Newsletter (Vol. 5)

Isabel Kallmeyer joined the lab of Dr. Jiha Kim (Biological Sciences). Isabel’s research is focused on pancreatic cancer and the tumor microenvironment. She received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from North Dakota State University. She enjoys coaching dance and knitting in her free time. Welcome, Isabel!

Jenna Duttenhefner received the NDSU College of Science and Mathematics Award for Academic Excellence in Biological Sciences. Jenna was also nominated as the local Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.) AX chapter (Crookston, MN) candidate for the International P.E.O. Scholar Award. P.E.O. is an organization dedicated to the advancement of women. Congratulations, Jenna!

Vikneshwari Natarajan published a first author paper titled “Acquired αSMA expression in pericytes coincides with aberrant vascular structure and function in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.” The paper was published in the journal Cancers and was co-authored by her advisor Dr. Jiha Kim, CMB faculty Dr. Yongki Choi, and their lab groups. Check out their exciting work!
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/14/10/2448

Gauthami Nair along with her co-advisors Dr. Mohi Quadir (Coatings and Polymeric Materials) and Dr. Katie Reindl (Biological Sciences) published a paper titled “Cellulose nanofibers as scaffold-forming materials for thin film drug delivery systems" in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics. Well done, Gauthami!

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378517322007438?via%3Dihub

Vikneshwari Natarajan presented a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in New Orleans, LA. Her poster was titled “PDAC-derived exosomes manipulate tumor pericyte phenotype”. Vikneshwari is mentored by Dr. Jiha Kim.

Gauthami Nair presented her research “Inhibiting pancreatic cancer growth by dual targeting of ERK and PI3K signaling” at the AACR Special Conference: Pancreatic Cancer meeting in Boston, MA. Her mentors Dr. Quadir and Dr. Reindl were co-authors on the poster. Gauthami also presented this work at the Dakota Community Collaborative on Translational Activity (DaCCoTA) meeting in Sioux Falls, SD and the American Association for Pharmaceutical Sciences (AAPS) in Fargo, ND.

Jenna Duttenhefner presented her research “Multi-omics analysis of glutathione S-transferase Pi-1 (GSTP1) knockdown models a suggest role in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cell metabolism” at the AACR Pancreas, DaCCoTA, and AAPS meetings. Jenna is mentored by Dr. Katie Reindl.

Jesmin Jahan presented a poster at the AAPS meeting titled “Splice variants of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) induce mitochondrial oxidative stress in diabetic CD34+ cells”. Jesmin is mentored by Dr. Yagna Jarajapu (Pharmaceutical Sciences).

Shubhashri Ambhore presented a poster at the AAPS meeting titled “Targeting TNBC tumor using hypoxia-responsive nanoparticles containing drugs with synergistic effects. Shubhashri is mentored by Dr. Sanku Mallik (Pharmaceutical Sciences).

Tariqul Islam gave an oral presentation at the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) North Central Branch meeting in Iowa. The title of his talk was “A mouse model for Torque teno sus virus 1 (TTSuV1)”. Tariqul is mentored by Dr. Sheela Ramamoorthy (Microbiological Sciences).

Congratulations to Dr. Jiha Kim who received an NIH/NIGMS DaCCoTA Basic Scholar grant. The title of the project is “Perivasuclar re-investment to enhance treatment efficacy in pancreatic cancer”. This is a significant award that will support her research program for the next five years. Congratulations, Dr. Kim!

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!