Maria Sierra, of the Department of Pathology/Molecular Pathogenesis and Molecular Medicine, won a travel scholarship to a Keystone Symposia conference
entitled “The Many Faces of Ubiquitin” held in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Her advisor is Dr. Piers Nash. Full Version (Imprint, Spring 200, pg. 7)

Dr. Maria-Luisa Alegre and Dr. Anne Sperling have received theDepartment of Medicine Leif B. Sorenson Faculty Research Award in recognition of outstanding scientific research. Dr. Alegre is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Section of Rheumatology and is an active member of the Committees on Immunology, Molecular Medicine, and Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition. Dr. Alegre earned her bachelor’s and medical degrees at the Free University of Brussels in 1982 and 1985 respectively, before completing her PhD at the University of Chicago in 1993. Her laboratory currently conducts research on the molecular mechanisms in inactivation of T cells and T cell tolerance in the development of autoimmune diseases. Besides having developed a model of pancreatic islet, cardiac and skin transplantation, Dr. Alegre is investigating whether T cell instrinsic NF-κB activation is required for acute rejection of allogeneic grafts. Dr. Anne Sperling is an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and member of the Committees on Immunology and Molecular Medicine. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Smith College in 1984 before completing her PhD at Tufts University in 1994. Her research interests involve ICOS, a novel member of the CD28 family of proteins expressed on the surface of T cells, and its effector functions in models of allergic airway disease. In addition, her laboratory is also studying the large cell surface receptor mucin, CD43, and its role in the immune response.

Dr. Eugene Chang, professor in the Department of Medicine, has won a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) award from the NIH. Dr. Chang is also a member of the Committees on Immunology, Molecular Medicine, and Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition. Educated at Johns Hopkins University as an undergraduate, Dr. Chang obtained his medical degree at the University of Chicago. The award converts his R01 funding to a R37 and allows him 10 years of sustained funding. Dr. Chang’s research focuses on the host-microbial interactions of the intestine. In particular, his laboratory is interested in defining signaling pathways involved in maintaining intestinal homeostasis. His group aims to better understand how perturbations or types of enteric flora contribute to the development of digestive diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. Full Version (Imprint, Fall 2008, pg. 6)

Dr. Ivan Moskowitz, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics, won the Jeremiah Stamler Distinguished Young Investigator Award from the Northwestern Cardiovascular Young Investigators’ Forum in October. Also a member of the Committees on Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology, Dr. Moskowitz’s laboratory investigates the molecular basis of cardiac morphogenesis and congenital heart disease. Dr. Moskowitz was educated as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University before earning his MD and PhD at the University of Wisconsin in 1986 and 1988 respectively. His laboratory has initiated a gene discovery program to identify mice with mutations that affect genes involved in cardiac morphogenesis. Dr. Moskowitz hopes to identify genes pertinent in mammalian cardiac morphogenesis, understand the roles of the identified gene products and elucidate the molecular mechanisms of how mutation in these genes results in cardiac morphogenesis defects and human congenital heart disease. Full Version (Imprint, Fall 2008, pg. 6)

Dr. Jian Zhang, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, has received the American Lung Association Career Investigator Award. Dr. Zhang also belongs to the Committees on Immunology and Molecular Medicine. He earned his medical degree at Hunan Medical University in 1983 before completing his MS at the same institution in 1988. Lasting up to three years, the $60,000 per year award supports the career development of established investigators showing great promise for a national leadership role. The award considers candidates performing investigative work in Lung disease biology, traditional clinical studies related to patient care, behavioral and psycho-social matters related to lung disease. The Zhang laboratory’s research focus is on the molecular mechanisms of T cell activation and apoptosis. Specifically, his group is currently trying to identify proteins regulated by Cbl-b, an adaptor protein and ubiquitin ligase, that regulates autoreactive T cell activation in autoimmune disease. Another research project in which Dr. Zhang is involved investigates how the cytokine IL-4 regulates activation-induced cell death in autoimmune arthritis using both in vitro and in vivo models. Full Version (Imprint, Fall 2008, pg. 6)

After a competitive review process, the BSD Travel Awards Committee chose to support ten students for travel to national meetings in summer and fall 2008. Students awarded funds include: Sogyong Auh (Pathology), to give a poster at Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy; Ran Blekhman (Human Genetics), to give a talk at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting; Elise Covic (Computational Neuroscience), to give a poster at Society for Neuroscience 2008; Xiao Han (Medical Physics), to give a talk at the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Medical Imaging Conference; Christian Kammerer (Evolutionary Biology) to give a talk at the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology Annual Meeting; Gulum Kosova (Genetics, Genomics and Systems Biology) to give a talk at the American Society of Human Genetics Annual Meeting; Suparna Mallik (Cell Physiology) to give a poster at the Society for Neuroscience 2008; Melissa Medford (Genetics,Genomics and Systems Biology) to give a poster at the Annual Meeting of the RNA Society; Mark Novak (Ecology andEvolution), to give a talk at the Ecological Society of America; andNathan Smith (Evolutionary Biology) to give both a talk and aposter at the 3rd Latin American Congress of Vertebrate Paleontology. The BSD Travel Fund was generously created by anaward from the University of Chicago Women’s Travel Board in 2004 and continues with support from alumni donations. Full Version (Imprint, Fall 2008, pg. 11)

A small community in South Dekota could hold the key to understanding many common diseases... For Full Version (Cover Story, Chicago Medicine, Spring 2008, pg. 16-23)

Joel Collier, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery (Surgical Research), has received a National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research grant for “Designating ECM-Inspired Peptide Biomaterials” and a National Science Foundation grant for “CAREER: Modular Assemblies for Controlling the Cell-Material Interface.”

