Schedule

8:55 - 9:30

Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D.
Director, Jefferson Breast Care Center, Kimmel Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
“Advanced molecular diagnostics in the management of breast cancer”

9:35 - 10:10

Roger Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Cancer Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Acetylation regulates DNA repair mechanism choice and response to chemotherapy"

10:15 - 10:25

Kate Beishline, Ph.D. Candidate
Biochemistry Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Transcription factor Sp1 promotes chromatin remodeling surrounding DNA double-strand breaks "

10:30 - 10:40

Sumedha Bagga, Ph.D. Candidate
Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Interplay between HBV and metabolic pathways during HBV replication”

10:40 - 10:55

Mariana Gadaleta, Ph.D. Candidate
Molecular and Cell Biology and Genetics Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Swi1Timeless prevents telomere instability and ALT recombination at telomeres”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:30

Mauricio Reginato, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Interplay between O-GlcNAcylation & cancer"

3:35 - 4:05

Ravi Amaravadi, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
"Targeting autophagy for cancer therapy"

4:10 - 4:20

Sergey Karakashev, Ph.D. Candidate
Biochemistry Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Hypoxia/HIF-1 promotes lapatinib resistance in ErbB2-expressing breast cancer cells"

4:25 - 4:35

Christina Ferrer, Ph.D. Candidate
Molecular and Cell Biology and Genetics Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"O-GlcNAcylation regulates cancer metabolism and stress signaling via the HIF1a/GLUT1 axis "

4:40 - 4:50

Todd Strochlic, Ph.D., DVM
Postdoctoral Fellow, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
"Ack1 regulates a macromolecular complex involved in nucleotide synthesis"

Schedule

9:00 - 9:30

Christian F. Ockenhouse, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Division of Malaria Vaccine Development, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring MD
"Immunologic lessons from the RTS,S malaria vaccine: Public health value from imperfect vaccines"

9:35 - 10:05

Carole A. Long, Ph.D.,
Head, Malaria Immunology Section, Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, MD
"Identifying potential new targets for blood stage vaccines against Plasmodium falciparum malaria"

10:10 - 10:30

Jean Boyer, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“Malaria induced inflammation reduces vaccine efficacy”

10:35 - 10:55

Kazutoyo Miura, Ph.D.
Laboratory of Malaria and Vector Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Rockville, MD
“Qualification and application of standard membrane feeding assay in transmission-blocking vaccine development”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:25

John Adams, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Global Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
"Immunological characterization of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein"

3:30 - 3:55

David B. Weiner, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
"Development of a synthetic polyvalent vaccine for malaria"

4:00 - 4:15

James Burns, Jr., Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Development of a chimeric Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein vaccine"

4:20 - 4:35

Xianzhu Wu, Ph.D.
Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Penn State University, Hershey, PA
"Parasite-host interaction mechanisms in innate immune responses to malaria: Implications for malaria therapy and vaccine design"

4:20 - 4:35

Elizabeth Nardin, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Microbiology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY
"Using a TLR5 agonist flagellin to develop a needle free malaria vaccine"

Schedule

9:00 - 9:25

David Kaplan, M.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“Collapse of the memory B-cell population in hepatitis C-related cirrhosis”

9:30 - 9:55

Michael Bouchard, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Hepatitis B virus modulation of hepatocyte physiology: Mechanisms and consequences”

10:00 - 10:15

Pooja Jain, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Doylestown, PA
"Unique and differential protein signatures for HIV-1 and HCV mono-infection versus co-infection"

10:20 - 10:35

Andrea Cuconati, Ph.D.
Scientist, Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research, Doylestown, PA
“Discovery and development of a novel class of inhibitors of hepatitis B subviral particle secretion”

10:40 - 10:55

Dawei Cai
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Doylestown, PA
“Regulation of HBV replication by viral capsid phosphorylation: Critical role in capsid-polymerase interaction”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:25

Christoph Seeger, Ph.D.
Professor, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
“Chronic hepatitis B, illness with no cure in sight?”

