CC
NY
student spotlights
faculty spotlight
Dr. Bao Vuong
Dr. Nancy Kleckner
When Assistant Professor Dr. Bao Vuong was
a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center, he was incubating more than cell cultures:
the calling to teach was being nurtured within him
during those eight years as well. Dr.Vuong came to
CCNY in Fall 2014, from the cancer institute, sure
that, of all the area schools, City College would
offer him an ideal balance between science and
pedagogy.
Dr. Vuong came to the U.S. with his family as
a young child; they were part of the perilous,
wrenching boat rescues in 1975 that brought
upwards of 140,000 South Vietnamese refugees
here after the fall of the capital, Saigon. His family
was resettled in central Florida, in a community
that offered few cultural and linguistic signposts
that could ease Dr.Vuong’s transition into a new
world. With that experience behind him, he
observes, “Given the student population here
[at CCNY], that they’re predominantly from
immigrant backgrounds, typically first generation
immigrants, I can relate to their endeavors to try
to improve their lives.” Dr. Vuong’s identity with
immigrants and underrepresented groups is served
by his participation in RCMI Translational Research
Network (RTRN), a collaboration between
researchers and healthcare institutions that
biology
N EWSLETTER
spring 2015
issue #4
Senior Editor
Christine Klusko
Editor
Dr. David Lohman
Writer
Carolina Amoruso
Graphic Design
Manager
reaches into underserved communities in order
to redress disparities in healthcare delivery.
Dr.Vuong studies mostly the basic molecular
process in B-cells that can lead to a certain strain
of B-cell lymphoma. At the same time, he is
seeking to broaden his research to include B-cell
functioning in patients with lupus and, other
autoimmune diseases that may disproportionately
affect minority communities. He is in synch
with the more translational approach of RTRN
as it seeks answers to big questions and cures
to major diseases disproportionately affecting
underrepresented populations.
With his lab slated to be fully operational by
the beginning of 2015, Dr.Vuong is eagerly
recruiting students to begin working with him.
In the meantime he is currently teaching a
laboratory course in Cell and Molecular Biology
(Biology 229), and will take on more teaching
duties in upcoming semesters. Dr.Vuong can
be observed sitting in his large, airy, and sparse
laboratory in the Marshak Science Building,
personalized for now only by his various
computers. He comments, with a sense of
anticipation and commitment, “I’m creating my
little lab nest here.”
Rychelle McKenzie
Photographer
Additional Highlight
Andre Washington
Former Cosloy-Blank Scholarship winner, Andrea Cardenas-Aravelo
won a travel award to ABRCMS, where she won a Best Poster Award.
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Detecting DNA breaks at immunoglobulin genes.
Cardenas-Aravelo, A* and A. Janakiraman. 2014. “Molecular interactions
of an E. coli division protein ZapC with the ClpXP protease. ABRCMS,
San Antonio, TX.
Dr. Nancy Kleckner, Herschel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology
at Harvard University, delivered the 9th annual Sharon Cosloy-Edward
Blank Lecture on October 23rd, 2014. The title of her talk was
“Chromosome Dynamics from Bacteria to Mammalian Cells.”
The Cosloy Lecture and Scholarship is endowed and was attended
by Edward Blank, husband of the late CCNY Biology Professor and
Department Chair, Dr. Sharon Cosloy. Mr. Blank is himself an alumnus
of CCNY. The occasion was made even more memorable by the
participation of the recently appointed Dean of Science, Dr. Tony Liss,
and newly appointed Chairperson of the Department of Biology,
Dr. Karen Hubbard.
Dr. Shuba Govind
Heavner, M. E., A. D. Hudgins, R. Rajwani, J. Morales, and S.
Govind. 2014. Harnessing the natural Drosophila-parasitoid
model for integrating insect immunity with functional venomics. Current Opinion in Insect Science 6:61–67.
Dr. Hysell Oviedo
Oyibo, H. K., P. Znamenskiy, H.V. Oviedo, L. W. Enquist, and A.
