Congratulations to HUGEN's Beth Roman on winning this year's award honoring faculty who have excelled in the teaching and mentoring of students. "Dr. Roman creates the best possible learning environment by making her classroom open to all questions, comments, and points of discussion. She actively seeks feedback from students in order to continually make improvements to the courses she teaches and is in charge of," said one nominator.
Zeynep Erdogen-Yildirim (MS '19) won in the MS category and Jacqueline Cohen (MPH '19) won in the MPH category. Teresa Capasso (PhD '19) won in the PhD category.
THE CAMPUS - In a lecture at Allegheny College titled Genetic Enhancement: A Game Changer for Sports and Social Justice? HUGEN's Lisa Parker said that many components of individual effort are not in the individual's control but are rather the influenced by unjust social practices that are beyond the individual's control.
HUGEN's Susanne Gollin, a past recipient, was invited to participate in an event this month to celebrate Wendie Berg winning one of this year's PA Breast Cancer Coalition (PBCC) research grants to support her breast cancer diagnostic imaging research, bringing the total that PBCC has awarded to researchers at Pitt and UPMC to over one million dollars. Gollin was gifted with a PBCC lab coat.
ASPPH FRIDAY LETTER - Our cells sometimes have to squeeze through pretty tight spaces. And when they do, the nuclei inside must go along for the ride. Using super-sensitive microscopic imaging, HUGEN’s Quasar Padiath made a fundamental biological discovery that explains the structure of the nuclear envelope and gives tantalizing clues as to how cells squish through narrow openings without springing a leak.
Human genetics professor Robin Grubs was honored with the 2019 Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award. Presented at the annual Honors Convocation ceremony in February, the award recognizes excellence in teaching by members of the University of Pittsburgh’s faculty as evidenced by students, colleagues, department chairs, and deans. Each faculty awardee wins a cash prize of $2,000 and a grant of $3,000 to support his or her teaching activities....
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES - Using super-sensitive microscopic imaging, a team of scientists led by HuGen's Quasar Padiath has made a fundamental biological discovery that explains the structure of the nuclear envelope and gives tantalizing clues as to how cells squish through narrow openings without springing a leak. The findings also could be key to untangling the mechanisms underlying several genetic diseases.
HUGEN staff joined BIOST for their Staff Volunteer and Team Building Day, visiting Global Links to sort medical supplies for distribution in resource-poor communities. Afterwards, they switched gears at Lumberjaxes in Mount Lebanon, where they showed off their axe-throwing skills (Joe Germanoski was the winner!). Staff were glad to work together and unwind before the start of a new term.
The SIMD Travel Award is given to trainees and graduate students in the field of metabolic disorders based on submitted abstracts. HUGEN's Olivia D'Annibale is a recent recipient of the award. Her research shows an increase in protein and enzyme activity of isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (IVD) which when deficient results in the inborn error of metabolism, isovaleric acidemia (IVA).
THE ATLANTIC - With adolescent marijuana use stagnant and alcohol and cigarette use delayed and declining among minors, it might be time to leave the popular understanding of the gateway drug in the past. “Gateway theory only relates to initiation of drug use, not progression to abuse," says HUGEN's Michael Vanyukov. Instead, he suggests an alternate theory of substance abuse known as the common-liability theory.