has been invited to chair a session at the 1st EMBO Workshop on structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) proteins - "SMC proteins: chromosomal organizers from bacteria to human" to be held in Vienna, Austria, May 12-15, 2015. Dr. Severson is the only junior faculty member chairing a session at this meeting. Congratulations, Aaron!

 

April 24, 2015: 

Dr. Girish Shukla won College of Sciences and Health Professions Outstanding Research Award 2015. Congratulations, Girish! Four GRHD faculty received this award before, including: Dr. Barsanjit Mazumder (2006), Dr. Anton A. Komar (2008), Dr. Bibo Li (2009) and Dr. Xue-Long Sun (2010). In addition, Dr. Crystal M. Weyman was a recipient of the COSHP Outstanding Teaching Award 2007.

 

April 03, 2015: 

Mahesheema Na, (PhD student in Dr. Kalafatis's lab) and Vallentinas Gruzdys (PhD student in Dr. Xue-Long Sun's lab) have been selected by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) for the highly competitive SYCL (Society for Young Clinical Laboratorians) travel grant award to attend the 2015 AACC Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA.  Remarkably, CSU/GHRD/Clinical Chemistry students won 2 out of 3 SYCL grants awarded in 2015.

Another PhD student in Dr. Xue-Long Sun's lab, Dan Wang, received the Yong Investigator Travel Award to attend the 2015 MSACL (Mass Spectrometry: Application to the Clinical Lab) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA. 

Congratulations, Sheema, Vallentinas, Dan and Drs. Kalafatis and Xue-Long Sun!

 

March 27, 2015: 

A recent study devoted to chromosome break repair mechanism that has been published in Molecular Cell by Dr. Valentin Boerner and his colleagues has been highlighted in a preview article, which appeared in the journal Development Cell. Developmental Cell is a unique cross-disciplinary resource that brings together the fields of cell biology and developmental biology. Congratulations, Valentin!

 

March 04, 2015: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Aimin Zhou has received the first-ever award from Dr. John C. Vitullo’s Pilot and Bridge Funding Program to support his research on type 1 diabetes using RNase L knockout mice model! Congratulations, Aimin!

 

March 03, 2015: 

An innovative approach for the combined diagnostics and treatment of cancer has been reported by Dr. Anthony J. Berdis and his colleagues in a recent publication in J. Biol. Chem, appeared on line on Feb 24, 2015. A metal-containing nucleoside designated Ir(III)-PPY nucleoside was shown to display both therapeutic and diagnostic properties against the human epidermal carcinoma cell line, KB3-1. Ir(III)-PPY nucleoside kills cancer cells by arresting cell cycle progression at G2/M. Fluorescent properties of the nucleoside at the same time allow quantitative measurements of the nucleoside uptake by cancer cells via monitoring the activity of a specific nucleoside transporter, hENT1. Nucleoside transporters are important players in optimizing the therapeutic response to chemotherapy and quantifying nucleoside transporter activity can help to predict therapeutic responses to nucleoside treatments. Congratulations, Tony!

For more than 100 years J. Biol. Chem. has been an essential resource for the international community of biomedical researchers. 

 

Feb 27, 2015: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun's (and co-authors) article, entitled "Carbohydrate and Protein Immobilization onto Solid Surfaces by Sequential Diels-Alder and Azide-Alkyne Cycloadditions" that was published in Bioconjugate Chemistry (BC) in 2006, has been included in the special 25th Anniversary collection of the BC's best Articles and Communications. Congratulations, Xue-Long! Bioconjugate Chemistry publishes articles on all aspects of the joining of different molecular functions by chemical or biological means. This includes, among other topics, the conjugation of antibodies, nucleic acids, lipids, carbohydrates, or other biologically active molecules and their analogs with any molecular groups that add useful properties (drugs, radionuclides, toxins, fluorophores, photoprobes, inhibitors, enzymes, haptens, ligands, etc.).

