51st Annual Research Day, 10/10/17

The move from spring to fall did not deter participants and attendees as Internal Medicine began a sixth decade of hosting its annual research showcase. The afternoon-into-evening event followed a similar schedule as previous years.

The first hour featured invited presentations from four faculty members. Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Neurology, gave an overview of his research into the effects of brain stimulation on cognitive function in individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Chad Grueter, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, presented his findings in the regulation of cardiac transcription. The intersection of aging-related thrombosis is an ongoing area of concern for Dr. Sanjana Dayal, Assistant Professor of Hematology, Oncology, and Blood & Marrow Transplantation. Dr. Ryan Boudreau, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, closed the hour with an overview of microRNA post-transcriptional responses as a means for manipulating gene expression.

A brief coffee and dessert break came next, and the audience moved from the Urmilla Sahai Seminar Room to the Prem Sahai Auditorium for the keynote presentation. Department Chair Dr. Dale Abel welcomed the audience to Research Day, and then Dr. Paloma Giangrande introduced this year’s keynote speaker, Dr. Samie Jaffrey, Professor of Pharmacology at Weill Medical College, Cornell University. Dr. Jaffrey has blazed a trail in the study of mRNA and long noncoding RNAs regulated by nucleotide modifications, which impact their behavior and fate in cells. Dr. Jaffrey’s mapping of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and dimethyladenosine (m6Am) has opened a new region of molecular biology and how it shapes disease.

The poster session, judging, and reception followed Dr. Jaffrey’s presentation. About 70 posters filled the MERF Atrium while attendees and dozens of judges moved from board to board. Presenters briefly explicated their findings in a broad range of fields and made themselves available for questions. All the while, members got the opportunity to catch up, to learn about what friends and colleagues are discovering, and to celebrate the great diversity of work occurring every day in Internal Medicine.

Congratulations to Dr. Mo Milhem and Dr. Paloma Giangrande for organizing this successful event, and congratulations to the award winners listed below.

Best Basic Science Research Poster

• Laura Whitmore
  Helicobacter pylori modulates the lifespan and cell death mechanisms of human neutrophils
• Chen Kang
  SWELL1 is a virtual glucose sensor regulating ß-cell excitability and systemic glycaemia

Best Clinical Research Poster

• Dinesh Voruganti
  Association between diabetes mellitus and poor patient outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A systematic review and meta-analysis
• Namrata Singh
  Clinical and Laboratory Features of Patients with Behçet’s Disease at a Single US Academic Center: A Comparison of Patients Requiring Biologic Therapy to Those on Non-Biologic Agents Only

Best Trainee Poster

• Daniel S Matasic
  Elevating Levels of NAD+ Influences Cardiac Electrophysiology In Vitro and In Vivo
• Kevin Urak
  RNA inhibitors of nuclear proteins implicated in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome
• Rachel Minerath
  CDK8 activity-dependent regulation of heart disease
• Christine Cho
  Human neutrophils exhibit delayed apoptosis and secrete IL-1ß after phagocytosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae