News
Mechanosensory hair cells in the inner ear pick up the softest sounds, such as whispers and distant noises.
Unlike other cells in the human body, these sensory cells are fragile and finite. At birth, the human ear contains approximately 15,000 of these cells. They do not regenerate or divide and, therefore are susceptible to permanent damage from exposure to loud sounds. Scientists believe understanding the molecular mechanisms that maintain the structure of these cells throughout the lifespan can provide insight into the fundamental causes of hearing loss and deafness.
The University of Kentucky was recently awarded a prestigious Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant to study the metabolism of cancer from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The $11.2 million grant will fund UK's Center for Cancer and Metabolism over the next five years.
Tori Stromp, PhD, a recent graduate of the Department of Physiology and a member of the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center, recently received the prestigious Summa Cum Laude Award at the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Conference. The award is presented to less than 1% of the abstracts submitted to the conference and is rarely awarded to graduate students. Tori will present her work at the annual conference April 22-27, 2017 in Honolulu, HI.
On Friday, March 31, 2017 Thitinart Sithisarn, MD successfully defended her dissertation and earned her PhD. Dr. Sithisarn completed her research while simultaneously holding a faculty position in Pediatrics.
Dissertation Committee
Dr. Sandra Legan
Department of Physiology, Mentor
Dr. Ok-Kyong Park-Sarge
Department of Physiology
Dr. Melinda Wilson
Department of Physiology
Dr. Susan Barron
Department of Psychology
Congratulations to Laura Peterson of McCarthy Lab!
Laura has been awarded a 5 year NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Click here to learn more about the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
Click here to be directed to the 2017 Cardiovascular Research Day homepage
On Tuesday, March 7th Physiology trainee Erica Weekman successfully defended her dissertation and earned her doctoral degree.
"Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular cognitive impairment"
Doctoral Committee Members
Dr. Donna Wilcock
Department of Physiology, Mentor
Dr. Steve Estus
Department of Physiology
Dr. Elizabeth Head
Department of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Joe Abisambra
Department of Physiology
Nolan, M. W., T. L. Gieger, A. A. Karakashian, M. N. Nikolova-Karakashian, L. P. Posner, D. M. Roback, J. N. Rivera, and S. Chang. "Outcomes of Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy (Grid) for Bulky Soft Tissue Sarcomas in a Large Animal Model." Technol Cancer Res Treat (Jan 01 2017): 1533034617690980. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1533034617690980.
Jenny Lutshumba from Gong Lab successfully defended her dissertation and earned her doctoral degree Friday, February 10, 2017.
Committee Members
Dr. Ming Cui Gong
Mentor, Department of Physiology
Dr. David Randall
Department of Physiology
Dr. Zhenheng Guo
Department of Pharmacology & Nutritional Sciences
Dr. Alan Daugherty
Department of Physiology
The URM Program was designed to provide students who receive minority fellowships with a mentor. The program was launched in Fall 2016 and will continue to grow and improve. The mentees are graduate students who either receive the Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship, the Southern Regional Education Board Fellowship, or the Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering Fellowship. The mentors are professors throughout the university who willingly volunteered to participate in the program.
Testimonial from Cheavar Blair -
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Dec. 14, 2016) —
"also.... just because
I am working out the flavor for the
1812 Overture
I will most likely put it into a lolli
this is an incredible challenge
as it is making me cry while I listen…"
Taria Camerino's poetic email sums up her passion for helping people explore how flavor perception is influenced by more than the tongue. Her emotion is genuine: as a gastral synesthete, she experiences ALL senses as taste.
The end-of-year holidays are upon us, and for many, it’s a time made all the more meaningful by food. Dishes that are traditions in some families can be powerful reminders of coming together with loved ones to celebrate and reflect.
But, what if the foods that elicit such strong memory and emotion in us no longer tasted the same? Certain foods hold so much sentiment in our lives, how would we react if we could no longer have that experience?
Congratulations Tori Stromp, PhD! Tori successfully defended her dissertation on November 28, 2016.
"Development and Application of Gadolinium Free Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Fibrosis Imaging for
Multi-Scale Study of Heart Failure in Patients with End Stage Renal Disease"
John Gensel, an assistant professor in the physiology department and the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, and two members of his lab team—Bei Zhang and Taylor Otto—are featured in this podcast.
Taylor Otto, an undergraduate lab assistant in Gensel’s lab, described UK as being the full package. “We have it all here. It’s a good program to be able to come into, not really knowing what you want to exactly do in the science field, but being able to figure it out at the same time,” said Otto.
