UTSW MSRF

The UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum is an annual event. The 47th Annual Forum will be held on January 20, 2009 on the UT Southwestern south campus in room D1.602. Student presentations will begin at 3 PM. The invited speaker this year is Donald E. Wesson, M.D., Vice Dean, Texas A&M College of Medicine, Chief Academic Officer, Scott and White. Dr. Wesson will present a talk entitled "How Student Research Participation Makes for Better Physicians". A reception and poster session will follow the Forum in the Faculty Club.

The students who presented their work at the 46th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum oral session (held January 22, 2008) are listed below. Those selected for presentation at the Forum in prior years are also listed further down on this page.

Abstracts for the Forum should be submitted electronically. Detailed instruction for submission can be obtained here or in Dr. McPhaul's office (Y5.322; 648-3465). The abstract form can be downloaded at this link. An example of an abstract can be found here. Additional examples can be found in booklets from past year in Dr. McPhaul's office. Click here if you would like to look at a hypothetical example of a poster that could serve as a template for your own poster. Please pay attention to the final dimensions of your poster so that it can be mounted on the poster stand. The maximum height should be less than 40 inches; the maximum width should be less than 80 inches. The hypothetical template is a size that is well within these limits: 36 inches tall by 46 inches wide.

Abstracts Selected for Oral Presentation at the 47th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum

Saiqa Khan, MS 2, Mentors: Ian Mitchell and Fiemu Nwariaku, Department of Surgery
"Response of Anaplastic Thyroid Tumors to VEGF-Trap, an Anti-Angiogenic Agent"

Heather Copeland Hummel, MS2, Mentors: Dian Cao and Joseph Hill, Division of Cardiology
"HDAC Inhibition and Autophagy in in vitro Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy"

Jerry P. Kalangara, MS 3, Mentors: Danielle Robertson and H. Dwight Cavanagh, Department of Ophthalmology
"Tissue Engineered Universal Artificial Corneal Epithelium"

Juanita Garces, MS 2, Mentors: Ramon Diaz-Arrastia, and Carlos Marquez de la Plata, Department of Neurology, UT Southwestern, and Center for Brain Health, UT Dallas
"Resting State Functional MRI in Traumatic Brain Injury Reveals Deficits in Connectivity of Limbic and Frontal Circuits"

Premal Bhavsar, MS 1, Mentors: Christopher J. Madden and Ramon Diaz-Arrastia,
"Observational Cohort Study of the Impact of Anemia and Transfusion on Outcome after Traumatic Brain Injury"

Doan Dao, NIDDK Medical Student Research Trainee Award Recipient,
Mentors: R. Ann Word and William M. Lee, Dept. of Internal Medicine.
"Host Responses and Virologic Profiles in Patients with Acute Liver Failure Secondary to Acute Hepatitis B Virus Infection (HBV) or Acute Exacerbation on Chronic HBV"

Shinjita Das, MS 2, Mentors: Andrew Blagg and Joseph Hill, Division of Cardiology
"Autophagic Processing of Polyubiquitinated Protein Aggregates During Unloading-Induced Cardiac Atrophy"

Abstracts Selected for Oral Presentation at the 46th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum

The speaker at the 46th Annual Forum was Errol Crook, MD, Chairman of the Internal Medicine Department at the University of Southern Alabama. The title of his talk was "Why Medical Research Is More Important Than Ever". A reception and poster session followed the Forum in the Faculty Club. Student co-chairs for the event were Blake Gregory, MS2 and Meghan McDonald, MS2.