3:30 - 3:55

Sonia Navas-Martin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Impact of HCV on HIV-1 infection of macrophages"

4:00 - 4:25

Ju-Tao Guo, M.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virus Research, Doylestown, PA
“HBV cccDNA-targeted antiviral therapy: Understanding cccDNA transcription regulation by interferon and epigenetic modifications"

4:30 - 4:40

Brian Latimer
M.D./Ph.D. Student (NIH T32 Trainee), Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Strong HCV-specific cellular immune responses induced in non-human primates by an HCV genotype 1a/1b consensus DNA vaccine"

4:45 - 4:55

Selena Lin, Ph.D. Candidate
Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"HBV associated DNA modifications as a biomarker for HBV related HCC screening"

Schedule

9:00 - 9:40

Peter L. Nara, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Professor and W. Eugene Lloyd Chair; Department of Biomedical Sciences; Director, Center for Advanced Host Defenses, Immunobiotics and Translational Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA; Chief Executive Officer, President, Chairman & Co-founder of Biological Mimetics, Inc., Frederick, MD
“Decoding immune evading mechanisms of pathogens: Reordering of immunodominance for new and improved vaccines ”

9:45 - 10:10

Shira Ninio, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Biofilm formation and regulation in the pathogen Legionella pneumophila”

10:15 - 10:40

Igor Brodsky, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
"Role of intracellular bacterial metabolism in modulating inflammasome activation "

10:45 - 10:55

Kathryn Matthias, Ph.D. Candidate
Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia PA
“Sugar-coating it: Control of LOS sialylation in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is mediated by the transcription factor, CrgA”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:40

Jeffrey N. Weiser, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“How microbial interactions impact infection”

3:45 - 4:10

Bettina Buttaro, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Enterococcus faecalis pheromone inducible conjugative plasmid pCF10: A novel replicon and mediator of horizontal gene transfer"

4:15 - 4:40

Garth D. Ehrlich, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Professor of Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA; Executive Director, Center for Genomic Sciences, Scientific, Governmental, and Regional Affairs Liaison Officer, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
“Microbiome-sparing genomic strategies for identification of virulence-specific interventional targets"

4:45 - 4:55

Benjamin Janto, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Beyond the capsule: A cell-density dependent virulence factor in Haemophilus influenzae"

Schedule

9:10 - 9:35

Lena Al-Harthi, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Immunology-Microbiology Graduate College, Rush Medical College, Chicago, IL
“Mechanistic insights into astrocyte dysregulation in neuroAIDS”

9:40 - 9:50

Lindsey Gerngross, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program - Neuroscience, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Targeting cFMS signaling to restore monocyte homeostasis in HIV”

9:55 - 10:05

Christopher Gutoskey, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Neurobiology and Anatomy Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"ICV infusions of HIV envelope glycoprotein gp120 compromise adult male rodent performance in a prefrontal cortex-dependent, flexible attention task"

10:10 - 10:20

Satrupa Sen, Ph.D. Candidate
Biology Graduate Program, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Regulation of cellular glucose metabolism by HIV-1 infection”

10:25 - 10:35

Daniel Colacurcio, Ph.D. Candidate
Neuroscience Graduate Group, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
“The pro-survival protein MDMX and its role in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND)”

10:40 - 10:50

Paul Pozniak, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program - Neuroscience, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Activation of Ephrin B2 receptor by TNF-alpha promotes neuronal cell growth and regeneration”

10:55 - 11:05

Fiorella Rossi, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“TLR3 activation on dendritic cells suppresses HIV-1 infection by inducing miR-155 and APOBEC-3G”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:25

Shilpa Buch, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE
“HIV and drug abuse go hand in HAND”

3:30 - 3:40

Sarah Beltrami, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program - Neuroscience, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Novel role for the neurofibromatosis type 2 protein in regulation of JCV T-antigen in glial cells"

3:45 - 3:55

Tijana Knezevic, Ph.D. Candidate
Biology Graduate Program, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Neuro-glia communication by BAG3 during cell stress and infection"

4:00 - 4:10

Elizabeth Crowe, M.D./Ph.D. Student (F31 recipient)
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Senescent cells in Alzheimer’s disease brain and its potential overlap with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders"

4:15 - 4:25

Divya Sagar, Ph.D. Candidate
Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Effect of SIV and morphine on dendritic cell trafficking into the central nervous system of rhesus macaques"

4:30 - 4:40

Jane Kovalevich, Ph.D. Candidate (NIH T32 Trainee)
Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program - Neuroscience, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"TNF-alpha dependent degradation of rxr-gamma: Implications for substance abuse disorder in HIV"

4:45 - 4:55

Marianne Strazza, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow (NIH T32 Trainee), Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Prolonged morphine exposure induces increased cellular firm adhesion to the blood-brain barrier"