Student Profiles 

Current CMB students describe their research below. Please follow the indicated links to mentors' labs for more detailed information.

Omobolaji Akala (Michael Clarke, mentor)

Studying the role of Bmi1 downstream targets in self-renewal and cancer.

Heather Ames (Theodora Ross, mentor)

Andrea Baines (David Ginsburg, mentor)
http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/institute/labs/ginsburg/index.html

Combined deficiency of factor V and factor VIII: Insights into the mammalian secretory pathway

Ferdous Barlaskar (Gary Hammer, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/hammerlab/

Understanding the role of IGF-II in adrenocortical cancer development/progression.

William Brandt (Doug Engel, mentor)
http://www.umich.edu/~engel

Analyzing the role of GATA2 in vascular and hematopoietic development.

Victoria Cancelli (Gary Hammer, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/hammerlab/

I am studying the complex transcriptional regulation of Dax-1, an atypical nuclear receptor which is critical for adrenal organogenesis, inhibition of steroidogenesis, and responsible for the human disease adrenal hypoplasia congenita. Control of Dax-1 transcription is coming to light as very tightly regulated, as at least four factors have been shown to control its expression-- the glucocorticoid receptor, androgen receptor, B-catenin and COUP-TF. We are interested in elucidating the details of this transcriptional regulation; specfically, we are interested in how these transcription factors affect each other's control of Dax-1 throughout adrenal organogenesis, and how dysregulation of this pattern may lead to cancer.

Winnie Chen (Ursula Jakob, mentor)

Carter, Christoph (Kathleen Collins, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/genetics/faculty/collins.htm

HIV replication in antigen presenting cells and MHC Class I trafficking in antigen presenting cells.

Andrew Chervenak (Yuan Zhu, mentor)
http://www.umich.edu/~mmgmed/faculty/Zhu/zhu2.html http://www.med.umich.edu/cdb/sub_pages/People/zhu.htm

Our lab uses mouse models to study tumor initiation and progression in the nervous system. My project will be to determine if mutations in the Hedgehog and Wnt signaling pathways can promote the formation of specific subtypes of brain tumors (i.e. medulloblastoma, glioma, astrocytoma) in mice with a conditional knockout of the p53 gene.

Brendan Crawford (Henry Paulson, mentor)

Phillip Delekta (Peter Lucas, mentor)
http://www.hg.med.umich.edu/faculty/robins.php

Joseph Dosch (Charles Burant, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/burantlab

I am working to identify and profile adult stem/progenitor cells in the pancreas. Additionally, I am studying the ways in which conditional expression of early developmental transciption factors affect both in vivo and in vitro development of endocrine cells.

Rachel Schwartz Edwards (Michele Swanson, mentor) http://www.med.umich.edu/microbio/mswanson.html

Analysis of the Legionella pneumophila LetA/LetS two-component system and how this four-step phosphorelay enables the microbe to customize its array of traits, thereby enhancing both its versatility and fitness.

Taylor Eves (Lois Weisman, mentor)
http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/institute/labs/weisman/research.html

Intracellular organelle movement is a key event in both cell division and cellular differentiation. In order to determine how intracellular movement is regulated both spatially and temporally, I am pursuing functional and structural studies on the yeast myosin V motor, Myo2p. The focus of my thesis is to establish how Myo2p moves its multiple cargoes to distinct cellular locations at specific times.

Susan Faust (Keith Bishop, mentor)

William Feliciano (Joel Swanson, mentor)
http://www.umich.edu/~jswanlab/

Study the role of small GTPase, Rab-5 in phagocytosis of Listeria monocytogenes using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) imaging.

Eric Garcia (Alice Telesnitsky, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/telesnitsky.lab

Magda Grabowska (Mark Day, mentor)

Chiron Graves (Theodora Ross, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/rosslab/home

My lab focuses on the HIP1 protein family and their role in normal and neoplastic biology. HIP1 is an clathrin-mediated endocytic protein that has been implicated in tumorogenesis. I am interested in studying HIP1 gene regulation as an approach to decipher its role in cancer.

