Recognizing trainees’ exceptional research and presentations at the Annual Hope Center Retreat
Overview
The Hope Center Awards are designed to acknowledge scientific accomplishments and presentation by trainees who give a talk or present a poster at the Annual Hope Center Retreat. All Washington University pre-doctoral students and postdoctoral trainees who are selected to present their work at the Hope Center Retreat are eligible to participate in the awards competition if the work was conducted at Washington University. Winners receive a $1000 award.
Congratulations to the 2024 Award Winners
Short Talks
Vishnu Muraleedharan Saraswathy, PhD
Postdoctoral researcher
in the lab of Mayssa Mokalled
“Single-cell analysis of innate spinal cord regeneration identifies intersecting modes of neuronal repair”
Poster Presentations
Julie Choi
Graduate student
in the labs of Jeffrey Milbrandt and Peter Jin
“Single-Cell Sciatic Nerve Atlas Unveils Il-1β+ Macrophages and T Cells as Drivers of Neurodegeneration in a SARMopathy Mouse Model”
Yuxiao Xu
Graduate student
in the lab of Mayssa Mokalled
“Mapping regenerative stem cells during innate spinal cord repair”
Join us for a Special Hope Center/Neurology Seminar on June 3rd at 12p for presentations by Vishnu, Julie and Yuxiao. The seminar will be held in the Fort NRB Auditorium and via Zoom.
Congratulations to all of the finalists!
Talk Finalists
- Aleksandra Beric (Ibanez lab, WashU Psychiatry) – “Circulating blood circular RNA in Parkinson’s Disease; a systematic study”
- Joseph Bradley (Cruchaga lab, WashU Psychiatry) – “Novel genes and risk loci identified in large-scale multi-ethnic analysis of earlier-onset Alzheimer Disease”
- Marta Celorrio (Friess lab, WashU Pediatrics) – “Gut Microbiota shape oligodendrocyte response after TBI”
- Yun Chen (Holtzman and Colonna labs, WashU Neurology and Pathology & Immunology) – “APOE3ch alters microglial response and suppresses Ab-induced tau seeding and spread”
- Caitlin Dingwall (Milbrandt lab, WashU Genetics) – “Phosphatidylserine exposure is an early SARM1-dependent axonal danger signal that triggers phagocytosis of stressed-but-viable axons”
- Karl Friedrichsen (Brier lab, WashU Neurology) – “Increased S1PR1 Expression in Multiple Sclerosis Lesions Compared to Normal-Appearing White Matter as Measured by 11C-CS1P1 PET”
- Eileen Lynch (Weihl lab, WashU Neurology) – “TDP-43 aggregation and seeding in skeletal muscle”
- Farzaneh Mirfakhar (Karch lab, WashU Psychiatry) – “Trapped in transit: Tau accumulates in stem cell model of tauopathy through Autophagy and lysosomal impairments”
- Zelun Wang (Williams and Apte labs, WashU Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences) – “Energetic heterogeneity in retinal ganglion cells: role of neuronal activity and implications for resilience”
Poster Finalists
- Hao Chen (Kim and Bonnie labs, WashU Neurosurgery and formerly Neuroscience) –
“New proteomics approaches to interrogate functions and mechanisms of the Hao-Fountain syndrome protein USP7 in the developing brain” - Allison Martinez Mejia (Lee and Hu labs, WashU Neurology and Biomedical Engineering) –
“Intravital imaging of neuronal metabolism in APP/PS1 mice at single cell resolution”
Thanks to faculty members who served as judges
for the short talks and the posters!
2023
Megan Bosch, PhD, postdoc in the lab of David Holtzman
“Sodium oligomannate alters gut microbiota, reduces cerebral amyloidosis and reactive microglia in a dose- and sex-specific manner”
Collin Nadarajah, graduate student in the lab of Erik Musiek
“An astrocyte BMAL1-BAG3 axis regulates glial activation and protein aggregation
in mouse models of alpha-synuclein and tau pathology”
2022
Dana Shaw, PhD, postdoc in the lab of Mayssa Mokalled
“An intricate immune balance necessary for natural spinal cord regeneration”
Alexandra Litvinchuk, PhD, postdoc in the lab of David Holtzman
“The relationship between ApoE and lipid dysregulation in glia of the PS19 mouse model of tauopathy”
2021
Maud Gratuze, PhD, postdoc in the lab of David Holtzman
“Activated microglia mitigate Aβ-associated tau seeding and spreading”
2019
Andrew Findlay, MD, clinical fellow in the lab of Chris Weihl
“Lithium chloride corrects weakness and myopathology in a preclinical model of LGMD1D”
Zachary Rosenthal, graduate student in the lab of Jin-Moo Lee
“Local perturbations in cortical excitability propagate differentially through large-scale functional networks”
2018
Scott Karney-Grobe, graduate student in the lab of Aaron DiAntonio
“HSP90 is a chaperone for DLK and is required for axon injury signaling”
Alex Cammack, graduate student in the lab of Tim Miller
“C9orf72 G4C2 repeat expansions in ALS patients are dynamic and result in large dipeptide repeat proteins”
2017
Yedda Li, graduate student in the lab of Mark Sands
