Postbac Seminar Series - December 12, 2017
Postbac Elevator Pitches (PEP)
- María José Luna, CC, HEALS: A Novel Psychometric for Psycho-Social-Spiritual Healing
- Nicole Carrabba, NCI, Examining the Genetic Components and Mechanisms of Resistance in Aggressive Primary Prostate Cancer
- Rebecca Ehrenkranz, NCI, Surveillance Techniques to Assess HPV Infection and Oropharyngeal Cancer in the United States
- Luli Zou, NHGRI, Deep Learning DNA Methylation in Type 2 Diabetes
- Ryan Beckner, NIAAA, Development of Biophysical Sensors of CB2 Conformational Change
- Areg Peltekian, NICHD, Neuroprotective Function of Carboxypeptidase E in Mediating Stress-induced Depression Independent of Prohormone-processing Enzymatic Activity
- Shannon Grogans, NIMH, The Association of Hippocampal D1/D2 Receptor Availability and Neural Activity during Implicit Encoding
- Thomas Osterholt III, NINDS, The Use of Wearable Nerve Stimulators on Essential Tremor
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Name: María José Luna, CC
Title: HEALS: a Novel Psychometric for Psycho-Social-Spiritual Healing
Bio: María José Luna is an NIH Academy Enrichment Program Scholar conducting research with the Pain and Palliative Care Service (PPCS) at the NIH Clinical Center. She received a BA in Psychology from McGill University in 2015. Working with her PI, Dr. Ann Berger, and her clinical research mentor, Dr. Rezvan Ameli, she is validating a novel psychometric (the Healing Experiences in All Life Stressors) to measure psycho-social-spiritual healing in individuals with serious and life-limiting illnesses. She is also evaluating the efficacy of a 5-week Mindfulness Based Self Care (MBSC) course in reducing stress and enhancing well-being. She is a teaching assistant for the MBSC course and for a mindfulness class offered to inpatients of the NIH Clinical Center.
Name: Nicole Carrabba, NCI
Title: Examining the Genetic Components and Mechanisms of Resistance in Aggressive Primary Prostate Cancer
Bio: Nicole Carrabba graduated in 2017 with a B.S. in Public Health from the University of Texas at Austin. She joined the Prostate Cancer Genetics Section of NCI's Laboratory of Genitourinary Cancer Pathogenesis in October 2017. In collaboration with her PI Dr. Adam Sowalsky and her mentor Dr. Scott Wilkinson, Nicole aims to define a genetic landscape and potential mechanisms of adaptive and selective resistance to predict response to intense neoadjuvant ADT in high risk prostate cancer patients.
Name: Rebecca Ehrenkranz, NCI
Title: Surveillance Techniques to Assess HPV Infection and Oropharyngeal Cancer in the United States
Bio: Rebecca earned a double major from Brandeis University in Health: Science, Society, and Policy, as well as Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, then went on to earn an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH). Her clinical research experience includes work as a Clinical Investigational Data Analyst at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and her epidemiology background involves research in JHSPH's Environmental Health Sciences department. This summer, she joined the Data Quality, Analysis, and Interpretation Branch of the Surveillance Research Program as a Cancer Research Training Award fellow. She works in data quality and epidemiology for NCI's SEER Program, assisting in the design and implementation of benchmarks for evaluating prognostic factors in cancer surveillance. Her interests include population-based research and the link between infectious disease and cancer.
Name: Luli Zou, NHGRI
Title: Deep Learning DNA Methylation in Type 2 Diabetes
Bio: Luli graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2016 with a B.S., double majoring in Genetics and Statistics. She works under the guidance of her research mentors, Dr. John Didion and Dr. Daniel Quang, and her PI, Dr. Francis Collins, in NHGRI. Her research interests include statistical machine learning, deep learning, and the analysis of high-throughput sequencing data.
Name: Ryan Beckner, NIAAA
Title: Development of Biophysical Sensors of CB2 Conformational Change
Bio: Ryan Beckner graduated with a B.S. from the University of Chicago majoring in Biochemistry and Chemistry. He joined the Laboratory of Membrane Biochemistry and Biophysics at the NIAAA in August 2017 and is working with Dr. Klaus Gawrisch and Dr. Alexei Yeliseev to investigate structural bases of ligand/lipid modulation of human type II cannabinoid receptor (CB2) signaling. His current research involves developing CB2 constructs suitable for use as conformational state sensors utilizing a range of biophysical techniques (ensemble fluorescence, 19F NMR, etc.).
Name: Areg Peltekian, NICHD
Title: Neuroprotective Function of Carboxypeptidase E in Mediating Stress-induced Depression Independent of Prohormone-processing Enzymatic Activity
Bio: Areg received his B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience in 2016 and his Master's in Biology earlier this year from the University of California, San Diego. Now a first year postbac in Dr. Peng Loh's lab within the Section on Cellular Neurobiology at the NICHD, his current area of research involves the exploration of Carboxypeptidase E as a trophic factor that mediates neuroprotection, neurodevelopment, and metastasis in cancer through the use of various transgenic mouse models and cell lines.
Name: Shannon Grogans, NIMH
Title: The Association of Hippocampal D1/D2 Receptor Availability and Neural Activity during Implicit Encoding
Bio: Shannon Grogans graduated from Northwestern University in 2016 after double-majoring in Cognitive Science (Cognitive Neuroscience concentration) and Psychology. She has been working in Dr. Karen Berman's Section on Integrative Neuroimaging since July 2016, and has spent her time at the NIMH exploring how multimodal imaging data (structural MRI, fMRI, & PET) can be combined with various neuropsychological measures to better understand neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. She hopes to pursue a PhD following her postbaccalaureate fellowship.
Name: Thomas Osterholt III, NINDS
Title: The Use of Wearable Nerve Stimulators on Essential Tremor
Bio: Thomas recently graduated from Truman State University in Missouri where he studied Exercise Science. During his studies, he investigated the effect of wearable devices and their role in physical activity and health. Since arriving at the NIH he has been studying tremor disorders and specifically focusing on Essential Tremor, the most common movement disorder.
