Boston University Medical Campus
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• Nancy Bucher Professorship. The Department is extraordinarily pleased to announce the Nancy L.R. Bucher Career Development Professorship Fund. The Board of Trustees of Boston University formally approved the professorship in October, 2009. The award was announced at the pathology research seminar by Richard Hotchkiss, M.D. on October 23, 2009. Dean Antman was in attendance for the announcement and seminar.The Department was able to raise money from multiple sources to fund this Professorship. The professorship is named for Dr. Bucher, a long time faculty member in the Department who has made significant scientific contributions to understanding of liver regeneration publishing dozens of articles in leading journals. Dr. Bucher is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has received the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the American Liver Foundation.Funds from the Bucher Professorship will be used to recruit a junior faculty member and provide salary support during the initial phase of their career. The Bucher Professorship will be rolling and allow the ongoing recruitment of new faculty.
• Strategic Plan developed and posted. A committee was formed in the spring of 2009 to develop a strategic plan for the Department. The committee was chaired by Daniel Remick, M.D. and staffed by Debra Kiley. Other committee members included Chris Andry, Ph.D., Lija Joseph, M.D., Martin Kroll, M.D., Michael O’Brien, M.D., and Jacqueline Sharon, Ph.D. The committee worked diligently throughout the summer to prepare a strategic plan. The steps included preparing a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Challenges review for Education, Anatomic Pathology, Laboratory Medicine and Research. The committee compared our Department to benchmark data available from the Association of Pathology Chairs and also did a comparison of the Department profile in 2004 and 2008. Input from the faculty was also solicited through direct conversations, internet surveys, and the development of an on-line discussion forum. Some of these investigative activities were successful, but the discussion forum was heavily utilized. The strategic plan has been completed, and it posted on the Department’s website here.
• Boston University has been awarded a grant from the Intersociety Council for Pathology Information to form a Pathology Interest Group. The funds from this grant will be used to promote activities to increase interest in a career in pathology among medical students. Dr. Lija Joseph needs to be thanked for her work in obtaining these funds. While the money goes to the Department, Dr. Joseph did all the work.
• From the Policy Committee: As policies are approved by the Chair they will be posted on the departmental website. The first two policies to be posted are: 1) The Professional Stipend Policy and 2) The Vacation/Professional Time-off Policy.
• Jackie Sharon’s pioneering research on recombinant polyclonal antibodies, which was patented and licensed by BU to the Danish company Symphogen A/S in 2001, was featured in the 2009 issue of the magazine Research at Boston University that was published in October. The story was part of an article about Technology Development at BU. As pointed out by the article, Symphogen is a rising star of biotech, employing 70 people in Copenhagen, who are developing recombinant human polyclonal antibodies against several infectious disease and cancer targets as well as human cells associated with certain immunologic diseases. The company’s most advanced product, currently in Phase 2 clinical trials, is a drug that would treat idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and hemolytic disease of the newborn, two immunologic diseases which involve uncommon susceptibility to bleeding.

Presentations:

• Madhu Jagannathan’s, PhD candidate abstract “Toll-like Receptor Cross Talk Specifically Regulates Cytokine Production by B cells from Chronic Inflammatory Disease Patients”   has been accepted for an oral presentation at the 3rd Annual MedImmune Research Abstract Competition in Gaithersburg, MD on Nov 14th 2009.
• Michael Roehrl, MD; PhD one of our new faculty members, has been invited to talk at the Association for Mass Spectrometry Applications to the Clinical Lab (MSACL), Conference Feb. 2010, San Diego, CA

Publications-ACCEPTED:

• Madhu Jagannathan, PhD candidate received news that her first author paper, “Toll-like Receptor Cross Talk Specifically Regulates Cytokine Production by B cells from Chronic Inflammatory Disease  Patients” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Immunology
  o Martin Steffen, PhD has had a paper accepted in PloS ONE: “A PREDICTIVE PHOSPHORYLATION SIGNATURE OF LUNG CANCER” authors; Wu, Cai, Rikova, Merberg, Kasif, Steffen
• Sandra Cerda, MD just had a paper accepted for publication in Pediatrics Journal. “Placental Inflammatory Response is Associated with Poor Neonatal Growth: A Preterm Birth Cohort Study”  Karen Mestan, M.D.1, Yunxian Yu, M.D., Ph.D.2, Nana Matoba, M.D.1, Sandra Cerda, M.D.3, Bethany Demmin, B.A.1, Colleen Pearson, B.A.4, Katherin Ortiz, B.A.4, Xiaobin Wang, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D.2
• Michael Roehrl, MD; PhD one of our new faculty members, recently had his paper *. “Tissue proteomics reveals differential and compartment-specific roles for the homologs transgelin and transgelin-2 in lung adenocarcinoma and its stroma” Rho JH, Roehrl MHA,* Wang JY, accepted to Journal of Proteome Research 2009 (in press). *Corresponding authors.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• The New Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Strategic Plan is now posted on our web page.
• Joann Crain and Kathleen White from Lab Medicine have successfully completed the AACC Point of Care Specialist Certificate Program
• Elizabeth Schuller, MA successfully completed her thesis “Delayed Addition of Anti-oxidants Fails to Modulate Cytokine Production” and requirements  to receive her Masters in Pathology Degree in September
• A Student Research Award from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) has been awarded to Fiona Chiem, a BU senior volunteering in the Remick Lab under the guidance of John Kim, PhD
• Welcome to NEW FACES:
  • Dr. Zhaohua Lu was appointed Instructor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Her research interests include immunology and infectious diseases. She will work in collaboration with Dr. Jacqueline Sharon on immunotherapy and immunoprophylaxis for tularemia
  • Dr. Kobra Rezazadeh-Gharahassanlou is a new post-doc in Nader Rahimi’s Lab
• Grants
  • Dr. Jacqueline Sharon received a 5-year, $5.5 million NIH contract award to identify and validate protective and pathogenic B cell epitopes in tularemia and determine the mechanisms of antibody protection or pathogenesis. The multi-investigator project includes Drs. Zhaohua Lu, Shinichiro Kurosawa, Deborah Stearns-Kurosawa and Daniel Remick from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Drs. Catherine Costello and Joseph Zaia from the Department of Biochemistry, Dr. Barbara Seaton from the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, and Dr. Seshi Sompuram from Medical Discovery Partners LLC. Dr. Mercio PereiraPerrin of Tufts University School of Medicine will participate as Consultant, and Ms. Lyndianne Joseph from the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine will be the Contract Administrator
  • Marten Steffen, PhD is the PI of a recently awarded Grand Opportunity grant (1RC2GM092602-01; multi-PI: Steffen, Kasif, Roberts). The goal of the grant, entitled “SciBay: A New Methodology for Scientific Collaboration and Gene Function Determination,” is to catalyze experimental validation of gene function for genes with no known function in bacterial genomes. This grant will implement the experimental validation model proposed by co-PI Rich Roberts, the recipient of the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of introns. We will form a consortium of experimental and computational biologists that would collaborate directly to test experimentally the predicted functions of high-priority genes of currently unknown function or specificity. This high profile initiative is our attempt to ameliorate a profound problem exacerbated by next generation sequencing methods. If one were to sequence a newly discovered microbe today, the percentage of genes of unknown function would be very similar to that obtained a decade ago. We anticipate that, in the near future, as the new methods become more widely used, and generate giga- and tera-bases of new sequence data, this problem will become quantitatively worse. It is therefore imperative that we develop both new methods and opportunities for determining gene function.

Presentations:

• Carmen Sarita-Reyes, MD will be presenting a Perinatal Placenta Case at the Latin-American Society of Pediatric Pathology (SLAPPE) Perinatology Seminar at Antigua, Guatemala in October
• “Reduced adipose tissue inflammation represents an intermediate cardiometabolic phenotype in obesity” by Lija Joseph, MD has been accepted for presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, to be held on Nov. 14 – 18, 2009 in Orlando, FL. This is an NIH funded research project that Dr. Joseph participate in collaboration with Dr. Noyan Gokce in the Department of Cardiology
• Dr. Louis Liou, Van Le and Yasmin Akbari attended the New England American Urological Association’s Annual Conference in Washington D.C. this past Friday (9/25/09).  Van and Yasmin presented posters and it went pretty well. 
  • Van Le, BA, first year student at BU School of Medicine: “Evaluating  microRNA Expression Integrity in FFPE Samples with qRT-PCR by Using  Patient-Matched Formalin-Fixed and Fresh-Frozen Tissues from Renal  Cell Carcinoma (RCC) Patients”
  • Yasmin Akbari, senior at BU undergrad: “Assessing the Potential of the  Htert Cell Line as a Model of Normal Bladder Urothelium via Analysis  of microRNA Expression”

 NEAUA Poster (.PDF)               Van’s Poster (.PDF)

• Zack Hunter, MA candidate just got word that he received 3 posters and Zach will talk as first author at this years meeting of the American Society of Hematology!
  • Poster 1: “Gene Expression Profiling Distinguishes Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia Patients Presenting with Familial Disease, Advanced IPSS Prognostic Score, and Previous Treatment with Rituximab”
  • Poster 2: “IgA and IgG Hypogammaglobulinemia Does Not Predict for Recurrent Infection Risk and Persists Despite Therapeutic Response in Patients with Waldentroms Macroglobulinemia”
  • Poster 3: “Micro-RNA Expression Profiling Reveals Distinct Correlates to Disease Pathogenesis, and Identifies Novel Pathways Involved in Tumor Cell Senescence and IL-12A Signaling”
  • Talk: “Genome Wide Association Studies of Familial Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) Reveals a Loss of GSTM1 Is Common in Families with a History of B-Cell Disorders but Not in Those with a History Specific for WM”

Publications- PUBLISHED:

• Mary Jo Murnane, PhD has an article “Active MMP-2 Effectively Identifies the Presence of Colorectal Cancer”   by Murnane MJ, Cai J, Shuja S,  McAneny D, Klepeis V and Willett JB) that has just been published online at the website for Wiley-Blackwell publications (wiley.com).  It will be coming out soon as a hard copy in a fall ’09 issue of the International Journal of Cancer

Publications-ACCEPTED:

• “Capzb2 Interacts with ß-tubulin to Regulate Growth Cone Morphology and Neurite Outgrowth David A. Davis¹, Meredith H. Wilson¹, Jodel Giraud², Zhigang Xie³, Huang-Chun Tseng², Cheryl England⁴, Haya Hersckovitz⁴, Li-Huei Tsai² and Ivana Delalle¹* was accepted by PLoS Biology, to be published in October 2009  Poster (.PDF)

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• Kazem Azadzoi, M.D. has received funding from American Medical System for a term ending March 2011 to study “The Effects of Accessa Stimulation on Bladder Overactivity” in an Experimental Model of Pelvic Ischemia
• The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society President’s Award for Best Overall Trainee/Resident Presentation 2nd Place was awarded to Bryan Belikoff, MD/PhD candidate for his presentation entitled “Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Prevents Lung Inflammation in the Absence of Adenosine A2A Receptor Signaling” at this year’s international UHMS Scientific Meeting Las Vegas, NV
• Marc Lenburg, PhD presented a talk at the Genes and the Environment Initiative meeting in Raleigh-Durham, NC entitled “Non-invasive Gene Expression Biomarkers of Airway Response to Tobacco Exposure” on August 3rd
• News from Abroad: Rocco Richards, MA, graduate of our Master’s in Pathology program has arrived safely at Medical School in Grenada – he writes “Just went through my first week of classes – it’s been a hectic week. The island is gorgeous. Everywhere I look, I see blue waters or beautiful mountains. …The campus is real nice, the facilities and lecture halls are great. BU classes really did prepare me for this semester. Many students here haven’t done or seen nearly half of what I did while at BU.”
• Thomas Thomou, PhD successfully defended his thesis “Homeobox Gene Expression Profiles Demarcate Regional Identity of Human Fat Depots” on August 4th
• Welcome to NEW FACES:
  • Danielle Day – Kurosawa Lab
  • INCOMING STUDENTS
    • PhD Students
      
      • Philip Bondzie
      • Evan Chiswick
      • Clarissa Koch
      • John “Jed” Mahoney
    • Masters Students
      • Nik Bajaj
      • Mostafa Belghasem
      • Yi “Bessie” Liu
• From Jo-Anne Walsh in Dean Antman’s Office: “Congratulations to all of you in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine for being the 1st whole department to complete the Faculty Evaluation Confirmations. Just gave Dean Antman the news!!”

Presentations:

• David Chui, MD was invited to present at McMaster University, Regional Hematology Round, Hamilton, ON, Canada; June 26, 2009, “BCL11A and fetal hemoglobin”
• David Chui, MD was also invited to present at Congreso Iberoamericano de Drepanocitosis y Talassemia, Colegio de Medicos y Cirujanos de Costa Rica, San Jose, Costa Rica; July 23, 24, 2009; “Regulation of Fetal Hemoglobin Synthesis: Recent Advances” and “Sickle Cell Disease – Interaction with Other Mutations”

Publications- PUBLISHED:

• American Journal of Hematology published: “Sickle cell disease caused by heterozygosity for Hb S and novel LCR deletion: Report of two patients” by Sara C. Koenig,1 Esmira Becirevic,1 Miriam S.C. Hellberg,1 Michael Y. Li,1 Jason C.C. So,3 Jane S. Hankins,4 Russell E. Ware,4 Lillian McMahon,2 Martin H. Steinberg,2 Hong-Yuan Luo,1,2 and David H.K. Chui1,2*

Publications- ACCEPTED:

• Zack Hunter, MA candidate has a first author paper accepted for publication by Hematologica! The paper is entitled “IgA and IgG hypogammaglobulinemia in Waldenström?s macroglobulinemia”
• Article title by John Cho, MD: “Utility of Hematologic and Volume, Conductivity, and Scatter (VCS) Parameters from Umbilical Cord Blood in Predicting Chorioamnionitis” has been accepted by International Journal of Laboratory Hematology. The coauthors are: Fernando Chaves MD, Thomas Ahern MPH, and Karen Quillen MD
• David Davis, PhD has a paper accepted by a PLoS Biology. “Capzb2 Interacts with ß-tubulin to Regulate Growth Cone Morphology and Neurite Outgrowth.” Authors: David A. Davis1, Meredith H. Wilson1, Jodel Giraud2, Zhigang Xie3, Huang-Chun Tseng2, Cheryl England4, Haya Hersckovitz4, Li-Huei Tsai2 and Ivana Delalle1*

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items –

Dear Colleagues,
 

I regret to inform you that our colleague Joseph John Vitale, MS, ScD, MD, professor emeritus, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Professor Socio-Medical Sciences and Community Medicine, passed away on August 18, at the age of 84.  Dr. Vitalle also served as BUSM Associate Dean, International Health Programs from 1978 to 1990, Director of Nutrition Education Programs at BUSM from1977 to 1995, and Professor of Nutritional Sciences at GSDM from 1976 to 1995.

