SOM Honors Young Researchers

Alicia Showalter Reynolds Research
Award recipient Luisa Cochella, right, in the laboratory
with mentor Rachel Green.
PHOTO BY HIPS/WILL KIRK
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Young Investigators' Day recognizes innovative,
groundbreaking work
By Joanna Downer Johns Hopkins Medicine
It's said that "two's company, three's a crowd." But
in scientific research, the right cliche more often is "the
more, the merrier."
At the
School of Medicine on April 14, 11 students and seven
fellows will join the ranks of Young Investigators' Day
award recipients during the 28th annual celebration of
trainees and their work. The awardees, representative of
their peers, will present their work and receive their
awards starting at 4 p.m. in Mountcastle Auditorium.
"It's important to have an opportunity for the faculty
and administration to formally step back and acknowledge
how lucky we are to have such excellent students and
fellows," says Jon Lorsch, assistant professor of
biophysics and biophysical chemistry. "A few students have
been selected for the actual awards, but they should be
viewed as figureheads for all the fantastic students at
Hopkins."
Many of this year's awardees have succeeded by seeking
out people who can fill gaps in their knowledge, help
interpret their findings or provide a new way of looking at
problems. Students, fellows and faculty alike say that this
collaborative atmosphere is a key component of research
success across the institution.
For example, Shin Lin, a graduate student in the Human
Genetics Program and recipient of one of this year's four
Paul Ehrlich Awards, recognized a gap in his training and
sought biostatistics help from experts at the Bloomberg
School of Public Health. The classroom training and
one-on-one guidance he received provided the foundation he
needed, he says.
"When I first arrived on campus, I wanted to
participate in the commotion the Human Genome Project was
generating," he says. "I wanted to know how it could be
used and what new inquiries could be made."
This interest in using the human genome sequence or
the subsequent "HapMap" project, which is identifying DNA
inherited as intact chunks, to understand the genetics of
complex common diseases such as autism or diabetes had a
potentially bigger problem, however. Some scientists in the
field thought it would be impossible to get meaningful
information from the data.
But Lin and mentor David Cutler, a professor in the
McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, have proved
the naysayers wrong. They figured out how to accomplish
powerful genomewide association studies while incorporating
a critical analysis used in very focused genetic studies,
and to do so in real time with meaningful results.
"We drew on concepts rooted in population genetics and
statistics and coded them in an elegant computer
algorithm," says Lin, who added a master of health sciences
along the way.
Already, Lin's system has been used to help identity a
risk-increasing gene behind Hirschsprung disease, and it
will be applied to the hunt for genes contributing to
autism, efforts of other investigators at Johns Hopkins.
Such collaboration is a natural at Johns Hopkins, it
seems.
"We have a great interaction with Jon Lorsch's lab,
even though we don't have a formal collaboration," says
Rachel Green, professor of molecular biology and genetics.
"We have an overlap in technology and approach that really
helps what we do."

Sponsor Jon Lorsch with David Maag
Jr., who received this year's Mette Strand Research Award.
Maag will also be one of the student lecturers at
Thursday's event.
PHOTO BY HIPS/WILL KIRK
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Lorsch's lab and Green's lab study biology's
protein-building machinery, the ribosome, and both labs
have an awardee this year. One of Lorsch's graduate
students, David Maag Jr., will receive the Mette Strand
Research Award for figuring out how the yeast's ribosome
recognizes the right place to start reading RNA. Lorsch and
Maag's work was published in January in Molecular Cell.
Similarly, one of Green's graduate students, Luisa
Cochella, will receive this year's Alicia Showalter
Reynolds Research Award for her work showing that so-called
transfer RNA, or tRNA, actively participates in turning on
the ribosome. Green and Cochella's paper has just been
accepted by Science.
"Luisa came up with the idea on her own after other
projects didn't work out," Green says. "None of the systems
existed to study the question, so she had to develop them
and really had to persevere. There's a culture in the lab,
and at Hopkins in general, that science is fun and exciting
and that hard work pays off. That's really important for
success."
Hard work, creativity, a supportive environment,
brilliant colleagues, great mentors — a little luck
— are all cited by the awardees as contributing to
their projects' successful conclusions. But this year, more
awardees seemed to mention how much others' expertise was
needed to get robust research results, possibly reflecting
the widespread anticipation that future scientific research
will be multidisciplinary.
Sometimes the extra expertise came from outside the
"home" lab. Lin went across the street, and Maag went
across town for the expertise of Lorsch's collaborator
Zygmunt Gryczynski at the Center for Fluorescence
Spectroscopy at the University of Maryland Medical School.
WenYong Chen, a postdoctoral fellow in oncology and
recipient of this year's A. McGehee Harvey Research Award,
relied on the expertise of pathologist Joseph Mankowski in
comparative medicine.
But for graduate student Vikas Bhandawat, recipient of
a Paul Ehrlich Research Award, and for other awardees, the
extra expertise was at the next bench — figuratively
and literally. Bhandawat joined King-Wai Yau's neuroscience
lab at the same time Johannes Reisert joined as a
postdoctoral fellow. In his previous position at Cambridge,
Reisert had helped develop techniques to deliver precise
concentrations of odor molecules to nerve cells in culture
and to do so for precise periods of time.