Timothy Brown, MS1
Mentors: Ian Mitchell, Fiemu Nwariaku, Dept. of Surgery
"Development of an In-Vivo Zebrafish Model for Knockdown of Vascular Endothelial Cadherin"

Dhriti Mukhopadhyay, MS2
Mentors: Hongyu Wang, Shuxin Li, Dept. of Neurology
"Promoting Myelination with RhoA-inhibiting NSAIDs in the CNS"

Dhruti M. Patel, Doris Duke Fellow
Mentors: Lalitha Subramanyam, Claudia Quittner, Vinaya Simha, Dolores Peterson, Abhimanyu Garg, Dept. of Internal Medicine
"Longitudinal Assessment of Lipodystrophy in Naïve HIV-infected Patients Randomized to a protease inhibitor (PI)-based or an nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase Inhibitor (NNRTI)-based antiretroviral regimen"

Rohit Sharda, MS2
Mentors: Samuel D. Luber; Lynn Roppolo, Ahamed Idris, Dept. of Surgery
"Blood Pressure Response to the Impedance Threshold Device in Hypotensive Emergency Department Patients"

Blake Gregory, MS2
Mentors: Clarita Odvina, Orson Moe, Joseph Zerwekh, Khashayar Sakhaee, William M. Lee, Dept. of Internal Medicine
"Abnormal Urinary Excretion of Phosphate is Responsible for Hypophosphatemia in Acute Liver Failure"

Anh Nguyen, MS2
Mentors: Ahamed Idris, Chris Madden, Karla Saner, Jane G. Wigginton, D/FW Center for Resuscitation Research, Department of Neurosurgery
"Sex Steroid Level Alterations in the Blood and CSF Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury"

Justin Chen, MS2
Mentors: Jay D. Horton, Depts. of Internal Medicine / Molecular Genetics
"Inhibition of PSCK9 mediated destruction of hepatic LDL receptor by blocking their interaction at the cell surface"

Rebecca Adelagun, MS2
Mentors: Xiaoyun Liu, Laurentiu Pop, Ellen Vitetta, Cancer Immunobiology Center.
"The Generation and Evaluation of Immunotoxins Prepared With Chimeric, Monoclonal Antibodies Containing Mutations in Their Fc Portions"

Abstracts Selected for Oral Presentation at the 45th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum

The speaker at the 45th Annual Forum that was held on January 16, 2007 was Joan H. Schiller, MD, Chief, Division of Hematology and Oncology, Deputy Director of the Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. The title of her talk was "A Career in Academic Medicine: Pros and Cons". Student co-chairs were Jarrod Dale and Daniel Yang.

Myda Luu, MS2
Mentor: Dr. Thomas Anthony
“Surgical Site Infections in Patients Undergoing Colorectal Surgery”

Matthew Eng, MS2
Mentor: Dr. Paul F. White
“Effect of Short-Term Postoperative Celecoxib Administration on Patient Outcomes after Outpatient Laparoscopic Surgery”

Justin Grodin, MS2
Mentor: Ellen Vitetta
“A New Multidrug Resistant (MDR) Human B-lymphoma Cell Line (R18V) was Generated by Drug Selection to Stably Express P-glycoprotein (P-gp)”

Shahed Shakouri, MS2
Mentor: Dr. Mamta Jain
“Factors Associated with Death in HIV-Infected Persons: A Six Year Survival Analysis”

Nikki Garg, MS2, Tanzim Ludhi, MS2
Mentor: Dr. Ildiko Lingvay
“The Effect of Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes on Hepatic Steatosis”

Swalpa Udit, MS1
Mentor: Dr. Osamu Nakagawa
“Regulation of MEF2-Dependent Transcription by the HRT Family of Transcriptional Repressors in the Heart”

Blake Gregory, MS1
Mentor: Dr. William M. Lee
“Reliability of Acetaminophen Dosing Information in ACM-Induced Acute”

Karen Chen, MS2
Mentor: Dr. Darren McGuire
“Independent and Additive Influence of Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes Mellitus on Atherosclerosis: Observations from the Dallas Heart Study”

Meghan McDonald, MS1
Mentor: Dr. Helen Hobbs
“PCSK9 and LDLR Trafficking in Hepatocytes”

44th Annual Medical Student Research Forum Oral Presentations

The guest speaker at the 44th Annual Medical Student Research Forum was Dr. Beth Levine, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine and Microbiology, Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases. Her topic was "A Cellular Garbage Disposal System and Human Disease”. Student co-chairs were Mariam Orji and Daniel Sherbet.

