|
 Stacey
Baptiste, B.S.
I am a post-baccalaureate student investigating the expression of cyclin
A1 in mouse brain, using several transgenic reporter lines and direct
assessment of cyclin A1 protein.
B.S. Long Island University
 Leah
Batkiewicz, M. Phil
I am a Ph.D student in the Institute of Human Nutrition. Elevated levels
of cyclin A1 have been seen in several leukemic cell lines and in leukemic
patients. Previous work done in our lab has shown that transgenic mice
overexpressing cyclin A1 (under the control of the human cathepsin G promoter)
exhibited altered myelopoiesis. As such, it is of interest to examine
whether or not cyclin A1 is necessary for normal hematopoiesis. In addition,
I am identifying proteins that interact with cyclin A1 in leukemic cells.
B.S. Penn State University
M.Phil. Columbia University
 Hina
Chaudhry, M.D.
I am a
Florence Irving Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University
Medical Center and have been awarded an NIH clinical scientist research
grant to investigate the function of cyclin A2, a cell cycle regulator,
in cardiac development. Cardiomyocyte
death with the ensuing loss of cardiac pump function is noted in many
forms of cardiovascular disease. This decline of cardiovascular
function might be partially abated if the surviving myocardium retained
even a limited ability to proliferate. In mammalian hearts, cardiomyocytes
proliferate throughout fetal development and into the early neonatal period.
In the neonatal heart, DNA replication declines quickly and cardiomyocyte
division ceases. Therefore, in adulthood, cardiac tissue cannot regenerate
after injury such as myocardial infarction. A thorough understanding
of the mechanisms of this process may potentiate therapeutic strategies
for cardiomyocyte regeneration. Cell cycle progression in both normal
and cancer cells is regulated by the expression of cyclins and the activation
of their associated Cdks. I have chosen to focus my research efforts
on the role of cyclin A2 in cardiac development and disease.
B.S. Massachusetts Institute
of Technology
M.D. Harvard University
 Richard
Cheng, B.S.
I am a medical student at Columbia currently completing a year of research
funded by the American Heart Association Heritage Affiliate. I am working
with Dr. Chaudhry on the role of cyclin A2 in cardiac development, disease,
and potential repair.
B.S. UCLA
 Sanny
S. Chung, Ph.D.
I am an Associate Research Scientist
directing germ cell research in our group. I am interested in understanding
the mechanisms involved in the progression of mammalian spermatogenic
germ cells into spermatozoa in the seminiferous tubules at the molecular
and developmental level. I am currently identifying target genes
for the retinoid-signaling pathway during spermatogenesis using the
retinoid receptor knockout mouse model and designing constructs for
rescuing their testicular phenotype.
B.S. The University of
Hong Kong
Ph.D.
The University of Hong Kong
Kristin Gunderson,
B.S.
I am our group's administrative assistant. With an undergraduate background
in psychology, I am working toward admission to medical school.
B.S. The University of Georgia
 Ayesha
Joshi, Ph.D
I am a post-doctoral fellow in the germ cell group. I am studying the
role of cyclin A1 in meiotic cell cycles in the male germ cells and trying
to identify the differences between cyclin A1 and cyclin A2 with respect
to their substrate specificities.
B.S.
The University of Pune, Pune, India
Ph.D.
The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
 Chaoling
Kuo, M.S.
I am studying the Brd2 gene, a gene which is related to juvenile
myoclonic epilepsy (JME), with our collaborators from the School of Public
Health and graduate student Enyuan Shang. Currently, I am examining the
expression of Brd2 in the brain and the Brd2 allelic
imprinting. I also work on studying the kinase activity of cyclin A1 and
A2.
B.S. National Cheng-Kung University, Taiwan
M.S. Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University
 Karen
Lele, M. Phil.
I am a Ph.D. student in the Institute for Human Nutrition.
I am studying mechanisms that control Ccna1 gene expression. A molecular
genetic approach is used to identify first, cis-acting DNA sequences responsible
for expression of reporter constructs in transgenic mice, then putative
DNA binding proteins for these elements. I am also characterizing the
effects of a mutation in CCNA1 that is associated with infertility on
the biochemical properties of cyclin A1 protein.
B.S. University of Connecticut
M.A., 0M.Phil. Institute of Human Nutrition, Columbia University
 Christopher
Marshall, B.A.
I am our lab's Senior Technician
and Lab Manager.
B.A. Dartmouth College
 Roberto
Neisa, B.S.
I am pursuing a Ph.D. in the Integrated
Program in Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysical Studies. I am investigating
the significance of the subcellular localization of cyclin A1 in the leukemia
cells.
B.S. Brown
University
M.A. Columbia University
 Nikolaos
A. Papanikolaou, Ph.D
I am an Associate Research Scientist in our group. I am studying the
function of murine and human cyclin A1 in the germ cell lineage of mice
and in acute leukemias. Specifically, I am interested in elucidating
the mechanism(s) by which cyclin A1 regulates the meiotic cell cycle
in the mouse and its role in human leukemogenesis. To do this, I study
sub-cellular localization of cyclin A1 and using biochemical approaches,
analyzing its function by identifying its intracellular partners in
both the mouse and in human cell lines, this involves (i) overexpressing
fusion cyclin A1 proteins in mammalian cells and (ii) purifying and
characterizing native complexes from these cells, and (iii) using the
yeast two-hybrid method to identify physiological partners in the mouse
germ line and in human myeloid malignancies.
Ph.D. New York Medical College
 Enyuan
Shang, M. Phil.
I am a graduate student in the Nutrition
Program at Columbia University Medical Center. I am currently working
on BRDT and BRD2, two genes in a family of genes with
two bromodomains and one ET domain. BRDT is expressed specificially
in spermatocytes in testis and has a role in male meiosis. BRD2
is expressed ubiquitously and is a candidate gene for Juvenile Myoclonic
Epilepsy.
B.S. University
of Science and Technology of China
M.S.
Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
M.Phil. Columbia University
 Glicella
Salazar, B.S.
I am a Staff Associate in our group.I
am interested in studying the pathway/mechanism of the apoptosis involved
in spermatogenesis. I am currently studying the developmental
expression andfunction of the Brd4 bromodomain protein during
spermatogenesis and oogenesis in mouse model. I will enter the
Ph.D. program at Albert Einstein this fall.
B.S. Ricardo Palma University,
Lima-Peru
 Xiangyuan
Wang, M.D.
I am a Research Worker in our
lab. My responsibilities include histology work and microinjecting
DNA into fertilized mouse egg to generate transgenic mice for our
lab. I also participate collaboration on mRad (Howard Lieberman) and
Six1 (Heide Ford). I am also studying the developmentally sensitive
periods of vestibular differentiation and function by using tilted
and head tilted mutant mouse as a model of microgravity.
M.D. from Nanjing Railway Medical College in China
Ayesha
F. Cheema, M.D.
I am a Post-doctoral
Research Scientist. I am working with Dr. Chaudhry on a project focusing
on Cardiomyocyte cell cycle control in human heart failure patients.
M.D. Allama Iqbal Medical College, Pakistan
B.Sc Punjab University, Pakistan
F.Sc Kinnaird College, Pakistan
Matriculation Convent of Jesus & Mary, Pakistan
|
