Graduate students represent QCOM Department of Surgery and CIIDI at the 42nd Annual Conference on SHOCK with a research presentation, posters, and awards
Min
Fan, a PhD student in Dr. Chuanfu Li’s lab in the Department of Surgery, is the recipient
of the Daniel Traber Presidential Travel Award presented by the SHOCK society. She
traveled to the 42nd Annual Conference on Shock, which was held in Coronado, California,
June 5-8, 2019. While at the conference, she presented a well-received talk titled
“Endothelial specific HSPA12B prevents upregulation of adhesion molecules in sepsis.”
In addition, Yana Wang, a PhD student in Dr. Chuanfu Li’s lab in the Department of
Surgery, received a Travel Award from the SHOCK Society to attend the SHOCK conference
and present her poster “Endothelial-specific HSPA12B suppresses hypoxia induced pro-inflammatory
and enhance pre-regenerative response by targeting m
acrophage polarization.”
Spencer P. Gill, PhD student in Dr. Williams’s lab, presented his poster “Training
the innate immune system upregulates myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in polymicrobial
sepsis” at the SHOCK Society annual conference.
Drs. Williams and Li are members of the Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease, and Immunity; their students are student members of the CIIDI. Please join us in congratulating these young scientists on the recognition of their research.
Photos: Top, Min Fan; Middle, Yana Wang; Bottom, Spencer Gill
Mohamed Elgazzar, PhD, awarded $1,850,000 MIRA/R35
Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) supports the nation’s highly talented investigators through providing research support. This R35 series grant, the Outstanding Investigator Award, was recently awarded to Dr. Mohamed Elgazzar, PhD, on April 1, 2019. This award is described by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences as “funding research programs instead of individual projects” and recognizes Dr. Elgazzar’s career focus on innate immunity, myeloid cell reprogramming, and severe systemic inflammation.
Dr. Elgazzar describes his funded research. “The goal is to identify the signaling and epigenetic reprogramming networks that promote chronic myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) generation during sepsis. It uses validated biochemical and genetic tools to test the manner in which long non-coding RNAs couple with inflammatory mediators to induce MDSC development. The resultant MDSC presence promotes persistent inflammation and immunosuppression with mounting mortality rates. We will use an animal model of chronic sepsis as well as septic patients in the course of this study.”
The award extends for five years and totals $1,850,000. Dr. Elgazzar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and is a CIIDI member. Please join us in congratulating him on his award.