Student presenters:

Tiffany Sun
Mentor: Paul F. White
"Preemptive Analgesic Efficacy of Oral Celecoxib (Celebrex®) in Patients Undergoing Major Plastic Surgery Procedures"

Jarrod Dale
Mentors: Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown
"Purification and Characterization of Membrane-Bound Oxysterol Binding Protein (MOBP)"

Isaac See
Mentors: Mark A. Valasek, R. H. Unger, and Joyce J. Repa
"The Vitamin D Receptor does not regulate leptin receptor expression during adipocyte differentiation, although 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D blocks adipogenesis"

Pranav Chitkara
Mentors: Hiroshi Noto and Philip Raskin
"The Role of Platelet Activating Factor Acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH) in the Metabolic Syndrome in Diabetic Patients"

Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu
Mentors: Jonathan Cohen and Helen Hobbs
"Sequence Variations in Protein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin 9"

Ronak Lakhia
Mentors: Joseph Goldstein and Michael Brown
"Varying levels of Insig-1 after feedback regulation of SREBP processing"

Andrew Crabbe
Mentor: Connie C.W. Hsia
"Impairment of Pulmonary Function in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus"

Erin MacDonald
Mentors: Daniel B. Hardy and Carole R. Mendelson
"Developmental Regulation of the Eicosanoid Pathway Mediates the Induction of Surfactant Protein A (SP-A) Expression in the Fetal Lung"

Sophie Esmail
Mentors: Helen Hobbs and Jonathan Cohen
"Novel genetic defect that causes extreme responsiveness to dietary cholesterol"

43rd ANNUAL MEDICAL STUDENT RESEARCH FORUM ORAL PRESENTATIONS

Mariam Orji, MS1, "Phosphoinositide - 3 Kinase Pathway Inhibition Reduces Hypoxia- Induced VEGF Secretion In Follicular Thyroid Cancer"

Benjamin Hatten, MS3, "A Prospective Study Comparing Standard Laryngoscopy to the Trachview Videoscope System For Orotracheal Intubation by Emergency Medicine Residents and Medical Students"

Jill Vilaythong, MS2, "Identification of Proteins that interact with the AR Coactivator Protein, ARA70"

Christina Robinson, MS1, "Infarct Artery Patency and Prior Treatment with Beta-Blockers, Aspirin, Statins, and ACE-Inhibitors"

Agnes Wang, "Saturation Prostate Biopsies after Negative Office-based TRUS Biopsies: Analyses of Outcome Predictors"

Sarah Guinn, MS2, "Targeting Multiple Her-2 Epitopes with IgG or F(ab)'2 Fragments of anti-Her-2 monoclonal antibodies (M Abs) to induce Anti-growth Activity of BT474 Human Breast Cancer Cells"

Sandra Saldaña, Doris Duke Medical Student Research Fellow, "Are Serial Liver Biopsies Useful in Individuals with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis"?

Daniel Sherbet, HHMI Medical Student Researcher, "Structural determinants of 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase directionality"

Student co-chairs were Louise King and Michelle Crank.

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS AND GUEST SPEAKER

MILTON PACKER, MD
DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR BIOSTATISTICS AND CLINICAL SCIENCE

"Should Physicians be Allowed to do Clinical Research?

42nd ANNUAL MEDICAL STUDENT RESEARCH FORUM ORAL PRESENTATIONS

WILLIAM R. KELLER, MS II, " AD Subjects Have Quantitatively Greater Leukoariosis than Normal Controls"

MONISHA DANDEKAR, MS II, " Quantification of Neural Precursor Cells in the Hippocampus of Young and Adult Mice using FACS analysis on GFP Expressing Transgenic Mice"

SHILPA R. MINIYAR, MS II, "Depo-Provera ® and Herpes Genitalis: Is There an Association?"

KELLY KOVARIC, MS I, "Changes in Expression and Modification of the Progesterone Receptor (PR) in Human Myometrium and Mouse Uterus at Term May Contribute to the Initiation of Labor"

ERICA P. RUGER, MS II, "Can a Barbershop-Based Intervention Change the Health Beliefs and Behaviors that Impact Awareness, Treatment and Control of Hypertension in African-American Men?"