 

Feb 13, 2015:

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony J. Berdis a member of GRHD and the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC! Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC has just received funding from the Ohio Third Frontier Foundation totaling $60,000 in the category Technology Validation and Start-up Fund for the research and development proposal, entitled “Diagnostic Kits to Predict Patient Response to Chemotherapy”. The goal of the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-up Fund (TVSF) is to create greater economic growth in Ohio based on start-up companies that commercialize technologies developed by Ohio institutions of higher education and other Ohio not-for-profit research institutions. Dr. Berdis is a recipient of the first-ever CSU Faculty Innovation Fund (FIF) award.

 

Feb 10, 2015: 

Cleveland State University ranks among the top 20 percent of universities in the United States for research and development. According to the NSF's Higher Education Research and Development Survey, released last week, CSU is at No. 174 in the NSF’s national rankings, up from No. 183 in 2012; No. 193 in 2011; No. 220 in 2010; and No. 261 in 2009. R&D expenditures at CSU increased 371 percent over five years moving CSU almost 100 positions up in national ranknings. Importantly, CSU is at No. 94 in total and federally financed higher education R&D expenditures in the biological sciences!

 

Feb 5, 2015: 

A groundbreaking study devoted to chromosome break repair mechanism has been published in the journal Molecular Cell by Dr. Valentin Boerner and his colleagues. Chromosomes store all our genetic information.  The danger of losing genetic material makes chromosome breaks particularly hazardous. Not surprisingly, cells have powerful ways for repairing chromosome breaks. This response is orchestrated by master regulators called checkpoints. However, chromosome breaks are not always bad. During meiosis, cells gradually inflict a larger number of breaks on their chromosomes. These self-inflicted breaks are used to link maternal and paternal chromosomes and ensure their distribution in the meiosis cell division. A team led by Dr. Boerner has discovered a new, ultrasensitive checkpoint system that controls chromosome break repair, specifically, when there are only a few breaks per cell. Previously, it was assumed that two checkpoints called ATM and ATR perform overlapping functions during meiosis.  The researchers now report (in a new study published online on Feb 5th) that only ATM activates chromosome break repair when break levels are low. The fact that cells monitor break numbers in such a specific way has wide implications. This study provides novel insights into how cells battle harmful genome damage. Furthermore, outside the germ line, ATM and ATR are important guardians against cancer and this study may have wide implications for radiation therapy and cancer treatment. Congratulations, Valentin!

Molecular Cell is a companion to Cell, the leading journal of biology and the highest-impact journal in the world.

 

Jan 25, 2015: 

Dr. Xue-Long Sun's (and co-authors) article, entitled "Chemoenzymatic Bio-orthogonal Chemistry for Site-Specific Double Modification of Recombinant Thrombomodulin", that was published in  ChemBioChem in 2013, was one of the 25 most accessed articles in ChemBioChem over the last 12 months. Congratulations, Xue-Long! ChemBioChem is a source for important primary and secondary information across the whole field of chemical biology, bio(in)organic chemistry, and biochemistry. Its mission is to integrate this wide and flourishing field, ranging from complex carbohydrates through peptides/proteins to DNA/RNA, from combinatorial chemistry and biology to signal transduction, from catalytic antibodies to protein folding, from bioinformatics and structural biology to drug design...

 

Oct 21, 2014: 

Crain’s Cleveland Business - the leading source of business news in Northeast Ohio has highlighted a recent NIH grant received by Dr. Sailen Barik. Congratulations, Sailen!

 

Oct 06, 2014: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Aimin Zhou has received CSU's distinguished faculty award for research. Congratulations, Aimin!

 

Sept 30, 2014: 

GRHD faculty member Dr. Xue-Long Sun has been elected a Fellow of the American Heart Association (FAHA) conferred by the Council on Basic Cardiovascular Sciences (BCVS). Fellowship is open to physicians, scientists, nurses and other healthcare professionals with a major and productive interest in cardiovascular diseases and stroke. Congratulations, Xue-Long!