Shenghui He (Sean Morrison, mentor)
http://www.lifesciences.umich.edu/institute/labs/morrison/index.html

Purificaton of mouse gut neural crest stem cell. Studying the effect of ID2 deficiency on neural crest stem cell function.

Jolie Hoffman (Kathy Collins, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/microbio/bio/collins.htm

I will be investigating the role of HIV Nef in the downmodulation of several cell surface proteins of immunological relevance, such as CD28, CD8, and CD80/86.

Devin Horton (Daniel Remick, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/remick.lab

I am working to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying ongoing
inflammation.  Ultimately, this will allow better treatment of established
inflammatory responses.

Kristine Ito-Smith (Margit Burmeister, mentor)

Andrew Kaczorowski (Eric Fearon, mentor)

Alex Kim (Gary Hammer, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/hammerlab/

Role of beta-Catenin in Adrenocortical Development and Carcinogenesis

Kenneth Krill (Gary Hammer, mentor)

Heather Krueger (Mats Ljungman, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/ljungman.lab

I am researching the mechanism of ATM activation in response to DNA damage.

Nate Lanning (Christin Carter-Su, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/phys/research/profiles/cartersu.htm

My work includes identifying and characterizing signaling proteins that bind the receptor-associated tyrosine kinase JAK2 on specifically phosphorylated tyrosines.

Alexandra Lecorps (Akira Ono, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/ono.lab

Targeting of HIV-1 particle assembly.

Jaemin Lee (Peter Arvan, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/intmed/endocrinology/arvanlab/index.html

My research interest is cellular response to misfolded protein such as unfold protein response (UPR), ER-associated degradation (ERAD), and apoptosis by ER stress.

Scott Leiser (Richar Miller, mentor)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Emillerr/RAM_home_page.htm

The Role of Glucose Metabolism and Mitochondria In Long-Lived Mouse Cells

Dara Leto (Alan Saltiel, mentor)

Grace Lin (Jessica Schwartz, mentor)

Stephanie Linn (Catherine Krull, mentor)
www.med.umich.edu/cdb/sub_pages/People/krull.htm

My research focuses on elucidating the roles Ret and its ligand, GDNF, play in the innervation of hindlimbs by motor neuron axons. Recent data shows that Ret may play a similar role as EphA4, though it remains to be determined if Ret signaling is independent of or in concert with EphA4 signaling.

Troy Lionberger (Edgar Meyhofer, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/nanomechanics

The primary interest of the Nanomechanics Laboratory is to develop unique and innovative approaches to studying single molecules, focusing specifically on the relationship between biological functionality and mechanical regulatory signals.  My research aims to couple optical and magnetic trapping of micron-scale beads with advanced single-molecule fluorescent microscopy techniques to characterize the behavior of cytoskeletal motor proteins such as kinesin.  I am also interested in using these techniques to describe the relationship between DNA sequence and folding behavior as well as the mechanical influences of DNA-binding proteins on higher-order chromatin structure.

Nick Llewellyn (Akira Ono, mentor)

Neethan Lobo (Michael Clarke, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/cmb/students/lobo.htm

My graduate work focuses on using a stem cell model to study mouse mammary development. Deepening our understanding of breast development in animal models should yield greater insight into the dysregulative mechanisms that drive breast cancer.

