Newsletter (Vol. 1)

Dr. Katie Reindl, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, was named the new CMB Director in October 2020. Over the past 12 years, she has been active in the CMB program by training 7 Ph.D. students. She looks forward to supporting the outstanding faculty and students in the current program, and she is grateful to the former Director, Dr. Jane Schuh for her leadership and mentorship.

The CMB graduate program welcomed two new students this fall. Jenna Duttenhefner joined the lab of Dr. Katie Reindl (Biological Sciences) where she will study molecular mechanisms involved in cancer development and response to therapy. Jenna graduated from NDSU with a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Spring of 2020.

Kafi Mia joined the lab of Dr. Kendall Swanson (Animal Sciences) where he will study the cellular and molecular responses involved in ruminant metabolism, growth, and the immune system. Kafi is from Bangladesh and completed his M.S. in Molecular Genetics from Linkoping University, Sweden. Welcome, Jenna and Kafi!

Congratulations to Kaitlin Dailey (Pharmaceutical Sciences) who earned her Ph.D. in CMB this fall! Kaitlin was mentored by former CMB faculty member, Dr. Amanda Brooks. Her research focused on developing oncolytic bacteria for pancreatic cancer therapy. Thanks to Dr. Penny Gibbs, Dr. Sanku Mallik, and Dr. Jane Schuh for serving on Kaitlin’s examining committee. Kaitlin was also the recipient of a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship this fall and has received multiple postdoc offers from outstanding groups. Congratulations, Dr. Dailey!

Congratulations to Dr. Yagna Jarajapu (Pharmaceutical Sciences), who was named the NDSU Researcher of the Month in September. His research is focused on improving the vascular system in diabetic patients. His work is funded by an NIH R01 award, and he is the advisor to CMB student Jesmin Jehan. Congratulations, Dr. Jarajapu!

Gauthami Nair, Predoctoral Candidate co-mentored by Dr. Mohi Qadir and Dr. Katie Reindl, co-authored a manuscript, “pH-Sensitive Nano-Drug Carriers for Co-Delivery of ERK Inhibitor and Gemcitabine Enhance the Inhibition of Tumor Growth in Pancreatic Cancer” that appeared in Molecular Pharmaceutics. Dr. Sanku Mallik is also a contributing author to this publication. Congratulations, Gauthami!

Former CMB student, Dr. Yang Mei, and her mentor, Dr. Sangita Sinha, published a manuscript, “Transient Unfolding and Long-range Interactions in Viral BCL2 M11 Enable Binding to the BECN1 BH3 Domain” in Biomolecules. Congratulations, Dr. Mei and Dr. Sinha!

Congratulations to the following CMB Faculty Members who were awarded research grants this past semester!

• Dr. Jiha Kim, Dr. Sanku Mallik, Dr. Mohi Quadir, Dr. John Wilkinson are participants in the new ND-EPSCoR grant to develop technologies and therapies to better treat cancers that metastasize to bone.
• Dr. Katie Reindl received an NIH R15 to study the role of GSTP1 in pancreatic cancer development.

Former CMB student, Dr. Yang Mei, and her mentor, Dr. Sangita Sinha, published a manuscript, “Transient Unfolding and Long-range Interactions in Viral BCL2 M11 Enable Binding to the BECN1 BH3 Domain” in Biomolecules. Congratulations, Dr. Mei and Dr. Sinha!