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HIGHLIGHTS

Report on the Summer 2018 Activities of SPURS:
A Biomedical Research Program

SPURS Group
ON AUGUST 3rd, 2018 WE COMPLETED THE 16TH EDITION OF SPURS!

With funding from the National Institutes of health (NIH) and other generous private donations, the SPURS program was able to accommodate 22 fellows: 15 females and 7 males; 11 African–American, 9 Latino-American, and 2 Asian-American. This year, we had eight students attending schools in New York including, Columbia University, CUNY Hunter College, Stony Brook University, Adelphi University, St. Agnes College, and Vassar College. The rest of the students attended schools from across the country, including Williams College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Bowdoin College, Emory University, University of Colorado Denver, Yale University, University of Houston, and Brown University. We received a record number of 136 applications this academic year. We partnered again with Prep for Prep and the Howard Hughes Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP) to integrate their students into the SPURS program. All students received housing within the Columbia University dormitories on behalf of a generous donation from the Dean’s office.

The 2018 participants are: Manuel Brewer, Brandon Cartagena, Javier Jimenez-Vega, Favour Ononogbu-Uche, Prince Akpokiro, Nia Quinones, Maria Polo-Prieto, Lauren Neal, Nicolette Moya, James Rogot, Autumn Boutin, Margarita Cruz-Sanchez, Cassie Deshong, D’Nea Galbraith, Daria Hoang, Rubab Malik, Crystal Nieves Garcia, Sharen Rivas, Julia Persaud, Branderia Cameron, Mariam Goreish, and Joshua Barbosa.

1) Manuel Brewer
Yale University
Mentor: Dr. Ricardo Dalla-Favera
"CREBBP Acetylation of KMT2D in DLBCL"

 

2) Brandon Cartagena
Williams College
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Marks
"Analyzing the Role of the Ryanodine Receptor Huntington’s Disease"

 

3) Javier Jimenez-Vega
New York University
Mentor: Dr. Wes Grueber
"Determining the Function of a Sensory Circuit by Manipulating Neurons and Measuring Behavior in Drosophila Lavae"

 

4) Favour Ononogbu-Uche
CUNY Hunter
Mentor: Dr. Kimara Targoff
"The Role of Nkx2.7 in Cranial-pharyngeal Development"

 

5) Prince Akpokiro
North Carolina Wesleyan University
Mentor: Dr. Henry Colecraftm
"Characterization of Cavβ Nanobodies using Dimerization-Dependent Fluorescent Proteins"

 

6) Nia Quinones
Columbia University
Mentor: Dr. Robert Bauer
“The Role of TRAPPC9 In the Pathogenesis of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)”

 

7) Maria Polo-Prieto
University of Houston
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Goff
“The Study of a Transmissible Cancer in the Chilean Blue Mussel Mytilus chilensis”

 

8) Lauren Neal
Agnes Scott College
Mentor: Dr. Oliver Hobert
"Development of the C. elegans Pharyngeal Nervous Sysyem Through the Use of Terminal Selectors”

 

9) Nicolette Moya
University of Colorado Denver
Mentor: Dr. Eric Kandel
“Cellular Mechanism of Strong and Weak Fear Memories”

 

10) James Rogot
Stony Brook University
Mentor: Dr. Virginia Cornish
“Improving the Substrate Pool of Tetracycline Derivatives in S. cerevisae

 

11) Autumn Boutin
Harvard University
Mentor: Dr. Jonathan Javitch
“An Investigation of the Genetic Basis for Amphetamine Sensitivity Using an Advanves Intercross Population of Drosophila Melanogaster

 

12) Margarita Cruz-Sanchez
Brown University
Mentor: Dr. Andrew Marks
“RyR2 in Chemo Brain Cognitive Dysfunction”

 

13) Cassie Deshong
Williams Collegey
Mentor: Dr. Edward Owusu-Ansah
“Regulation of Mitochondria Complex I Assembly”

 

14) D’Nea Galbraith
CUNY Hunter College
Mentor: Dr. Steven Siegelbaum
“The Role of Hippocampal Area CA2 in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy”

 

15) Daria Hoang

Columbia University
Mentor: Dr. Olive Hobert
Visualizing C. Elegans Pharyngeal Synapses Using Fluorescent Reporters