Travis Maures (Christin Carter-Su, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/phys/research/profiles/cartersu.htm

Nuclear SH2-B b Directly Enhances the Transcription of NGF Target Genes Essential for PC12 Cell Differentiation

Evan Michael (Andrzej Dlugosz, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/derm/faculty/dlugosza.shtml

In vivo cellular context influences tumorigenic potential of activated Smo

Matthew Molusky (Jiandie Lin, mentor)

Paul Moore (Kun Liang Guan, mentor)

Andrea Morris (Billy Tsai, mentor)

Abdo Najy (Mark Day, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/daylab

Prostate cancer (CaP) is the second leading cause of cancer death in men and has a high prevalence to metastasize to bone and lung making it a very difficult cancer to treat if not detected early. An understudied family of multi-domain disintegrin metalloproteinases, ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase), has been suggested to not only degrade ECM proteins but also allow for cell detachment which may support cell migration. In addition, ADAMs have been shown to shed growth factors into the extracellular milieu which may signal cell survival and neovasculature during metastatic progression. A member of the ADAM family of disintegrin metallproteinases, ADAM15, has been shown by our lab to be transcriptionally and translationally upregluated in metastatic prostate cancer. My dissertation work is focused on elucidating the role of ADAM15 in prostate cancer progression.

Jennifer Nicodem (Yang Liu, mentor)

Erin O’Leary (Christin Carter-Su, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/phys/research/profiles/cartersu.htm

I am identifying binding partners to phospho-tyrosines of SH2-Bbeta, an adaptor molecule in the signaling pathway, and their role in growth hormone signaling and function.

Heather O’Malley (Lori Isom, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lisom.lab

My research aims to determine whether deletion of the voltage-gated sodium channel beta2 subunit is neuroprotective in demyelinating disease, specifically in Experimental Allergic Encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis.  I am also investigating the molecular basis of this neuroprotective effect.

Stephen Phillips (Theodora Ross, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/rosslab/home

Our lab is focused on the function of Huntingtin Interacting Protein 1 (HIP1), specifically its role in tumorigenesis. HIP1 is involved in clathrin mediated endocytosis of multiple growth factor receptors and overexpression of the protein  leads to upregulation of these receptors.

Mary Piper (Sonja Gerrard, mentor)

Characterizing Rift Valley Fever Virus virion formation. Specifically, investigating how the viral structural proteins are recruited to the Golgi apparatus for virion assembly.

Matthew Pratt-Hyatt (David Engelke, mentor) http://www.biochem.med.umich.edu/biochem/research/profiles/engelke.html

I work on a novel type of silencing located around tRNA genes in yeast.

Tyler Prestwich (Ormond MacDougald, mentor)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~macdouga/MacDougaldLab.html

I am interested in the role of Wnt signaling in adipogenesis and how these signals may mediate interactions between adipocytes and mesenchymal precursor cells.

Gautam Rajpal (Peter Arvan, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/intmed/endocrinology/arvanlab/index.html

Identifying ERAD chaperones for misfolded insulin.

Aasia Rehman (Cun-Yu Wang, mentor)
www.therainforestsite.com

Notch signaling in prostate cancer

Rachael Romain (Juanita Merchant, mentor)
http://www.physiology.med.umich.edu/research/profiles/merchanj.htm

Our lab has cloned the gene ZBP-99, which is a four-zinc finger Krüppel-type transcription factor. ZBP-99 binds GC-rich promoters and has elevated expression levels in placenta and in adult kidney, liver, and lymphocytes. My role in the laboratory is to further characterize the functional significance of ZBP-99.

Devin Rosenthal (Sofia Merajver, mentor)

Grant Rowe (Stephen Weiss, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/intmed/mmg/faculty_research.html

Joshua Scheys (Gary Hammer, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/hammerlab/

Steroidogenic Factor 1 (SF-1) is an orphan nuclear receptor which is an essential regulator of development, differentiation and function of steroidogenic tissues, most notably the gonad and adrenal cortex. I am interested in determining the dynamic assembly of the entire complex of proteins at each temporal stage of SF-1 occupancy on a target gene (Mc2r) promoter.

Hailu Shitaye (Kurt Hankenson, mentor)

Regulation of Thrombospondin-2 Expression during Marrow Stromal Cell Differentiation

Derek Simon (Gary Hammer, mentor)

Kenneth Stapleford (David Miller, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/millerlab

I am interested in the polymerase-membrane interactions involved in viral RNA replication complex assembly.

