Thank you to all who attended Research Day 2023 at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center on Jan. 11!
This event included a judged poster session with prizes for the top trainee posters, three-minute thesis presentations by our Predoctoral Award recipients, and a keynote presentation by Thomas Gajewski, M.D., Ph.D., a nationally renowned cancer researcher, titled “Mechanisms of response versus resistance to cancer immunotherapy.”
Congratulations to our poster winners!
Pre-Collegiate, Undergraduate & Postbaccalaureate Student Category
CCPS 30: Fernando Sckaff
Mentor: Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., M.Sc.
An Epigenetic Signature Predicts Outcome in Pediatric AML Patients
CCPS 31: Maria Serafim
Mentor: Mei He, Ph.D.
Nanographene Engineered Magnetic Particles for pH-responsive Capture of Bone Marrow Stem Cell Derived Regenerative Extracellular Vesicles Enabling Lung Cancer-Associated Fibrosis Treatment
MOO 124: Griffin Willman
Mentor: Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh, M.D., Ph.D.
Polymerase Theta Is a Synthetic Lethal Target for Killing Epstein-Barr Virus Lymphomas
Graduate & Predoctoral Student Category
CTHR 62: Minh-Chau Le
Mentor: Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D.
Microfluidic Isolation and Phenotyping of Circulating Tumor Cells from Pediatric Sarcoma Patients
CTHR 70: Rachel Newsome
Mentor: Christian Jobin, Ph.D.
A Bacterial Consortium Engineered from Feces of Patients Responding to Anti-PD1 Treatment Mediates Tumor Response Through IFNγ in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
CTHR 59: Alicia Hou
Mentor: Jianping Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
CAR T Cell Production Expands Endogenous T cell Repertoire Recognizing Additional Tumor Antigen(s)
CCPS 18: Arinola Lampejo
Mentor: W. Lee Murfee, Ph.D.
Incorporation of Tumor Spheroids into an ex vivo Tissue Culture Model for Investigating Cancer Cell–Microvascular Interactions
CTHR 72: Nam Nguyen
Mentor: Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D.
Genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 Screen Identifies AraC-Daunorubicin-Etoposide (ADE) Response Modulators Associated with Clinical Outcomes in Pediatric AML
CTHR 73: Corey Perkins
Mentor: Thomas Schmittgen, Ph.D.
Race Plays a Role on the Rate of Transdifferentation in Human Pancreatic Acinar Ductal Metaplasia and Its Drug Response
CTHR 90: Lei Wang
Mentor: Weizhou Zhang, Ph.D.
Proteolysis-Targeting Chimera Against NR4A1 for Cancer Immunotherapy
MOO 117: Gabriel Prado
Mentor: Jonathan Licht, M.D.
Loss of KMT2C, a Subunit of the Compass-like Complex, Cooperates with Oncogenic Signaling in Cancer
CTHR 67: Benjamin Meyer
Mentor: Maria Zajac-Kaye, Ph.D.
Thymidylate Synthase as a Novel Target for AAV-Based Therapy
Postdoctoral Trainee Category
CTHR 55: Mohammad Gbadamosi, Ph.D.
Mentor: Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.
A Genome-Wide Association Study Using HapMap Cell Lines Reveals Key Modulators of Response to Cyclophosphamide
MOO 121: Amin Sobh, Ph.D.
Mentor: Jonathan Licht, M.D.
The Histone Methyltransferase NSD2 Overexpression Drives Multiple Myeloma Cell Dependence on Adenylate Kinase 2
CTHR 81: Sunaina Shrestha, M.D.
Mentor: Ali Zarrinpar, M.D., Ph.D.
A Novel Drug Combination with Improved Therapeutic Efficacy over Standard of Care in Preclinical Models of Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Congratulations to our 2022 Predoctoral Awardees!
The UF Health Cancer Center Predoctoral Awards are awarded annually to up to six graduate students. These awards are intended to recognize and support outstanding predoctoral candidates who are conducting innovative cancer research.
Diliara Bagautdinova, M.A.
Mentor: Carla Fisher, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Healthy Adult Development in AYA Oncology: Promoting Identity Development by Enhancing Family and Clinician Communication”
Miles Cameron, B.Sc.
Mentor: Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Identification of Mechanisms and a Novel Therapeutic Intervention to Counter Cancer-Associated Cachexia”
Minh-Chau Le, B.S.
Mentor: Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Microfluidic Platforms for the Detection of Rare Cells in Sarcomas and Triple-Negative Breast Cancer”
Nam Nguyen, Pharm.D.
Mentor: Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “CRISPR/Cas9 Screening to Identify Modulators of Chemotherapy Response in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML)”
Sadeem Qdaisat, B.S.
Mentor: Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Resetting IFN-I Signaling to Unlock Cancer Immunogenicity”
Gregory Takacs, B.S.
Mentor: Jeffrey Harrison, Ph.D.
Dissertation Title: “Investigating Mechanisms of CCR2+ Myeloid Cell-Derived Immune Suppression in Glioblastoma”
Thank you to our faculty poster judges!
- Richard Bennett, Ph.D.
- Adriaan Bruijnzeel, Ph.D.
- Jorg Bungert, Ph.D.
- Carma Bylund, Ph.D.
- Paul Castillo Caro, M.D.
- Demetra Christou, Ph.D.
- Paul Crispen, M.D.
- Loic Deleyrolle, Ph.D.
- Bently Doonan, M.D., M.S.
- Z. Hugh Fan, Ph.D.
- Meghan Ferrall-Fairbanks, Ph.D.
- Raad Gharaibeh, Ph.D.
- Yan Gong, Ph.D., M.S.
- Jeffrey Harrison, Ph.D.
- Mei He, Ph.D.
- Kathryn Hitchcock, M.D.
- Lan Hoang-Minh, Ph.D.
- Young-Rock Hong, Ph.D., M.P.H.
- Margaret James, Ph.D., D.Sc.
- Andrew Judge, Ph.D.
- Janice Krieger, Ph.D.
- Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D.
- Daiqing Liao, Ph.D.
- Jonathan Licht, M.D.
- Debra Lyon, Ph.D., R.N.
- Jianrong Lu, Ph.D.
- Steven Madore, Ph.D.
- Siobhan Malany, Ph.D.
- Rowan Milner, B.V.Sc., M.Med.Vet.
- W. Lee Murfee, Ph.D.
- Walter O’Dell, Ph.D.
- Rolf Renne, Ph.D.
- Luisel Ricks-Santi, Ph.D.
- Thomas Schmittgen, Ph.D.
- Dietmar Siemann, Ph.D.
- Ashley Smuder, Ph.D.
- Catherine Striley, Ph.D., M.S.W.
- Zsolt Toth, Ph.D.
- John Wingard, M.D.
- Lizi Wu, Ph.D.
- Rui Xiao, Ph.D.
- Chengguo Xing, Ph.D.
- Alex Yoon, Ph.D., M.P.H.
- Weizhou Zhang, Ph.D.
