Reinhart-King becomes IAMBE fellow
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Osheroff wins MILES award
Neil Osheroff (Biochemistry) was the opening keynote speaker at the recent APMEC 2023 and received the Mentoring, Innovation, and Leadership in Educational Scholarship Award.
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McLean named dean of graduate education and research
John McLean (Chemistry) has been named dean of graduate education and research for the College of Arts and Science.
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Arceneaux and Ellis awarded Gilliam Fellowships
Deronisha Arceneaux (Cell and Developmental Biology, Ken Lau lab) and Kimberlyn Ellis (Human Genetics, Lea Davis lab) were named HHMI Gilliam Fellows "in recognition of outstanding research in their respective scientific fields and their commitment to building a more inclusive scientific ecosystem."
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Sugiura and Wang receive P.E.O. Scholar Awards
Ayaka Sugiura (Microbe-Host Interactions, Jeff Rathmell lab) and Camille Wang (Neuroscience, Lisa Monteggia and Ege Kavalali labs), aspiring physician-scientists, are among this year’s recipients of highly competitive P.E.O. Scholar Awards.
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Hogan named to ASCP ‘40 Under Forty’ list
Melissa Straub Hogan (Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology) has been named to the 2023 American Society for Clinical Pathology 40 Under Forty list.
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Pitzer named AHA award finalist
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Arrojo e Drigo awarded by MIC
Rafael Arrojo e Drigo (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics) received the Robert L. Sorenson Young Investigator Award from the Midwest Islet Club.
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Kang receives Somerfeld-Ziskind award
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VICB recognizes papers with most citations
The Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology has announced the winners of the 10th VICB Highly Cited Articles Award, which recognizes the scientists whose 2020 papers have received the most citations to date. The corresponding author or group representative will give a short presentation at this year’s annual retreat and will receive a monetary prize to commemorate the accomplishment:
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Pettway named Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar
Yasminye Pettway (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Alvin Powers lab) has been selected as the 2023 Vanderbilt Prize Student Scholar.
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Dean's Award for exceptional achievement
The Office of the Dean of Basic Sciences is proud to announce the 2023 recipients of the Dean’s Award for Exceptional Achievement in Graduate Studies. This year, 10 graduate students were recognized for their high academic and scientific achievement and for the originality, significance, and rigor of their dissertation research.
The awardees, their programs, and their mentors are:
- Brooke Christensen, Neuroscience. Advised by Erin Calipari.
- Steven Wall, Microbe-Host Interactions. Advised by Ivelin Georgiev.
- Matthew O'Neill, Human Genetics. Advised by Dr. Dan Roden
- Jenny Tran, Biochemistry. Advised by Breann Brown
- Tara Mack, Human Genetics. Advised by Dr. Alexander Bick and Lea Davis
- Marianne Casilio, Hearing and Speech Sciences. Advised by Stephen Wilson (University of Queensland).
- Marina Hanna, Neuroscience. Advised by Vivian Gama.
- Allison Lake, Human Genetics. Advised by Lea Davis
- Margret Fye, Cell and Developmental Biology. Advised by Irina Kaverina.
- Kirsty Erickson, Neuroscience. Advised by Cody Siciliano.
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Trainee fellowships
The following trainees earned fellowships or grants from these funding organizations:
- National Cancer Institute: Riley Bergman (Cancer Biology, Ben Ho Park lab), Matthew Loberg (Cancer Biology, Vivian Weiss lab)
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Zahra Farahbakhsh (Neuroscience, Cody Siciliano lab)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse: Evelyn Kandov (Neuroscience, Cody Siciliano lab)
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Meier recognized for presentation skills
Cole Meier (Biological Sciences) earned the 2023 American Society of Parasitologists Meritorious Student Presentation award.
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Tran wins poster competition at Protein Society symposium
Jenny Tran (Biochemistry in the Breann Brown lab) was the Poster Competition Winner at the 2023 Protein Society Annual Symposium held in Boston.