 

16) Rubab Malik
John Hopkins University
Mentor: Dr. Oliver Clarke
“Residue Flexibility as a Predictor of Mutation Pathogenicity”

 

17) Crystal Nieves Garcia
Yale University
Mentor: Dr. Charles Emalai
“Expression and Function of GABAA Channels in Human Airway Smooth Muscle Cells”

 

18) Sharen Rivas
Vassar College
Mentor: Dr. Manu Ben Johny
“Auxilary β Subunits are not Obligatory for Cav1.3 Function”

 

19) Julia Persaud

Adelphi University
Mentor: Dr. Virginia Cornish
“Construction of Saturation Mutagenesis Libraries for Screening of TetR(B) Mutants for Improved TAN-1612 Binding”

 

20) Branderia Cameron
Wake Forest University
Mentor: Dr.Jeanine D’Armiento
“Attenuation of an Animal Model of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome with an Inhaled Matrix Metalloproteinase Inhibitor”

 

21) Mariam Goreish
Emory University
Mentor: Dr. Anne Moscona
"Analyzing Viral Fitness Through Evolution of Hemagglutinin-Neuraminidase in an Immunocompromised Patient"

 

22) Joshua Barbosa
Emory University
Mentor: Dr. Rene Hen
“vHPC Parvalbumin and Samatostatin Interneuron Funcrion in Anxiety-Like Behavior in Mice”

 

The program began on Monday, June 4th, 2018 with an orientation led by Michael Holsey, Dr. Monica Goldklang, Kyle Stearns, and Jarrod Sonett. Orientation included an overview of the program, as well as a discussion of research ethics and safety training. All students received instruction in Laboratory and Research Safety from the CUMC Environmental Health and Safety Department. This comprehensive seminar educated incoming students on how to maintain a safe environment through hazardous waste management, biological safety, fire safety, the use of personal protective equipment and chemical tracking/safety.

The SPURS special seminar series program met twice weekly throughout the summer. Speakers reflected on their career paths and provided insight into the students’ own career development regarding medical/PhD programs. Seminar topics also included intensive talks about leading scientific research, personal stories of difficulties encountered by underrepresented persons in academic medicine, and professional decision making to excel in graduate school and beyond. This year we had a diverse set of speakers at various stages in their careers.

The panel of speakers included Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins, Dean Lee Goldman, Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, Dr. Jaime Rubin, Dr. Edward Owusu-Ansah, Dr. Henry Colecraft, Dr. Ray Johnson, Dr. Christine Denny, Dr. Dennis Mitchell, Dr. Anne Moscona, Dr. Steven Siegelbaum. Dr. Andrew Marks, and Dr. Jeanine D’Armiento. The Wednesday sessions also served as an opportunity for the program directors to monitor the students’ progress, address any issues or concerns, and connect. On Monday and Tuesday, July 30th and 31st, Drs. Marks, D’Armiento, Goldklang, Kyle Stearns, Jarrod Sonett, and Michael Holsey met with the students, each of whom gave an oral presentation of their project. Extensive feedback to each SPURS student was provided with guidance on the scientific content as well as presentation. In addition, students participated in an expanded mentoring session with students from Columbia’s Medical and Graduate schools – MD, PhD, and MD/PhD candidates.

There were a series of ancillary activities including:

• A tour of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Headquarters

• A tour of the New York Structural Biology Center by Dr. Wayne Hendrickson, Scientific Director of the NYSBC and University Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University

• A Q&A session with a panel of PhD, MD, and MD/PhD Students

• New York Yankees vs. Seattle Mariners (tickets donated by the New York Yankees)

The 2018 program culminated on Thursday, August 2nd when each of the students presented their research in a poster session. This session was attended by mentors, post-docs, faculty, graduate students and family members. The poster session served as an excellent tool to help the students synthesize their 9 weeks of intense research. Uniformly, each of the students expressed their gratitude for the learning experience and opportunities offered by the SPURS program. On Friday, August 3rd the students returned to their laboratories for a final day of experiments and celebrations with their lab mates and mentors. The participants are listed below along with the title of their research project and mentor’s name.


 

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25NS076445. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.