M. Zador. 2014. Long-term Cre-mediated retrograde tagging
of neurons using a novel recombinant pseudorabies virus.
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 8:86.
Dr. Ana Carnaval
Carnaval, A. C., E. Waltari, M. T. Rodrigues, D. Rosauer, J.
VanDerWal, R. Damasceno, I. Prates, M. Strangas, Z. Spanos,
D. Rivera, M. R. Pie, C. R. Firkowski, M. R. Bornschein, L. F.
Ribeiro, and C. Moritz. 2014. Prediction of phylogeographic
endemism in an environmentally complex biome. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/
rspb.2014.1461
Shaffer, C. D., et al. 2014. A course-vased research experience:
How benefits change with increased investment in instructional time. CBE-Life Sciences Education 13:111–130.
Dr. Mark Pezzano
Pezzano M, Osada M, Singh VJ, Sant’Angelo DB. Label retaining
stem cells in the postnatal thymus. International Symposium
on Minority Health and Health Disparities, December 2014
Prates, I., M. T. Rodrigues, P. R. Melo-Sampaio, and A. C.
Carnaval. 2015. Phylogenetic relationships of Amazonian anole
lizards (Dactyloa): Taxonomic implications, new insights about
phenotypic evolution and the timing of diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 82:258–268.
Dr. Mark Emerson
Emerson, M. M. Probing the developmental origins of vertebrate cone photoreceptors with cis-regulatory modules.
Genes, Epigenetics, and Evolution in Eye Development and
Disease Conference. Parador de Oropesa, Spain. September
2014
Wang, S., C. Sengel, M. M. Emerson, and C. L. Cepko. 2014. A
gene regulatory network controls the binary fate decision of
rod and bipolar cells in the vertebrate retina. Developmental
Cell 30:513–527.
Dr. Michael Hickerson
Demos, T. C., J. C. Kerbis Peterhans, B. Agwanda, and M. J.
Hickerson. 2014. Uncovering cryptic diversity and refugial
persistence among small mammal lineages across the Eastern
Afromontane biodiversity hotspot. Molecular Phylogenetics
and Evolution 71:41–54.
Smith, B. T., J. E. McCormack, A. M. Cuervo, M. J. Hickerson, A.
Aleixo, C. D. Cadena, J. Perez-Eman, C. W. Burney, X. Xie, M. G.
Harvey, B. C. Faircloth, T. C. Glenn, E. P. Derryberry, J. Prejean,
S. Fields, and R. T. Brumfield. 2014. The drivers of tropical
speciation. Nature 515:406–409.
Dr. David Lohman
Kaliszewska, Z. A., D. J. Lohman, K. Sommer, G. Adelson, D.
B. Rand, J. Mathew, G. Talavera, and N. E. Pierce. 2015. When
caterpillars attack: biogeography and life history evolution
of the Miletinae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Evolution: DOI:
10.1111/evo.12599
Pezzano M, Singh VJ, Schwartz C, Jamil NZ. WNT signaling
during thymic involution and reconstitution. International
Symposium on Minority Health and Health Disparities,
December 2014.
Dr. Adrian Rodriguez-Contreras
Shi L, Rodríguez-Contreras A, Budansky Y, Pu Y, Nguyen TA,
Alfano RR. 2014. Deep two-photon microscopic imaging
through brain tissue using the second singlet state from fluorescent agent chlorophyll α in spinach leaf. Journal of Biomedical Optics 19: 066009. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.19.6.066009
Rodríguez-Contreras A, Shi L, Fu BM. 2014. A method
to make a craniotomy on the ventral skull of neonate
rodents. Journal of Visualized Experiments 87: e51350. doi:
10.3791/51350 PMID: 24894439
Lohman D.J. Evolution and biogeography of Batesian mimetic
diversity in Elymnias butterflies (Nymphalidae: Satyrinae).
Invited presentation at NSF-NSFC Biodiversity Partnerships
Workshop. Beijing Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, September 2014.
Benjamin Souferi
The winner of the Sharon D. Cosloy Scholarship in Biology
was announced at the event. Benjamin Souferi, a BS/MS student
working in Dr. Emerson’s laboratory was this year’s recipient.
Coming from a family of Iranian-Jewish refugees, Ben feels
especially grateful for the award. “This will help further my
strong passion for science and the medical field.” “I hope to
complete my MD/PhD and work towards decreasing social
barriers.” Ben’s passion for helping others is demonstrated
in his volunteer work with the American Heart Association
through CCNY’s Volunteer Emergency Services. “The best part
of winning this award is making my parents proud, in addition
to setting a great example for my three
younger siblings.”
Mr. Edward Blank
From left; Dr. Mark Emerson, Dean Tony Liss, Mr. Edward Blank, Dr. Nancy Kleckner, and Benjamin Souferi
Ivan Prates
Brazil has some of the world’s most vast and
diverse ecosystems, and at the same time, some of
the most endangered. Thus the country produces
a cadre of dedicated researchers who can find
their laboratory on their doorstep. One such
researcher is Ivan Prates, a native of Sao Paulo,
who is a member of Dr. Ana Carnaval’s lab at
CCNY. While studying for his PhD, he is intent on
learning as much as he can from Dr. Carnaval, his
mentor, as well as from the numerous detours off
the straight path his inquisitive mind leads him to.
Once he made the decision to pursue biology
rather than art, Ivan seemed preordained to
gravitate towards the ecology and evolution of
the tropics. Within the tropics, he has been most
engaged with amphibians. From the ground up,
he wants to achieve a clear understanding of
the origins of biodiversity through using genetic
information as he seeks to “come up with those
keys to the past that can also open the door to
the future,” and most importantly, “divert, for the
better, the precarious and compromised course
our planet and its resources are taking.”
Ivan received a rigorous and comprehensive
background in science while studying in Brazil,
but wanted to go abroad for his doctorate.
Excited and challenged by the cutting-edge
methodology and analytical tools he’d been
exposed to, he wanted to be nearer to the
researchers spearheading innovation. An intensive
search found Dr. Carnaval. Once he established
a correspondence with her, they “clicked” over
their keen mutual interest in the frogs of South
America. Ivan’s interest in the tiny, colorful and
photogenic Amazonian poison dart frogs intrigued
Dr. Carnaval. Then, he came north.
Ivan would like to spend another two to
three years researching here before completing
his doctorate. He wants to soak up as much
knowledge that he can. Inquiries not directly
related to his thesis include further species
identification and intensifying his study of lizards.
Degree in hand, Ivan plans to return to Brazil
where he will continue his research and teach.
“I feel that I’m missing a lot,” he confesses,
concluding, “I’m really far from the forest, far from
the frogs.”
Stephanie Montenegro will be the first person
in her family to graduate from college. She is
a role model for her multi-sourced family; her
mother was raised in Argentina, her father is from
Colombia, and her bloodlines extend to Russia,
Germany and Hungary. Stephanie will graduate
from CCNY with a 3.5 GPA in Fall 2015 with a BS/
MS in Biology.
Stephanie has come up through the New York
City public schools and states her education here
competes with, if it doesn’t beat, the ones received
in private institutions. “It grounds me,” she reflects,
“knowing I am receiving a cost-effective education
here. At the same time, there is no loss in quality;
some of my professors have been really amazing!”
Her career goal is to earn her doctorate and
become a full professor, head her own laboratory
and a generous complement of students where
she might be “a force of influence on their lives.”
She envisions her students coming to appreciate
that a thorough understanding of course
material is ultimately more rewarding than rote
memorization, and that the takeaway for subject
matter well-mastered goes far beyond earning
maximum grades. “Coming out knowing something
and caring about that something” is the gold
standard she has set for her contribution to her
students, and one she practices herself.
“It was really beneficial that I’ve had professors
who pushed me in a certain direction and inspired
me,” she observes. Stephanie has been especially
inspired by two members of the neurobiology
faculty, Drs. Levitt and Edelman. She has taken
two courses with Dr. Levitt and finds his style
software based interface between doctor and outpatient designed to remotely monitor the patient’s
well-being between visits. NexHealth is already in
use by a number of healthcare facilities.