 

Sept 19, 2014: 

GRHD hosted the first GRHD – GRHD External Advisory Committee meeting. GRHD External Advisory Committee includes 7 world renowned scientists, experts in various life sciences fields. Follow the link http://www.csuohio.edu/grhd/external-advisory-committee to learn more about GRHD External Advisory committee. 

 

Sept 16, 2014: 

Congratulations to Dr. Sailen Barik for receiving a three-year R15 NIH grant award totaling $436,500. The grant is entitled "Structure and function of RNA viral interferon suppressor complexes". The long-term goal of this project is to decipher how RNA viruses suppress the host's innate immune response. The short-term goal is to glean a biochemical and mechanistic understanding how the two unique nonstructural (NS) proteins of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) operate to suppress both the induction and function of type I interferon (IFN), which enables the virus to cause severe lower respiratory tract infection and associated mortality.

 

Aug 18, 2014: 

A novel extraribosomal innate immune function of mammalian ribosomal protein L13a described by Drs Mazumder and Barik in their recent manuscript published by the Journal of Virology (JVI) and entitled “Extraribosomal Function of Ribosomal Protein L13a in Antiviral Defense” has been selected to be previewed by the journal in its featured spotlight . JVI spotlight highlights articles of significant interest selected from the issue by the Editors. JVI is the #1 cited journal in Virology. Congratulations, Barsan and Sailen!

 

Aug 1, 2014: 

Dr. Anton A. Komar has received a three-year R15 NIH grant award totaling $436,500. The grant is entitled "Understanding the impact of disease causing mutations in FIX" and will further help Dr. Komar to enhance his work on understanding the molecular mechanisms behind several disease causing synonymous mutations leading to Hemophilia B.

 

July 2, 2014:

Dr. Aaron Severson has been selected to present a talk at the prestigious Gordon Research Conference on Genomic Instability and “Mechanisms That Cause DNA Damage and Related Diseases” to be held in Hong Kong, China, July 6-11, 2014. The title of his talk "Establishing and Releasing Cohesion During Meiosis". Congratulations, Aaron!

The Gordon Research Conferences provide an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. For over 75 years, GRC's high-quality, cost-effective meetings have been recognized as the world's premier scientific conferences, where leading investigators from around the globe discuss their latest work and future challenges in a uniquely informal, interactive format.

 

June 5, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony J. Berdis a member of GRHD and the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC. Red5 Pharmaceuticals LLC has just received Northeast Ohio’s Innovation Fund Award totaling $25,000 that will help Dr. Berdis to develop novel diagnostic assays enabling a personalized medicine approach to chemotherapy of cancer patients. The Innovation Fund supports early-stage technology-based startups. On June 3, 2014 it has announced (in its latest funding round) five awards totaling $275,000. Three companies received $25,000 awards aimed at validating technologies and two received $100,000 awards meant to prove out business concepts.

 

May 28, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Xue-Long Sun, for winning a 2-year American Heart Association (AHA) Grant-in-Aid award for his proposal “Recombinant Thrombomodulin Glycoconjugate and Its Antithrombotic Activity.” Dr. Sun is an expert in glyco-affinity ligand engineering and targeted drug delivery applications. Dr. Sun is a member of GRHD faculty since 2009. He joined CSU in 2006 after completing his training at Emory University School of Medicine.

 

May 15, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Valentin Börner, for winning the Faculty Research and Development (FRD) award for his proposal "Role of the proteasome in chromosome stability." Dr. Börner is a member of GRHD faculty since GRHD inception in 2008. He joined CSU in 2005 after completing post-doctoral training at Harvard University. 

 

May 5, 2014:

GRHD receives donations from Fisher Scientific and its vendors to support GRHD Graduate Progress Report Seminar Series. We thank Christina Camuendo (Fisher Sci), Charlie Fink (Fisher Safety), Tricia Tortoreti (Thermo Sci Lab Equipment), Kholiswa Laird (Thermo Sci Manual Liquid Handling), Scott Wisniewski (Thermo Sci Nalge Nunc), Bob Myers (Thermo Sci Chromagraphy Consumables), Joshua Schaefer (Mettler Toledo), Eric Tepe (Sartorius), Christopher Yarima (Millipore Water), Bikram Chakraborty (Biotek), Michael Hutsell (GE Healthcare) for their support.

