NYMC Shines at TU Research Day
NYMC Students and Faculty Won in Nearly Every Category for Their Original Research at the Institution-wide Research Day
Touro University (TU) hosted their second institution-wide Research Day for the Touro University community on May 2 at the new Cross River Campus in Times Square. Addressing the power of collaboration and commitment to intellectual curiosity and scientific advancement, the event celebrated the preeminent faculty research publications in 2020 and student research project posters. New York Medical College (NYMC) swept the stage at Research Day, selected to present 10 of the 57 total abstracts chosen. Class of 2025 School of Medicine (SOM) students Mikaela Glass and Sarah Rubin, Ph.D. candidates in pathology, microbiology and immunology and Tara Jarboe and Nicole DeSouza, were awarded for their outstanding student posters. Sangmi Chun, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy, neurology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, was recognized for her publication and Patric K. Stanton, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy and neurology, and Christopher Whitehurst, M.S., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and biochemistry and molecular biology, were recipients of the Touro University-Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute Innovative Intramural Research Grant (TU/LBRI-IIRG) Program.
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“Be it in research funding endeavors for our esteemed faculty and students, in the expansion of our family of institutions, or in the implementation of new programs, we work together towards making these aspirations come to fruition,” said Salomon Amar, Ph.D., D.D.S., professor of pharmacology and pathology, microbiology and immunology, vice president for research at NYMC and senior vice president for research affairs at TU. “Likewise, each year I am enthralled by the passion I see in this great community of ours and, more specifically, by the tenacity in both our established and budding researchers alike as they too make strides towards achieving the milestones they’ve set in their individual careers. It is this persistence in excellence that allows our community as a whole to prosper.”
The student posters were chosen by a multistep process to applaud the greatest research projects in the institution. Posters were selected for first and second place prize in four categories after careful deliberation. NYMC students succeeded in first place in the categories of Applied, Clinical and Translational Research and Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Sciences, as well as both first and second place in Basic Sciences and Natural Sciences.
Applied, Clinical and Translational Research
First Place
“Evaluating the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on adverse birth outcomes”
Mikaela Glass, SOM Class of 2025
Basic Sciences and Natural Sciences
First Place
“Remodeling of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer Signature by Natural Alkaloid Berberine”
Tara Jarboe, Ph.D. candidate in pathology, microbiology and immunology
Second Place
“Long Noncoding RNA DUXAP10 is a Putative Determinant of Anaplastic Thyroid Cancer”
Nicole DeSouza, Ph.D. candidate in pathology, microbiology and immunology
Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Sciences
First Place
“Care Retention Among Persons Living with HIV in a Safety Net Health System During the COVID-19 Pandemic Era”
Sarah Rubin, SOM Class of 2025
Gold Award
Sangmi Chung, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy, neurology and psychiatry and behavioral sciences
Activated microglia cause metabolic disruptions in developmental cortical interneurons that persist in interneurons from individuals with schizophrenia
Nature Neuroscience, 23: November 2020
Dr. Chung and her colleagues generated developmental cortical interneurons, which are known to be affected in schizophrenia when matured, from induced pluripotent stem cells derived from healthy controls and individuals with schizophrenia and co-cultured them with or without activated microglia. The research suggests that there is an interaction between schizophrenia genetic backgrounds and environmental risk factors.
TU accepted three research projects for their TU/LBRI-IIRG Program, which is intended to encourage the development of innovative collaborative research projects in the biomedical and health sciences between LBRI and multidisciplinary research communities within TU at select locations. Two of the research projects were awarded to two NYMC faculty members.
Touro University-Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute Innovative Intramural Research Grant Program Recipients
Patric K. Stanton, Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy and neurology
Photobiomodulation therapy as a new noninvasive treatment to enhance brain repair after traumatic brain injury
Christopher Whitehurst, M.S., Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and biochemistry and molecular biology
Role of the Epstein-Barr Virus Deubiquitinating Enzyme on Alternative Splicing During Infectivity and Tumorigenesis
TU Research Day was organized and implemented by an intercampus planning committee led by Dr. Amar. The day also featured a notable panel of speakers, including the keynote presentation by Irving Weissman, M.D., director of the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, who presented “Normal and Neoplastic Stemcells,” and TU distinguished speaker Andrea B. Taylor, Ph.D., FAAAS, FAAA, professor of Basic Sciences at Touro University California, who presented, “The science of collaboration and collaboration in science: keeping it original and impactful in the realm of biomechanics.”