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The Department of Medicine wishes everyone a wonderful
holiday season and a Happy New Year!
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December Researcher Spotlight: Honghuang Lin | |
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In this month’s Researcher Spotlight, we feature the work of Honghuang Lin, PhD, a professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, Clinical Informatics Section, and a co-director in the Program in Digital Medicine.
Dr. Lin’s research focuses on the development of novel computational methods to study complex diseases. He is a longtime investigator of the Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running cardiovascular epidemiological study that recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Dr. Lin has extensive experience in the analysis of genetic and omics data. Through his role in various large-scale international genetic consortiums, he and his collaborators have identified thousands of genetic variants associated with various diseases, including chronic inflammation, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and Alzheimer’s disease.
"I am dedicated to advancing the field of computational biomedical science," said Dr. Lin, "I look forward to continuing to make contributions to the field in the years to come."
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This month in our Graduate Student Spotlight, we feature Pooja Parameswaran, a student in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan and the lab of Dr. Megan Orzalli in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology.
"I was very keen on joining a program with a focus on Innate Immunity and UMass Chan is perfect for that. We have several PI’s who work in the space, so there are so many opportunities to learn. Additionally, thanks to a very collaborative environment it’s really easy to share knowledge, techniques, and reagents."
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This month, we feature Ze Zhang, PhD, as our Postdoc Spotlight. Dr. Zhang is a postdoc in the lab of Dr. Kate Fitzgerald in the Division of Innate Immunity.
"My research focuses on innate immunity and cell death, with specific emphasis on inflammasome and cGAS-STING, as well as novel programmed cell death. Drawing from my experience in Professor Xiaodong Wang’s Lab, where I engaged in the study of two independent projects—onco-neuroimmunology and cell death, I delved into the intricacies of innate immunity, particularly inflammasome biology, employing biochemical, genetic, molecular biology, and pharmacologic methods in the Fitzgerald Lab."
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Jonathan Gerber Co-Authors Study that Shows COVID-19 Vaccines Reduce Harmful Inflammation
Jonathan Gerber, MD, the Eleanor Eustis Farrington Chair in Cancer Research, director of the UMass Cancer Center, and chief and professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, co-authored a study that showed vaccination against COVID-19 was linked to reduced inflammation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. The study was published in The Lancet Microbe and included an analysis of 21 biomarkers measured in blood samples of study participants with COVID-19. Blood samples were taken from 882 patients who were enrolled in 23 outpatient sites in late June 2020 and late September 2021. Concentrations of inflammation biomarkers were found to be lower among the fully vaccinated group of participants as opposed to the unvaccinated group. Because many of the complications of COVID-19 are the inflammatory response that the body has to the virus, Dr. Gerber explains that if the infection in the body is controlled quickly, there is little need for an immune response, meaning damage to the body is less likely. The study provides further insight as to why unvaccinated people are more likely to be sicker from COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated.
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Apurv Soni and UMass Chan Scientists Partner with Expanded Federal Home Test to Treat Program for COVID-19 and Flu
Apurv Soni, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, Clinical Informatics Section, and a co-director of the Program in Digital Medicine, is the principal investigator on a recent study to expand free-at-home COVID-19 and influenza testing nationwide. With Dr. Soni and UMass Chan scientists serving as research partners, the team recently engaged in a pilot study in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where they focused on engaging community partners such as local health departments to reach underserved populations. In doing so, they worked to expand the Home Test to Treat program, a collaborative effort of the National Institutes of Health, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the digital health technology firm, eMed. The program offers free at-home COVID and flu tests for those who are uninsured or underinsured, or are enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, VA Health Care, or Indian Health Services and includes the LUCIRA by Pfizer COVID-19 test and Flu (A/B) Test. Dr. Soni and his team worked to analyze the data from the pilot study and collaborated with eMed to make improvements to the program.
