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Recent Awards
Thomas Rich, PhD, Department of Pharmacology, Center for Lung Biology
Compartmentalized signaling and crosstalk in airway myocytes

$2,245,340 - R01 research grant, National Institutes of Health
(total funding, four year award)
Jonathon Audia, PhD
Robert Barrington, PhD Department of Microbiology & Immunology
The amyloid precursor protein protects against acute lung injury

$423,500 - R21 research grant, National Institutes of Health
(total funding, two year award)
Ajay Singh, PhD, Department of Pathology, Mitchell Cancer Institute
Signaling Interplay Underlying Prostate Cancer Racial Disparity

$1,386,000 - Health Disparity Research Award, Department of Defense
(total funding, three year award)
Marie Migaud, PhD, Department of Pharmacology, Mitchell Cancer Institute
Project Seed 2023

$4,000 - Fellowship Award, American Chemical Society
(total funding)
Christopher Davies, PhD, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Inhibition of hepatic (V)LDL production by a novel antagonist of carboxyl esterase 1

$404,659 - R01 research grant, National Institutes of Health
(total funding, 3 year support as co-Investigator)
Whiddon College of Medicine Construction Updates
Site preparation is now underway for the new Whiddon College of Medicine. Construction of the new building is expected to be completed in 2026.
PhD Defense of Dissertation
Intramural Grants Program
We are pleased to announce the 2023-2024 Whiddon College of Medicine Intramural Grants Program. This opportunity supports basic, clinical or translational research in the College that is expected to lead to extramural grants support. The deadline for submission is October 16th.  Awards are expected to be made on December 1st.

See the program announcement or IGP web page for more details and required submission materials. Applications must be submitted via InfoReady.
New Research Equipment
New sequencing technology is now available in the College of Medicine following the purchase of a Nanopore GridION sequencing platform, along with an Agilent 4150 TapeStation System for sample prep. For more information, please contact Dr. Mark Gillespie, PhD, Chair of Pharmacology.  
Welcome 2023 BMS Students PhD Doctoral Program
This year, 13 students are matriculating into the Basic Medical Sciences (BMS) Graduate Program (up from 9 last year). Students are joining us from Alabama, South Carolina, Illinois, Mississippi, Virginia, Georgia, Nigeria, and China. Five students are USA alumni. They were welcomed by current graduate students, postdocs and faculty at a recent Meet and Greet at Moe’s Original BBQ in Downtown Mobile.
Distinguished Scientists Seminar
The first Distinguished Scientists Seminar (DSS) for the Fall 2023 semester is September 28, 2023 in the Medical Sciences Building 1st Floor Auditorium at 4pm. The invited speaker is Dr. Michael Johnson, Department of Immunobiology, University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson. The title of the seminar is "Using copper toxicity to exploit a microbial Achilles heel". The seminar will be hosted by Dr. Allyson Shea, Department of Microbiology & Immunology. Visit the DSS website for the current seminar schedule.
Coming Soon - Grants Development Seminars
A series of seminars focused on grants development sponsored by the COM Offices of Faculty Affairs & Development and Research will begin on September 21st. The seminars are particularly aimed at new investigators who may be unfamiliar with the mechanics of grant applications, but are also open to any investigator at any stage of their career. The overall goal is to arm researchers with the knowhow to develop competitive applications for extramural funding. Topics include funding agencies & grant mechanisms, crafting a Specific Aims page, Biosketches, the importance of biostats, budgeting, navigating clinical trials, and the NIH grant review process. Seminars will be held by Zoom and are open to all in the College of Medicine and USA Health System.
Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award
Brusi Kola, a second-year student in the PhD Doctoral Program, received the Edwin R. Hughes Memorial Award for the 2022-2023 academic award year during orientation for matriculating students. Dr. Christopher Davies, Associate Dean for Research, presented a plaque and cash award to Kola. The award is named in memory of Edwin R. Hughes. Hughes served as director of the Basic Medical Sciences Graduate Program at the College of Medicine. The award recognizes the student with the best academic performance in the program’s core curriculum.
Recent Publications from COM Researchers
Parker LL, Bonner CM, Sobol RW, Arrieta MI. Co-creation and engagement in a DNA integrity cohort study. J Clin Transl Sci. 2023 May 22;7(1):e122. doi: 10.1017/cts.2023.556.

Hoppmann AL, Dai C, Daves M, Imran H, Whelan K, Kenzik K, Bhatia S. Persistent Child Poverty and Mortality in a Cohort of Children with Cancer in Alabama. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2023 Mar 6;32(3):380-386. doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-22-0353.

