35th Annual Graduate Student Research Forum Showcases Groundbreaking Research

The Forum offered students a valuable opportunity to present and discuss their research findings, fostering engagement within the New York Medical College community through both oral presentations and a poster session. The Forum was led by Dorina Krasniqi, a first-year Integrated Ph.D. Program student who served as the master of ceremonies.

Reflecting on the significance of the event, Marina K. Holz, Ph.D., M.P.H. ’23, dean of the GSBMS and professor of cell biology and anatomy, highlighted its role as a celebration of scientific achievement at the college. She remarked, "The Forum is a celebration of the scientific accomplishments conducted here at the College."

Dr. Holz, who also serves as interim chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and director of the Women's Institute for Science Entrepreneurship, noted that students engage in a diverse array of scientific inquiries, ranging from unraveling cellular and organismal responses to exploring innovative strategies for combating human diseases. "The collective work presented at the Forum represents months and years of painstaking research and study conducted in a coordinated fashion with the student's mentor, colleagues, as well as the technical staff within their respective laboratories and departments," Dr. Holz added.

The Forum featured distinguished keynote speaker Ulrich Steidl, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Cell Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who is renowned for his groundbreaking research in the field of cancer biology, particularly focusing on leukemia. Dr. Steidl, who is also the deputy director and associate director for the Basic Science Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, and co-director of the Einstein-Montefiore Blood Cancer Institute, presented his research, “Stem Cell Diversity and Plasticity in Hematopoiesis and Leukemia.” He examined how leukemia develops and progresses at the molecular level, focusing on hematopoietic stem cells. Dr. Steidl’s research has helped identify important signaling pathways and genetic changes that cause leukemia. By uncovering how different factors work together to cause leukemia, his work has improved our knowledge of the disease and laid the groundwork for new treatments.

Throughout the event, attendees had the opportunity to delve into a diverse range of research topics spanning various disciplines within the biomedical sciences. The Forum not only showcased the depth and breadth of research undertaken by GSBMS students but also served as a testament to their dedication, creativity, and contributions to advancing scientific knowledge and addressing critical healthcare challenges.

As the Forum concluded, it left a lasting impact, inspiring continued exploration, collaboration, and innovation among the GSBMS community and beyond.

35^th Annual Graduate Student Research Forum Results

Master's Flash Talk:
First Place: Nicole Pioli
Post-mastectomy pain syndrome: Navigating through history,pathogenesis, treatment and management
Faculty Advisor: Dazhong Xu, Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology

Second Place: Steven Youssef
Modulatory approaches for leveraging dopaminergic systems: A nonpharmacological review on neurocognitive performance optimization
Faculty Advisor: Kristina Harris Petersen, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology

Third Place: Mohan Das
Regulation and maintenance of cancer stem cells of glioblastoma: Involvement of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway
Faculty Advisor: Meena Jhanwar-Uniyal, Ph.D., research associate professor of neurosurgery

Junior Ph.D. Flash Talk
First Place: Dorina Krasniqi
Faculty Advisor: Julie S. Di Martino, Ph.D., associate professor of cell biology and anatomy

Master’s Oral Presentations:
First Place: Sala Woo
Cardiovascular health/anomalies in Turner syndrome women
Faculty Advisor: Carol A. Eisenberg, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and medicine

Second Place: Peter Tretiakov
Identifying tranexamic acid dosing predictive of decreased risk of intraoperative transfusion accounting for body mass index, surgical invasiveness, and deformity severity in complex adult spinal deformity surgery

Junior Ph.D. Oral Presentation:
First Place: Rahim Hirani
Investigating the role of IL-1 in wound healing and pain response: A mouse model study
Faculty Advisor: Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., professor of pediatrics, medicine, of cell biology and anatomy, and of pathology, microbiology and immunology

Second Place: Melinee D'silva
12-Lipoxygenase (12-LOX) plays a key role in hyperinflammatory response caused by SARS-CoV-2
Faculty Advisor: Jerry L. Nadler, M.D., adjunct professor of pharmacology

Senior Ph.D. Oral Presentations:
First Place: Nicole DeSouza
Long non-coding RNA DUXAP10 serves as a functional driver of anaplastic thyroid cancer carcinogenesis
Faculty Advisor: Jan Geliebter, Ph.D., professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and associate professor of otolaryngology, and Raj K. Tiwari, Ph.D., professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and associate professor of otolaryngology

Second Place: Morgan Anderson-Cannage
Modulation of digit deformation and inflammation by unrestricted somatic stem cells (USSCs) in mice with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa
Faculty Advisor: Mitchell S. Cairo, M.D., professor of pediatrics, medicine, of cell biology and anatomy, and of pathology, microbiology, and immunology

Third Place: Alexandra Wolf
The role of the 20-HETE receptor, GPR75, in high fat diet-induced cardiometabolic disease
Faculty Advisor: Victor Garcia, Ph.D. ’15, assistant professor of pharmacology

Junior Poster Presentations:
First place: MD Al Azim
Faculty Advisor: Julie S. Di Martino, Ph.D., assistant professor of cell biology and anatomy

Second Place: Danielle Diegisser
Blockade of gpr75 to prevent and reverse diet-induced obesity, and its impact on metabolism and end-organ damage
Faculty Advisor: Victor Garcia, Ph.D. ’15, assistant professor of pharmacology

Third Place: Kamya Shah 
The effects of PHA on autistic behaviors in a rat model for infantile epilepsy spasms syndrome
Faculty Advisor: Libor Velíšek, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy and professor of neurology and pediatrics, and Jana Velíšková, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy and professor of neurology and obstetrics and gynecology

Senior Poster Presentations:
First place: Mia Camilliere
Maternal undernourishment stimulates Fetuin-B and impairs placental development
Faculty Advisor: Brian B. Ratliff, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and of medicine

Second Place: Christina Signoretti
Potential differences in the expression of epigenetic writers and erasers in the pathobiology of pulmonary arterial hypertension between ethnic groups
Faculty Advisor: Sachin Gupte, Ph.D., professor of pharmacology

Third Place: Adiya Katseff
A novel intranasal protein subunit vaccine for Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Faculty Advisor: Paul M. Arnaboldi, Ph.D., assistant professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology