The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will
honor 18 young researchers who have
gone above and beyond in their search for answers.
The 32nd annual Young Investigators' Day will be held
at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 16, in the
school's Mountcastle Auditorium, East Baltimore campus. A
small selection of awardees will present
their research, and all will be recognized for their
accomplishments.
Young Investigators' Day was created to celebrate all
the school's students, postdocs and
research fellows. Even though only a few can receive
honors, the awardees say they realize that they
are part of something much greater than their individual
research.
"The Young Investigators' Day Award recognizes many
discoveries made by students at Johns
Hopkins, encourages and promotes great research at the
graduate level and inspires young scientists
to continue in science," said Andrew Kim, a doctoral
candidate in the
Biochemistry,
Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program.
Kim, who is in Xinzhong Dong's lab, will receive the
Paul Ehrlich Award for his research into the
Pirt protein. Pirt works as part of the molecular sensor of
painful heat and capsaicin, the main
ingredient in hot chili peppers. Mice lacking Pirt are less
able to sense painful heat and capsaicin than
normal mice.
Yun Liu, a doctoral candidate in the
Biochemistry,
Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate
Program, said he also sees the Young Investigators' Day
Award as inspiration for aspiring researchers.
Liu, who is in Stephen Desiderio's lab, said, "It is a
tremendous honor to be recognized by this award.
Since coming to Hopkins, I've always dreamed of being part
of this ceremony. When I was a first-year
student, I witnessed senior members from our lab receiving
this award. Their achievements
encouraged me to work hard so that hopefully one day I
would be as successful as they were. This
award boosts my confidence and encourages me to continue to
pursue independent research."
Liu will be awarded the Nupur Dinesh Thekdi Award for
investigating the role of the RAG-2
enzyme in the recombination of antigen receptor genes in
the course of immune cell development. This
discovery sheds light on the physiological importance of
the interaction in preventing hereditary
immunodeficiencies in humans.
Michael Tri Hoang Do, a postdoctoral fellow in
King-Wai Yau's lab, acknowledged that "there are
so many devoted students and fellows at Hopkins, doing
fundamental work that has yet to be
recognized" and said, "I hope the Young Investigators' Day
draws attention to their labors." His
research led him to discover how melanopsin-containing
retinal ganglion cells capture light and earned
him the W. Barry Wood Jr. Award.
Yu-Yi Lin, a doctoral candidate in the
Biochemistry,
Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate
Program, will receive the David Israel Macht Award for
using a protein acetylation microarray to
discover that NuA4 regulates cell metabolism and aging.
"Upon the transition from a trainee to a trainer, I
understand as well as anyone that students
and fellows are the main drive of advance in science," said
Lin, a student in Heng Zhu's lab. "Young
Investigators' Day is a celebration that gives them hope
and fervency. I am lucky to be a witness to
this."
Behind each awardee is a strong mentor, and these
ever-supportive faculty members continue to
guide the young scientists through the daily challenges in
bench research.
Christine Ladd-Acosta, a doctoral candidate in the
Graduate Program in Cellular
and Molecular Medicine, will receive the Mette Strand
Award for her study of altered DNA methylation in colon
cancer. She discovered that most DNA methylation variation
in normal tissues and most abberant
DNA methylation in colon cancer occur not in regions close
to genes but in sequences up to 2,000
building blocks of DNA away from genes, in regions they've
coined as CpG island shores.
Ladd-Acosta credits her success to her mentor, Andy
Feinberg, and to the interdisciplinary
group with whom she worked on the project. "Not only was
Andy's example of hard work, attention to
detail and perseverance crucial to my success but also his
patience and encouragement in allowing me
to pursue unconventional avenues," Ladd-Acosta said. "This
work also would not have been possible
without the help, insightfulness and knowledge that Rafael
Irizarry brought to the project," she said,
referring to the School of Public Health biostatistics
professor with whom she worked.
Eric Momin, an MD candidate and the recipient of a
Paul Ehrlich Award, also attributes his
success to his mentor. "I derived so much inspiration from
my mentor, Rafael Tamargo, who has guided
me since my very first days as a medical student," Momin
said. "He is by far the greatest contributor
to my success."
Momin engineered mice to carry a specific alteration
in the haptoglobin protein to study a
constriction of blood vessels in the brain known as
vasospasm. This genetic alteration, he said, is
thought to be carried by one in every three people and is
associated with a higher risk for developing
severe vasospasm. He said he hopes to use these mice to
test potential drug treatments for this
condition.
Ning Cheng, a doctoral candidate in the
Graduate Program in Neuroscience, will receive a Paul
Ehrlich Award for discovering that melanopsin is found in
catfish retinal cells. The further
observation that light induces an electrical response from
cone cells but not rod cells suggests that
melanopsin is the photopigment that enables fish cone cells
to sense light.
"The award is a huge encouragement to me that my work
is recognized by our community," Cheng
said. "The project was very difficult, but I learned a lot
and I am grateful for the colleagues in the
department who taught me various things. [My adviser
King-Wai Yau's] insights made the project
possible, and he put in lots of effort to mentor me to grow
as a researcher."
Ye Yan, recipient of the Albert Lehninger Research
Award, said, "I credit my achievement to my
supervisor, Shanthini Sockanathan, whose encouragement,
support and terrific advice kept me highly
motivated from the beginning of my project." Yan's work
brings into play for the first time the
concept that thiol redox biology has major implications for
controlling how developing cells become
nerve cells, a finding that significantly expands current
understanding in the field.
Guidance can go a long way, but for some, the
collaborative spirit at Johns Hopkins is the best
way to success.
"One of the things I adore about science at Hopkins is
the spirit of collaboration," said Rasi
Wickramasinghe, an MD/PhD candidate in the
Graduate Program in Neuroscience. "It is amazing how a
good collaboration can get things off the ground."
Wickramasinghe insists that half the credit should
go to Wenquin Luo, a friend, lab mate and postdoc in David
Ginty's lab, who "exemplifies how good
science should be done at a place like Hopkins."
Wickramasinghe will receive the Martin and Carol Macht
Award for a study of genes that are
expressed in a developing mammal in response to growth
factors when organs are innervated. The
project led him to identify one mechanism through which
nerve growth factor controls the innervation
of skin.
Dengke K. Ma, a doctoral candidate in the Biochemistry,
Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate
Program and recipient of the Bae Gyo Jung Award,
credits success to teamwork, too. "Teamwork has
been essential and central to my research. I am very
fortunate to work with an excellent group of
talented postdoc fellows and students in Hongjun Song's
lab," Ma said. "Hopkins really excels with a
diverse group of experts who I can always seek for help,
suggestions and collaborations." Ma
discovered that highly used nerve cells in the brain can
develop permanent DNA changes and also lead
to the birth of new nerve cells.
Michael Tadross, an MD/PhD
candidate in Biomedical Engineering; sponsor David Yue; and
Ivy Dick, a PhD candidate in Biomedical
Engineering.
Photo by Will Kirk / HIPS
|
Sian Jones, recipient of the Alfred Blalock Award,
feels similarly about collaboration. "The
success of my project is largely due to the teamwork of a
number of individuals, including the co-first
authors of our paper," said Jones who, working in Kenneth
Kinzler's lab, discovered new signaling
pathways in pancreatic cancer and a better understanding of
why some therapies work and some don't.
One awardee attributes her success to a fellow Young
Investigators' Day award recipient.
"After having shared the workload, stress, excitement and
success of two highly synergistic projects,
it's incredible to share the honor of an award like this
with my lab mate Mike Tadross," said Ivy Dick,
a doctoral candidate in the
Biomedical Engineering
Graduate Program. "The receipt of the award
underscores the benefits of teamwork."
Dick will receive the Alicia Showalter Reynolds Award
for her discovery of how to change a
calcium channel's ability to react to signals. Calcium
channels are controlled by the protein calmodulin,
and Dick and others in David Yue's Calcium Signals Lab now
have a better understanding of how calcium
channels — which are found in virtually all cells of
the body — are controlled.
For some award recipients, being a part of the Young
Investigators' Day celebration has a
meaning that is his or her own.
Kartik Venkatachalam will receive the Daniel Nathans
Award for his study of motor defects in a
childhood neurodegenerative disease, mucolipidosis Type IV,
which is caused by a defect in the body's
ability to get rid of dead and dying cells in the brain.
Although he said he appreciates the intellectual
freedom he received from his adviser, Craig Montell,
someone else played a role in his success: his
wife, Cheryl, for "putting up with" all his late nights.
"My award is a testimony to her patience," he
said.
Sponsor Cynthia Wolberger and
William Hawse, a PhD candidate in Molecular Biophysics and
Biophysical Chemistry.
Photo by Will Kirk / HIPS
|
For another recipient of the Paul Ehrlich Award,
William Hawse, a doctoral candidate in the
Graduate Program in Molecular Biology, the recognition
is a reminder of the opportunities he has been
given that not everyone is lucky enough to receive. "My
grandfather had a scholarship to study math;
however, his family couldn't afford to buy him a suit for
college. He ended up working in a steel mill
and never had the opportunity to do what he loved," said
Hawse, whose research in Cynthia
Wolberger's lab gave structural insight into the process of
removing the chemical acetyl from histone
proteins in DNA strands by the enzyme Sir2. "I'm still in
awe of the opportunities that I've had."
"The Young Investigators' award is a historic
competition among Johns Hopkins postdocs, which
makes me confident as a researcher," said Akishi Onishi,
recipient of the A. McGee Harvey Award for
discovering how the protein Pias3 directs cells in the
developing eye to "decide" whether they will
become rod or cone cells and for being the first to
demonstrate a clear role for the chemical reaction
SUMOylation in determining how nerve cells develop.
Joelle Hillion, also a postdoc, will be awarded the
Helen B. Taussig Award for her work in Linda
Resar's lab. Hillion discovered that the HMG1a gene
promotes leukemia through a specific molecular
signaling pathway, exposing potential targets for future
drug design.
Yuchen Jiao, a doctoral candidate in the Biological Chemistry
Graduate Program and recipient of
the Hans Joaquim Prochaska Award for discoveries in how
fruit flies taste sugar, said he is grateful
to be a part of Young Investigators' Day for simple
reasons. "The award makes it much easier for me
to explain what and how I am doing at Hopkins to my
parents," Jiao said.
Michael Tadross, an MD/PhD candidate in the
Biomedical Engineering
Graduate Program, will
receive the Michael A. Shanoff Award for his research into
how a single calmodulin protein can
simultaneously sense nearby and distant calcium signals.
For Tadross, being part of the Young
Investigators' Day program is about being part of Johns
Hopkins history. "The Young Investigators'
Day Award is an incredibly meaningful honor," he said. "For
me, it underscores the long history of
gifted and devoted scientists upon whose shoulders we
stand."
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