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Department of Medicine Faculty and Trainees Featured
at the 28th Annual Research Retreat
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Pictured above: Drs. Golenbock, Fitzgerald, Hemming, Lin, Pitarresi, and Soni | |
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Faculty and trainees from the Department of Medicine gave talks and presented their research at the UMass Chan Medical School's 28th Annual Research Retreat which was held earlier this fall at UMass Amherst. Douglas Golenbock, MD, the Neil and Margery Blacklow Chair in Infectious Diseases and Immunology Professor and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, the recipient of this year’s Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Scholarship, gave a Keynote Address titled, “Interferon Epsilon: An Estrogen-Dependent Type I Interferon That is Uniquely Exploited by Neisseria gonorrhoeae”. Additionally, faculty from the Divisions of Hematology and Oncology and Health Systems Science - Clinical Informatics Section discussed their research, and faculty and trainees from the Department of Medicine presented their posters which included several interdepartmental and multi-institutional collaborative projects. Kate Fitzgerald, PhD, the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research Chair III, professor of medicine, associate vice provost for basic science research, vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine, chief of the Division of Innate Immunity, and director of the Program in Innate Immunity, served as the moderator for one of this year’s sessions. This year’s presentations and posters included:
Presentations
“Exploiting Oncogenic Dependencies in Sarcoma”
Matthew Hemming MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Hematology/Oncology
“Deep Learning Prediction of Cardiac Aging from Electrocardiograms”
Honghuang Lin, PhD, professor of medicine, Health Systems Science, Clinical Informatics Section
“Cellular Plasticity in Pancreatic Cancer”
Jason Pitarresi, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Hematology/Oncology
“Integrating Decentralized Clinical Studies and Home-Based Learning Health Systems to
Accelerate Evidence Generation”
Apurv Soni MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine, Health Systems Science, Clinical Informatics Section
Posters
“Rapidly Adapting a Multicomponent Intervention for Chronic Homeless Individuals with Comorbid Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders During COVID-19”
Paige M. Shaffer, Abigail Helm, Michael Andre, Herschelle Reaves, Kathryn E. Bruzios, Jennifer Harter, David Smelson, Howard J. Shaffer
Health Systems Science, Department of Medicine
“Interrogating the role of the calcium-responsive kinase CaMK2B in pancreatic cancer”
Jessica Peura, Yamini Ogoti, Faith Keller, Calvin Johnson, Emma Watson, Marcus Ruscetti, Jason R. Pitarresi
Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine; Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology; Department of Systems Biology
“Tumor-derived PTHrP molds an immunosuppressive microenvironment”
Calvin Johnson, Boyang Ma, Anna Bianchi, Yamini Ogoti, Jashodeep Datta, Marcus Ruscetti, Jason R. Pitarresi
Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine; Department of Molecular, Cell, and Cancer Biology; Division of Surgical Oncology, Dewitt Daughtry Department of Surgery, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
“Quantitative Tissue Flux Analysis Reveals that Brown Fat has a Sweet Tooth”
John A. Haley, Grace Park, Johnny Le, Su Myung Jung, Timothy P. Fitzgibbons, Ekaterina D. Korobkina, Huawei Li, Shelagh M. Fluharty, Qingbo Chen, Jessica B. Spinelli, Chinmay M. Trivedi, Cholsoon Jang, David A. Guertin
Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine; Program in Molecular Medicine; Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California Irvine
“Bacterial targeting of the P-glycoprotein for reducing intestinal inflammation in ulcerative colitis”
Benjamin F. Sallis, Sage Foley, Lutfu Safak Yilmaz, William Flavahan, Vanni Bucci, Doyle Ward, JeanMarie Houghton, Beth A. McCormick
Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine; Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems; Program in Microbiome Dynamics; Department of Systems Biology; Department of Molecular, Cell and Cancer Biology
“Leukemia Inhibitor Factor (LIF) interacts with lung Hippo signaling during pneumonia”
Marta Pérez-Vázquez, Elim Na, Ryan Wallace, Filiz T. Korkmaz, Müge Özkan, Xaralabos Varelas, Lee J. Quinton
Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Department of Medicine; Pulmonary Center, Boston University School of Medicine; Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine; Department of Biochemistry, Boston University School of Medicine
“Understanding how long noncoding RNA TILAM interacts with PML protein to regulate the fibrotic activity of hepatic stellate cells”
Benjamin Toles, Cheng Sun, Amel Ben Saad, Robert Sparks, Alan C. Mullen
Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine; Broad Institute
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Sonal Singh Receives Funding to Develop a New Tool to Study Algorithms to Support Regulatory Decisions
Researchers at UMass Chan School of Medicine received funding from the Reagan Udall Foundation for the FDA to develop a novel tool and test the reliability, validity, and feasibility of algorithms using real world data to support regulatory decisions. Led by Sonal Singh, MD, MPH, FACP, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, the focus of this project will be on outcomes in pregnancy. "Real world data is increasingly being used to evaluate the safety of drugs in pregnancy as pregnant women may be underrepresented in clinical trials,” said Dr. Singh. “We anticipate that the tool developed from this study can be used to evaluate the reliability and validity of algorithms on important maternal and fetal outcomes.” He added, “This tool may support a flexible and transparent approach to regulatory decisions around the benefits and risks of drugs used during pregnancy."
The new tool will build on Dr. Sonal’s previous collaboration on the development of the Algorithm Certainty Tool (ACE-IT) tool to evaluate real world algorithms for cardiovascular outcomes.
The co-investigator on this study is Carla Rodriguez-Watson, PhD, MPH from the Reagan Udall Foundation for the FDA.
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Ze Zhang Receives Cancer Research Institute Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship
Ze Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral student in the lab of Dr. Kate Fitzgerald, was recently awarded an Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship award through the Cancer Research Institute. The fellowship acknowledges the significance of Dr. Zhang’s previous onco-neuroimmunology research and provides support for his upcoming work in innate immunity research.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to ongoing efforts in basic biology, particularly innate immunity, and am excited about the potential impact of this fellowship. I want to express my sincere thanks to my doctoral supervisor, Professor Xiaodong Wang, my postdoctoral supervisor, Professor Kate Fitzgerald, and the other referees for their recommendations and support,” stated Dr. Zhang.