"People had been recording from odor-detecting nerves
for the last 15 years, but they had been using a fairly
unstable whole-cell recording technique [to detect and
measure the cell's reaction], and they had not used very
defined pulses of odorants," says Bhandawat, whose work
used Reisert's techniques to show that odor-detecting
receptors use a common signaling pathway, G-protein
signaling, in a previously unknown way. "Simply using a
more quantitative approach can sometimes open up avenues
that would otherwise remain unexplored."
Bhandawat's work and the research of other Johns
Hopkins trainees and award recipients often challenge or
overturn scientific dogma and paradigms long accepted
although not proven. Many times the awardees' work is
published by a major journal, a scientific "stamp of
approval," but neither the journals nor the award committee
can catch everything.
"To me what really marks research success is the
creative or innovative process," says Jef Boeke, mentor to
graduate student Jeffrey Han, this year's Michael A.
Shanoff Research Award recipient. "Often this kind of
research takes place ahead of its time and/or in an unusual
context so far outside the mainstream that it is not
recognized by awards, etc. But these are the really
enduring breakthroughs."
Bhandawat feels the Young Investigators' Day awards
have done a pretty good job of catching the biggies,
though.

Jeffrey Han, recipient of this
year's Michael A. Shanoff Research Award, with sponsor Jef
Boeke. Han will lecture on his work at the awards
ceremony.
PHOTO BY HIPS/WILL KIRK
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"I'm always struck by the originality of the research
presented at Young Investigators' Day," he says. "Not all
great ideas are immediately accepted by the scientific
community, and therefore not all make it to the
high-profile journals. I think the awards committees over
the years have done a great job of representing such
ideas."
This year's oral presentations will cover a wide range
of research, from the effect of low pH on gene activity, to
how developing nerves are guided, to HIV's behavior, to
predicting whether early stage prostate cancer might
eventually be deadly. The day provides a great opportunity
to hear about a variety of other people's work and to shed
the weight of the lab, if only for a short time.
"Life as a graduate student is mostly filled with
failed experiments and very little positive feedback, so
it's rewarding to have your work recognized," says Han, the
Shanoff awardee for his research on the effects of
retrotransposons, or "jumping genes," on gene function and
evolution. "That being said, I think one point of Young
Investigators' Day should be to celebrate the contributions
and sacrifices that all graduate students make for their
research."
Chris Brett, recipient of this year's David Israel
Macht Research Award, echoes that sentiment. "I'm familiar
with the work of many fellow students and can honestly say
that I am a typical example, not an exception, of the
quality of young scientists Hopkins is producing."
Of course graduate students aren't the only ones
keeping the wheels of research churning. Seven postdoctoral
fellows receiving Young Investigators' Day awards represent
the important contributions of their cohorts in laboratory
and clinical settings at the medical school.
Many of the awards are named for prominent Johns
Hopkins scientists, such as Helen Taussig, W. Barry Wood
and Daniel Nathans, and for former students and alumni,
such as Michael Shanoff, Nupur Dinesh Thekdi and Alicia
Showalter Reynolds, who left gaps in the Johns Hopkins
community and in biomedical science when they died. Funding
of the awards comes from friends and family and the Johns
Hopkins Medical and Surgical Society.
When possible, the awards committee — composed
of faculty members and headed for the third year by Se-Jin
Lee, professor of molecular biology and genetics —
tries to match the legacy of an award's namesake to the
applicant's research.
For example, surgeon Stephen Freedland, who identified
characteristics of early-stage prostate cancers that can
distinguish patients at high risk or low risk of death from
recurrence, will receive the award named after famed Johns
Hopkins surgeon Alfred Blalock.
Similarly, Rejji Kuruvilla, one of two postdoctoral
awardees from the Howard Hughes laboratory of
neuroscientist David Ginty, feels particularly rewarded by
being named the Helen Taussig Research Award recipient. "As
a woman scientist, it is satisfying for me to receive an
award in honor of one of the most renowned women physicians
at Hopkins and in this country," says Kuruvilla, now an
assistant professor of biology in the Krieger School of
Arts and Sciences.
"Young Investigators' Day is a great opportunity to
reward and recognize the hard work of students and
fellows," adds neuroscience postdoctoral fellow Damian van
Rossum, who is sharing this year's Albert Lehninger
Research Award with biological chemistry postdoctoral
fellow Natasha Zachara. "The event also brings together
researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines,
manifesting a feeling of community and a forum for the
exchange of ideas."
Right. The more, the merrier.

