Internal Medicine showcases research at Health Sciences Research Day

Faculty, trainees, and staff affiliated with the Department of Internal Medicine joined colleagues from across the Carver College of Medicine on Nov. 5 for Health Sciences Research Day, held in the MERF Atrium. Presenters enjoyed the opportunity to share ongoing research and connect with others across campus.

Organized by the Carver College of Medicine Office of Research, the event featured a keynote presentation by emeritus Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School, David E. Clapham, MD, PhD, on organelles and ion channels, followed by a poster session highlighting research from across the health sciences.

Thank you to everyone who helped organize this year’s Health Sciences Research Day! We are also grateful to all those who represented our department, both as presenters and contributors to the research abstracts.

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Presenters and Abstract Titles – Internal Medicine

Keera Adajar | Lipolysis Supports Glucagon Secretion from Human and Mouse Islets Independent of ATP Production in Alpha Cells Assessed by SCENITH 

Ismail Ademi | Establishing the effects of Hyperglycemic Induced Stress on Cyclin C levels in the Context of Mitochondrial Fission 

Anindita Bandyopadhyay | Personalized Antibiograms Using Multitask Machine Learning for Antimicrobial Resistance Prediction

Gabby Bierlein-De La Rosa | Defining GLP-1 and FGF21 Interactions in the Regulation of Alcohol Intake 

Stephanie Carr | A Therapeutic Strategy for Enhancing Target Gene Expression Through Blockade of microRNA Binding Sites 

Weijie  Du | What powers ciliary beating in human airway epithelia 

Kimberly Dukes | Barriers and Opportunities for Discharge Antibiotic Stewardship Processes Across Veterans Health Administration Facilities: A Qualitative Study

Gagan Flora | Pharmacological targeting of monocarboxylate transporter 4 impairs platelet function in humans and mice 

Madankumar Ghatge | The Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter (MCU) Gates Divergent Platelet Phenotypes in Obesity and MASLD 

Kayla Henry | Cdk8 and Cdk19 exhibit a synthetic rescue that maintains basal cardiac homeostasis in cardiomyocytes

Jasmyn Hoeger | Characterization of Post-Transcriptional Regulatory Elements Controlling MED13L Reveals Mutation-Agnostic Therapeutic Strategies for MED13L Syndrome 

Shivangi  Inamdar | BLA-derived gastrin-releasing peptide promotes sensitized and generalized defensive behavior after intense aversive experience.

Manab Jaily | NK Cell Dysfunction and Cross-Lineage JCPyV-Specific Suppression in a Clinically Stratified PML Cohort 

Abhishek Jha | Myeloid-specific deletion of pyruvate kinase M2 improves neurological recovery in a murine model of hemorrhagic stroke

Nisha Jha | From microbiome remodeling to a defined metabolite cocktail for pressure-overload cardioprotection

Sharik Khan | Unilateral Painless Optic Papillitis in a Renal-Transplant Patient: A Diagnostic Challenge 

Connor Kirk | Cyclin C Regulates Drp1‑Dependent Mitochondrial Fission in Response to Metabolic and Cardiac Stress

Emily Kight | Evaluating the Paleolithic Diet Score for Assessing Adherence to a Modified Paleolithic Diet: A Pilot Study Protocol

Vooha Kumar | Metabolic, Hepatic and Fecal Microbiome Responses to Very Low-Calorie Diet in Women with Obesity Complicated with Metabolic Dysfunction-associated Steatotic Liver Disease 

Jack Mauter | Chronic kidney disease  

James Merchant | Rural–Urban Differences in Home Care Use Among Veterans Across the COVID‑19 Pandemic 

Grace Monette | Effects of Chronic Sympathoinhibitors on Blood Pressure, Heart Rate and Cognition in a Novel Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Ryan Nagel | Relationships of Inflammatory Cytokines in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Natalie Nelson | Identification of Candidate Drivers of T-Cell Exclusion Utilizing Spatial Proteogenomic Profiling of the Tumor Microenvironment 

Edozie Okpara | Simulated ischemia (in vitro model peripheral arterial disease, PAD) reveals distinct cell-type-specific modulations of miR-29a, KLF4 and ADAM12 in skeletal muscle.

Austin Paden | RIPK2 Coordinates Early Myeloid Cell Responses and Host Defense during Listeria monocytogenes Infection 

Meena Kumari, Palani Kumar | Calorie Restriction Reduces Cell-Free Mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA) And Attenuates Venous Thrombosis in Aged Mice

Joshua Peterson | Brown Adipose Tissue OPA1 Deficiency Exerts Context-Dependent Effects on Cardiac Function Under Physiological and Ischemic Conditions

Mitchell Riley | A Mucin-5B variant associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis may prolong survival in the general population

Saurabh Sani | Distinct roles of ROS and CD47 in radiation-induced Red Blood Cell injury and mortality

Aidan Schlichting | Development of a Pipeline for the Collection, Sampling, Distribution, and Analysis of Human Tissue Samples from Aortic Aneurysm & Dissection

Lauren Schultz | A Novel Transferrin Receptor-Targeted Bispecific PGT121 Antibody for Enhanced Central Nervous System Delivery

Sadie Solomon | The Effects of Areca Nut and Arecoline Exposure on Metabolism in Diabetes: A Community-Engaged Translational Research Study

Dana Sorensen | The pericentriolar scaffold PCM1 could influence proteostasis in heart failure

Wenddy Sougey | Testosterone deficiency contributes to chronic stress-induced cardiac dysfunction, senescence, oxidative stress, and inflammation in a genetic mouse model of dilated cardiomyopathy

Mingyao Sun | Alternative Complement Pathway Inhibition with Anti–Factor B antibody Restores Endothelial Function in CKD

Melissa Swee | Real-World Adoption of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists After a Diagnosis of Chronic Kidney Disease: Initiation Differences and Associated Survival in a National Veteran Cohort 

Satya Murthy Tadinada | Perinatal changes in energy metabolism of airway epithelia 

Alexandra Tijerina Saenz | Validation of Mediterranean and Paleolithic Diet Adherence Screeners in Individuals with Chronic Diseases: A Study Protocol. 

Ava Vaillant | Validation of Repressive Post-Transcriptional Regulatory Elements to Determine Therapeutic Potential for Sodium Channelopathies 

Julia Walhof  | Barriers to Hand Hygiene and Infection Prevention in Inpatient Mental Health Units

Yihui Wang | ENPP6-Mediated Lipid Defense Preserves Calcium Handling and Protects the Heart from Ischemic Injury 

Yaohua Wang | Patterns of Nephrotoxic Medication Exposure and AKI in Veterans Affairs Inpatients; A Target-Trial-Informed Counterfactual Framework for Estimating Individualized Changes in AKI Risk with Vancomycin and Active Comparators; Patterns of Nephrotoxic Medication Exposure and AKI in Veterans Affairs Inpatients 

Matthew Welter | Viability of Living Human Coronary Artery with Plaque (HuCAP) Model for Ex Vivo Study of Coronary Plaques Based on Cellular and Functional Viability Assays and Gene Set Enrichment

Jinhua Xiang | Dengue virus serotype-specific envelopes alter cell receptor usage in vitro

Pooja Yadav | Hydrogen peroxide regulates platelet activation and thrombosis through calcium-dependent mechanisms in aging 

Masaaki Yamada | Clinical Pharmacist Involvement and Kidney−Protective Medication Use in Chronic Kidney Disease 

Weiyang Zhao | Gene Therapy Approaches for Treating Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC)