Billiar Lab News
University of Pittsburgh
Summer 2013
Volume 19, Edition 1
Important Dates
Lab Updates
Publication!
“Induction and stability of
human Th17 cells require
endogenous NOS2 and
cGMP-dependent NO
signaling”, a recent
publication in The Journal of
Experimental Medicine was
contributed to by Drs. Billiar
and Scott.
Changes to Billiar Lab
Meeting Schedule
Dr. Billiar’s weekly 12:15
Thursday Lab Conference
will be held on Wednesdays
from 12:00 to 1:00pm effective
September 2013. The schedule
change is necessary as Dr.
Billiar would like his lab
members to attend the
Department of Immunology
Seminar Series that is
scheduled to begin September
2013. The Immunology
Seminars will be held on
Thursdays at 12:00.

schedules, as they are
updated, can be found on the
Simmons Research
General Surgery and Vascular
Tu 8:00am & Th 8:30am F-
Labs website events calendar.
1275 PUH
 Aug 29
Lab Stock PBS
At a recent research meeting
with Dr. Billiar, he questioned
the use of lab prepared PBS
for use in in-vitro and in vivo
procedures. This PBS should
never be used for in vivo
work. For in vivo injections,
sterile PBS from Presby
Pharmacy is purchased in
50ml bags. See Deb for further
information concerning in
vivo injection.
Eileen Bauer
Billiar Lab Meeting
Th 12:15pm F-1275 PUH
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Aug 15
Jinze Wu
Aug 22
Hong Liu
(Journal Club)
Aug 29
GuoLiang Wang
DAMP’s/Danger Signals
Th 10:00am F-1275 PUH
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September 26
October 17 (Tentative)
November 21
December 19
Some fun facts:

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The cost of the vendor
500ml PBS bottle is ~$4.90
The lab currently prepares
10L of PBS weekly, much of
this is wasted.
The vendor PBS will only
stay sterile and clean if you
keep it that way.
Trauma/Sepsis Model
Tu 9:30am F-1275 PUH
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September 17
October 29
November 12
December 10
MUH Staff Meeting
Please mark your calendars
Mon 1:00-2:00pm
and as soon as the
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

Immunology schedule is
posted Deb will forward to
you. In addition, both
August 12 NW628 MUH
October 15 N727 MUH
December 9 N727 MUH

New Faces

Please welcome the following
new people into our labs:
Billar Lab
Tong Jiang - Volunteer
Shuhua Chen – Post Doc Assc
Zhengzheng Yan – Visiting
Scholar
Othman Malak – Post Doc Assc
Mostafa Ramadan – Resident


To avoid waste, the lab will
stock 50ml tubes of vendor
PBS as well as 500ml
bottles. This will not
involve an autoclave step.
Vendor purchased water
will also be stocked soon.
We have initiated a
Glassware room QC and all
3 equipment pieces (dryer,
washer and autoclave) were
negative for any bacterial
growth. Next, an LAL test
will be performed in the
next week on the
equipment.
to scrape and rinse the cages
so there is no bedding residue
remaining. The filter tops will
also be sent for washing, so
please leave them with the
dirty cages. We are also
providing bins to collect the
water bottles and rubber
stoppers in each animal use
room.
Please do not transport these
cages to locations other than
NW615MUH and
Hui Zhou – Visiting Scholar
If you prefer to continue to
NW636MUH. And do not
Ye Zhang – Visiting Scholar
use the lab prepared PBS you
bring cages from other
will need to order and
locations here.
prepare yourself. Please see
Hepatocyte Harvest
We are extending harvest
days to include Wednesdays
for those obtaining cells from
the Montefiore harvests. If
you wish to receive cells on
Wednesday, note that on the
harvest request board. This
option is available to permit
twice as many experiments to
be performed since many
people work weekends.
Hua Zhong – Visiting Scholar
Zuckerbraun Lab
Yanting Wang – Med Student
Hong Liao for the details and
procedure.
Silvia Laverde – Visiting Scholar
Jason Luciano – Resident
Geller and Tsung Labs
We are also converting to
purchasing pre-sterilized
pipet tips. Please use only the
Samer Tohme – Resident
barrier tips while performing
Patrick Varley – Resident
work in the cell culture hoods
Tony Spadaro – Med Student
Ryan Rothman - Undergrad
Tzeng and Sachdev Labs
Maylene Xie – Med Student
Ellen Cody – Med Student
Andrew Leake – Resident
Jun Xu – Resident
Other Labs
Zhigang Li – Visiting Scholar
(Fan Lab)
Huang Zhi-jun – Visiting Scholar
(Chen Lab)
from this point forward.
If you have any suggestions
and/or concerns, please do not
hesitate to voice them.
Animal Cage Cleaning
Changes
In an effort to eliminate
animal caging in our
washroom, we are
transporting the dirty cages to
DLAR for them to wash. In
order to reduce the amount of
time we are being charge by
DLAR, we need you (the user)
MUH Film Processor
The film processor is no
longer usable due to a
corroded pipe that cannot be
fixed. Currently the only
option for obtaining a picture
of your western is the Bio-Rad
Imaging System in NW607.
Please see Rick Shapiro for
training before you use it.
Deb is exploring other options
for you only. If
Fan: 912
for film processor use in the
your itemized receipt
Geller: 921, 1501A, 1501B
BST.
includes others (spouse or
Chairman Research
Division Travel Policy –
Update
Receipts will be required for
ALL travel reimbursements
including; air, registration,
abstract fees, poster fees, taxi
fare, meals, etc. There are
certain travel restrictions that
apply and can only be
determined by your receipts.
We, as well as payment
processing, require
individual itemized receipts
other attendees), please cross
out all charges that do not
apply to you.
Animal Housing Room
Changes – Effective Aug
12, 2013
Due to the BST facility
renovation project the current
list of housing rooms by PI is:
Billiar: 935, 935, 907, 911,
1501B
Bauer: 912, 940
Pitt: 907, 1501B
Rosengart: 935
Sachdev: 914, 1501B
Scott: 907, 911
Tsung: 935, 907, 923, 921, 940
Cube 4, 1501B
Tzeng: 911, 940 Cube 4, 1501B
Vodovotz: 921
Wang: 908, 1501B
Zuckerbraun: 921, 1501B
The entrance flow for the
rooms has stayed the same:
Chen: 909
Staff Highlight – Sladjana Stratimirovic
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I was born and raised in Belgrade, Serbia, located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe. I
earned my B.Sc. in science, specializing in Crop Science, at University of Belgrade. I also earned a
diploma as a registered nurse (paediatric course). I could never decide whether I liked science or
medical field better.
After spending two years in the lab at Plant Pathology Division, University of Belgrade I decided to
go back to medical field. I started working as a nurse in a private gastroenterology office. After a year,
while still working, I went back to school to become physical therapist. All my plans changed after I
won green card by lottery and came to USA with my husband in 2000 .We came to Pittsburgh because
we had some friends here and it became our home.
Shortly after arriving in Pittsburgh, I found a position at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of
Biological Sciences, in Javier Lopez’s lab. He was studying regulation of alternative pre-mRNA
splicing. After 6 years in his lab I started working with Dr. McCloskey in the Billar lab. Dr.
McCloskey’s research was focused on cell signaling, in particular the role of TLR4 and free fatty acids
in obesity, as well as the effect of obesity on inflammation and end organ dysfunction following
severe trauma/haemorrhagic shock.
Staff Highlight – Sladjana Stratimirovic(Con’t)

Since 2011 I have been working in Dr. Brian Zuckerbraun’s group as a technician. I have been
working with other people in the group on different in vitro experiments in order to study protective
responses to haemorrhage or sepsis that limit cell death and tissue/organ injury. Heme oxygenase,
CO and NO signalling are important part of study in our group. I train new members of the group to
do protein and RNA extractions, western blotting, qPCR etc.
I live in Forest Hills with my husband Vladimir and two sons, Luka (11) and Stefan (10).We have two
pets—lion head bunny and leopard fat tail gecko. Like most parents, I enjoy supporting my kids in
doing things they like, from different sports to music. All those practices, games, tournaments,
meets ,classes are time consuming, and I hardly get any free time for myself and always struggle to
finish the housework, but it is worth it.
The only time that I have for myself is when I go to aerobic kickboxing. It has been a part of my
regular weekly schedule for the past five years. It helps me gain energy and reduce stress. I also have
been working as a Serbo-Croation translator or interpreter for the Baldwin-Whitehall School District
since 2007. Additionally, my whole family likes to travel, and we spend most of our vacation time in
Belgrade. The kids love spending time with our families, friends and visiting different places in
Europe.
My son, Stefan, learning to pipet on
bring your child to work day.
1 - 935- Immunocompromised
AND Helicobacter Free
2 - 931/934/907 - Helicobacter
Free
3 - 904/922 –
Immunocompromised
4 - 924, 925, 920, 921, 923, 914,
913, 912, 911, 910, 909, 908,
985E, 906, 903, 902 - SPF
This list is organized by tier.
Mice
The list of rooms on each tier
5 - 905, 915 - SPF Rat Housing
6 - 940 - BSL2 Housing
7 - 1501A (Rats)
8 - 1501B (BSL2 Rat/Mouse)
(1-8) can be entered in any
order, but once you go into a
lower tier, you cannot enter a
higher tier room without
showering, with the exception
of SPF rats to SPF mice, which
requires a full garb change.
Faculty Highlight –Wentao Gao
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After high school, I spent five years at medical school, where I trained as a dentist. I then studied three
more years for a master degree in pathology, training as a clinical pathologist specialized in Oral and
Maxillary diseases. I spent another three years in the same field to obtain Ph.D. degree. During these
learning and training processes, I learned plenty of knowledge in basic and clinical sciences and
mastered multiple technologies for biomedical research. These include technologies in histology,
pathology, immunology, cell biology and molecular biology. With these tools, I productively conducted
research projects when I joined the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine. During that time, I
further developed skills and insights into scientific investigations and become a more independent
scientist in term of recognizing and identifying scientific problems and utilizing tools to answer these
questions.
I joined the Billiar lab in 2010 and have been working with Dr. Michael T. Stang since. My research of
interest has been focusing on understanding the mechanism of autophagy and its potential applications
in disease models such as cancer therapy models. Several research projects have been accomplished or
are ongoing in this lab. In addition, I also help other lab members to achieve their research goals.
Ambition and motivation in biomedical sciences have been driving me to face new challenges in
research, but I find that I enjoy my work because it directs me to an unknown and unexplored world.
I have been married for twenty years. Fortunately, my wife resides with me here in Pittsburgh. We have
one daughter (14 years old) and one son (8 years old). My daughter plays the piano and has won first
place three out of four times when entered in the Gift Center of Pittsburgh public schools science
competitions. My son likes sports games. My wife works as a senior technician in Pitt. Without my
family support, I would not have the impetus to persistently work hard to achieve my research goals. I
like watching TV shows, particularly interested in history, nature and science documentaries. I like all
sports games, but my favorite hobby is fishing.
Messages from IACUC & DLAR
BST Facility Renovations
The 9th floor BST will
undergo renovations to
increase animal housing
capacity. Three housing
rooms (930, 932, and 933) will
be converted into two larger
rooms (930 and 933), and will
contain high density caging
racks.
efforts to minimize colony
size during this project so that
everyone’s needs can be
accommodated.
An email communication
containing updated
allocations has been sent to
each PI and individual labs
will be contacted to arrange
colony transfers between
Good Luck