18 Researchers To Be Honored for Their
Contributions
2005 Young Investigators' Day
Thursday, April 14, Mountcastle Auditorium of the
Preclinical Teaching Building on the East Baltimore
campus
4 p.m. Welcome from Edward D. Miller, dean of the
medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, and
student lectures
The Michael A. Shanoff Research Award
"L1 retrotransposons — Massaging and manipulating
mammalian genomes"
Jeffrey S. Han, M.D./Ph.D. candidate, Biochemistry,
Cellular and Molecular
Biology Graduate Program, Department of Molecular Biology
and Genetics
Sponsor: Jef Boeke, professor, Molecular Biology and
Genetics
The David Israel Macht Research Award
"pHome, Na+/H+ exchange and vesicle trafficking"
Christopher L. Brett, Ph.D. candidate, Cellular and
Molecular Medicine Graduate Program, Department of
Physiology
Sponsors: Rajini Rao, professor, Department of
Physiology, and Mark Donowitz, professor of
gastroenterology, Department of Medicine
The Mette Strand Research Award
"The mechanism of start site selection during eukaryotic
protein synthesis"
David Maag Jr., Ph.D. candidate, Biochemistry, Cellular and
Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Department of
Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry
Sponsor: Jon Lorsch, assistant professor, Biophysics
and Biophysical Chemistry
The Hans Joaquim Prochaska Research Award
"Mechanism of HIV-1 latency"
Kara G. Lassen, Ph.D. candidate, Graduate Immunology
Program, Department of Medicine
Sponsor: Robert F. Siliciano, professor, Department
of Medicine
4:45 P.M. PRESENTATION OF STUDENT AWARDS
The Martin and Carol Macht Research Award
"The axon guidance cue Semaphorin 5A is functionally
regulated by sulfated proteoglycans: Implications for
development and regeneration"
David B. Kantor, M.D./Ph.D. candidate, Graduate Program in
Neuroscience, Department of Neuroscience
Sponsor: Alex L. Kolodkin, professor,
Neuroscience
The Nupur Dinesh Thekdi Research Award
"Nutrient control of gluconeogenesis through
PGC-1a/SIRT1 deacetylase complex"
Joseph T. Rodgers, Ph.D. candidate, Biochemistry, Cellular
and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Department of Cell
Biology
Sponsor: Pere Puigserver, assistant professor,
Department of Cell Biology
The Alicia Showalter Reynolds Research Award
"Active role for tRNA in signaling its own acceptance
into the ribosome"
Luisa Cochella, Ph.D. candidate, Biochemistry, Cellular and
Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Department of Molecular
Biology and Genetics
Sponsor: Rachel Green, associate professor,
Molecular Biology and Genetics
The Paul Ehrlich Research Awards
"Elementary response of olfactory receptor neurons to
odorants"
Vikas Bhandawat, Ph.D. candidate, Neuroscience Graduate
Program, Department of Neuroscience
Sponsor: King-Wai Yau, professor, Neuroscience
"Glutamate uptake at excitatory synapses by astroglial
transporters"
Yanhua H. Huang, Ph.D. candidate, Neuroscience Graduate
Program, Department of Neuroscience
Sponsor: Dwight E. Bergles, assistant professor,
Neuroscience
"EATDT: A novel algorithm for genomewide disease
mapping"
Shin Lin, M.D./Ph.D. candidate, Predoctoral Training
Program in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology,
McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine
Sponsors: Aravinda Chakravarti, professor and
director, Institute of Genetic Medicine; and David J.
Cutler, assistant professor, Institute of Genetic
Medicine
"Validating imaging results using acute stroke
patients"
Lisa Philipose, M.D. candidate
Sponsor: Argye Hillis, associate professor,
Neurology
5 P.M. POSTDOCTORAL LECTURES
The W. Barry Wood Jr. Research Award
"Molecular mechanisms of axon and vascular
guidance"
Chenghua Gu, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of
Neuroscience
Sponsor: David Ginty, professor, Neuroscience
The Daniel Nathans Research Award
"Roles for Hedgehog signaling in cancer — Of
brains, gut(s) and stem cells"
Sunil S. Karhadkar, M.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department
of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Sponsor: Philip A. Beachy, professor, Molecular
Biology and Genetics
5:20 P.M. PRESENTATION OF POSTDOCTORAL AWARDS
The Helen B. Taussig Research Award
"Local and retrograde signaling by target-derived
neurotrophins in neuronal development"
Rejji Kuruvilla, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of
Neuroscience
Sponsor: David Ginty, professor, Neuroscience
The Alfred Blalock Research Award
"Predicting prostate cancer specific mortality following
biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy"
Stephen J. Freedland, M.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department
of Urology
Sponsor: Alan W. Partin, professor and director,
Urology
The A. McGehee Harvey Research Award
"Molecular mechanisms of HIC1 in tumor
suppression"
WenYong Chen, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Tumor Biology
Laboratory, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center
Sponsor: Stephen B. Baylin, professor, Oncology
The Albert Lehninger Research Award (shared)
"Phospholipase C-g1 controls surface expression of TRPC3
via an intermolecular PH domain"
Damian B. van Rossum, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow,
Department of Neuroscience
Sponsor: Solomon H. Snyder, Distinguished Service
Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology and Psychiatry
The Albert Lehninger Research Award (shared)
"Increased glycosylation in response to stress, a
survival mechanism of cells"
Natasha E. Zachara, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department
of Biological Chemistry
Sponsor: Gerald W. Hart, professor and director,
Biological Chemistry
5:30 P.M. POSTER PRESENTATION AND RECEPTION
GO TO APRIL 11,
2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
GO TO THE GAZETTE
FRONT PAGE.
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