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GLI travel awards
The Russell G. Hamilton Graduate Leadership Institute issues hundreds of Graduate School Conference Travel Grants each academic year. These are the Basic Sciences-affiliated students who won travel awards during the 2022-2023 academic year:
- Biochemistry: Verda Agan, Jessica Collins, Anna Eitel, Jeffrey Jian, Samika Joshi, Tamar Kavlashvili, Samantha Lisy, Jordan Stacy
- Cancer Biology: Samantha Beik, Natalie Bennett, Wendy Bindeman, Ebony Hargrove-Wiley, Gwenyth Joseph, Kara McNamara, Logan Northcutt, Dominique Parker, Alexander Silver, KayLee Steiner, Xiaopeng Sun, Brandie Taylor, Elysa Wolf, Melissa Wolf
- Cell and Developmental Biology: Deronisha Arceneaux, Tierney Baum, Kai Bracey, Caroline Bodnya, Andreanna Burman, Caroline Cencer, Mary Chalkley, Ela Contreras-Panta, Xinyu Dong, Anna Eitel, Casey Gaily, Sarah Glass, Junmin Hua, Samika Joshi, Stephanie Medina, Simone Nevills, Jennifer Peek, Gabriella Robertson, Claire Scott, Megan Stanchfield, Linh Trinh, Paige Vega
- Chemical and Physical Biology: Verda Agan, Jarrod Eisma, Lee Cantrell, Reecan Juarez, Dora Obodo, Nicole Rodgers, Henry Schares, Haley Stubbs, Mason Wilkinson, Jennifer Wurm, Sarah Zelle
- Human Genetics: Hanna Abe, Joseph Benthal, Michael Betti, Joseph Breeyear, Allison Lake, Alyssa Scartozzi, Kritika Singh
- Microbe-Host Interactions: Tomas Bermudez, Sydni Caet Smith, Kevin Childress, Eden Faneuff, Alejandra Flores, Catherine Leasure, Grace Morales, Kaitlyn Schaaf, Timothy Thoner, Matthew Vukovich
- Molecular Pathology and Immunology: Lindsay Bass, Sarah Bernard, Avery Bogart, Natalie Favret, Diana Graves, Dalton Greenwood, Jing Li, Kathleen McClanahan, Matthew Munneke, Abigail Rich, Michael Rudloff, Cherie Saffold, Rachael Smith, Rachael Wolters
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics: Darian Carroll Thomas, Amber Crabtree, Emily Hawes, Payam Fathi, Arya Nakhe, Bianca Nguyen, Yasminye Pettway, Charles Smart, Katrina Volk, Hannah Waterman
- Neuroscience: Danielle Adank, Andrew Boal, Avery Bogart, Sarah Cooper, Kacie Dunham, Soren Emerson, Jessica Feller, Nicolette Frazer, Melanie Gil, Natalie Guzikowski, Joseph Holden, Alexis Jameson, Mariana Jimenez, Anna Kasdan, Thao Le, Nicholas Petersen, Michelle Piazza, Alexander Song, Kimberly Thibeault, Camille Wang, Junda Zhu, Alisa Zoltowski
- Pharmacology: Kennady Bullock, Laura Geben, Matthew Jenkins, Vivian Jones, Kangjun Li, Jade Miller, Bretton Nabit, Jason Russell, Amy Stark, Laura Teal, Hye Jean Yoon, Jose Zepeda
- Quantitative and Chemical Biology: Spencer Rothfuss
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Barış awarded Danzo postdoctoral award
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Fresh-from-the-oven grads
The following graduates successfully defended their dissertations this past month:
- Cancer Biology: Jess Roetman, Ph.D.
- Chemical and Physical Biology Program, Haley Stubbs, Ph.D.; Hope Woods, Ph.D.
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics: Shannon Townsend, Ph.D.
- Neuroscience: Anne Taylor, Ph.D
- Pharmacology: Laura Geben, Ph.D
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Guide to onboarding undergraduates and minors into research labs
The opportunity to host undergraduate and high school scientists in labs represents an outstanding opportunity for training and for advancing a lab’s research. Assistant Dean Selene Colon outlines the various routes by which undergraduate and high school students can enter Vanderbilt labs and what the requirements for each pathway are.
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SSMV hosts AI forum
Last month, the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt hosted an incredible AI forum to introduce the power of AI to high school students and to modify the existing AI Bill of Rights to be accessible to the student population, a process that was facilitated by Sarah Burriss of the NSF-funded AI Institute. Kendra H. Oliver, representing the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Protein Dynamics, facilitated a session on visual science communication that served as a foundation for student-generated infographics on the five AI Bill of Rights principles.
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Aspirnaut: 2023
The Aspiranaut high school summer research internship program just completed its 2023 run. The program affords students from rural and diverse backgrounds the opportunity to explore STEM fields while conducting research in a VUMC laboratory for six weeks.
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Diabetes and dancing
Maureen Gannon (Medicine) is known for her diabetes research. She’s also pretty accomplished at Irish Step Dancing!
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Iacona and Estrada featured in Medicine
The Summer 2023 issue of VUMC's Medicine magazine includes feature articles on alumna and Basic Sciences Board of Visitors member Renee Iacona and newly named assistant dean of Health Equity Education in the School of Medicine, Lourdes Estrada (Biochemistry).
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MSRC Focus is here!
The latest issue of the Mass Spectrometry Research Center newsletter has arrived. Read it to learn all about its core labs.
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GPCR seeking applicants
The GPCR Invited Postdoctoral Seminar Series for 2023-2024 is looking for applicants. The deadline is August 25.
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VUMC building access for VU users
VUMC controls building access restrictions for some buildings that house Basic Sciences researchers. Please read the full announcement on our website that gives context to this situation and explains how to request changes to access if needed.
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Faculty career and job search workshop
The ASPIRE program will be sponsoring the first annual ASPIRE Workshop on Preparing for a Faculty Career and Job Search. This two-day workshop, held on August 4 from 9:00 a.m.–3:15 p.m. CT and August 7 from 11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. in Light Hall, is for postdoctoral fellows and late-stage graduate students who are interested in faculty careers. Topics covered include understanding faculty roles at U.S. academic institutions, writing teaching statements, and more. Advance registration for all sessions or select sessions you would like to attend is requested.