“Combination therapy increase lifespan and improves clinicobehavioral performance in the murine model of globoid cell leukodystrophy”
Kathleen Schoch, PhD, postdoc in the lab of Tim Miller
“Antisense oligonucleotide-mediated reduction of TREM2 mRNA in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and tauopathy”
2016
Lauren Walker, graduate student in the lab of Aaron DiAntonio
“MAPK signaling functions upstream of SARM1 to promote axonal degeneration”
Cheryl Leyns, graduate student in the lab of David Holtzman
“Direct delivery of full-length, therapeutic anti-tau antibodies to the brain by gene transfer”
2015
Sarah Petersen, PhD, postdoc in the lab of Kelly Monk
“GPR126 has distinct, domain-dependent functions in Schwann cell development mediated by interaction with laminin-211”
Matheus Victor, graduate student in the lab of Andrew Yoo
“Modeling Huntington’s Disease with striatal medium spiny neurons directly converted from patient fibroblasts”
2014
Shannon Macauley-Rambach, PhD, postdoc in the lab of David Holtzman
“Investigating the mechanistic link between diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease: the effects of the hyperglycemia on neuronal activity and Amyloid beta levels within the brain’s interstitial fluid”
Matthew MacEwan, graduate student in the labs of Dan Moran and Wilson Ray
“Neuroregenerative electrodes enable functional electrical stimulation of peripheral motor axons and distal musculature”
Sarah Kaufman and David Sanders, graduate students in the lab of Marc Diamond
“Distinct tau prion strains propagate in cells and mice and define different tauopathies”
2013
Sarah DeVos, graduate student in the lab of Timothy Miller
“Tau Knockdown in the Adult Mouse Significantly Reduces Severity of Excitotoxic Seizures”
Najla Kfoury, PhD , postdoc in the lab of Marc Diamond
“Soluble tau aggregate seeds are present in brain, CSF and plasma of AD patients, and predict cognitive decline”
2012
Josiah Gerdts, graduate student in the lab of Jeff Milbrandt
“High-throughput screening identifies novel genes required for Wallerian Degeneration in primary mouse neurons”
Brandon Holmes, grad student in the lab of Marc Diamond
“Heparan Sulfate Proteoglycans Constitute a Major Pathway for Pathogenic Tau Seed Internalization”
2011
Adam Bero, graduate student in the lab of Dave Holtzman
“Neuronal activity regulates the regional vulnerability to amyloid-β deposition”
Shannon Macauley-Rambach, graduate student in the lab of Mark Sands
“The role of astrocyte activation in both the pathogenesis and treatment of infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL)”
2010
Rebecca Craig-Schapiro, graduate student in the lab of Dave Holtzman
“YKL-40: A Novel Diagnostic and Prognostic Fluid Biomarker for Early Alzheimer’s Disease”
Jungsu Kim, PhD, postdoc in the lab of Dave Holtzman
“Overexpression of Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor in the Brain Markedly Inhibits Amyloid Deposition and Increases Extracellular Aβ Clearance”
2009
Andrew Kraft, undergraduate in the lab of Jin-Moo Lee
“Activated astrocytes suppress amyloid plaque pathogenesis in APP/PS1 mice”
Shiyam Rao, MD, fellow in the lab of Josh Rubin
“Disruption of GBM-Endothelial Cell Interactions Through Antagonism of CXCR4 Signaling Inhibits Tumor Cell Growth”
2008
Craig Press, graduate student in the lab of Jeff Milbrandt
“Nmnat delays axonal degeneration caused by mitochondrial and oxidative stress”
Qiang Liu, PhD, postdoc in the lab of Guojun Bu
“Amyloid Precursor Protein Regulates Brain Apolipoprotein E and Cholesterol Metabolism through Lipoprotein Receptor LRP1″
2007
Biyu He, undergraduate in the lab of Maurizio Corbetta
“Breakdown of intrinsic brain synchrony in spatial neglect: a novel mechanism to explain brain-behavior relationships after stroke”
Fernanda Laezza, PhD, postdoc in the labs of David Ornitz and Jeanne Nerbonne
“A single mutation in FGF14 interferes with function of voltage-gated sodium channels in mammalian neurons”
2006
Elizabeth Tank, graduate student in the lab of Heather True-Krob
“PrP Repeat Expansions Confers Enhanced Structural Variability”
Elizabeth Tank, graduate student in the lab of Heather True-Krob
“PrP Repeat Expansions Confers Enhanced Structural Variability”
Conrad (Chris) Weihl, MD, PhD, postdoc in the labs of Phyllis Hanson and Alan Pestronk
“Using both cellular and animal models of hereditary inclusion body myositis (IBM) to explore the underlying pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease”
2005
Michelle Schlief, graduate student in the lab of Jonathan Gitlin
“Novel insights into the mechanism of neurodegeneration in Menkes disease: copper-dependent excitotoxic neuroprotection”
David Brody, MD, PhD, postdoc in the lab of David Holtzman
“Anti-Aβ antibody attenuates cognitive impairment in a model of experimental traumatic brain injury”