Dr. Vitale was passionate about fostering and facilitating international student exchange health experiences.  He developed formal affiliations with medical centers in Mexico, Columbia, Ireland, Israel, Spain and China during his career and established the Vitale International Foundation for Medical Education/Exchange http://www.vifme.org/ in January 1996. This program provides financial assistance to qualified senior medical students who successfully complete an elective at a foreign medical center.

Dr Vitale graduated from Northeastern University with a BS in Biology in 1947 and earned his ScD from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1951. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Medicine from Health Science Institute in Medellin, Columbia.

He had over 100 original publications, 92 abstracts and papers presented, and had written eight book chapters and monographs. Dr. Vitale served on the editorial boards of a number of journals including American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the American Public Health Journal.

Dr. Vitale leaves his wife Gilda and two children. We are saddened by the loss of this admired colleague and grateful for his many contributions to our community.

Announcements:

• Dr. Chris Andry has been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. The Trustees and Dr. Robert Brown have recognized Dr. Andry’s “contributions to the work in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.” Congratulations Chris!
• BIG MOVE, thanks to Chris Andry’s diligent work: Pathology People moving to 670 Albany Street – 6th Floor, so if you are trying to find someone after August 1st:
  • Rachel Factor, MD — #4-5325 – Room #676
  • Jenny Gan, MD — #4-5358 – Room #670
  • Denise Johnson — #4-5310 – Room #671
  • Lija Joseph, MD — #4-4457 – Room #666
  • Michael O’Brien, MD — #4-4988 – Room #672
  • PATHOLOGY Office — #8-6990 – Room #671
  • SIGN OUT: MENINO — #x-xxxx – Room #673
  • SIGN OUT: NEWTON — #8-6995 – Room #674
  • Loraine Toorie — #4-7039 – Room #671
  • Huihong Xu, MD — #4-4283 – Room #669
  • Michael Roehrl, NEW FACULTY — #4-5329 – Room #667
• See photos of our new location at 670 Albany Street – 6th Floor below:

• Congratulations to Cynthia Harris in the department of Anatomic Pathology for her 40 years of service to Boston City Hospital/Boston Medical Center! Bravo!
• John Meyers, PhD successfully defended his thesis “UNIQUE CYCLIC NUCLEOTIDE SIGNALING IN CHRONIC LYMPHOCYTIC LEUKEMIA REPRESENTS A POTENTIAL NOVEL THERAPEUTIC TARGET” on July 20, 2009
• David Davis, PhD successfully defended his thesis “Actin Capping Protein Beta 2 Subunit (Capzb2) Function in Neurodevelopment and Neurodegeneration” on July 29, 2009.
• Welcome to NEW PEOPLE:
  • Michael Roehrl, MD, PhD, new faculty member
  • Somdutta Mitra, has joined Dr. Maria Panchenko’s Research Team
• Steve Bogen, MD received a newly issued U.S. Patent: U.S. Patent 7,553,67; Issued June 30, 2009.
• Strategic Planning Committee Begins Work. A strategic planning committee has begun work to evaluate the current status of the department and map future directions. The committee is chaired by Daniel Remick with administrative support provided by Debra Kiley. The committee members include Michael O’Brien, Martin Kroll, Lija Joseph, Jacqueline Sharon and Chris Andry. A password protected, on-line discussion forum will be available shortly to allow faculty, staff, residents and students the opportunity to provide input into the plans as they develop.

Presentations:

• Nader Rahimi, PhD was invited to give a talk at the Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Angiogenesis Conference held in Chester, England on July 14-17. This conference was organized by Biochemical Society Transduction. The title of Dr. Rahimi’s talk was “A novel role for protein ubiquitination in VEGFR-2 signaling and angiogenesis” and the text of his presentation will be published as a review article in Biochemical Society Transductions Journal.
• Resident Marier Hernandez-Perez’s M.D has had a poster accepted for presentation at the 46th Annual Meeting of The American Society of Dermatopathology (ASDP) for “PROTOTHECOSIS OF THE NAIL: A RARE SUBUNGUAL PRESENTATION OF ALGAL DISEASE” in Chicago, Illinois, October 2-5

Publications- PUBLISHED:

• SA Bogen, K Vani, B McGraw, V Federico, Iqbal Habib, R Zeheb, E Luther, C Tristram & SR Sompuram. “Experimental Validation Of Peptide Immunohistochemistry Controls.” 2009. Appl. Immunohistochem & Mol Morphol. 17(3):239-246.

Publications- ACCEPTED:

• A manuscript by Kazem Azadzoi, M.D. et al entitled “Oxidative Modification of Mitochondrial Integrity and Nerve Fiber Density in the Ischemic Overactive Bladder” has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Urology
• A manuscript by Osuchowski, M, Teener, J, and Remick, D “Noninvasive model of sciatic nerve conduction in healthy and septic mice: Reliability and normative data.” has been accepted for publication in Nerve and Muscle.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• Walther Pfeifer, MD, will become Medical Director of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory of Laboratory Medicine, in July
• Lija Joseph, MD will be at the APC/PRODS meeting in Seattle, Washington this July 16th. She is co-chair of a 90 minute discussion on Integrated Curriculum to the pathology course directors. Lija will also be presenting results of the resident and junior faculty stress survey data to the pathology residency program directors.
  • http://www.apcprods.org/mtg/2009/CDS2009.pdf
  • http://www.apcprods.org/mtg/2009/PRODS2009.pdf
• Congratulations on passing the Qualifying Exams!

• Jackie Bouchard

• Heather Cohen

• Michael Durando

• Mike Greene

• Madhu Jagannathan

• Jillian Richmond

• Eligible students should start thinking about taking the next exam in January-February 2010 and get in touch with Dr. Burke at the latest October 2009
• Thank you to all faculty members who assisted with the qualifying exams, with a special gratitude to Bohdana Burke!
• On Monday, June 22, Carl O’Hara, MD and Lija Joseph, MD presented two posters on curricular integration at the John McMahon Medical Education Day
• Welcome to Our New Residents:
  • PGY-1:
    • Dr. Luisa Watts
    • Dr. Priya Alexander 
    • Dr. Joy Tan
    • Dr. Yanelba Toribio
  • PGY-2:
    • Dr. Dehua Wang
    • Dr. Hao Wu

• NEW PEOPLE:
  • Chaoxu Liu PhD, a postdoctoral scholar from China, has joined Dr. Azadzoi’s research team in the pathology laboratories
  • Joel Henderson’s new Lab Manager is Dr. Hui Chen, general internist from Wuhan, Hubei, China
• In Laboratory Information Service, Silvia MacMurdo will assume the Chair of the Regional Sunquest Users Group
• Janet Means, Administrative Director of Laboratory Medicine has passed her Black Belt written examination for the Juran training course in Lean Six Sigma. She had to attend four weeks of intensive training at the Juran institute. Her score topped her class of international participants.
• Janet Means and Neil O’Neill visited a Lean-designed Quest Laboratory in Atlanta, Georgia to learn about applying Lean Six Sigma principles to laboratory design. The information they gleaned validated many of the laboratory layout designs instituted for the new lab as well as provided impetus for making important changes in the final design.
• Bethany Tierno, MD will be starting her hematopathology fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess July 1st. Bethany wants to thank everyone for a great four years of residency, “I will miss you all! My e-mail address is bethanyjc@comcast.net, please keep in touch!”
• John Cho Lee, MD, Chief Resident received a United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology Pathologist-in-Training Award from the Society for Ultrastructual Pathology for this year’s USCAP meeting.
• John Cho Lee, MD, Chief Resident received an award from the University Of South Alabama Department Of Pathology for his USCAP poster presentation: Society for Ultrastructural Pathology Pathologist-in-Training Award.