After graduation, Alamin will spend some
time away from academia, devoting his energies
to NexHealth. He plans on returning to attend
medical school, becoming NexHealth’s chief
scientist, on track to make discoveries that can
be adapted to NexHealth’s business model.
One might see Alamin’s career choices of
entrepreneurship and medicine as fulfilling a
family destiny: his father left medical school in
Bangladesh, where Alamin was born, to follow a
career path in business. Alamin’s family emigrated
to the U.S. in 1995 when he was two years old.
While devoting most of his energies to studying
Islam and science, Alamin still finds time to pursue
other interests such as history, politics, economics,
art and photography. “I blog too,” he adds, coming
almost to the end of a very long list of endeavors
for a full-time student who is growing a business.
He is writing an article describing a way to invest
in interest-bearing bonds that is compatible with
Shariah law.
Down the road, says Alamin, with a nod towards
his mentor, “I want to go into academia also, and
maybe–when I’m 50 or something—start teachitng
at a college, be a Professor like Dr. Guyden.” Going
forward, he plans to increase his public speaking
opportunities, giving talks on how to reconcile his
faith in Islam with the wonders of science.
Stephanie Montenegro
Publications & Presentations
Dr. Kamillah Ali
Ali, K., E. M. Abo-Ali, M. D. Kabir, B. Riggins, S. Nguy, L. Li,
U. Srivastava, and S. M. M. Thinn. 2014. A western-fed diet
increases plasma HDL and LDL-cholesterol levels in ApoD–/–
mice. PLoS ONE 9:e115744.
The Sharon Cosloy-Edward Blank Lecture
of instruction exemplary. Stephanie has been in
Dr. Edelman’s lab for a year and a half where she
mostly investigates saccadic eye movement. She is
impressed and inspired by Dr. Edelman’s ability to
remain calm and even-handed in the midst of the
inevitable crises and deadline anxieties that arise.
Dr. Edelman contributes, “Stephanie has shown
amazing initiative, conscientiousness and diligence
as a researcher in my lab.... I’m very happy to know
she is planning to do a PhD. She’ll do great. I will
miss her!”
Alamin Uddin
Alamin Uddin is following the path he carved
out for his future defined by his faith. He is
graduating from CCNY in Fall 2015, with a BS in
Biology, having worked for two and a half years
with Dr. Jerry Guyden on two major research
projects. One project studied the evolution and
function of T-cells and the thymus using larvae
lamprey as subjects. The more current project
looks into the behavior of T-cells in autoimmune
disease, specifically lupus.
Alamin shared CCNY’s Zahn Prize for
Excellence in Entrepreneurship in 2013 with a
colleague he met while he was Vice President
of the CCNY Muslim Students Association. He
is currently the Association President. With the
award, they were able to launch NexHealth, a
Colloquia
2/02
Dr. David Schoppik
Neuroscience Institute at NYU
2/18
Dr. Susan McLaughlin
Queensborough Community College, CUNY
3/02
Dr. Nathalia Holtzman
Queens College, CUNY
3/16
Dr. Areti Tsimounis
Queensborough Community College, CUNY
3/30
Dr. Maria Uriarte
Columbia University
4/13
Dr. Ning Qian
Columbia University
4/27
Dr. Marcus Kronforst
University of Chicago
All meet in The Marshak Science Building,
room 801 at 1pm
2/09
Dr. Karl Kandler
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
2/23
Dr. Wei Min
Columbia University
3/09
Dr. Stephen Shea
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
3/23
Dr.Vanessa Ruta
Rockefeller University
4/06
Dr. Lynne Kiorpes
New York University
4/20
Dr. Elizabeth Bauer
Barnard College, Columbia University
5/04
Dr. Balazs Hangya
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
5/11
Dr. Julia Kaltschmidt
Sloan Kettering Institute and
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center