Goulding AN, Antoniewicz L, Leach JM, Boggess K, Dugoff L, Sibai B, Lawrence K, Hughes BL, Bell J, Edwards RK, Gibson K, Haas DM, Plante L, Metz TD, Casey B, Esplin S, Longo S, Hoffman M, Saade GR, Hoppe KK, Foroutan J, Tuuli M, Owens MY, Simhan HN, Frey H, Rosen T, Palatnik A, Baker S, Reddy UM, Kinzler W, Su E, Krishna I, Nguyen N, Norton ME, Skupski D, El-Sayed YY, Ogunyemi D, Harper LM, Ambalavanan N, Oparil S, Szychowski JM, Tita AT; Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy Trial Consortium. Breastfeeding initiation and duration among people with mild chronic hypertension: a secondary analysis of the Chronic Hypertension and Pregnancy trial. Am J Obstet Gynecol MFM. 2023 Jul 10;5(9):101086. doi: 10.1016/j.ajogmf.2023.101086. Epub ahead of print. 

Kozhukhar N, Alexeyev MF. 35 Years of TFAM Research: Old Protein, New Puzzles. Biology (Basel). 2023 Jun 6;12(6):823. doi: 10.3390/biology12060823.

Kozhukhar N, Alexeyev MF. The C-Terminal Tail of Mitochondrial Transcription Factor A Is Dispensable for Mitochondrial DNA Replication and Transcription In Situ. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 May 29;24(11):9430. doi: 10.3390/ijms24119430.

Cleveland WJ, Hees JE, Balzer C, Douglas HF, Stevens T, Riess ML. Design and Implementation of a Rat Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion Model. J Vis Exp. 2023 May 26;(195). doi: 10.3791/64740.

Parker M, Annamdevula NS, Pleshinger D, Ijaz Z, Jalkh J, Penn R, Deshpande D, Rich TC, Leavesley SJ. Comparing Performance of Spectral Image Analysis Approaches for Detection of Cellular Signals in Time-Lapse Hyperspectral Imaging Fluorescence Excitation-Scanning Microscopy. Bioengineering (Basel). 2023 May 25;10(6):642. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering10060642. 

Stevens RP, Lee JY, Bauer N, Stevens T. Got Oxygen? Studies on Mesenchymal Cell HIF-1α in Lung Development. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2023 Jul 21. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2023-0247ED. Epub ahead of print.

Del Pozo-Yauner L, Herrera GA, Perez Carreon JI, Turbat-Herrera EA, Rodriguez-Alvarez FJ, Ruiz Zamora RA. Role of the mechanisms for antibody repertoire diversification in monoclonal light chain deposition disorders: when a friend becomes foe. Front Immunol. 2023 Jul 13;14:1203425. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1203425.

Murphy JM, Jeong K, Tran DTK, Cioffi DL, Campbell PM, Kim JH, Jo H, Ahn EE, Lim SS. Nuclear FAK in endothelium: An intrinsic inhibitor of NF-κB activation in atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis. 2023 Jul 26;379:117189. doi: 10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.117189. Epub ahead of print. 

Johnsen U, Ortjohann M, Reinhardt A, Turner JM, Stratton C, Weber KR, Sanchez KM, Maupin-Furlow J, Davies C, Schönheit P. Discovery of a novel transcriptional regulator of sugar catabolism in archaea. Mol Microbiol. 2023 Jun 30. doi: 10.1111/mmi.15114. Epub ahead of print. 

Salter EA, Wierzbicki A, Honkanen RE, Swingle MR. Quantum-based modeling implies that bidentate Arg89-substrate binding enhances serine/threonine protein phosphatase-2A(PPP2R5D/PPP2R1A/PPP2CA)-mediated dephosphorylation. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023 Jun 12;11:1141804. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2023.1141804.

Balczon R, Lin MT, Voth S, Nelson AR, Schupp JC, Wagener BM, Pittet JF, Stevens T. Lung Endothelium, Tau, and Amyloids in Health and Disease. Physiol Rev. 2023 Aug 10. doi: 10.1152/physrev.00006.2023. Epub ahead of print.

Gwin MS, Alexeyev MF, Geurts AM, Lee JY, Zhou C, Yang XM, Cohen MV, Downey JM, Barrington RA, Spadafora D, Audia JP, Frank DW, Voth S, Pastukh VV, Bell J, Ayers L, Tambe DT, Nelson AR, Balczon R, Lin MT, Stevens T. Gamma secretase activating protein promotes end-organ dysfunction after bacterial pneumonia. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2023 Aug 1;325(2):L174-L189. doi: 10.1152/ajplung.00018.2023. Epub 2023 Jun 27.

Balczon R, Choi CS, deWeever A, Zhou C, Gwin MS, Kolb C, Francis CM, Lin MT, Stevens T. Infection promotes Ser-214 phosphorylation important for generation of cytotoxic tau variants. FASEB J. 2023 Jul;37(7):e23042. doi: 10.1096/fj.202300620RR.

