Newsworthy
Congratulations to Dr. Jenkins on being selected as the recipient of the 2017 Medical School Carole J. Bland Outstanding Faculty Mentor award! This award is meant to recognize the process by which faculty serves as role models for each other, promoting the professional development of others and creating a supportive, positive working environment. Dr. Jenkins was presented the award at the Medical School Promotion and Tenure Reception on June 15, 2017.
Congratulations to Nathan Schuldt, a post doctoral fellow in the Bindstadt Lab. Nathan has been named one of the 10 fellows to the seventh year of AAI's Public Policy Fellows Program (PPFP). The program engages postdoctoral fellows and junior scientists in public policy activities that impact biomedical research.
A research team led by Michael Farrar, Professor and Utz Chair in Fundamental Immunobiology, investigated transcription factor networks as prognostic markers of disease severity. They report their findings in “Antagonism of B cell enhancer networks by STAT5 drives leukemia and poor patient survival” published in the April 2017 issue of Nature Immunology.
Researchers Michael Sadowsky and Alexander Khoruts have a proven record using Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) to treat severe Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), a potentially deadly GI infection on the Centers for Disease Control’s list of top infectious disease threats. New work by the team seeks to extend these benefits to diseases like autism, obesity, and metabolic syndrome, and develop new delivery systems for FMT.
On June 14, 2016, past and future grant awardees gathered for the 1st Annual Regenerative Medicine Minnesota(RMM) Idea Exchange and Celebration, held at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Brian Fife received a Translational Research grant to explore a way to stop the immune system from destroying insulin-producing cells in patients with diabetes.
In the December 2016 Nature Outlook article entitled "Reseeding the Gut" Dr. Alexander Khoruts discusses how gut microbiota likely plays important roles in inflammatory bowel disease and how implanting an entire microbial community from a healthy donor into a sick patient, is emerging as a spectacularly successful treatment for Clostridium difficile infection that cannot be cleared with any other standard therapies like antibiotics.
The annual Dean’s Distinguished Research Lectureship honors up to two outstanding faculty members who are selected to share their research stories which detail the state of the science when they entered the field, changes that emerged due to their work, and plans or predictions for the future of medicine and basic science research. This year Dr. Kristin Hogquist and Dr. Bruce Blazar were honored in a ceremony that was held on Monday November 7th.
Creative solutions to everyday problems and cutting-edge science has been rewarded as Dr. David Masopust has been named to the inaugural class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Faculty Scholars.
MICaB PhD student Shirdi Schmiel won 2nd place for her presentation: "Adenosine: Targeting the Enemy From Within" made at the 3 Minute Thesis Competition during the 9th annual Biomedical Sciences Graduate Programs Research Recognition Day on May 26, 2016.