Presentations:

• Barbara Nikolajczyk, PhD has been invited to speak at the 35th Annual New England Immunology Conference in Woods Hole Oct 24-25 2009. The topic will be “The Role of Toll-like Receptors in Type 2 Diabetes.” Web site is: http://neic.uchc.edu/ This is an excellent venue for grad students to present their work and talk to other regional immunologists.
• An abstract by Kazem Azadzoi, M.D. et al entitled “Oxidative Stress-Sensitive Genes and Mitochondrial Stress Regulate Neural Injury and Wall Degeneration in the Overactive Bladder” has been accepted for presentation at the International Continence Society Annual Meeting to be held in San Francisco in October 2009.
• Abstract/case study for poster presentation by our residents Marier Hernandez; Katherine Downey; and attending Sandra Cerda, “Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung Secreting Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and ß-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in a Young Female Smoker” at CAP ’09, which is to be held in Washington, DC, on October 11–October 14
• Our resident, Kate Duhon Hartman, with Janet Means, Administrative Director, and Neil O’Neill, will present a poster at the AACC meeting entitled “Improving Oncology STAT CBC Turnaround Time by Means of Lean Six Sigma Process Improvement”
• Jianmin Gan, MD has had her abstract, “Histopathology of the pig lung after microwave ablation: report on ten cases” accepted for poster presentation at the 2009 American Society for Clinical Pathology Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois from October 28-November 1, 2009.
• Stephen Hammond, MD has had an abstract accepted for poster presentation at the College of American Pathologists meeting in Washington, DC, on October 11-14, 2009. “Using Amended Report Rates to Monitor Pre- and Post-Analytic Errors in an Anatomic Pathology Laboratory” Authors: Stephen Hammond MD, Chris Andry PhD, and Kathy Harkins.

Publications- ACCEPTED:

• A manuscript by Kazem Azadzoi, M.D. et al entitled “Oxidative Stress and Neurodegeneration in Penile Ischemia” has been accepted for publication in the British Journal of Urology
• The abstract/case study by our residents Marier Hernandez,; Katherine Downey; and attending Sandra Cerda, “Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lung Secreting Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and ß-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin in a Young Female Smoker” will be published in the October 2009 issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.
• Stephen Hatfield , Bryan Belikoff , Dmitriy Lukashev , Akio Ohta article: “The Anti-hypoxia-adenosinergic Pathogenesis Due to Collateral Damage by Overactive Immune Cells” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Leukocyte Biology
• Resident Stephen Hammond’s abstract “Using Amended Report Rates to Monitor Pre- and Post-Analytic Errors in an Anatomic Pathology Laboratory” will be published in the October 2009 issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine.

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• You can watch our own Dr. Daniel Remick speak about his asthma and cockroach research on Channel 5/WCVB and Channel 4/WBZ  (both broadcasts were May 7, 2009)
  
• Welcome to two New Faculty Members
  • Joel Henderson, MD PhD, Assistant Professor
  • Catherine Valentine, MD; Assistant Professor
• June is PhD Qualifying Exams Month! This year June 18th will be the written part of the exam and June 25th the oral portion will take place. There are six students who will be taking these exams: Jackie Bouchard, Heather Cohen, Michael Durando, Michael Green, Madhu Jagannathan, and Jillian Richmond. The faculty working with this group of qualifying exam candidates is: Drs. Berse, Burke, Lerner, Murnane, O’Hara, Remick, Sharon and Slack. Good Luck to all!
• Jillian Richmond, PhD student, received Honorable Mention for the 2009 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program   Congratulations to you!
• Florin Craciun has won a Travel Grant Award to attend the Thirty-second Annual Conference on Shock, San Antonio, June 6-9, 2009. He will be presenting his abstract also (see below)

PRESS RELEASE: Top Notch choices in the lung: Airways have to cope with tasks as diverse as clearance of environmental particles, detoxification, and air humidification. These tasks are accomplished by a variety of cell types that populate the airways and include ciliated and secretory cells.  How these cell fates are established and balanced during development and during injury-repair in the adult is still an open question.  

A study from a research team led by Wellington Cardoso, MD, PhD (Pulmonary Center, Dept. of Medicine and Dept. of Pathology) sheds light into the mechanisms that control formation of secretory cells in the lung. They found that when the Notch pathway is inactivated in mouse mutant embryos, airways no longer form the secretory (Clara) cells and the airway epithelium becomes populated almost exclusively by ciliated cells.   The unbalance seems to result from the loss of a mechanism of cell fate choice triggered by Notch, called lateral inhibition. These findings not only help to understand how airways develop but they also give insights into how aberrant patterns of differentiation occur in diseases, such as asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). The study is authored by Po-Nien Tsao MD (postdoc) and Michelle Vasconcelos (graduate student).  It appears in the current online edition of Development, and is highlighted in the cover. Dr. Cardoso is the Director of the Program in Lung Development and Progenitor Cell Biology, which harbors a multidisciplinary group that studies lung development and its intersection with disease. The Program has been funded by the NIH-NHLBI for 17 years.

Plate #2 – Excessive ciliated cells in airways of Notch mutant mice

P Tsao, MD; W. Cardoso, MD, PhD: and M. Vasconcelos, graduate student

Presentations:

• Dr. Karen Quillen spoke on “Safety and complications of therapeutic plasmapheresis” at the PEXIVAS Investigators’ meeting in Cambridge, United Kingdom on April 24, 2009.

Harry Potter fans will recognize "Platform 9 3/4" at King's Cross Station in London, where trains leave for Cambridge

Punting on the River Cam, with St. John's College, Cambridge, in the background.

• Bryan Belikoff’s, an MD/PhD student, abstract “HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY PREVENTS LUNG INFLAMMATION IN THE ABSENCE OF ADENOSINE A2A RECEPTOR SIGNALING” has been accepted for an oral and poster presentation at the 2009 Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Society Annual Scientific Meeting in Las Vegas, NV, June 24-27.
• Florin Craciun’s abstract was accepted for an oral presentation at the Thirty-second Annual Conference on Shock, San Antonio, June 6-9, 2009. INCREASED LOCAL NEUTROPHIL RECRUITMENT IMPROVES SEPSIS SURVIVAL & BACTERIA CLEARANCE. F. Craciun, M. Osuchowski, B. Belikoff, E. Schuller, and D. Remick.
• Marc Lenburg, PhD gave a talk entitled “Airway epithelial gene expression in the diagnostic evaluation of smokers with suspect lung cancer” at a symposium entitled Novel Tools for Risk Assessment and Early Detection of Premalignant Lesions and Cancer sponsored by Deutsche Krebshilfe in Bonn, Germany on May 7th.
• Dr. Jianmin  Gan’s abstract entitled: “CK 903 and p63 are useful markers in the differential diagnosis of atypical large glandular proliferations of the prostate” has been accepted as a POSTER PRESENTATION at the 22nd European Congress of Pathology to be held in Florence, Italy September 4-9, 2009.