Amin K, Khan H, Hearld LR, Chu DI, Prete V, Mehari KR, Heslin MJ, Fonseca AL. Association between Rural Residence and Processes of Care in Pancreatic Cancer Treatment. J Gastrointest Surg. 2023 Aug 8. doi: 10.1007/s11605-023-05764-z. Epub ahead of print.

Caston NE, Franks JA, Balas N, Eltoum N, Thigpen H, Patterson M, Azuero A, Ojesina AI, Dent DN, Hildreth K, Lalor FR, McGowen C, Huang CS, Dionne-Odom JN, Weiner BJ, Jackson BE, Basch EM, Stover AM, Howell D, Pierce JY, Rocque GB. Evaluating Nurses' Time to Response by Severity and Cancer Stage in a Remote Symptom Monitoring Program for Patients With Breast Cancer. JCO Clin Cancer Inform. 2023 Jun;7:e2300015. doi: 10.1200/CCI.23.00015.

Hertweck KL, Vikramdeo KS, Galeas JN, Marbut SM, Pramanik P, Yunus F, Singh S, Singh AP, Dasgupta S. Clinicopathological significance of unraveling mitochondrial pathway alterations in non-small-cell lung cancer. FASEB J. 2023 Jul;37(7):e23018. doi: 10.1096/fj.202201724RR.

Dhuguru J, Dellinger RW, Migaud ME. Defining NAD(P)(H) Catabolism. Nutrients. 2023 Jul 7;15(13):3064. doi: 10.3390/nu15133064.

Daniel CL, Fillingim S, James J, Bassler J, Lee A. Long COVID prevalence and associated characteristics among a South Alabama population. Public Health. 2023 Aug;221:135-141. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2023.06.008. Epub 2023 Jul 12.

Lee HY, Daniel CL, Wang K, McLendon L, Coyne-Beasley T. HPV Vaccination among College Students in the South: The Role of HPV Knowledge on Vaccine Initiation and Completion. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2023 Jun 1;24(6):2149-2156. doi: 10.31557/APJCP.2023.24.6.2149.

Lee JY, Stevens RP, Pastukh VV, Pastukh VM, Kozhukhar N, Alexeyev MF, Reisz JA, Nerguizian D, D'Alessandro A, Koloteva A, Gwin MS, Roberts JT, Borchert GM, Wagener BM, Pittet JF, Graham BB, Stenmark KR, Stevens T. PFKFB3 Inhibits Fructose Metabolism in Pulmonary Microvascular Endothelial Cells. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 2023 May 18. doi: 10.1165/rcmb.2022-0443OC. Epub ahead of print.

Knighten JM, Aziz T, Pleshinger DJ, Annamdevula N, Rich TC, Taylor MS, Andrews JF, Macarilla CT, Francis CM. Algorithm for biological second messenger analysis with dynamic regions of interest. PLoS One. 2023 May 11;18(5):e0284394. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284394.

Kratz A, Kim M, Kelly MR, Zheng F, Koczor CA, Li J, Ono K, Qin Y, Churas C, Chen J, Pillich RT, Park J, Modak M, Collier R, Licon K, Pratt D, Sobol RW, Krogan NJ, Ideker T. A multi-scale map of protein assemblies in the DNA damage response. Cell Syst. 2023 May 16:S2405-4712(23)00116-3. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2023.04.007. Epub ahead of print.

Wiese LAK, Gibson A, Guest MA, Nelson AR, Weaver R, Gupta A, Carmichael O, Lewis JP, Lindauer A, Loi S, Peterson R, Radford K, Rhodus EK, Wong CG, Zuelsdorff M, Saidi LG, Valdivieso-Mora E, Franzen S, Pope CN, Killian TS, Shrestha HL, Heyn PC, Ng TKS, Prusaczyk B, John S, Kulshreshtha A, Sheffler JL, Besser L, Daniel V, Tolea MI, Miller J, Musyimi C, Corkey J, Yank V, Williams CL, Rahemi Z, Park J, Magzamen S, Newton RL Jr, Harrington C, Flatt JD, Arora S, Walter S, Griffin P, Babulal GM. Global rural health disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: State of the science. Alzheimers Dement. 2023 May 23. doi: 10.1002/alz.13104. Epub ahead of print.

Dietrich A, Behringer EJ, Taylor MS, Sonkusare SK. Editorial: Transient receptor potential channels (TRP): signal transduction. Front Mol Biosci. 2023 Apr 28;10:1201614. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1201614. PMID: 37187892; PMCID: PMC10176508.
Research Resources
Please be reminded of the searchable databases for Faculty Research Interests and COM/MCI Research Equipment. Both are valuable resources for COM researchers and are updated regularly. To make additions and/or changes to these databases, contact Skye Andrade in the Office of the Associate Dean for Research at skyandrade@southalabama.edu.