News
Balasz Kiss, PhD – a CMM postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Henk Granzier's lab - and colleagures recently published a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) about the role of nebulin, a giant sarcomeric, actin-binding protein found in skeletal muscle. Using X-ray diffraction, it was found that thin filaments are threefold more extensible in nebulin-knockout living muscle. Kiss and colleagues conclude that loss of nebulin's physiological function impairs other thin filament regulatory proteins and interferes with force generation - therefore, nebulin acts to stiffen thin filaments and is responsible for generating physiological levels of force.
The Department of Immunobiology offers our heartfelt congratulations to Drs. Jim Allison and Tasuku Honjo for being awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This award highlights the power of basic research, patience, and persistence.
Sara Parker, PhD – a CMM postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Gus Mouneimne’s lab - together with colleagues in the departments of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, an Immunobiology have recently published a new study in the journal eNeuro entitled “High Fidelity Cryopreservation and Recovery of Primary Rodent Cortical Neurons". Cryopreservation is the process of freezing biological materials, and is used routinely for the storage of cell lines. Certain cells, however, are extremely sensitive to cryostorage, and cannot be frozen such as primary neurons isolated from mouse or rat embryos, which show extremely poor viability when subjected to standard cryopreservation methodologies. Dr. Parker and colleagues, experimenting with a specialty cryopreservation reagent designed for clinical-grade storage of human stem and primary cells, found that this reagent substantially improved the viability of cryopreserved neurons, yielding cells that were indistinguishable from freshly dissected neurons. This experimental tool not only improves efficiency and maximizes utilization of animal-sourced materials, it also facilitates greater collaboration between laboratories.
Felicia Goodrum has been awarded more than $13 million in grants within the last year to fund her research on CMV, a virus that affects more than half of the global population above the age of 40.
"Dr. Kristian Doyle and Dr. Jonathan Kipnis have been invited as key speakers at the "Brain-Immune System Interfaces in Health and Disease" Symposium at this year's Society for Neuroscience in November."
Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson will study why the elderly suffer disproportionately from the emerging mosquito-borne virus.
MD/PhD student Jessika Iwanski (center; Dr. Gregorio's lab) poses with other graduate students at the 2018 Arizona BioRetreat! (9/21/2018)!
January 26– 29, 2019, Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove (Monterey) California Chairpersons: Michael S. Kuhns and Marion Pepper
Darren Cusanovich, PhD, led a study published in the most recent issue of Cell presenting a single-cell atlas of chromatin (how the genome is packaged in the nucleus of a cell) patterns in adult mice based on data from almost 100,000 individual cells. Their work sheds light on how the various cell types present in mammals are able to accomplish such different functions while referencing the same genome. This resource may ultimately help us to understand precisely how human diseases develop and manifest in complex tissues.
Marco Padilla-Rodriguez, PhD – a recent CMM graduate from Dr. Gus Mouneimne’s lab- and colleagues have recently published a new study in Nature Communications highlighting estrogen’s dual effects of promoting tumor growth in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer, and suppressing tumor invasion through actin cytoskeletal remodeling.
Congratulations to Diana Darnell, PhD for her promotion to full Professor, Educator Scholar Track!
Lifelong cytomegalovirus infection may be beneficial, boosting the immune system in old age, when we need it most, according to a study led by University of Arizona researchers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.