 

April 30, 2014:

GRHD External Advisory Committee has been revised to include four new renowned scientists: Drs. William M. Baldwin M.D., Ph.D., Stephen J. Benkovic, Ph.D., Carlos J. Bustamante, Ph.D. and Harry F. Noller, Ph.D. GRHD faculty cordially welcome new advisory committee members and appreciate their kind agreement and willingness to serve on the GRHD advisory board.

 

April 15, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Kalafatis, who recently received a three-year unrestricted grant from the Parker Foundation in the amount of $1.2 million to support his innovative research on cancer therapy. Dr. Kalafatis is a co-founding member of GRHD and member of the GRHD planning committee.

 

April 15, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Resnick, for wining the second Faculty Innovation Fund (FIF) award for his proposal, "Microperfusion Tissue Interrogator: platform technology development." Dr. Resnick joined GRHD faculty in 2011. He is currently the only GRHD faculty representing Department of Physics at CSU. 

 

April 3, 2014:

A pledge of $50,000 was made by Dr. John C. Vitullo to support pilot and innovative research projects at the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). Dr. Vitullo was the COSHP college's 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. He holds a master's degree from Youngstown State University and a Ph.D. (1984) in Regulatory Biology from Cleveland State University. He is chief executive officer and co-founder of Omega Laboratories, Inc., one of only a few hair drug-testing laboratories in the world.

 

March 17, 2014:

Congratulations to Dr. Girish Shukla, who recently received notification of funding from the Department of Defense (DoD) for two grant proposals for his research on prostate cancer. Dr. Shukla's grants are Exploration - Hypothesis Development Awards from the DoD's Prostate Cancer Research Program. In addition to Dr. Shukla, these grants were awarded to faculty from distinguished research universities, including Stanford University, UCLA, and George Washington University. Furthermore, CSU was the only university with two funded awards.

 

January 31, 2014:

Congratulation to Dr. Anthony Berdis, who has earned the distinction of having received CSU’s first-ever Faculty Innovation Fund (FIF) award for his proposal “Diagnostic Kits to Quantify Pro-Mutagenic Replication in Hyperproliferative Diseases.” Dr. Berdis joined GRHD faculty in 2012. His research spans several fields ranging from chemistry to biochemistry and cancer pharmacology. 

 

January 8, 2014:

Dr. Anton A. Komar has been appointed new director of the Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease (GRHD). Dr. Komar joined the CSU faculty in 2005. He is a co-founding member of GRHD.

 

June 15, 2013: 

Two Ph.D. students of GRHD member Dr. Michael Kalafatis presented their recent discoveries on the blood coagulation Factor V in major national and international conferences. Joesph R. Wiencek has been selected by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry for the highly competitive $2,500 travel award to attend the 2013 AACC Annual Meeting in Houston, TX. Joe's work has also been selected for an oral presentation at the XXIV Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from June 29 to July 4, 2013. Joe has also another eposter presentation at the same meeting. Mahesheema Na, another PhD student in Dr. Kalafatis' group, is also presenting two studies in the same meeting: one oral presentation and an eposter. These studies offer important insights into the function of Factor V, deficiency in which leads to predisposition for hemorrhage, while some mutations (notably, Factor V Leiden) predispose for thrombosis. Our congratulations to Joe, Sheema and Dr. Kalafatis.

 

June 3, 2013: 

Sujata Jha, a PhD student of Dr. Anton A. Komar, has been selected for oral presentation of her research at the EMBO conference, 'The Biology of Molecular Chaperones', 17 – 22 May 2013, Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy. Our congratulations to Sujata, and to Dr. Komar! The Conference home page is here: http://events.embo.org/13-chaperone

 

May 29, 2013: 

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Anton A. Komar for winning a 2-year American Heart Association Grant-in-Aid award on "Comparative study of nonsynonymous and synonymous mutations causing hemophilia B".
Dr. Komar is a renowned expert in multiple aspects of translational regulation, including co-translational protein folding and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).

