Alexis Kennedy, a Masters Student in the Neuroendocrine Cancer Research Lab, created incredible artwork to visually represent her project at an upcoming 3-minute thesis competition! Alexis’s research focuses on how Notch1 signaling contributes to the growth of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Dr. Andrea Gillis, Dr. Christopher Wu, Dr. Rachael Guenter, and Dr. Bart Rose presented their research at the annual American Association for Cancer Research conference in San Diego, CA.
Left to right: Dr. Rachael Guenter, Dr. Sherin James (PhD rotation student), Yuvasri Golivi (Visiting Scholar), and Reyna Ingram (undergraduate research assistant) wearing the new UAB Department of Surgery t-shirts!
Our lab group, along with other researchers in the UAB Department of Surgery enjoyed the annual adventure to Wetumpka, Alabama for a 7-mile long kayak trip down the Coosa River
Mario Robledo is a student at Troy University and was selected to participate in the Surgery Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) offered by the Department of Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Mario gave an excellent presentation on his research titled “Using 3-dimensional in vitro models of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor cells to study Notch signaling.” Congratulations Mario!
Congratulations to lab member Dr. Brendon Herring for successfully defending his PhD thesis titled: “Molecular Influences of Racial Disparities in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors”!
UAB Division of Surgical Oncology Clinical Instructor Dr. Rachael Guenter was awarded the Geoffrey Thompson Best Poster Award. Dr. Guenter investigates the molecular mechanisms of neuroendocrine cancer and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma to develop novel therapeutic strategies. Currently, her areas of focus include the development of novel theranostic agents for pancreatic cancers and understanding the role of Notch signaling in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors.
Heersink School of Medicine student Grayson Gimblet, along with his faculty advisor Associate Professor Dr. Renata Jaskula-Sztul, won the Best Paper Award for their presentation on “Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Receptor (TSHR) as a Target for Imaging Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.”
“Grayson did a fantastic job with presenting the paper and answering questions,” says Jaskula-Sztul. “I am proud of him and honored that we were chosen to receive this outstanding award.”
We are so proud of graduate student Piyasuda Pukkanasut for winning the 2022 Women Advancing Thyroid Research (WATR) Award from ATA’s 2022 Annual Meeting. This award recognizes and celebrates the work of early career women conducting outstanding thyroid research. Our abstract title is “Targeting Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels in Medullary Thyroid Cancer Using Small Molecules.” In this study, her team identified a small molecule VGSC inhibitor which its half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) in MTC cells were 6-fold lower than the normal thyroid cells (p<0.0001). The treatment of MTC cells with half of the IC50 concentration of the lead compound reduced MTC migration/invasion up to 25%.
The WATR Award is an ATA award sponsored by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. through the Rosalind Franklin Society (https://www.rosalindfranklinsociety.org/).
Dr. Andrea Gillis had fantastic poster and oral presentations on her project “SSTR2 and TSH Receptor Expression in Hurthle Cell Neoplasms” at the 2022 annual meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA) in Montréal, Québec! Great work Dr. Gillis!
