News

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine is pleased to announce its selection of Tianyan Gao, PhD, as acting chair of the department of molecular and cellular biochemistry.

Dr. Gao has dedicated more than a decade to the UK College of Medicine as an educator and researcher, mentoring several students, post-docs, and residents over the years while obtaining substantial funding from the National Institutes of Health and other major organizations.

The Department had ten publications listed in PubMed for the month of July 2021.

1: Smith CN, Blackburn JS. PRL-3 promotes a positive feedback loop between STAT1/2-induced gene expression and glycolysis in multiple myeloma. FEBS J. 2021 Jul 29. doi: 10.1111/febs.16120. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34327809.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 19, 2021) — As the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant continues to spread across the United States and hospitals’ COVID-positive intake numbers climb again, many questions remain around both vaccine effectiveness and vaccination rates, and what these numbers could mean moving into the fall.

The Department had twelve publications listed in PubMed for the month of June 2021.

1: Jin H, Moseley HNB. Hierarchical Harmonization of Atom-Resolved Metabolic Reactions across Metabolic Databases. Metabolites. 2021 Jun 30;11(7):431. doi: 10.3390/metabo11070431. PMID: 34209357.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 30, 2021) — The University of Kentucky’s Neuroscience Research Priority Area (NRPA) supports a "collaborative matrix," bringing together diverse groups of investigators, trainees and research groups from nine different colleges across the University of Kentucky campus.

A study by several researchers at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) was recently highlighted in AlzForum. The study focuses on polyamines, the nitrogen-packed aliphatic molecules produced by our own cells and found in the foods we eat. They have been described by some as anti-aging generators.

The Department had twelve publications listed in PubMed for the month of May 2021.

1: Zhang Z, Cheng L, Zhang Q, Kong Y, He D, Li K, Rea M, Wang J, Wang R, Liu J, Li Z, Yuan C, Liu E, Fondufe-Mittendorf YN, Li L, Wang C, Liu X, Han T. Co-Targeting Plk1 and DNMT3a in Advanced Prostate Cancer. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2021 May 29:e2101458. doi: 10.1002/advs.202101458. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34051063.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 4, 2021) — University of Kentucky Department of Neuroscience Professor Greg Gerhardt, Ph.D., hypothesizes that the balance of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) — two main neurotransmitters in the brain — contributes to Alzheimer’s disease and age-related declines in cognition and memory.

Beth Garvy, PhD, and Sidney Whiteheart, PhD, originally planned to study blood clotting in HIV-positive patients when they first approached one another to establish a unified research team. Then COVID-19 emerged, and their focus shifted on the disease that started a global pandemic.

In elementary school, Shaw Powell’s favorite subjects were art, physical education, and science, and in that order. Interestingly, the Northern Kentucky native’s career has followed this same trajectory.

First, he received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Kentucky University in art education. Then he joined the Army National Guard and served for seven years. Lastly, in the spring of 2021, he graduated with a Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MSMS) to pursue a research career.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 18, 2021) – Though she grew up in California, University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center research assistant Sumati Hasani spent many summers of her childhood visiting her extended family in India. The first-generation South Asian American has many fond memories of visiting  her family overseas, whose residences spanned every corner of the country.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 10, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that 10 students and recent graduates have been selected to receive government-funded National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships. In addition, a UK doctoral student and four alumni received honorable mention recognition from the NSF. 

The Department had nine publications listed in PubMed for the month of April 2021.

1: Erfani S, Hua H, Pan Y, Zhou BP, Yang XH. The Context-Dependent Impact of Integrin-Associated CD151 and Other Tetraspanins on Cancer Development and Progression: A Class of Versatile Mediators of Cellular Function and Signaling, Tumorigenesis and Metastasis. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Apr 21;13(9):2005. doi: 10.3390/cancers13092005. PMID: 33919420.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (April 19, 2021) — The University of Kentucky Office of Nationally Competitive Awards has announced that three Wildcats — biology students Kayli Bolton, Zoe Hert and Carly Karrick — have been awarded a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship. The UK students are among 410 students nationwide selected to receive the 2021-22 Goldwater Scholarship.

The Department had seven publications listed in PubMed for the month of March 2021.

1: Bondada V, Gal J, Mashburn C, Rodgers DW, Larochelle KE, Croall DE, Geddes JW. The C2 domain of calpain 5 contributes to enzyme activation and membrane localization. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Res. 2021 Mar 31:119019. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamcr.2021.119019. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33811937.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine would like to recognize and congratulate its departments that made it in the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research (BRIMR) 2020 rankings.

BRIMR rankings, released each year, are reflective of top National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding to U.S. medical schools and rank institutions based on specialty. Rankings are derived from data compiled and released by the NIH shortly after the federal fiscal year closes.

Highlights of the rankings:

The Department had seven publications listed in PubMed for the month of February 2021.

1: Hubbard WB, Banerjee M, Vekaria H, Prakhya KS, Joshi S, Wang QJ, Saatman KE, Whiteheart SW, Sullivan PG. Differential Leukocyte and Platelet Profiles in Distinct Models of Traumatic Brain Injury. Cells. 2021 Feb 26;10(3):500. doi: 10.3390/cells10030500. PMID: 33652745.

Brain metabolism is the process by which the brain converts nutrients into energy and small molecule signals. When there are breakdowns in brain metabolism, this can lead to serious neurological diseases including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. These breakdowns even have been linked to diabetes.  

The Department had eleven publications listed in PubMed for the month of January 2021.

1: Stanback AE, Conroy LR, Young LEA, Hawkinson TR, Markussen KH, Clarke HA, Allison DB, Sun RC. Regional N-glycan and lipid analysis from tissues using MALDI-mass spectrometry imaging. STAR Protoc. 2021 Jan 29;2(1):100304. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100304. PMID: 33554139; PMCID: PMC7848795.