Ann Staubach Grosse (Deborah Gumucio, mentor)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dgumucio/labmembers.htm

Intestinal morphogenesis involves coordinated changes in cell shape, movement, proliferation, and differentiation. Development of the small intestine requires a series of instructive signals passing between the epithelium and the mesenchyme in order to lengthen the AP axis as well as drastically remodel the epithelium to form villi.  Although several pathways have been shown to affect intestinal villus development, it is unclear which signaling pathways are responsible for the coordinated cellular changes that occur at the time of intestinal lengthening and villus formation.  The specific signaling molecule that I study is Wnt5a, a factor that has been implicated in cell shape changes in other systems.

Michael Steinbaugh (Richard Miller, mentor)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Emillerr/RAM_home_page.htm

Cellular stress resistance, factors that contribute to aging and/or longevity in the murine model

Brandi Thompson (Daniel Bochar, mentor)
http://bochar.biochem.med.umich.edu/research.htm

Chromatin structure determines the transcriptional activity of genes.  Targeting of factors that alter chromatin structure can affect cellular events such as cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis.  We are examining the connection between modifications in chromatin structure and disease states such as cancer.  Wnt signaling has previously been shown to be involved in tumorigenesis.  Beta-catenin, a component of the Wnt signaling pathway that is misregulated in some cancers, binds to members of the TCF/LEF family of transcription factors.  Beta-catenin recruits other factors to TCF target promoters that function in transcriptional activation.  We are studying a previously uncharacterized enzyme, CHR1, which can bind to beta-catenin and regulate beta-catenin mediated transcriptional activity.  CHR1 contains a Snf2 helicase domain whose structure is similar to factors that function as ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzymes.  Preliminary data suggests that CHR1 exists in a high molecular weight complex with associated polypeptides.  We hypothesize that CHR1 functions as a chromatin remodeling enzyme and that CHR1 functionally exists in a multisubunit complex with other factors that are required for the function of CHR1.

Tamara Tucker (Juanita Merchant, mentor)
http://www.physiology.med.umich.edu/research/profiles/merchanj.htm

Inducible Regulation of Gastrin

Conrad Valdez (Mark Day, mentor)

Gisselle Velez Ruiz (Roger Sunahara, mentor)
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/sunahara

Interactions and specificity between agonist-receptor-Beta arrestin 1

Dang Vu Phan (Max Wicha and Ron Koenig, co-mentors)

Natalie Whitfield (Michele Swanson, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/microbio/mswanson.html

We use Legionella pneumophila as a tool to study critical functions of macrophages, such as endosomal/lysosomal trafficking, more importantly the inhibition of phagosome maturation which is correlated with modifications of its surface properties during the post-exponential (PE) phase of growth.

Antionette Williams (Laura Olsen, mentor)
http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/faculty/labs/olsen/

To date, all models of peroxisomal matrix protein import agree that each respective receptor/cargo complex import pathway (Pex5p: PTS1 proteins or Pex7p: PTS2 proteins) converges at the same point on the peroxisome membrane, after which the cargo protein is translocated into the matrix. It is hypothesized that interactions between the two receptors are crucial for the import of matrix proteins containing the PTS2 signal. Using the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, the goal of my research is to dissect these protein interactions: study the functional relationship of Pex5p/Pex7p binding and determine its role in the PTS2 import pathway.

Keith Wolter (Maria Soengas, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/derm/faculty/soengas_res.shtml

Elizabeth Wonderlich (Kathleen Collins, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/microbio/faculty/collins.html

Steve Yang (Andrzej Dlugosz, mentor)
http://www.med.umich.edu/derm/faculty/dlugosza.shtml

Exploring the mechanisms of epithelial bud neogenesis driven by ectopic hedgehog signaling

Richard Yau (Alice Telesnitsky, mentor)