BRYAN ONG, MS II, "Liver X Receptors: A Novel Role in Androgenetic Alopecia"

FATEMA UDDIN, MS II, "Ethnicity and Heart Failure (HF) Outcomes: Experience from a Dedicated HF Clinic in an Urban Public Hospital"

MICHELLE C. CRANK, MS II, "Mechanisms Underlying the Reversal of Multidrug Resistance (MDR) in Human B-Cell Lymphoma by the Anti-CD20 Monoclonal Antibody (Mab), Rituximab (RTX)"

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS AND GUEST SPEAKER

JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN, MD
REGENTAL PROFESSOR AND CHAIRMAN
DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR GENETICS

"How to Solve a Scientific Problem: Hints from Stockholm and Broadway"

41st ANNUAL MEDICAL STUDENT RESEARCH FORUM ORAL PRESENTATIONS

JOY FALOLA, “Anti-Proliferative Effects of SRC Inhibition on MAPK Activity and Proliferation of Medullary Thyroid Cancer ”

JEREMIAH SEELY, “Transcriptional Regulation of Dihydroepiandrosterone Sulfotransferase (SULT2A1) by Estrogen-Related Receptor alpha (ERRalpha)”

LYNDSEY COX, “Comparative Study of COX-2 Inhibitors in Preventing Pain After Ambulatory Surgery”

GEOFF ELMORE, “Exogenous Retinoic Acid Enhances Strain-induced Lung Growth Following Pneumonectomy”

DANIKA TAYLOR, “Cloning of a Novel Isoform of 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase (AGPAT) from Human Liver”

AGNES WANG, “Effect of AEP Monitoring on Intraoperative Drug Use and Recovery After Inpatient Surgical Procedures: A Clinical Utility Study”

J. WADE WILSON, “The Induction of Progesterone Metabolizing Enzymes in Human Myometrium at Term May Contribute to the Initiation of Labor”

JENNIFER YORK, “LXR-agonist Associated Increase in Biliary Cholesterol Secretion Requires ATP Binding Cassette Transporters ABCG5 and ABCG8”

PRESENTATION OF AWARDS AND GUEST SPEAKER

JEAN WILSON, MD
PROFESSOR OF INTERNAL MEDICINE
CHARLES CAMERON SPRAGUE DISTINGUISHED CHAIR IN BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE
MEMBER, NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER

“A Double Life: Physician and Physiologist”

PATRICIA JIMENEZ, MS 1, “Transcriptional regulation of 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type II (3beta-HSD) by the transcription factor NGFI-B”

TRAVIS BROWN, MS 1, “HIV-1 Coreceptor Expression and Cutaneous Immune Response to Treponema pallidum”

GREGORY MOSES, MS 1, “Hepatitis C Virus NS5A Protein Inhibits The PKR Mediated Cellular Antiviral Response During Viral RNA Replication In Human Liver Cell Lines”

MATTHEW STAIR, MS 2, “Differential Sensitivities of the Xenopus Androgen Receptor and the Human Androgen Receptor”

AHMED SHAKIR, MS 1, “Lung Nitric Oxide Production is Impaired in Sarcoidosis”

NEIL PATEL, MS 2, “Evidence for interaction between clathrin and ARH, the protein defective in autosomal recessive hypercholesterolemia”

MARK VALASEK, MS 1, “Mast Cell Degranulating Dodecapeptide from Rana rugosa, Granuliberin-R, Specifically Activates a Human Orphan G Protein-Coupled Receptor”

DANIEL SHERBET, MS 1, “Mutation E305G In The Active Site Of CYP17 Causes Isolated 17, 20-Lyase Deficiency By A Novel Mechanism”

Joseph Berger, MS 1, "Serum Autoantibodies Against Adipocyte Proteins In Acquired Generalized Lipodystrophy"

Chad Hanson, , MS 1, "Sarcoidosis Reduces Pulmonary Diffusing Capacity By Destroying Capillaries"

Alan Lam, MS 2, "Iliac Apophysis Allografts In Rabbit Distal Femoral Growth Plates"

Zhi Mao, MS 1, and Jason Jones, MS 1, "Enhancement Of Alloproliferative Responses By CD27 - CD27L (CD70) Interactions"

