2023 Pharmacology Retreat Program

Date: Tuesday, September 5, 2023
Venue: Margherio Family Conference Center

8:00 AM—8:50 AM       Arrival, Check-in, Poster Set-up, and Breakfast

9:00 AM—9:10 AM       Welcoming Remarks 
Wael Sakr (Dean School of Medicine)

9:10 AM—9:20 AM       Welcoming Remarks 
Sokol Todi (Chair of Pharmacology)

9:20 AM—10:30 AM     Session 1
Moderator: Cathy McLeod and Laimar Garmo

Katherine Gurdziel	Is RasL11A a mechanism for cutaneous neurofibromas regression?
Wei-Ling Tsou	Targeting synucleinopathies as a therapeutic strategy for Parkinson's disease
Andrew Garrett	Adhesion and self-avoidance in the development of the visual system
Jennell White	Assessment of novel erythroid signaling pathways modulating hydroxyurea-mediated reduction of vaso-occlusive adhesive interactions
Heather Gibson	Evaluating host-intrinsic regulators of cancer immunotherapy response in genetically diverse mouse models
Kamiar Moin	MICR core services
Ellen Tisdale	Eat, secrete, and retreat: The role of Rab2 in cancer and neurodegeneration

10:30 AM—10:50 AM   Coffee Break

10:50 AM—11:50 AM   Session 2
Moderator: Kyle Siegel and Manisha Agarwal

Ahmed Ibrahim	Amino acid metabolism in diabetic retinopathy
Christopher Kassotis	Environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals and mixtures
Michael Petriello	Investigating interactions between diet and toxicology
Samson Jamesdaniel	Redox signaling in acquired hearing loss
Joshua Bembenek	Cell cycle mechanisms in early development
Joongkyu Park	Neuronal compartmental translation in learning and memory

11:50 PM—12:00 PM    Group Photo

12:00 PM—1:00 PM      Lunch & Poster Presentation

1	Armaan Naghdi	Upper glycolytic components contribute differently in controlling retinal pigment epithelium behavior: Implications for RPE-related retinal diseases
2	Muhammad Haque	Identifying the extent of y-Pcdh isoform diversity required for self/non-self discrimination in starburst amacrine cells (SACs)
3	Brooklynn Murray	Investigating a complex mixture of PPARy-activating chemicals on metabolic health outcomes in human mesenchymal stem cells & developmentally exposed zebrafish
4	Alexis Wilson	Stearoyl-CoA desaturase: A key defense mechanism against lipid-mediated stress during prostate cancer progression in bone
5	Anna Gretzinger	Establishing a molecular tool to study dendritic protein synthesis in vivo
6	Joseph Lundgren	Characterizing the metastasis-suppressive function of the cell-surface protease prostasin in breast cancer
7	Nikhil Patel	Single nucleus transcriptomics reveals pervasive glial activation in opioid overdose cases
8	Manisha Agarwal	Polychlorinated biphenyl 126 (PCB 126)-induced oxidative stress can be attenuated in mouse liver by loss of flavin containing monooxygenase3 (FMO3)
9	Pankaj Bhatia	Lead induced cochlear synaptopathy
10	Nivisa Vakeesan	Toxicogenomic evaluation of CamSA and CA-Quin, potential prophylactic compounds against Clostridiodes difficile infections
11	Bedri Ranxhi	Unveiling polyamine metabolism's role in synucleinopathy: A glimpse into a potential Parkinson's disease biomarker
12	Nicole Oska	Upper glycolytic components contribute differently in controlling relative contributions of lower glycolytic enzymes in maintenance of retinal vascular endothelial cell barrier integrity
13	Rima Rana	Defining the molecular mechanism of mammalian DSCAM-mediated self-avoidance
14	Kyle Siegel	Putative bioactivity of artificial turf on nuclear receptors
15	Laimar Garmo	PFAS accumulation in bone marrow promotes adipogenesis and facilitates metastatic progression
16	Li Tao	A modified method to extract DNA from FFPE samples
17	Bridget Bone	A molecular tool designed for selective inhibition of axonal translation
18	Zhao Yang	Impact of 3,3′,4,4′,5-Pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 126) exposure on fibrinogens and hemostasis: Insights into AhR-Interleukin signaling
19	Roxanne Berube	Metabolic disrupting effects of organic and inorganic pollutant mixtures in vitro and in developing zebrafish
20	Shaima Jawarneh	Tranilast's protective effect on retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells: Mitigating endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced RPE dysfunction independently of anti-inflammasome activity
21	Samantha Heldman	Investigating the impact of early developmental exposure to liquid crystal monomer mixtures on zebrafish metabolic health
22	Zhenjie Liu	Co-inhibition of FADS1 and SCD-1 synergizes suppression of renal cancer cell growth via induction of ER stress
23	Elyas Khan	Repurposing FDA-approved drugs as MLN64 inhibitors: Blocking the MLN64-cholesterol interaction for cancer therapies

1:00 PM—2:00 PM       Session 3
Moderator: Kristin Richardson and Nikhil Patel

Karin List	Cell-surface serine proteases in epithelial homeostasis and disease
Sokol Todi	Neurodegeneration from polyglutamine proteins
Rodrigo Andrade	Serotonin-Glutamate cotransmission in the mouse hippocampus
Ana deCarvalho	Evidence-based validation of therapeutic targets in glioblastoma
Michael Bannon	My lifelong addiction to dopamine
Izabela Podgorski	Things you may not know about bone marrow fat cells

2:00 PM—2:20 PM       Coffee Break

2:20 PM—3:20 PM       Session 4
Moderator: Roxanne Berube and Samantha Heldman

Lawrence Lash	Renal mitochondria as sentinels for exposures to environmental toxicants and nephrotoxic drugs
Thomas Kocarek	Regulation of drug-metabolizing enzyme expression by anti-cholesterol drugs
Peter LeWitt	Translation of therapies against alpha-synuclein aggregation from lab to clinical trials
Wanqing Liu	Genomics, lipids metabolism, and precision medicine
Ken Massey	OBI and technology commercialization and how we support your research
Philip Philip	Pancreatic cancer in 10 minutes: challenges and opportunities

3:20 PM—3:30 PM       Closing Remarks 
Sokol Todi (Chair of Pharmacology)

4:00 PM—                    After-Party