With funding from the fellowship, Dr. Zhang will utilize skills in biochemistry genetic biology, molecular biology, and immunology to address important immunology challenges, particularly related to NLRP1, including NLRP1 inhibitors and agonists. These endeavors will deepen the understanding of immune regulation and provide valuable compounds for dissecting biology and its roles in disease, with the ultimate objective of developing therapeutic drugs aimed at curing specific immune-related diseases.
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Allan Walkey Co-Chairs Updates to the American Thoracic Society Guidelines on the Management of Adult Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
“An Update on Management of Adult Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline” was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine in early November 2023. Co-chaired by Allan Walkey, MD, chief and professor of medicine in the Division of Health Systems Science, the updated guidelines incorporate new evidence addressing the use of corticosteroids, venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, neuromuscular blocking agents, and positive end-expiratory pressure for the management of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).
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Shyam Patel and Colleagues Publish Manuscript on TP53-Mutant Myelodysplastic Neoplasms and Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Shyam Patel, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology, recently had his work, “Prognostic Heterogeneity and Clonal Dynamics Within Distinct Subgroups of Myelodysplastic Syndrome and Acute Myeloid Leukemia with TP53 Disruptions” published in the eJHaem journal. Under the leadership of Jonathan Gerber, MD, Dr. Patel and his team explored the prognostic heterogeneity within various subsets of TP53-mutant myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and showed the impact of specific co-variates on clinical outcomes. Additionally, the team found that the actual disease label (“MDS” vs. “AML”) might not be as important for TP53-mutant myeloid neoplasms. “What is more important is the allelic state of TP53,” explained Dr. Patel. “We mapped clonal dynamics as a function of therapeutic intervention within multiple subgroups, which has implications for rational therapeutic design against TP53-mutant MDS/AML.” The findings of this study clarify the impact of specific covariates on outcomes of TP53-aderrant myeloid neoplasms, regardless of the diagnosis of MDS versus AML, and may influence hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) decisions.
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Read Pukkila-Worley Elected as 2024 Member of The American Society of Clinical Investigation
Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology and a faculty member in the Program in Innate Immunity, has been elected as a 2024 member of The American Society of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Pukkila-Worley is one of 100 Active and International Members to receive this honor. He will be officially inducted into the Society at the ASCI Dinner and New Member Induction Ceremony on April 5, 2024, as part of the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting in Chicago, Illinois.
We congratulate Dr. Pukkila-Worley on this exciting honor and recognition of his contributions as a physician-scientist.
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Kristy Chiang and Kaiyuan Hao Receive Poster Awards at the New England Immunology Conference
Kristy Chiang, a PhD candidate in the labs of Drs. Kate Fitzgerald and Ann Marshak-Rothstein, and Kaiyuan Hao, a PhD candidate in the labs of Drs. Ann Rothstein and Michelle Kelliher, recently received awards for their research posters at the New England Immunology Conference earlier this month. Kristy’s poster titled, “Autoimmune interstitial lung disease is initiated by STING gain-of-function radioresistant cells,” and Kaiyuan’s poster titled, “TLR9 is required for the development of DNaseII deficiency-induced liver inflammation,” both received recognition at the annual conference.
*Kaiyuan Hao not pictured
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Raquel Binder Named a 2023 KL2 Scholar
Raquel Binder, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, was recently named a 2023 Mentored Career Development Training Program (KL2) scholar.
Under the mentorship of Ann Moormann, PhD, MPH, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Timothy Kowalik, PhD and Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, and Andres Colubri, MFA, PhD, of Genomics and Computational Biology, Dr. Binder’s project will focus on “Unraveling Respiratory Virus Transmission Dynamics among Latinx and Black Communities in MA.”
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News from the Clinical Research Core | |
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The DoM Clinical Research Core would like to congratulate Kenneth Ralto, MD, clinical chief and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Renal Medicine, and his study team for successfully enrolling its first subject in the VISIONARY clinical study.
VISIONARY is a Phase III clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of VIS649, an inhibitor of cytokine A PRoliferation Inducing Ligand (APRIL), for the treatment of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). The second subject is already scheduled to be screened in the upcoming weeks.
If you would like to learn more about working with the DoM Clinical Research Core, please complete the intake form found at our website.
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2024 Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award
The 2024 cycle of the Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award Program is now open and accepting applications.
Submission Deadline:
Wednesday, February 28, 2024 at 12:00 PM ET
Please visit the program website for more information, and to download and review the following items: www.hria.org/tmf/King
- Eligibility
- Program Guidelines
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Application Forms
Register for the King Trust Fellowship Office Hours (Register here), on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM ET. This informational session will be used to give applicants and institutional officers an overview of the program and answer any general questions about the program.
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