BHSc Summer 2014 Research Scholarship Recipients
Student Name
Branson Chen
Supervisor Name &
Department
Ali Ashkar, Pathology
and Molecular
Medicine
Katelyn Colwell
Jeffrey Dickhout,
Medicine
Julian Daza Vargas
Deborah Sloboda,
Biochemistry and
Biomedical Sciences
Adam Eqbal
Jonathan Bramson,
Pathology and
Molecular Medicine
Lehana Thabane,
Clinical Epidemiology
and Biostatistics
Brian (Younho) Hong
Matthew Jessome
Rick Adachi, Medicine
Maggie Jiang
Thomas Hawke,
Pathology and
Molecular Medicine
Research Title and Description
The Role of Nitric Oxide and IFN-gamma in the Innate Mucosal
Immunity Against Viral Infections: In vitro experiments and in vivo
mouse models looking at NO-deficient mice and their response to viral
infections with respect to the innate mucosal immunity.
Repression of CHOP/GADD 153 to Inhibit Ischemic Acute Renal Injury:
Endoplasmic reticulum stress has been implicated in ischemic acute
kidney injury. This research will determine if genetic disruption of
CHOP/GADD 153 (a component of the endoplasmic reticulum stress –
mediated apoptosis pathway) can prevent the induction of ischemic
acute kidney injury. Furthermore, recently discovered pharmacological
agents will be used to suppress CHOP/GADD 153 and inhibit ischemic
acute kidney injury. If this is proven, steps can be taken to patent
therapeutics and further investigate them as viable means to inhibit
acute kidney injury.
Transgenerational Effects of Maternal Obesity on Offspring Hepatic
Beta-Oxidation and De Novo Lipogenesis: Student will be measuring
gene expression levels of key enzymes that mediate these pathways to
determine if maternal obesity impairs hepatic beta-oxidation and
facilitates de novo lipogenesis in offspring.
Manipulating T Cell Metabolism to Enhance Adoptive T Cell Therapy:
Exploring pharmacologic manipulation of T cell metabolism in vitro as a
method to produce engineered T cells.
Prophylactic Use of Immuno-Modulaters and Its Effect on Digital Ulcer
Formation: We will be looking into 8 different immune-modulators with
one of them being methotrexate and assess the effect of its prophylactic
use on scleroderma patients. We would want to test the hypothesis that
immune-modulators will reduce the incidence of digital ulcers
scleroderma patients who regularly take these medications. We will
adjust for channeling bias (bias that there is a different propensity to
receive this drug based on baseline patient characteristics) via
multivariable logistic regression. We will conduct sensitivity analyses
using propensity scores.
Application of a Novel Bone Erosion Segmentation Software (EERA):
This research will investigate the relationship between erosion volumes
of the MCP joint and disease outcomes in RA patients.
Effect of High Fat Diet on Skeletal Muscle Morphology and Function in
Young and Growing Mice: The link between obesity and Type II Diabetes
Mellitus (T2DM) has to date, been studied primarily in young adult mice
fed a High Fat Diet (HFD). Minimal research has been carried out on
young growing mice. It has been suggested that youth may have some
protection from the detrimental impacts of obesity as rates of T2DM
amongst youth have not increased to the same degree that rates of
obesity have. Skeletal muscle accounts for up to 70% of glucose disposal.
Given its key role in glucose homeostasis, adaptations to HFD and
changes in skeletal muscle mass, glucose uptake, and composition
during growth may explain the protective factors experienced by the
younger population.
The research project will involve characterizing the effects of HFD and
Normal chow Diet (ND) on young mouse models with active or sedentary
Tony Jin
Shucui Jiang,
Yalda Karimi
Ali Ashkar, Pathology
and Molecular
Medicine
Guillaume Pare,
Pathology and
Molecular Medicine
Joanne (Jeehyun)
Kim
Joshua Koenig
Manel Jordana,
Pathology and
Molecular Medicine
Philipp Kolb
Kjetil Ask, Medicine
Ben Li
Jonathan Bramson,
Adam Suleman
Eric Brown,
Biochemistry and
Biomedical Sciences
Christine (Pei-Wen)
Wang
Geoff Werstuck,
Medicine
Tina Wang
Shucui Jiang, Surgery
lifestyles. Mice between 3 and 6 weeks of age will undergo selective
training and exercise tests. Mice will then undergo glucose tolerance,
and body composition tests. Extraction of various muscle fibre samples
will occur at 6 weeks of age to measure palmidate oxidation, and
measures of muscle morphology including fibre size, fibre type, lipid
content and mitochondrial content.
