Medical Showcase Highlights Basic Subcellular Mechanisms
| Nov. 28, 2016 | UAMS researchers spent an evening discussing structures within the basic unit of all living things, a cell, at the latest wine-and-cheese reception hosted Nov. 9 by the College of Medicine to highlight medical research.
Fourteen projects were featured at the Showcase of Medical Discoveries: Basic Subcellular Mechanisms in the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. About 100 researchers, physicians, staff and students attended the event and learned how DNA, proteins, chemical messengers, enzymes and other specialized parts of the cell can impact our understanding of hypertension, cancer and its treatment, blood clotting and aging diseases.
“It’s always great to have so many wonderful research projects on display,” said Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., UAMS vice chancellor for research. “Our hope is this showcase creates opportunities for further research and stimulates collaborations among researchers.”
Research led by Fen Xia, M.D., Ph.D., an internationally known radiation oncologist, worked to understand a role an enzyme known as Sirt2 could play in alleviating peripheral neuropathy caused by chemotherapy. The enzyme is used to alleviate neuropathy pain in people with diabetes.
Kevin D. Raney (right), Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the College of Medicine, talks about his team’s research on endogenous DNA and oxidative stress.
Meenakshisundaram Balasubramaniam, a postdoctoral fellow in College of Medicine’s Department of Geriatrics, presented his team’s research on the role of proteins that accumulate, or aggregate, abnormally in the brain and can lead to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or Huntington’s.
“Many aggregate proteins are shared among these diseases, which suggests the aggregation is not random,” said Balasubramaniam. “Our strategy and research has laid the foundation for understanding the aggregate network and the components involved in disturbing the protein’s equilibrium and leading to aggregation.”
This was the 16th in a series created to foster communication and collaboration among UAMS investigators and clinicians. The Showcase of Medical Discoveries is organized by Cornett and supported by UAMS College of Medicine Dean Pope L. Moseley, M.D. It originated from discussions about the faculty’s desire for more opportunities to display their scientific work in a social setting.
Posters at the showcase described the researchers’ work. They were:
New Role of Sirt2 in Alleviating Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy Pain
Researchers: Manchao Zhang, Wuying Du, Hao Yu, Shengkai Kin, Ju Huwan, Cho, Parmeet K. Manchada, Rahman Mohammad and Fen Xia
Investigation of Structure-Activity Relationships for Small-Molecule Inhibitors of Human DNA Polymerase eta
Researchers: Maroof K. Zafar, Amit Ketkar, Sarah Eddy, Leena Maddukuri, Narsimha Penthala, Peter A. Crooks and Robert L. Eof
Exposure to Trichloroethylene Alters Epigenetic Profile in CD4+ T Cells
Researchers: Kathleen M. Gilbert, Sarah J. Blossom, Brad Reisfeld, Kanan Vyas, Craig A. Cooney and Sudeepa Bhattacharyya
Platelet Alpha-Granules: One Flavor or Many?
Researchers: Irina Pokrovskaya, Jeffrey Kamykowski, Emma McBride*, Maria Aronova*, Amith Rao*, Richard Leapman* and Brian Storrie
*National Instutite of Health researchers
Lipid Stress Alters Cell Distribution, Traffic, and Desensitization Properties of Melanocortin-4 Receptor, a GPCR Involved in Appetite Control
Researchers: Kimberly A. Cooney, Brent M. Molden and Giulia Baldini
Cigarette Smoking Mediates the Membrane Trafficking of N-Glycan via Serotonin/Adrenalin Signaling Pathways of Platelets
Researchers: Curtis Lee Lowery III, Clay Elliott, Coedy Hadden, James D. Marsh and Fusun Kilic
C/EBP delta-deficient Mice Display Aberrant Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Response that Promotes Radiationinduced Intestinal Injury and Barrier Disruption
Researchers: Sudip Banerjee, Qiang Fu, Sumit K. Shah, Vaibhav D. Aher, Usha Ponnappan, Stepan B. Melnyk, Martin Hauer-Jensen and Snehalata A. Pawar
Doxorubicin Inhibition of Lymphatic Function is Mediated by Ryanodine Receptors and Prevented by Dantrolene
Researchers: Amanda J. Stolarz, Asif R. Pathan, Rachel Versluis, Terry W. Fletcher, Joseph R. Stimers, Mustafa Sarimollaoglu, Ekaterina Galanzha, Vladimir Zharov and Nancy J. Rusch
FoxP3+ T-cells and PD-L1 Highlight Immune-Suppressive Profiles in Vulvar Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Researchers: Emily Holthoff, Thomas Kelly, Charles Quick and Steven Post
Evidence that Endogenous G-quadruplex DNA Mediates Stress Granule Assembly in Response to Oxidative Stress
Researchers: Alicia K. Byrd, Boris L. Zybailov, Leena Maddukuri, Jun Gao, John C. Marecki, Mihir Jaiswal, Matthew R. Bell, Wezley C. Griffin, Megan R. Reed, Shubeena Chib, Samuel G. Mackintosh, Angus M. MacNicol, Giulia Baldini, Robert L. Eoff and Kevin D. Raney
Sc65-null Mice Provide Evidence for a Novel Endoplasmic Reticulum Complex Regulating Collagen Lysyl Hydroxylation
Researchers: Melissa E. Heard, Roberta Besio, MaryAnn Weis, Jyoti Rai, David M. Hudson, Milena Dimori, Sarah M. Zimmerman, Jeffrey A. Kamykowski, William R. Hogue, Frances L. Swain, Marie S. Burdine, Samuel G. Mackintosh, Alan J. Tackett, Larry J. Suva, David R. Eyre and Roy Morello
Novel Mechanism of Salt-sensitive Hypertension: CD8+ T Cells Stimulate Sodium Chloride Co-transporter in Kidney
Researchers: Yunmeng Liu, Tonya M Rafferty, Sung W Rhee, Jessica S Webber, Beixiang He and Shengyu Mu
Increased stability of mitochondrial CYP2E1 against degradation compared to microsomal CYP2E1
Researchers: Jessica H. Hartman, Andres A. Caro, Martin J. Ronis and Grover P. Miller
Protein Aggregates, Proteasomes, and Autophagosomes: Keys to Understanding Neurodegeneration
Researchers: Sundaram Balasubramaniam, Srinivas Ayyadevara and Robert Shmookler Reis