Work in Progress(WIP)
Tuesdays,(:00am-10:00am, Room C2303 MCN
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
- Victor Torres, Ph.D.
Victor Torres is what you would perhaps call a double alumnus... He did performed his thesis dissertation under the mentorship of Dr. Tim Cover, and then went on to Dr. Eric Skaar for his post-doctoral work. Here are some words of wisdom from our distinguished alumnus.
Q: What do you currently do?
V.T.: I am a scientist —an Associate Professor of Microbiology at NYU School of Medicine in New York City —that gets to play with bacteria in the lab. My lab studies how toxins produced by bacterial pathogens, in particular Staphylococcus aureus, subvert host leukocytes to promote infection. The training at VUMC in Tim Cover’s lab as a graduate student (toxin biology) and then in Eric Skaar’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow (bacterial pathogenesis) formed an outstanding foundation for me to try to unravel the secrets that enable pathogens to overcome host’s immunity.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
V.T.: Figuring out how to solve new puzzles, and definitely the training of students and fellows.
Q: What advice would you give to current students in the department?
V.T.: Work hard and discoveries would follow. Here is one of my favorite quotes: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” -Coleman Cox ~1922.
Q: What are the pros and cons of being a student and a post-doc at the same department?
V.T.: The pros are that you know everyone and where to find help for your project. The only potential con is that you don’t get exposed to how things are done at a different research institution.
Q: What is your favorite memory from your time as an M&I graduate student and later on as a post-doc?
V.T.: The holiday party comes to mind. This is when fellows had their chance to get back at the faculty. It was fun to see the reaction by the different faculty!
This came right on time for the Holiday Party! Students, if you are interested in Victor's work, check out his lab's website at:
- Molecular Pathogenesis division meeting: November 24, 2015 room A-5305 MCN, 3:00pm. Chalk Talk by Earl Ruley, Ph.D.
- November 13 - 2nd Friday Happy Hour - Hosted by the Division of Molecular Pathogenesis.
4:00pm Room: A-5305 MCN Sponsored by the labs of: Sebastian Joyce, Ph.D. & Eric Sebzda, Ph.D.
- Do not forget the Annual Christmas Party, hosted by the GSA on December 16th! See below for details
- A total of 44 publications featuring commentaries, reviews and primary research have posted on NCBI from faculty in our division. A publication featuring work contributed by the lab of Dr.Zijlstra's lab is featured below. If you would like to contribute an article highlight, from your lab or the lab of a colleague within MP, please feel free to email us!
13. Deciphering the human immunome.Crowe JE Jr, Koff WC. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2015 Nov;14(11):1421-5. doi: 10.1586/14760584.2015.1082427. Epub 2015 Aug 24.
34. Dysregulated metabolism contributes to oncogenesis. Hirschey MD, DeBerardinis RJ, Diehl AM, Drew JE, Frezza C, Green MF, Jones LW, Ko YH, Le A, Lea MA, Locasale JW, Longo VD, Lyssiotis CA, McDonnell E, Mehrmohamadi M, Michelotti G, Muralidhar V, Murphy MP, Pedersen PL, Poore B, Raffaghello L, Rathmell JC, Sivanand S, Vander Heiden MG, Wellen KE; Target Validation Team. Semin Cancer Biol. 2015 Oct 8. pii: S1044-579X(15)00099-1. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2015.10.002. [Epub ahead of print] Review.
"Urinary oncofetal ED-A fibronectin correlates with poor prognosis in patients with bladder cancer"
Arnold S.A. et al., Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 2015 Oct 11. Epub.
Fibronectin is a critical and abundant glycoprotein of the extracellular matrix that can be alternatively spliced into at least 20 isoforms.
The different fibronectin isoforms can be further sub-divided into two groups: Plasma fibronectin, expressed primarily by hepatocytes and then secreted into the plasma at high concentrations, and; Cellular fibronectin, produced by embryonic, somatic and tumor cells.
Oncofetal fibronectin isoforms belong to the cellular fibronectin group and can be identified by the presence of the alternatively spliced regions designated extra domain- A (ED-A), extra domain-B (ED-B), and the IIICS domain.
Expression of the ED-A and ED-B forms is greatly reduced during postnatal development, but can be re-expressed during would healing, re-vascularization and oncogenesis.
Arnold et al. sought to determine whether quantitationof urinary ED-A and ED-B compared to total FN would serve as a possible prognostic tool. Using a highly sensitive, collagen-based indirect ELISA, Arnold and colleagues were able to demonstrate that urinary ED-A, but not ED-B or total FN, is an independent predictor of overall survival after surgical resection in patients diagnosed with high-grade bladder cancer. Moreover, discrimination of outcome with urinary ED-A was specific to lymph node negative disease.
Significance:Bladder cancer is currently diagnosed and monitored using urinary cytology, cystoscopy, and CT urography. While these techniques have high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity for bladder cancer, prognostic indicators remain more elusive. This work could lay the foundation for the development of non-onvasive prognostic tools.
Comments/suggestions to: maria.hadjifrangiskou@vanderbilt.edu, helen.chomicki@vanderbilt.edu
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