Publications- PUBLISHED:

• A Manuscript by Kazem Azadzoi, MD et al entitled “Oxidative Stress and Molecular Reactions in Arteriogenic Erectile Dysfunction” was published in the April issue of Chonnam Medical Journal 45: 1-8, 2009 
• John Cho’s, current Anatomic Pathology Chief Resident, case report has been accepted and published via advance online publication (the print version will come out later).It’s titled “Erythroid/B-cell biphenotypic acute leukemia first case report with the following as citation” Leukemia advance online publication 21 May 2009; doi: 10.1038/leu.2009.105″ ()
• Remick DG: : “Old friends: pneumonia and interleukin-6” Critical Care Med 2009, 37:1809-1810
• Osuchowski MF, Connett J, Welch K, Granger J, Remick DG: “Stratification is the key: inflammatory biomarkers accurately direct immunomodulatory therapy in experimental sepsis” Critical Care Med 2009, 37:1567-1573
• Remick DG: “What’s new in Shock, February 2009?” Shock 2009, 31:111-112
• C Lee, S Yang, Y Zou and L Joseph: “Erythroid/B-cell biphenotypic acute leukemia first case report.” Leukemia advance online publication, 21 May 2009; doi:10.1038/leu.2009.105

Publications- ACCEPTED:

• Jean A. Nemzek DVM, and Jiyoun Kim PhD “Pulmonary Inflammation and Airway Hyperresponsiveness in a Murine Model of Asthma Complicated by Acid Aspiration” Journal of Comparative Medicine
• Noronha, AM, Liang, YM, Hetzel, J, Hasturk, H, Kantarci,  A, Stucci , A, Zhang, Y, Nikolajczyk, BS, Farraye, FA, and Ganley-Leal, LM.  2009. Hyper-activated B cells in human inflammatory bowel disease. (Accepted to J. Leukocyte Biol.)

• Eugen B. Petcu MD, Leonard Berman MD, Maria M. Opris MD, Valentin Ghiorghiu MD, Stanton C. Kessler MD, John Hayes MD, Harrison W. Farber MD, “Severe Pulmonary Hypertension in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus complicated by exposure to Dexfenfluramine” has been accepted for publication in the next issue of the Romanian Journal of Legal Medicine (Vol 17, No 2, July 2009)

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

Announcements:

• Congratulations are in order for our Residency Program which just received a full 4-year Accreditation from the ACGME! Special acknowledgement goes to Dr. Carl O’Hara and Bob Foley for their efforts!~
• Our own Dr. Daniel Remick was featured in the New York Times April 7th Science/Health Section.  “House Dust Yields Clue to Asthma: Cockroaches”
• April was National “Donate Life” month which celebrates the work of the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) and its collaboration with the Boston Medical Center (BMC). The department of pathology and laboratory medicine serves as the liaison to the NEOB through the Decedent Affairs Office, led by Chris Andry, PhD and Christian Kiriakos. A flag reflecting the opportunity to give the gift of life was raised outside the Moakley Building by BMC patient Mr. Cleveland Scott who had received a donated kidney and described how his quality of life had improved dramatically post-transplantation. Speaking at the well attended event were Lisa O’Connor, RN, Vice President for Nursing and Kevin O’Connor Vice President for Operations at the NEOB. We encourage all readers to register as an organ and tissue donor with the Massachusetts’s donor registry when you renew your driver’s license, fill out, sign, and carry an organ donor card and remember to share your decision with your family and friends. More information is available here.

PHOTO: L to R: Diego Martinez, New England Organ Bank (NEOB) Liaison to BMC; Kevin O’Connor, Executive VP NEOB; Cleveland Scott (kidney recipient); Lisa O’Connor, VP for Nursing, BMC; and Dr. Chris Andry, Vice Chair, Pathology and Lab. Medicine

• The Genome Science Institute is pleased to announce the recipients of the first annual GSI Seed Grant Award. GSI Seed grants are intended to support: 1) The expansion of research at Boston University by supporting new collaborations between groups with diverse expertise to address an important scientific question in genetics and genomics research. 2) The development of new and emerging areas of genetics and genomics research. Of fourteen applications, two from Pathology and Laboratory Medicine were selected following peer review of the proposals.
  • $10,000 Ellen O Weinberg, Barbara Nikolajczyk
  • $15,000 Jennifer Rosen , Stephanie Lee, Antonio de las Morenas
• This year’s recipients of the Henry I. Russek Student Achievement Awards are in the Department of Pathology are: First Prize- John Meyers; Second Prize- Sandra Rolfe Congratulations to you both!
• Dr. Walther Pfeifer has been officially accepted as a member into the Society for Hematopathology
• For “A Conversation with Dr. Lija Joseph” go to Lokvani.com: the piece featuring Dr. Joseph is about half way down the page

Grants

• Dr. Daniel Remick was recently awarded a new R01 grant NIH GM 82962, The Role of Cytokines in Sepsis and Trauma. Four years of funding were obtained to continue his investigations into the basic mechanisms of the septic response

Presentations

• Madhu Jagannathan, PhD grad student has been invited to give an oral presentation at the June FOCIS Conference in San Francisco. “Toll-like Receptor 4 Engagement Blocks Inflammatory Cytokine Production by B Cells from Inflammatory Disease Patients.”
• Dr. Steve Bogen presented at FASEB 2009 (New Orleans, LA), at a session sponsored by the Histochemical Society, April 19, 2009. “Formalin Fixation & Antigen Retrieval: Translating Insights To Clinical Innovation”
• Dr. Steve Bogen, also presented at a Grand Rounds Seminar, Colorado State University Animal Cancer Center, April 6, 2009. “Probing Pathologic Immune Responses With Peptide Libraries”
• Dr. Nancy S. Miller, Medical Director, Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Diagnostics, presented ”Commissioning a Retrofitted BSL-3 Clinical Laboratory — The BMC Experience” to the New England Microbiology Medical Directors Meeting, on 4/29/09 in Sturbridge, MA
• Jackie Bouchard, PhD student presented a poster at the 2009 FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) in New Orleans, April 22nd:”Acute ethanol exposure aggravates cockroach-allergen (CRA) induced asthmatic responses.” Jacqueline Bouchard, Jiyoun Kim, Louis Vaickus, and Daniel Remick
• Lou Vaickus, MD/PhD student also presenatted a poster at the 2009 FASEB. “Oral tolerance reduces eosinophil activation in a cockroach antigen murine model of allergic asthma.” Louis Vaickus, Sudha Natajaran, Jacqueline Bouchard, Jiyoun Kim and Daniel Remick.