 

Janunary 28 2013: 

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Bin Su for receiving an NIH AREA award (R15) titled "Drug development of orally active anti-trypanosomiasis agents".
Dr. Su is a medicinal chemist focusing on anti-cancer and anti-parasite drug development. African trypanosomiasis, also known as sleeping sickness, is a vector-borne parasitic disease caused by Trypanosoma brucei. It threatens over 60 million people in 36 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. There are no effective vaccines and satisfactory drugs for its treatment. Dr. Su and T. brucei biologist Dr. Bibo Li will work together to develop new small molecule drugs to treat this neglected disease.

 

November 21, 2012: 

Congratulations to GRHD members for recently receiving a Federal grant (NIH/NCRR) titled "Nikon A1RSI Confocal Microscope" (PI: Dr. Sailen Barik; Major Users: Drs. Bibo Li, Barsanjit Mazumder, Xue-Long Sun, Roman Kondratov).
This high-power microscope, capable of capturing still and video images in fully programmed mode, will allow studies of cellular structures and their behavior in great detail and clarity.

 

September 23, 2011: 

Dr. Roman Kondratov's funding success and his breakthrough research have been featured in Crain's Cleveland Business
The Cleveland State researcher won a $1.5 million grant to study the aging process. Dr. Kondratov will examine the effects of circadian clocks on aging under dietary restriction. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour internal cycles found in many living organisms. Read more »

 

September 19, 2011: 

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Valentin Boerner for winning a three-year R15 Federal grant (NIH) to study "Control of pairing and recombination during meiosis".
Dr. Boerner is an expert in the mechanism of chromosome segregation during gamete formation, a key factor for reproductive health in humans.

 

September 15, 2011: 

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Roman Kondratov for winning a $1.4 million 5-year Federal (NIH) R01 grant to study "Circadian clock and dietary restriction".
Dietary restriction is powerful intervention that delays the development of age-associated pathologies and increases lifespan in many organisms including humans. Dr. Kondratov's laboratory studies the molecular mechanisms of dietary restriction and its interaction with the circadian clock.

 

September 14, 2011: 

Congratulations to our newest GRHD member, Dr. Andrew Resnick, for receiving an NIH AREA award (R15) titled "Fluid flow may be an environmental modifier of ADPKD disease progression".
Research in his project will shed light on the autosomal dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease, which affects 1 in 1000 Americans, and for which no cure currently exists (http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/polycystic/).

 

August 24, 2011: 

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Aimin Zhou for winning a two-year R15 Federal grant (NIH) to study "The role of RNase L in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases".
Dr. Zhou is an expert in RNase L, an important player in our body's defence against viruses, inflammation, and cancer. In the recent past, three other GRHD members, Drs. Mazumder, Sun and Li, also won large NIH grants. Together, these highly competitive awards recognize and consolidate GRHD's overall mission to understand and cure human ailments through modern biomedical research.

 

February 16, 2011:

Congratulations to GRHD member Dr. Bibo Li, recent recipient of a major NIH grant!
Kudos and congratulations to our GRHD member, Dr. Bibo Li, for recently receiving a five-year NIH award totaling $1.8 million to continue her groundbreaking studies to understand how the Trypanosome parasite changes its surface proteins, which allows it to evade human immunity and cause African Trypanosomiasis, a fatal disease if left untreated. Dr. Li's success in this highly competitive field reflects the outstanding quality of research at GRHD. Of note, the 12 GRHD scientists, including Dr. Li, have collectively attracted roughly $11 million of external funding from various sources since 2000 to support cutting-edge biomedical research.

 

October 25, 2010: 

Two GRHD Members Receive $3 Million in Grants from National Institutes of Health

 

October 8, 2008:

CSU Launches New Center for Advanced Biomedical Research