Determining Whether Inhibition of Intracellular Calcium Levels Affects
Guanosine-Induced Anti-Apoptosis in Schneider 2 Cells: To link changes
in intracellular calcium levels with cellular apoptosis to elucidate the
signal transduction mechanisms involved with G1 receptor, intracellular
calcium release will be inhibited or untouched in experimental groups
involving Schneider 2 cells with transfected G1 receptors. Apoptosis will
be induced using anti-myosin C in these cells and caspase 3 will be
quantified and used as the hallmark biochemical indicator of the extent
of apoptosis or anti-apoptosis.
The Regulatory Effect of type 1 IFN Signaling on TLR-4 Signaling: This
project will investigate the modulatory effect of type 1 IFN on the
immune cell’s response to TLR-4 ligands.
Associations Between Apolipoprotein E (APOE) Gene Polymorphisms
on Intracerebral Hemorrhage: The study objective is to determine how
ethnic background affects the effect size of APOE polymorphisms on risk
for intracerebral hemorrhage.
Elucidating Mechanisms Underlying Peanut Sensitization and
Anaphylaxis in Murine Models: Experiments will be conducted on
mouse models to further understand and identify factors that are key to
the induction of peanut sensitization and anaphylaxis.
TGF-ß1 Induced Fibroblast Differentiation In Vitro and
Pharmaceutical Intervention of this Process: The overall goal of my
summer research project is to decrease fibroblast differentiation through
pharmaceutical intervention in vitro. I developed an assay my 3H03
project which can reliably cause differentiation through TGFβ which can
be measured using flow cytometry. This step though simple in theory is
key to moving this project forward. Now that we have a system in place
we can start administering drugs and seeing if we can inhibit
differentiation or more ideally even cause established myofibroblasts to
de-differentiate.
Manipulating T Cell Metabolism to Enhance Adaptive T Cell Therapy:
Exploring the structure-function relationship of the tri-functional T cellantigen coupler (Tri-TAC) components and the anti-tumour activity of
the T cells.
Mapping the Genetic Interactions of E Coli Genes Under Minimal
Conditions: Goal is to create deletions in a subset of genes that are
essential under nutrient-limited conditions, combine them with the Keio
collection and analyze the interactions.
Characterization of a Novel Mouse Model of Hyperglycemia-Induced
Atherosclerosis: This project will involve the measurement and analysis
of lipid and protein levels from various tissues isolated from a novel
mouse model of hyperglycemic (as well as normoglycemic controls).
Determination of the Regionalization and Localization of the G1
Receptor: Guanosine, a non-adenosine based purine, is a neurotrophic,
neuroprotective and neurorestorative agent that has been shown to
exhibit its therapeutic effects in vitro as well as in vivo. The G1 receptor
is a potential guanosine specific receptor discovered in Dr. Jiang’s lab.
Kai Yi Wu
Peter Gross, Medicine
Sean Xia
John Turnbull,
Neurology
Anne Xia
Bhagwati Gupta,
Biology
Grace Zhang
Radhey Gupta,
Biochemistry and
Biomedical Sciences
Currently, its distribution in the brain is unknown. The purpose of this
project is to determine the presence and density of the G1 receptor in
various areas of the brain (i.e. amygdala, frontal cortex etc.) using the
fluorescent and confocal microscopy. The localization of G1 on various
cell types (i.e. astrocytes, microglia etc.) will also be investigated using
the same technique.
Do Statins Inhibit PAR4-PLCß3 in Platelets?: Platelets from wild-type
and eNos-deficient mice are to be isolated and activated with PAR4
agonist. A western blot will be used (blotting with anti-PLCß3 and antiphospho-PLCß3 (pSer537)). The ratio of anti-phospho intensity to antiPLCß3 intensity will serve as a measure of PLCß3 activation. The
expected result will be impaired PAR4-agonist-induced PLCß3 activation
in atorvastatin-treated platelets.
Effect of PERK and PKR Inhibitor Treatment in ALS-like G93A Mice: Each
year, thousands of patients are diagnosed with ALS in the US alone, and
survival rates are low. Targeting the UPR pathway represents a novel
and promising therapeutic approach.
Identifying Genes and Pathways Involved in C. Elegans Neuronal
Degeneration: Using a novel microfluidics system to probe the neuronal
activity of different strains of c. elegans to identify neuronal control of
movement. Mutant strains with alterations in dopamine expression will
be studied to identify role of dopamine in movement.
Comparative Analyses of Eukaryotic Genomes: Protein sequences of
eukaryotic genomes will be analyzed and compared in order to elucidate
evolutionary relationships between species.