Benjamin Lin
brlin@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Jan Nolta, PhD, jan.nolta@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu, Professor, Department of Internal Medicine
Research Focus: The role of mesenchymal stem cells in wound healing.

Yen Chen Liu
yenliu@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Rivkah Isseroff, MD, rrisseroff@ucdavis.edu, Professor, Department of Dermatology
Research Focus: Cutaneous wound healing.

Shannon Matzinger
srmatzinger@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Chris Miller, DVM, PhD, cjmiller@ucdavis.edu, Professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology, & Immunology: Vet Med
Research Focus: The role of the innate immune system in controlling Influenza A virus replication in a non-human primate model. While many innate immune genes are expressed in response to viral infections, little is known about the role of innate immunity in controlling influenza virus replication in humans. During initial influenza A infections in primates, specific adaptive immune responses do not fully develop until the virus is already cleared, while innate immune responses such as the Type I Interferon response correlate with viral clearance and therefore may play a role in controlling virus replication. The goal of this project is to determine whether the Type I Interferon response is necessary for controlling influenza virus replication in rhesus macaques.

Karina Nakayama
khnakayama@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Alice Tarantal, PhD, aftarantal@ucdavis.edu, Professor, Departments of Primate Center and Pediatrics
Research Focus: The research focus employs cell and tissue engineering strategies to address kidney regeneration. The primary hypothesis is that the cellular interactions of renal precursor cells can be mediated and directed to form basic renal structures in a novel three dimensional biomaterial scaffold in vitro. The aim of this study is development of a three dimensional scaffold and culture system to effectively recapitulate the ontogeny of the kidney and the essential primitive structures necessary to ensure the molecular interactions associated with branching morphogenesis and formation of basic renal structures. Outcome of such studies would begin to form the basis for methods necessary for in vivo transplantation of cells necessary for renal regeneration and repair.

Christopher Schwarz
cgschwarz@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Owen Carmichael, PhD, ocarmichael@ucdavis.edu, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience
Research Focus: Developing computational methods for extracting relevant information from imaging data, and using that information to describe biological phenomena of interest. Specifically, the research creates methods to detect white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in longitudinal MR images and uses them to understand the evolution of cerebrovascular disease in elderly subjects in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Recently, we developed methods for fully-automated WMH detection based on a single scan session, validated the method against gold-standard detections, and used them to describe relationships between CVD and cognition in a large set of subjects from a multi-site clinical trials cohort. By adapting these previous methods for fully-automated single-scan WMH detection for in serial scans of the same subject, we will increase the veracity of the WMH detections and more clearly characterize associations between longitudinal changes in WMHs and longitudinal changes in cognition among elderly subjects.

David Woessner
djwoessner@ucdavis.edu
Mentor: Scott Dawson, PhD, scdawson@ucdavis.edu, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology
Research Focus: Giardia intestinalis has two novel cytoskeletal structures: the ventral disc and the median body. The Giardia intestinalis median body function is unknown. Some preliminary work has led to the speculation that the median body may function as a microtubule reservoir for the formation of cytoskeletal structures, primarily the ventral disc. The ventral disc is critical to giardial virulence by mediating the attachment of Giardia to the intestinal microvilli. With many Giardia strains becoming resistant to commonly used drug treatments such as Flagyl it is important to better understand how this disc is formed to create more effective anti-Giardia treatments.

Amir Abu-Khalil
Mentor: Ronald Li, PhD, Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Human Anatomy
Project Summary: Cardiac stem cell biology. The research will test, in a clinically-relevant large animal (porcine) model of myocardial infarction, the hypothesis that pluripotent patient-specific embryonic stem cells with a genetic make-up identical to that of the donor can be derived via somatic nuclear transfer (SNT), and differentiated into an immunocompatible and functionally effective graft of cardiomyocytes that is then finally transplanted back to the same donor “patient” swine.

Ranti S. Bolaji
Mentor: Rivkah Isseroff, MD, Professor, Department of Dermatology
Project Summary: Mesenchymal stem cells and their role in wound healing. Bone marrow stem cells may be recruited to healing wounds and contribute to wound repair. The research is directed at determining how wound extracellular matrix plays a role in recruiting these mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to the wound site. The goal is to determine which matrix molecules are best for recruiting MSC to the wound area.

Randie Kim
Mentor: Richard Bold, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery
Project Summary: The effect of arginine deprivation by arginine deiminase as a novel anti-cancer therapy for prostate cancer. Arginine deprivation therapy exploits the altered metabolic pathway of tumors that no longer express argininosuccinate synthetase, the rate limiting enzyme in arginine synthesis. Arginine deprivation by arginine deiminase has already undergone Phase I/II clinical trials for hepatocellular carcinomas and melanomas. Prostate cancer is another candidate that has been determined to potentially benefit from arginine deiminase. Arginine deiminase is an attractive therapeutic agent for its selectivity and mild side effect profile. In addition to its direct therapeutic applications, arginine deprivation can also be used to investigate fundamental biological principles such as arginine metabolism, autophagy and apoptosis.

Nhat To
Mentor: Amir Jamali, MD, Assistant Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Project Summary: Fresh osteochondral allografting as a therapeutic treatment of focal joint degenerations. The research will be focused on the understanding of cellular interaction between the host and graft’s chondrocytes in a rabbit fresh osteochondral allograft model using fluorescent in situ hybridization. This will ultimately lead to a better understanding of fresh osteochondral allografting and improvement of how focal joint defects are repaired. The objective of the project is to disprove the current belief of articular cartilage as a closed and “immunoprivileged” system. We hypothesize that recipient cells are able to migrate into fresh osteochondral allografts and that articular cartilage is not necessarily a closed and “immunoprivileged” system.

Whitney Cheung
Mentor: Kent Leach, PhD, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Project Summary: Developing novel approaches for treating spinal cord injury. The research will pursue a cell-based therapy using a novel biomaterial scaffold which conforms to the shape of the defect site while simultaneously enabling the localized presentation of signals to direct the migration of target cell populations and promote nerve regeneration. The identity of the cell population is a critical question and will be a major factor in the clinical success of this work.

Alexander Davies
Mentor: Kenneth Kaplan, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Project Summary: The current research consists of a novel project based upon previous results suggesting that binding of Sgt1 to Hsp90 involves a unique interaction surface on Hsp90 which can be targeted for chemical and peptide inhibitors. Current therapies have focused on the inhibition of Hsp90 presenting a broadly directed and likely systemically toxic cancer therapy. The involvement of Sgt1 in directing the specificity of Hsp90 to a subset of proteins involved in kinetochore assembly, however, presents the opportunity to create a therapeutic specifically directed to inhibit cell division.

Jennifer Neugebauer
Mentor: David Hawkins, PhD, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior
Project Summary: Quantification of the mechanical properties of musculoskeletal structures in children and identification of how these properties change with growth and development. Once the mechanical properties have been quantified, the relative stresses imposed on various structures in children will provide a foundation for understanding injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies.

Arzu Ulu
Mentor: Bruce Hammock, PhD, Professor, Department of Entomology
Project Summary: Metabolomics, inflammation component of atherosclerosis. We will use ApoE knockout mice, an animal model for atherosclerosis, to elucidate the influence of soluble epoxide hydrolase, a key enzyme in the arachidonic acid pathway. The metabolomic profile of the knockout and wild type animals is in the process of being obtained. The data will hopefully be instrumental in correlating biochemical pathways associated with and the differences between control and diseased animals. The animal in vitro models will test basic hypotheses regarding the role of the arachidonic acid cascade on cardiovascular disease. In addition, the lab will also run plasma metabolomic analysis and analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms related to the arachidonic acid cascade in the CARDIA human epidemiology study of cardiovascular health.