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News & Events
Fall 2007 CMB Short Course Details Announced
See the CMB Calendar for each Short Course Date
The topic for the Fall 2007 CMB Short Course will be “Cells at the Edge: The Epithelial- Mesenchymal Transition (EMT).” EMT is a central mechanism for diversifying the cells found in complex tissues. This dynamic process helps organize the formation of the body plan during embryonic development, and it is involved in the genesis of fibroblasts during organ fibrosis in adult tissue. Because cells that undergo EMT are characterized by loss of cell adhesion, repression of E-cadherin expression, and increased cell mobility, EMT can play a crucial role in such disease processes as cancer and fibrosis.
 We are fortunate to host four speakers who have contributed to the emergence of the EMT field as well as an internal speaker, Eric Fearon, who will provide us with an introductory lecture on EMT. The first external speaker will be W. James Nelson from Stanford University, who studies proteins critical for regulating cell polarity that are commonly altered in EMT.
 Lee Niswander from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center studies signaling pathways that regulate EMT in mammalian development.
 The third lecturer will be M. Angela Nieto from Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante, Spain, who is interested in the role of EMT in cancer biology.
 The final speaker will be Dr. Eric Neilson from Vanderbilt University, who studies EMT as a contributing factor in the etiology of fibrotic disease. We believe this will be an exciting and rewarding series for CMB students and for all those that attend.
CMB students win top National and University awards
Several CMB students recently received news that they have won prestigious national and University Awards. Omer Yilmaz is a recipient of the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award, a national award that recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences. Omer, who performed his doctoral research in the lab of Sean Morrison, will participate in a scientific symposium honoring Hal Weintraub and his commitment to innovative science. Annie Hiniker is recipient of a University of Michigan Distinguished Dissertation Award, the highest honor the University confers to recognize graduate student accomplishments. Annie will receive her award at a ceremony at Rackham on April 26, 2007. Annie's dissertation, based on her research in the lab of Jim Bardwell, is entitled "In vivo roles of the Escherichia Coli periplasmic disulfide isomerase DsbC." We are also pleased that CMB students have been awarded the highly coveted and competitive Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships this year. Congratulations to Chris Carter (mentor, Kathy Collins) and to Rachel Edwards (mentor, Michele Swanson), as well as to first alternate Andrea Baines (mentor, David Ginsburg) on their recognition for Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships. Read about these, and additional CMB student awards and accomplishments, in the forthcoming Spring 2007 issue of the CMB newsletter.
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