At the Biomedical Sciences Retreat April 25-27 at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin, the following awards were given out: Best Overall Presenation went to William Zeiger (Department of Pathology/Molecular Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Thinakaran Lab) for “Mechanism of Stanniocalcin 2 Mediated
Neuroprotection”; Best Predoctoral Oral Presentation went to Benjamin Boyerinas (Committee on Cancer Biology, Peter Lab) for “Identification of Let-7 Regulated Oncofetal Genes”; and Best Overall Predoctoral Poster Presentation went to Sogyong Auh (Department of Pathology/Molecular Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Fu Lab) for “Anti-tumor Response by Radiation is Dependent on Adaptive Immunity: The Role of Type 1 Interferons.” There was a tie for Best Predoctoral Poster Presentation: Adam Savage (Committee on Immunology, Bendelac Lab) for “Zbtb 16 is Critical for NKT Cell Development” and Stefani Eames (Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition) for “Genetically Targeted Calcium Indicator Facilitates Functional Imagin of Beta-cells in Live Zebrafish.” At the Retreat, they also gave Best Teaching Assistant Awards to the following students: Shamsideen Musa, Committee on Cancer Biology, for CABI 300800: Introduction to Cancer Biology, Autumn 2007; Jeannette Messer, Committee on Immunology, for IMMU 31200: Host Pathogen Interactions, Autumn 2007; Claire Cornelius, Committee on Microbiology, for MICR 35900: Medical Microbiology, Autumn 2007; Arpad Danos, Committee on Molecular Metabolism and Nutrition, for BIOS 25226: Endocrinology I: Cell Signaling, Autumn 2007; and William Zieger for PATH 30100: Cellular Pathology and Immunology, Autumn 2007. Full Version (Imprint, Summer 2008, pg. 13)

After a competitive review process, the BSD Travel Awards Committee chose to support eight students for travel to national meetings in Winter and Spring 2008. Students awarded funds include: Gregory Darnell (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), to give a talk at the American Crystallographic Association Symposium; W. Vallen Graham (Pathology), to give both a poster and a talk at Experimental Biology 2008; Jin Huang (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), to give a poster at the Keystone Symposia: Frontiers of Structural Biology; Daniel Matute (Ecology and Evolution), to give a poster at the 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference; Atsushi Tanaka (Immunology) to give both a poster and a talk at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Gene Expression and Signaling in the Immune System; Wenjun Ziong (Cancer Biology) to give a talk at the 49th Annual Drosophila Research Conference; Dan Yu (Pathology) to give a talk at Digestive DiseaseWeek 2008; and Yading Yuan (Medical Physics), to give a talk at the SPIE Medical Imaging Symposium. The BSD Travel Fund was generously created by an award from the University of Chicago Women’s Travel Board in 2004 and continues with support from alumni donations. Full Version (Imprint, Summer 2008, pg. 13)

The award will be presented in April at the Experimental Biology conference in San Diego. Aty the conference, Vallen will present a talk titled "Novel small molecules reverse myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) isoform 1 translocation and barrier dysfunction induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)." The award is distributed by the American Physiological Society.

A leading authority on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, Christopher Gomez, Chairman of Neurology, has been named the Albina Y. Surbis Professor in Neurology.
Gomez is widely recognized for his clinical expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of spinocerebellar ataxias and his research on the molecular and genetic causes of these disorders. At the University of Minnesota, he established the Ataxia Clinic, a nationally recognized specialty clinic for patients with these rare degenerative diseases. He also is a founding member of the Cooperative Ataxia Group, a national consortium of ataxia specialists.
In his laboratory, Gomez studies how mutations in ion channels or other essential proteins lead to neurodegeneration using cellular and mouse models. A better understanding of these mutations may help to identify new therapies for patients with neurodegenerative disorders. (Chronicle, January 24, 2008)

 Eve Van Cauter, Professor in Medicine, and Esra Tasali, Assistant Professor in Medicine, were interviewed for articles about their study on a new risk factor for diabetes. While previous research has shown that quantity of sleep affects health, the current study shows that quality of sleep affects blood-sugar levels that can put people at a higher risk for diabetes. Van Cauter and Tasali found that disrupting the study volunteers’ deepest sleep periods rapidly resulted in a reduction in their ability to regulate blood-sugar levels. “This decrease in slow-wave sleep resembles the changes in sleep patterns caused by 40 years of aging,” said Tasali in an Associated Press story. Van Cauter said: “Since reduced amounts of deep sleep are typical of aging and of common obesity-related sleep disorders, such as obstructive sleep apnea, these results suggest that strategies to improve sleep quality, as well as quantity, may help to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in populations at risk.” (Chronicle, January 2008)

 Terry Vanden Hoek, Director of the Emergency Resuscitation Center at the University of Chicago, was quoted in the July 23rd, 2007 issue of Newsweek article on cardiac resuscitation "Back From the Dead".