BD Biosciences Announces Winners of Research Grant Program
Seven Scientists Receive Immunology Research Grants
BD Biosciences, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), announced today the latest round of winners of its Research Grant Program.
“By awarding grants to these promising scientists, BD Biosciences continues to support innovative biomedical research across the United States,” said William Rhodes, President, BD Biosciences. “We see this as a way to help assure future discovery and innovation despite difficult economic challenges.”
An independent panel of distinguished scientists selected the winners. The grant recipients will each receive a $10,000 grant of research reagents to help carry out their research.
The BD Biosciences Research Grant Program winners for the fall 2010 cycle are:
- Arnold Chin, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of California, Los Angeles Johnson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Chin uses animal and human studies to understand the role of inflammation and immune activation in bladder cancer. In addition, he hopes to develop a personalized therapy program for bladder cancer patients by correlating molecular signatures to susceptibility of individual patient tumor cells to standard and novel treatments. Dr. Chin’s abstract is titled, “Immune and Molecular Profiling in Bladder Cancer for Personalized Therapy.”
- Arlene Dent, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Dent’s research involves methods of detecting rare, antigen-specific memory B cells using flow cytometry and quantum dots. Her goal is to understand better the differences and similarities between vaccine- and infection-induced immunity in children. Dr. Dent’s abstract is titled, “A Novel Assay to Detect Antigen-Specific Memory B Cells.”
- Asifa Zaidi, Ph.D., Instructor, Division of Clinical Immunology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Zaidi studies the contribution of basophils, a class of immune system cell, in pathogenesis of asthma in an experimental animal model. Ultimately, she aims to uncover basophil-based mechanisms amenable to drug intervention to prevent acute asthma episodes. Dr. Zaidi’s abstract is titled, “Basophils and Murine Experimental Model of Asthma.”
- Veronica Martinez-Cerdeno, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of California, Davis. Dr. Martinez-Cerdeno investigates a potential etiology of autism spectrum disorders during pregnancy. Specifically, she will inject human maternal antibodies into the brains of mice and follow brain pathology using immunohistochemistry and behavioral testing. Dr. Martinez-Cerdeno’s abstract is titled, “Antibodies Present in the Plasma of Women with Autistic Progeny Alter the Neurogenic Divisions of Precursor Cells in the Prenatal Mouse Cerebral Cortex, and the Social Behavior of Adult Mice.”
- Edward Diaz, M.D., Resident Physician at the Glickman Urologic and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. By studying the role of mTOR signaling within urothelial carcinoma cancer stem cells, Dr. Diaz hopes to gain further insight into mTOR’s function in bladder cancer. He plans to study the mTOR cascade by isolating stem cells from tumor specimens, propagating a cancer cell line in vitro, and studying the expression of mTOR using various staining methods. Dr. Diaz’s abstract is titled, “Urothelial Cancer Stem Cells and mTOR Signaling.”
- Elena Galkina, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Galkina’s research focuses on the role of the immune response in the etiology of type 2 diabetes, particularly on the effects of immune-related inflammation in the islets. She plans to use multi-color flow cytometry to quantify the immune compositions of non-diabetic and type 2 diabetic islets. This project also aims to characterize the immune response to possible mediators of type 2 diabetes in human islets. Dr. Galkina’s abstract is titled, “Type 2 Diabetes and Islet Immune Response.”
- Kristen Hoek, Ph.D., Research Fellow at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Dr. Hoek’s research interests involve the migration of B cells in autoimmune disease. Her objectives are to identify and control B cell defects in autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes in ways that alleviate symptoms without immunocompromising subjects. The molecular target for these investigations is Kruppel-like factor 2, a transcription factor that regulates B cell migration. Dr. Hoek’s abstract is titled, “B Cell Trafficking in Mucosal Immunology and Autoimmune Disease.”
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