Publications- PUBLISHED

• D. Chinnappan, D. Xiao, A. Ratnasari, C. Andry, T. King and C. Weber. Transcription factor YY1 Expression in Human Gastrointestinal Cancer Cells. International Journal of Oncology; 34: 1417-1423, 2009
• Chen ZY, Luo H-Y, Steinberg MH, Chui DHK. BCL11A Represses HBG Transcription in K562 Cells. Blood Cells, Molecules, and Diseases 42: 144-149, January 2009
• John Meyers, PhD grad student has a new paper accepted to The Journal of Immunology, to be published May 1: Meyers JA, Su DW, Lerner A. Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and B and T Cells Differ in Their Response to Cyclic Nucleotide Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors. Journal of Immunology, 2009:182
• Christine L. Lau, MD, Yunge Zhao, MD, PhD, Jiyoun Kim, PhD, Irving L. Kron, MD, Ashish Sharma, MBBS, Zequan Yang, MD, PhD, Victor E. Laubach, PhD, Joel Linden, PhD, Gorav Ailawadi, MD, David J. Pinsky, MD. Enhanced Fibrinolysis Protects Against Lung Ischemia–reperfusion Injury. Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, 2009;137: 1241-1248
• Gao, F., J. F. Ponte, P. Papageorgis, M. Levy, S. Ozturk, A.W. Lambert, H. Pan, D. Chinnappan, K-h. Cheng, A. Thiagalingam, H. M. Abdolmaleky and S. Thiagalingam. 2009. hBub1 Deficiency Triggers a Novel p53 Mediated Early Apoptotic Checkpoint Pathway in Mitotic Spindle Damaged Cells. Cancer Biology & Therapy 8(7): 58-66
• Gao, F., J. F. Ponte, M. Levy, P. Papageorgis, N.M. Cook, S. Ozturk, A.W. Lambert, A. Thiagalingam, H. M. Abdolmaleky, B. A. Sullivan and S. Thiagalingam. 2009. hBub1 Negatively Regulates p53 Mediated Early Cell Death upon Mitotic Checkpoint Activation. Cancer Biology & Therapy 8 (7): 67-75
  **The cover page of Cancer Biology & Therapy (below) is a figure from Dr. Gao (a recent BUSM pathology graduate) and Dr. Thiagalingam’s second article

Publications- ACCEPTED

• CANCER CYTOPATHOLOGY: Y-0138-08 Version 2. Rachel Factor.: “Cytogenetics and FISH as Adjuncts to Cytology in the Diagnosis of Malignant Mesothelioma”
• Dr. Martin Kroll’s manuscript 2008-0652-OAR1 “Use of multiple patient analyte samples results in enhanced detection of changing clinical status” has been accepted for publication in an upcoming issue of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items

 Announcements:

• Boston University School of Medicine Alumnus Wins 2009 Ramzi Cotran Award.

Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue M.D., Ph,D. received the Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator of the Year Award. This prestigious honor was presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology. Christine graduated from Adelphi University in New York in 1991 and earned her MD /PhD from Boston University School of Medicine in 1998. She obtained her Ph.D. thesis in pathology working under the tutelage of Mary Jo Murnane, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue commented that she still writes papers the way Dr. Murnane taught her. After medical school, Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue trained in Anatomic Pathology at Johns Hopkins University. She continues her research in colorectal and pancreatic cancer and currently holds an appointment as an Associate Professor of Pathology at Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue has published nearly 100 scientific papers in the field of   cancer. She has published her work in high profile journals such as Science, and the American Journal of Pathology, and her research has been selected for the cover of Cancer Research. She is the co-editor of the diagnostic textbook Gastrointestinal and Liver Pathology and has contributed to the upcoming 8th edition of the classic medical student textbook Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease. Her important work has been profiled in the lay press including the New York Times, CNN and Forbes Magazine.

The United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology annually presents the Young Investigator Award to recognize a pathologist whose body of work has contributed significantly to the diagnosis and understanding of human disease. The 2009 meeting, with over 4000 registrants, was the largest gathering of pathologists in history. Additional information about Dr. Iacobuzio-Donahue and the award may be found at www.uscap.org and navigating to the Annual Meetings, 2009 meeting and scrolling down to the Ramzi Cotran Young Investigator Award

• Congratulations to Srimathi Srinivasan one of our first-year-PhD students who has been awarded a Ruth and Martin Levine Scholarship.
  
• CityLab This term the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has hosted City Lab Interns: Chris Andry and Janet Means mentored two City Lab Interns and Bryan Belikoff, MD/PhD grad student in the Remick Lab taught two City Lab Interns. In 1992, Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) pioneered an innovative, science education outreach program that has been disseminated across the country. CityLab is a biotechnology learning laboratory at BUSM serving students and teachers in grades 7 – 12. CityLab is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), and Boston University School of Medicine. CityLab’s mission is to provide access to state-of-the-art biotechnology laboratory facilities and curriculum, unavailable to most school systems. Teachers from Massachusetts and neighboring states bring their students to CityLab where they solve problems by applying the same techniques and concepts of genetics and molecular biology used in research laboratories today. Each topic is presented in a mystery format.

Successful Mallory Institute of Pathology Reunion/Reception

• To coincide with the US and Canadian Academy of Pathology 98th Annual Meeting, a reunion\reception of former Mallory trainees was held in the lobby of 670 Albany Street on the Boston University Medical Campus.  Historical panels of the Mallory Building and its rich history were unveiled (see below) and a good representation of residents and faculty attended.  Alumni were given tours of the new Anatomic Pathology labs (3rd floor), new BU research labs (4th floor) and vacant space that is soon to be built out into offices, sign-out area (6th floor) and the main clinical laboratories (7th floor).  Many old friends were reunited and a most enjoyable evening was had by all.

Dr Remick; Dr Dongsheng Xu; Dr Huihong Xu

Dr Swan; Dr Yang; Dr Mulligan

Mrs Gedeon; Mr Truell; Dr Dubinchik

Mrs Gedeon; Mr Truell; Dr Dubinchik; DrChen

 

More Photos from 2009 Pathology Reunion

Historical Mallory Panels – 670 Albany Street – 3rd Floor

• Four wall mounted panels portraying the Mallory Institute of Pathology building, its work and name sake were prepared and installed by Frank Burr Mallory’s grandson Ken Mallory and designer Richard Duggan.  Faculty and support staff made many contributions to these fine portrayals of the history of pathology at Boston City Hospital and Boston Medical Center.  The panels are mounted in the 3rd floor lobby at 670 Albany Street and in the Mallory building, now known as Yawkey Place.  We encourage you to take a few minutes to stop by to enjoy them!

Welcome to Our New Residents

Four new first year residents will begin their pathology training this year, as well as a new second year resident.

New first year residents include: 

• Mariam Priya Alexander, MD — Chrisrian Medical College; Vellore, India
• Josenia (Joy) N.M. Tan, M.D — Far Eastern University; Philippines
• Yanelba Toribi — Boston University School of Medicine; Boston, MA
• Luisa Y.A. Watts — University of Miami School of Medicine; Miami, FL

Our current new second year resident is

• Hao, Wu, MD, PhD –Xian Medical University; Xian, China

More News

• Sandy Rolfe (Sherr Lab) successfully defended her thesis, “Activation and Roles of the Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor in Mammary Tumorgenesis” on March 24th. Congratulations!
• Devin Horton, PhD (Remick Lab) successfully defended her thesis on March 25th at the University of Michigan, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology. The title of her dissertation is “REGULATION OF CYTOKINES AND CHEMOKINES DURING THE PROGRESSION OF ACUTE INFLAMMATION IN THE HUMAN WHOLE BLOOD MODEL” Congratulations!
• Kazem Azadzoi, M.D. has received the Pfizer 2009 OB/LUTS (overactive bladder/lower urinary tract symptoms) competitive award to investigate “The Role of Oxidative Stress in Bladder Muscarinic Receptor Dysfunction and Cholinergic Nerve Degeneration”
• The Tissue Dispensary (Transfusion Medicine in the Dept. of Laboratory Medicine) went up with full force on March 10th.  The number of tissues dispensed is twice what was anticipated.  Now all tissues issues used in Surgery will be properly inventoried and tracked.  We expect the Joint Commission will consider our management of Tissue satisfactory.  Dr. Mark Flomenbaum is the Medical Director for the Tissue Dispensary; Missy Cohen is the Medical Technologist in charge.  Dr. Kroll would like to thank Dr. Karen Quillen and Kate Murphy for their precious input; Dr. Chris Andry for his organizational skills; and Janet Means, the Administrative Director of Laboratory Medicine for her enormous input and advice in bringing the Tissue Dispensary to fruition to provide exceptional care without exception.
• On March 18th, the Laboratory Information System was successfully upgraded to version 6.3.  This accomplishment is a great step forward for the laboratory. This upgrade included both software and hardware and is a major advance for the labs and BMC. The downtime was 17 hours, overnight through two rush hours for labwork.  So far Dr. Kroll has not heard of any major complaints from physicians.  The consultants said this was one of the smoothest upgrades they had seen.  Besides thanking BMC administration for supporting these efforts and IT for their assistance, we need to thank the entire staff of Laboratory Medicine, because everyone pitched in to make the upgrade successful and seamless (the whole project took more than a year of planning).  Dr. Kroll would particularly like to note the efforts of Janet Means, Silvia MacMurdo (Supervisor of LIS), Dr. Nancy Miller (Medical Director of LIS), the members of the LIS team, and all the Supervisors and Assistant Supervisors.
• John Cho Lee , current Chief Resident, won the Ultrastructural Pathology Society Award at the Boston 2009 USCAP

25 Years of Service Anniversary

• Mary Jo Murnane, Associate Professor and Celia Slayter, Departmental Administrator were recognized for their 25th Anniversary of working at Boston University at a dinner at the Sherman Union on March 26th

Presentations:

• Nancy S. Miller, MD; Medical Director, Clinical Microbiology & Molecular Diagnostics Invited speaker, “Best Practices in Blood Culture.” At the H.E.R.O. Solutions Workshops (Helping to improve Healthcare Efficiencies, Results and Outcomes) a P.A.C.E.-accredited Continuing Education event Sponsored by BD Diagnostics March 24, 2009 Sheraton Framingham Hotel & Conference Center, Framingham MA
• Jackie Bouchard, PhD student and Lou Vaickus, MD/PhD student (both in the Remick Lab) had their abstracts accepted to FASEB 2009 in New Orleans and will be presenting posters Wednesday April 22
• USCAP BOSTON PHOTOS of Bethany Tierno and Brian McMillan with their poster at the Annual 2009 Annual USCAP in Boston, March 2009
• 
•  John Cho and former resident Dana Semmel with their USCAP Boston posters respectively
•  

Publications- PUBLISHED:

• M Asmal, RE Factor, R Walensky. An HIV Infected Man with an Upset Stomach. Clin. Infect. Dis. 2008; 47:935-6.
• Nader Rahimi, Todd E. Golde and Rosana D. Meyer. Identification of Ligand-Induced Proteolytic Cleavage and Ectodomain Shedding of VEGFR-1/FLT1 in Leukemic Cancer Cells. Cancer Research 2009; 69: (6)

Publications- ACCEPTED:

• International Journal of Cancer:  Murnane MJ,  Cai J, Shuja S, McAneny D, Klepeis V and Willett JB.   Active MMP-2 Effectively Identifies the Presence of Colorectal Cancer

Pathology & Laboratory Medicine News Items – March 2009

• Announcements:
• Recent Doctoral Degrees Awarded
• Nichol Holodick successfully defended her thesis, “B1 Cell Development and Signaling on November 8th. Congratulations!
• Jose Cacicedo successfully defended his thesis, “Palmitate-Induced Apoptosis in Retinal Pericytes: Roles of Oxidative Stress, NF-[kappa]B, Ceramide, Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and AMP-activated Protein Kinase” on February 25th. Congratulations!
• Mallory Institute Reunion: On Sunday March 8th, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine will host a Mallory Institute of Pathology Reunion, reception and tour of our new pathology laboratories at 670 Albany Street, Boston MA from 5:00- 8:00 pm.   We are in particular inviting and encouraging former members of the Mallory Institute to participate. The Mallory Institute of Pathology formally opened in December of 1895. The Institute was a gateway for considerable scientific medical work, and has grown into the new laboratories we have today. Daniel Remick, MD, Chair of the Department invites all current and former members of the Mallory Institute along with our current departmental faculty, residency training program members and all support staff to attend.  This event will occur in conjunction with the USCAP (United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology) Annual Meeting taking place in Boston, March 7-13th. The USCAP is “dedicated to the advancement of Pathology” through seminars, workshops, courses, publications and promoting pathological research. In addition, four wall-mounted panels describing the Mallory Institute of Pathology and its rich history will be unveiled outside the 3rd floor Anatomic Pathology Laboratories at 670 Albany Street.
• Site Visit: Thanks to all the staff, faculty and residents for your help and support during the ACGME site visit of the pathology residency program. Dr. Rubin from the ACGME was very supportive of the program, providing several creative ideas. The program information form is still available on the G drive under the folder resident manual. Please review it at your convenience. If you have any suggestions to improve the program, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Carl O’Hara, Dr. Karen Quillen, Dr. Lija Joseph or Mr. Bob Foley.
• Presentations:
• Antonio de las Morenas was invited last week to participate and give a presentation on "Problems with FNA specimens in the Differential Diagnosis of Intrathoracic tumors" by the National Health System in Seville, Spain.His presentations were on February 11th.
• Huihong Xu, Shi Yang, Hongying Huang, Bohdana Burke, Sandra Cerda, Chaline Mack and Michael O’Brien abstract, "Mucin Core Proteins (MUC2 and MUC6) and Transcription Factor CDX2 Expression in Colorectal Serrated Polyps: Correlation with Neoplastic Progression", has been accepted for poster presentation by DDW (Digestive Disease Week) 2009 Annual Meeting (May 30 – June 4). The annual Digestive Disease Week meeting is the world’s largest gathering of physicians and researchers in the field of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery.
• Lija Joseph and Carl O’Hara have been invited to present at the First Annual Boston University Instructional Innovation Conference to be held on Friday, March 27, 2009 from 8:30am-5pm in the Metcalf Trustee Ballroom on the 9th floor of One Silber Way.  The day-long event is co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Center for Excellence in Teaching. Their topic: Successful strategies of curricular integration of Anatomy, Histology, and Pathology at Boston University School of Medicine; Lija Joseph, Alyssa Brown, Rebecca Batiste, Carl O’Hara, Ann Zumwalt, Todd Hoagland and Deborah Vaughan
• Madhu Jagannathan’s abstract "Toll-like Receptor 4 engagement blocks inflammatory cytokine production by B cells from inflammatory disease patients" has been accepted for an oral presentation at FOCIS in San Francisco this June 11th-15th.
• Grants
• The Kurosawa Lab has a newly funded grant!  It is: 5 U19 AI062629 M Coggeshall, PI, Program Director; Shinichiro Kurosawa, Sub-Contract PI, DJ Stearns-Kurosawa, Co-Investigator  NIH/NIAID “Molecular and Immunologic Analysis of the Pathobiology of Human Anthrax” ; 09/01/09 – 08/31/14. In this successful competitive renewal, the major goals are to develop and characterize baboon models of anthrax using virulent and attenuated B.anthracis strains. The baboon models will support and validate research performed by consortium immunologists for vaccine development and studies of adaptive immune responses.
• Publications:
• DHK Chui, MH Steinberg.   Laboratory diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies and thalassemias. In:  Hematology: Basic Principles and Practice, 5th edition.  R Hoffman, EJ Benz Jr, SJ Shattil, B Furie, LE Silberstein, P McGlave, HE Heslop. (eds.)  Elsevier, Philadelphia,  pp. 525-533, 2009
• Zhu, J., J.Z. Sanborn, S. Benz, F. Hsu, C. Szeto, R.M. Kuhn, D.  Karolchik, J. Archie, M.E. Lenburg, L.J. Esserman, W.J. Kent, T. Wang, D. Haussler.  The UCSC Cancer Genomics Browser.  Nature Methods.  In Press.
• Zhou, J., W. Huang, S. Ibaragi, Y. Ido, X. Wu, Y.O. Alekseyev, M.E.  Lenburg, G. Hu, Z. Luo.  Inactivation of AMPK alters gene expression and promotes the growth of prostate cancer cells.  Oncogene.  In Press.
• Steiling, K., A.Y. Kadar, A. Bergerat, J. Flanigon, S. Sridhar, V.  Shah, M.E. Lenburg, Q. R. Ahmad, M. Steffen, J.S. Brody, A. Spira. Proteomic differences in large-airway epithelial cells collected from never and current smokers.  PLoS  ONE.  In Press.
• John Meyers just had a manuscript accepted to the Journal of Immunology entitled: "CLL, B and T cells differ in their response to cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase inhibitors" by Meyers JA, Su DW and Lerner A.

Announcements:

• BU Pathology in the TOP TEN — The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of Boston University School   of Medicine and Boston Medical Center has been informed that we are in the top ten in the number of abstracts accepted for presentation at the 2009 United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology annual meeting. Over 430 academic institutions from across the world, including 230 from the United States, submitted nearly 2800 abstracts to this year’s meeting making pathology’s accomplishment all the more noteworthy. We are not just in the top 10%, we are among the top ten institutions. The Department is pleased to have 3 oral presentations, an invited lecture and multiple accepted posters at this year’s meeting. To see the list of accepted abstracts see the December Newsletter.
• Mallory Institute Reunion: Daniel Remick, MD, Chair of the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine is pleased to announce that on Sunday March 8th, the department will host a reception and tour of the new pathology laboratories at 670 Albany Street, Boston MA starting at 6:30 pm.  Shuttle buses will run from the USCAP Annual Meeting at the Hynes Convention Center to the Boston University Medical Campus.  All current and former members of the Mallory Institute and departmental faculty, residency training program and support staff are welcome.  In addition, four wall-mounted panels describing the Mallory Institute of Pathology and its rich history will be unveiled outside the 3rd floor Anatomic Pathology Laboratories.
• Sudha Natarajan, PhD (Remick Lab) successfully defended her thesis on January 12th  at the University of Michigan, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology. The title of her dissertation is “Pulmonary Innate Immune Modulation in the Pathogenesis of Allergic Asthma” Yay!!!
• Michael O’Brien, M.D., M.P.H. will be honored on March 7, 2009 with the National University of Ireland, Galway, Medtronic Alumni Award for Healthcare and Medical Science. The Alumni Awards recognize individual excellence and achievements among the University’s more than 65,000 graduates worldwide. The awards program boasts an impressive roll call of 57 outstanding graduates who have gone on to honor their alma mater
• A new Informatics Didactic Curriculum is being developed for the residency program under the supervision of Drs. Karen Quillen, Lija Joseph, and Carl O’Hara — with help from Dr. John Lee (Chief Resident).  In Clinical Pathology an LIS (laboratory information system) didactic series is underway with inaugural lectures beginning in February.  Scheduled lecturers include Dr. Nancy Miller, Medical Director, LIS; Silvia MacMurdo MT (ASCP), LIS Administrator; and invited speakers from other institutions.  Residents also will have the opportunity to participate with the LIS team on a variety of projects, and to observe other LIS and IT (information technology) activities.  In Anatomic Pathology didactics in image processing and telepathology are planned.  Assigned readings and completion of a CAP Virtual Informatics College course will be another part of the curriculum experience.
• GO GREEN WINNERS from this year’s Holiday Pot-Luck Party!
  • Debbie Kiley: Lunch with the Chair
  • Bethany Tierno: Lunch with the Chair
  • Shinichiro Kurosawa: Yummy Chocolates
  • Barbara Nikolajczk: Yummy Chocolates
  • Peter Lee: Yummy Chocolates
  • Nader Rahimi: A BRAND NEW BU/BMC Pathology & Lab Medicine Umbrella

WELCOME to NEW FACES!

• Sid Nakani in the Panchenko Lab
• Sun Young-Oh in the Kurosawa Lab

Presentations:

• Martin Kroll will be speaking at the Northeast section of AACC in February and at the NERCE meeting in April
• Marc Lenburg spoke at the British Thoracic Oncology Group’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Dublin, Ireland on January 30th.  The title of his talk was “Airway epithelial gene expression in the diagnostic evaluation of smokers with suspect lung cancer.”
• Zach Hunter (Master of Arts in Pathology) presented “Familial Predispositions in Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia” at the Hematologic Neoplasia & Immunologic Therapies  Seminar and Series
• In March Ivana Delalle will be presenting: Vanderburg C and Delalle I: Exosomal miRNAs profiles in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Keystone Symposium “The Molecular Basis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder”, Keystone, CO, March 2009.

Posters:

• Zachary Hunter, PhD student, had a poster this past December at the American Society of Hematology meeting: “IgA and IgG Hypogammaglobulinemia Is a Constitutive Feature in Most Waldenstrom?s Macroglobulinemia Patients and May Be Related to Mutations Associated with Common Variable Immunodeficiency Disorder (CVID)”  Steven Treon, Zachary Hunter, Bryan Ciccarelli, Yangsheng Zhou, Christina Hanzis, Robert Manning, Leukothea Ioakimidis, Lian Xu, Christopher Patterson and Massimo Morra
• Marc Lenburg presented two posters at the Genes and the Environment Initiative Annual Meeting in Bethesda, MD on January 14th.  The posters were entitled “Non-invasive gene expression biomarkers of airway response to tobacco exposure” and “Non-invasive miRNA biomarkers of airway response to tobacco exposure”.

Publications:

• “Metastatic Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma Masquerading as a Skin Primary Tumor: a Case Report and Review of the Literature”. Lee JC, Christensen T, O’Hara CJ. Am J Dermatopath. 2009 31(1):88-93
•  Christian Weber is the Section Editor for Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity. He wrote an article: “Regulation and signaling of human bombesin receptors and their biological effects” H Christian Weber and an editorial in the February 2009 issue.