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VI4 AiR Exhibition: Molecular Muse
The Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology and Inflammation will host Molecular Muse, a gallery showcasing the art created over the last four years of the VI4 Artist-in-Residence Program.
To kick off the exhibit, there will be a program presentation, a Burroughs Wellcome Fund (funders of the program) info session, and a gallery opening party.
Individual events:
- Molecular Muse Exhibition: August 7–November 17 at the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery.
- 2023 Artist-in-Residence Program Presentations: August 7 at 10:30 a.m. in C2303 MCN.
- Burroughs Wellcome Fund Info Session: August 7 at 2:00 p.m. in 512 Light Hall.
- Artist-in-Residence gallery opening party: August 7 at 4:30 p.m. at the Cohen Memorial Hall, Vanderbilt Fine Arts Gallery (1220 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203)
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VICB Student Symposium
The 2023 Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology Student Research Symposium will take place on August 8 in the Student Life Center. John Yates from Scripps Research will be the keynote speaker.
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Second annual V-CoM retreat
The second annual retreat of the Vanderbilt Center on Mechanobiology will take place on August 15 at the Joe C. Davis YMCA Outdoor Center (3088 Smith Springs Road, Antioch, TN 37013).
It will feature Anita Mahadevan-Jansen (Biomedical Engineering) as the keynote speaker and Marjan Rafat (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering) and Neil Dani (Cell and Developmental Biology) as invited speakers.
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Basic Sciences faculty meeting
A Basic Sciences faculty meeting will take place on August 21 at 4:00 p.m. in 1220 MRBIII (in-person only). A reception will be held in the lobby outside of 1220 after the meeting. All primary and secondary Basic Sciences faculty of all tracks are invited.
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Edge for Scholars Retreat
The Edge for Scholars Retreat will be held on August 22 at the Nelson Andrews Leadership Lodge. Join fellow Vanderbilt researchers to foster connections and collaborations.
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Apex Lecture featuring John Jumper
Mark your calendar for the next Apex Lecture, featuring John Jumper, senior staff research scientist at DeepMind and one of the creators of AlphaFold. This event will be held on August 30 at 4:00 p.m. in 208 Light Hall and will be co-sponsored by Basic Sciences and the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence in Protein Dynamics. A reception in the Light Hall lobby will follow.
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Pipelines to Pathways: Humanizing Diversity in STEM Conference
Quality Education for Minorities Network will be hosting a conference on September 6 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EDT and September 7 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EDT. This conference, which will be co-hosted by Antentor Hinton Jr. (Molecular Physiology and Biophysics), will have sessions that are designed to improve the educational pathways of students underserved and underrepresented in STEM. Registration is requested.
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Simple Beginnings
The annual Simple Beginnings Ph.D. lab coat ceremony, which commemorates the advent of the new class of doctoral students at the School of Medicine, will be held on September 1. This year's cohort of doctoral students will receive a personalized lab coat and well-wishes as they begin their studies.
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17th annual postdoc symposium
The 17th Annual Vanderbilt Postdoc Association Symposium will take place on November 17. This interdisciplinary, one-day conference highlights postdoctoral research and provides a venue for networking and professional development. Lightning round and poster presentation submissions will close on September 4. Register if interested.
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Correction
In the June issue we identified Faith Bishop’s affiliation as the BRET Office, but Bishop is now the associate director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
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Have a job opening you’d like to promote? Send us a link or a description and contact info, and we’ll post it here for three issues. Renew postings anytime!
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About this issue's bannerThis month’s banner image was taken by Andreanna Burman, a Cell and Developmental Biology graduate student in the Jim Goldenring lab. The immunofluorescence image shows human intestinal enteroids stained for nuclei (magenta) and ACTG1 (γ-actin; cyan), which helps to visualize the actin-rich brush border. Burman took this image to determine if the enteroids had differentiated, as only differentiated enteroids form a brush border.
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Catch up on Basic Sciences news!We regularly update our website with some of the latest VU Basic Sciences news stories. Check it out.
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Faculty and facility profilesCheck out our faculty interviews and our facility highlights here.
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About the newsletterThis newsletter recognizes the achievements and latest discoveries of students, postdocs, faculty, and staff associated with Basic Sciences departments, centers, and cores or who carry out basic biomedical research at Vanderbilt.
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Basic Sciences has a number of new communication avenues that you or your loved ones can use to keep up with what's going on here. If they're not already getting the Reading List, Vital, and Lab-to-Table Conversations announcements, send them to our subscription center!
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Keep up with biomedical science seminars
To receive weekly email notices about upcoming seminars focused on the biomedical sciences, please email Tracy O'Brien. To submit your event for the weekly email, send it to the "bioseminar" email address.
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Send us your news Got an announcement or an upcoming event? Did we miss out on celebrating you or your lab's successes? Let us know!
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