We’d like to extend our
best wishes and good luck
in future endeavors to
those who have left the
lab in recent months and
those who will be leaving
in the upcoming months:
The tentative start date for
housing rooms. DLAR will
this project is August 15th,
move the animals, unless
2013, and the projected end
otherwise requested by the
date is mid to late October
PI. When the final
2013. Noise and vibrations
construction schedule is
will be kept to a minimum,
complete, the DLAR will
Gina Howell
and should be comparable to
communicate timelines to
Misaki Kiguchi
the recent project which
each PI, via email. In the
Justin Wallace
added emergency power
interim, we are available to
outlets to the animal housing
discuss any concerns that you
rooms. The project will
may have regarding this
require that some animals be
project. Please contact the
relocated within the facility,
facility supervisor, Matt
during construction.
Mihalik, to schedule a
Due to the need to vacate the
three affected rooms, the
Space Allocation Committee
will be reassigning box
allocations based on each PI’s
actual box count during the
months of February through
June, 2013. The Space
Committee will be able to
consider requests for
additional space at the
completion of the
construction project, in late
October 2013. We appreciate
meeting.
IACUC Assitance Program
The IACUC Office has
launched a new outreach
project to assist researchers in
maintaining compliance with
University policies and
Federal regulations. This
program is pro-active, with
an emphasis on laboratory
management and IACUC
protocol completion. During
the rollout this summer, we
will concentrate on the issue
Changchun Cai
Sean Whelan
Cuiling Zhang
Zheng Liu
Cordelia Ziraldo
John Pribis
Kevin Hart
Richard Collage
Tao Ma
Kathyrn Vreeland
of expired drugs and other
agents, but will also use the
opportunity to offer expertise
and assistance to researchers
and their
staff members regarding all
areas of investigator-IACUC
interaction.
Over the next few months,
investigators may receive a
visit from Jody Mankamyer
or Brooke Paul from the
IACUC office. This is not a
visit to audit the lab, or check
one of the top ten citations
seminars are held each
for compliance. It will simply
given by the USDA each
Thursday at 2:00 pm in 206
be done as a friendly
year. Expired drugs not only
Heiber. Space is limited - if
reminder to the PI and/or lab
may lack needed sterility,
interested, please contact
manager to check their drug
potency and efficacy, but also
Michael Kessler
box and discard expired
may contain precipitates that
(kesslermc@upmc.edu) to
drugs or materials on a
have negative effects on the
make arrangements.
regular basis. PIs may also
animal or the experimental
request an assistance visit
results. Keep in mind that
from the IACUC office for the
materials such as sutures,
purpose of facilitating
physiological saline and
compliance with
betadine also have expiration
University (http://www.rcco.pi
dates that must be adhered to
tt.edu/ControlledDrugs/) and
in order to maintain
IACUC policies regarding the
compliance.
use of controlled and non-
Please remember that the
IACUC Office is committed to
helping investigators remain
compliant with
University and Federal
policies, regulations, and laws
pertinent to the use of
animals in teaching or
We would also like to remind
research. Please contact the
researchers that assistance is
IACUC office if you have any
available for the use of ARO
questions. We can be reached
Expired drugs are frequently
(Animal Research Online), the
at 412-383-2008
found during the IACUC
IACUC's online protocol
or iacuc@pitt.edu.
semi-annual inspections, and
submission and management
the use of expired drugs is
system. Introductory
controlled drugs and
materials.
Colony Status: As of July 19, 2013
Established Colonies
iNos KO
TrifLPS-2 Colony increased
CD14 KO
Myd88 KO* (backcrossing)
Myd88 WT* (backcrossing)
TLR9CpG1/CpG1
Jα281-/HC TLR4 KO
TLR4 flox
TLR4 KO (global)
Het TLR4KO/TLR4flox
RAGE KO
C3 KO
Colonies in Development
ATF3 KO
ROSA
TLR2 KO
Pf4creHMGB1flox
Caspase1KO*
TLR4 KO x TLR2 KO
DC TLR4 KO
AIM2 KO (eliminated colony
TLR4 KO/TL9
– commercially available
Nalp 3 KO*
from Jax)
TLR4 KO/RAGE KO
Myd88 flox – small amounts
Lyz Cre TLR4 KO
available HC Myd88 KO –
Adipose TLR4KO
wait list started, small
HMGB1 flox
amounts available
HC HMGB1 KO
Lyz cre Myd88 KO– wait list
NFKB luc
started, small amounts
NFKB WT
available
CpG1/CpG1
Pf4creTLR4 KO
Caspase 11 N-6 set-up,
Cathespin L KO N-6 expected
waiting for pups
May 2014
Strains Available from Collaborators
CAV KO (Michael Bauer)
TSP-1 KO (A. Chen)
IFNabR KO (M. Bauer)
TSP-2 KO (A. Chen)
IRF-2 KO (David Geller)
CD36 KO (A. Chen)
eNos GCHtg (A. Chen)
hph-1 (A. Chen)
Cryopreserved Strains *at Jackons Labs unless otherwise noted
eNos tg
EGR1 KO
CD36 KO
IFNabR KO
TLR2 KO
TLR-9 (eggs, in house)
AIM2 KO
TLR-4 flox (under Hackam)
Stud Colonies
TLR4 KO x CD11c
TLR4 KO x Albumin Cre
HMGB1 flox x Albumin Cre
TLR4 x Fab cre
TLR4 KO x Lyz Cre
HMGB1 flox x Pf4 cre
GDF-15 KO (Yoram
Vodovotz)
TLR-4 KO (Taconic, under
Hackam)
HMGB1+/-
TLR-4 KO x Pf4 cre
Myd88 flox x Lyz cre
Myd88 flox x Alb Cre
If you have any questions regarding the contents of this newsletter, contact Deb Williams
(williamsd8@upmc.edu)
If you know of anything exciting or newsworthy going on in the lab that you want to share with others email
Alicia Frank (franka@upmc.edu) with the information
For more information, please visit the General and Vascular Surgery Labs website
(http://www.gensurgerylabs.pitt.edu/)