Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items – February/March 2017

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items – February/March 2017

Announcements:

• Our Resident, Israa Laklouk, MD had the following abstract ” Diagnostic Implication of ThyroSeq Sequencing Assay on Thyroid Nodules with FNA Cytology Diagnosis of Bethesda III: Atypia of Undetermined Significance versus Follicular Lesion of Undetermined Significance ” authors: Israa Laklouk, Mahmoud L Soliman, Dhay Kamel, Huihong Xu, Sandra Cerda; selected for a Poster Presentation  at the United States & Canadian Academy of Pathology’s (USCAP) 106^th Annual Meeting, March 4 – 10, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas  http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/84c2f7ae#/84c2f7ae/10
• IsraaLakloud.Poster.USCAP2017-395-IL
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• Lawreen H. Connors, PhD and Frederick L. Ruberg, MD presented “Transthyretin-associated (ATTR) cardiomyopathy: A not uncommon, rare disease” at BUSM Department of Medicine Medical Grand Rounds on Feb. 17, 2017 https://echo360.bu.edu:8443/ess/echo/presentation/66b063a7-a6f2-4ef9-8957-81e40ec68bb3
• Carolina Lyon de Ana, a current Masters student in Dr. Susan Winandy’s Lab and Bo Shao, a technician with Dr. Maria Panchenko’s Lab were both accepted into BU’s PhD PIBS Program! Congratulations!!
• Dr. Ivana Delalle News:
  • On March 24 Dr. Delalle gave an invited lecture at the Croatian Institute for Brain Research (CIBR) on “The brain expression of novel genes implicated in AD and low hippocampal volume”
  • She also presented her group’s latest work at AD/PD International Meeting in Vienna, March 29 – April 2: “Protein expression of low hippocampal volume- associated risk allele candidate MSRB3 in AD” by Stephanie L Adams¹, Laurent Benayoun¹, Jayandra J. Himali­­^2,3, Kathy Tilton¹,  Sudha Seshadri^2,3, and Ivana Delalle^1,3. ¹Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine; ²Framingham Heart Study, Boston University School of Public Health; ³Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine
  • Dr. Delalle has also been invited to give a talk at the 3^rd Annual Next Generation Sequencing & Single Cell Analysis Congress, scheduled for 23 – 24 October 2017 in Boston. The title of her talk will be: “Extracellular vesicles microRNA (EV miRNA) as Bipolar Disorder (BD) Biomarkers”, based on her senior author paper published ahead of print on February
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• Jessica (Allen) Ritter, PhD (Caroline Genco Lab) successfully defended her Thesis, “Induction of Human Macrophage Cell Death by Neisseria gonorrhoeae” on March 10^th, 2017. BRAVO!!
• Elizabeth Moses, PhD (Spira/Lenburg Lab) successfully defended her Thesis, “Characterizing the Airway Epithelium following Chemical Exposure: Molecular Alterations and their Potential Utility in the Treatment of Lung Disease” on March 21^st, 2017. HOORAY!!
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• News for Dr. Barbara Nikolajczyk:
  • Dr. Nikolajczyk gave a talk at the Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, Defining Inflammation in Human Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, 2017
  • She also presented for The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, Austin, MN, Defining Inflammation in Human Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes, 2017
  • Dr. Nikolajczyk also received a Grant Title; “Does salt drive a human immune profile in a mouse model of obesity?” from the Boston University Nutrition and Obesity Research Consortium
• Dr. David Sherr along with Dr. Stefano Monti and presenting work of Amy Li, gave an invited talk at the Clinical and Translational and Sciences Institute Symposium about development of a high throughput genomic platform to identifying which of the 84,000 chemicals in our environment are carcinogens.

• Nancy S. Miller, M.D. – was invited to teach a webinar for Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, School of Health Professions , Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, on March 27 “Improved technology for microbial identification: challenges and lessons learned”
• Welcome New Residents!:              
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• Marianinha Joanes
• International American University
• PGY-1
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• Iiyas Yambayev
• Kazakh National Medical University
•                                                  PGY-1

• FASEB Capitol Hill Day 2017
  • On March 9, 2017 scientists from across the country gathered in Washington D.C. to participate in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Capitol Hill day. The purpose of the day was to advocate for federal funding for research, which includes the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and other agencies.
  • The group met with congressional staff from the offices of our Representatives and Senators. During these meetings we emphasized the importance of research funding that drives scientific discoveries by sharing individual stories. We also emphasized how these scientific advances improve the care of patients and health of the nation. Information was provided about the positive economic impact of NIH and NSF funding for each state and congressional district.
  • Our specific request was to have research funded to the full amount in the 2017 budget. Since the federal government currently operates under a continuing resolution, NIH has been withholding 10% from grants until the budget has been finalized.
  • The Massachusetts representatives all strongly supported research funding. However, they were also pessimistic given the current political climate in Washington DC, even though there is strong bipartisan support for research.
  • This pessimism was justified when the White House released the first version of their budget, which calls for cutting the NIH budget by $5.8 billion, or 18%.
  • The Massachusetts delegation included Laura Coleman representing the American Society for Nutrition, Shoumita Dasgupta and Daniel Remick from Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center, Ming Ming Ning from Massachusetts General Hospital and Hanno Steen from Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Derek Scholes the Director of Scientific Policy for the American Society of Human Genetics escorted us throughout the day.

  

• Publications ACCEPTED:
  • Leena P. Bharath, Blanche C. Ip, Barbara S. Nikolajczyk  Manuscript accepted into: “Adaptive immunity and metabolic health: harmony becomes dissonant in obesity and aging” Comprehensive Physiology
  • Woodworth, M., E.M. Neish, N. S. Miller, Tanvi Dhere, E.M. Burd, Cynthia Carpentieri, K. L. Sitchenko, and C.S. Kraft. Laboratory Testing of Donors and Stool for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for Recurrent C. difficile Infection. Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Epub ahead of print 2017 Jan 11. doi:10.1128/JCM.02327-16. PMID: 28077694.
• Publications PUBLISHED:
  • Chan GG, Koch CM, and Connors LH:  Blood proteomic profiling in inherited (ATTRm) and acquired (ATTRwt) forms of transthyretin-associated cardiac amyloidosis. J Proteome Res. 2017 Feb 14. doi: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.6b00998. [Epub ahead of print]  PMID: 28196416
  • Arvanitis M, Koch CM, Chan GG, Torres-Arancivia C, LaValley MP, Jacobson DR, Berk JL, Connors LH, Ruberg FL:  Identification of Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis Using Serum Retinol-Binding Protein 4 and a Clinical Prediction Model.  JAMA Cardiol. 2017 Feb 8. doi: 10.1001/jamacardio.2016.5864. [Epub ahead of print]  PMID: 28196196
  • Wang Z, Monti S, DH S. The diverse and important contributions of the AHR to cancer and cancer immunity. Curr Opinion Toxicol. 2017 ;http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468202016300365
  • Blandine Bustamante Helfrich, MD, MPH, Nymisha Chilukuri, BSc, Huan He, PhD, MHS, MMgt, Sandra R. Cerda, MD, Xiumei Hong, MD, PhD, Guoying Wang, MD, PhD, Colleen Pearson, BA, Irina Burd, MD, Xiaobin Wang, MD, MPH, ScD. “DOI:Maternal vascular malperfusion of the placental bed associated with hypertensive disorders in the Boston Birth Cohort” http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.placenta.2017.02.016

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