Rashmi Mullur, MS 1, "Elucidation Of The Mechanism By Which (+) - Acylcarnitines Inhibit Mitochondrial Fatty Acid Oxidation"

Ross ThormahlenMS 1, "The Oncogene EWS/FLI-1 Interacts With The Transcriptional Coactivators P300/CBP and Alters The Differentiation Program Of The Multipotential Cell LineC2C12"

Students Abstracts Selected for Oral Presentation at the 38th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum on January 25, 2000

Preetpaul Bajwa (MSI) "Elevated anxiety and antidepressant-like responses in serotonin 5-HT_1Areceptor mutant mice" (Mentor: Dr. Laurence Tecott).

Antonia M. Davidson (MSII) "Palmitoylation in the Regulation of Cellular G Protein Levels" (Mentor: Dr. Susanne Mumby).

Warren L. Dinges, Ph.D. (MSII) "Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of Lipodystrophy in HIV-Infected patients (LDHIV)" (Mentor: Dr. Dolores Peterson).

Christina A. Dooley (MSIII ) "Bone Morphogenetic Protein Inhibits Ovarian Androgen Production" (Mentor: Drs. Bruce Carr and William Rainey).

Rajul Jain (MSIII) "Elucidating Relationships between Structure and Energy in Proteins" (Mentor: Dr. Rama Ranganathan).

Daniel J. Kim (MSII) "The Bone-Implant Interface in Ream and Unreamed Uncemented Femoral Implants" (Mentor: Drs. Maureen Finnegan and F. Gottschalk).

Aimee Seungdamrong (MSIV) "Xenogenic Co-cultures of Rat Spermatogenic Cells with a Blasticidin S-Resistant Mouse Sertoli Cell Line: MSC-KL Cells" (Mentor: Dr. David Garbers).

Jing Shen (MSII ) "Kinase Regulation of the NF-KB Pathway" (Mentor: Dr. Richard Gaynor).

Christina Dooley (MS III) and Miriam White (MS III) are co-chairs of the 38th Annual UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum.

Students Abstracts Selected Presented at the 1999 UT Southwestern Medical Student Research Forum (January 19, 1999)

INTERLEUKIN 1 REGULATES SURFACTANT PROTEIN A GENE EXPRESSION IN FETAL LUNG: POSSIBLE ROLE OF TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR NF-KB, Amit R. Patel, Mentor: Carole R. Mendelson, Department of Biochemistry.

ANGIOGENESIS AND ANTIFOLATE CHEMOTHERAPY: A NEW TARGET FOR OLD DRUGS, Miriam C. White, Mentor: Barton Kamon, Pediatric Oncology and Pharmacology.

THE STONE-FORMING RISK OF CALCIUM CONSUMPTION, Mark F. Doerner, Mentor: Howard J. Heller, Department of Internal Medicine.

REGULATION OF STEROIDOGENIC ACUTE REGULATORY (StAR) PROTEIN EXPRESSION IN HUMAN OVARIAN THECA-LIKE TUMOR CELLS, Christina A. Dooley, Mentor: Bruce R. Carr, OB/GYN

MECHANISMS OF HTLV-1 TAX ACTIVATION OF THE NF-KB PATHWAY, Kevin T. Palka, Mentor: Richard Gaynor, Departments of Internal Medicine and Microbiology.

CHANGES IN THYMIC FUNCTION WITH AGE AND DURING THE TREATMENT OF HIV INFECTION, Earl A. Gage, Mentor: Richard A. Koup, Departments of Internal Medicine and Microbiology.

HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGING MICROSCOPY: A NOVEL METHOD FOR MICROSCOPIC ANALYSIS, Thomas Nielsen and Jeff Zavaleta, Mentor: Harold Garner, Departments of Biochemistry and Internal Medicine.

TARGETING AXON GROWTH ALONG A PREFORMED PATHWAY FROM TRANSPLANTED NEURONS TO A NEUROTROPHIC SOURCE, Ajith Nair, Mentor: George M. Smith, Department of Anesthesiology.