2023/2024 Symposium - UMaine Institute of Medicine

2023/2024 Research Symposium

Poster Presentations and Reception

Congratulations to the ten students who received awards for outstanding posters!

Omodasola Adekeye University of Maine/Biomedical Science
- Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase Receptor Type Q (Ptprq) is involved in the maintenance of glomerular filtration barrier integrity
Nnamdi Baker University of Maine/Microbiology
- Using intravital imaging in zebrafish to understand signaling underlying innate immune response to C. albicans infection.
Riley Bosco Bangor High School
- Bio-IVP: The Biodegradable Intravenous Packet
Samantha Costa GSBSE/MHIR
- PD-L1 Expressing Myeloid Cells Promote Bone Marrow Immunosuppression and Osteoclastogenesis with Diet-induced Obesity
Sophie Craig GSBSE/University of Maine
- Cell-type specific mechanisms of JC polyomavirus infection
Cory Diemler GSBSE/University of Maine
- Microglia Depletion Results in Increased Susceptibility to Ocular Hypertension-Dependent Glaucoma

Gabriela Johnson GSBSE/University of Maine and MDI Biological Laboratory
- Development of two mechanistically distinct transgenic in vivo axolotl cell-ablation systems at various life stages
Monique Mills GSBSE/University of Maine
- The Role and Regulation of TRP53 in the oocyte’s response to radiation-induced damage
Michayla Moore GSBSE/MHIR
- ALK1 Coordinates Pro-Angiogenic Sclerostin, CD105, and IGFBP3 Secretion Following Preconditioning with BMP9 in Human Cardiac Progenitor Cells
Mohamad Zaid GSBSE/University of Maine
- Sex-based differences in ophthalmic and central retinal artery velocity: From the heart to the eye analysis

Thank you to our judges!

Ahmed Almaghasilah, Amanda Collamore, Anastasia Paulmann, Arturo Hernandez, Ben Harrison, Ben King, Caitlin Howell, Colleen Marzilli, Cory Johnson, Dustin Updike, Greg Cox, Hannah Lust, Hermann Haller, Iain Drummond, Janet Yancey-Wrona, Jared Talbot, Melody Neely, Meredith Theeman, Michael Babcock, Michael Mason, Prayag Murawala, Rob Koza, Rob Wheeler, Ron Korstanje, Steve Sutton, Suzanne Angeli, Zhao Xuan, Ziru Li, Kelly Klein

Thank you to our Symposium Organizing Committee!

David Harder, Ph.D.

University Research Professor of Medicine; Director UMaine Institute of Medicine

Hermann Haller, MD

President, Professor, MDI Biological Laboratory
Professor, Department of Nephrology and Hypertension, Hannover Medical School

Karen L. Houseknecht, Ph.D.

University of New England

James W. Jarvis, MD, FAAFP

Director of Clinical Education, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Senior Physician Executive, System Incident Command, Northern Light Health

Nadia Rosenthal, Ph.D.

FMedSci, FAAHMS, Scientific Director and Professor, the Jackson Laboratory for Mammalian Genetics

Kevin Stein, Ph.D.

Director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE) at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI).

Douglas Sawyer, MD

Chief Academic Officer, Maine Medical Center and Maine Health, Co-Director, Myocardial Biology and Heart Failure Laboratory, Maine Medical Center Research Institute

Raimond Winslow, Ph.D.

Director of Life Science and Medicine Research; Professor of Bioengineering.

Jeremy Qualls, Ph.D.

Dean and Professor
College of Science, Technology, and Health

Thank you to our Sponsors!

BioME

MDI BioScience

Maine Technology Institute

Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering

IDEXX

SimKit

Posters Listings

2024 Poster listings, Students, Faculty and MERGE

2024 Poster listings, Students, Faculty and MERGE pdf

2024 Poster Session Full Abstracts

2024 Poster Session Full Abstracts pdf

2023/2024 Schedule

Agenda

Session Time: 9:00 – 10:50; Session Topic: Oncology; Session Chair: Jens Rueter MD, Chief Medical Officer at JAX

9:00 – 9:10 Speaker: Jens Rueter MD, Chief Medical Officer at JAX
Presentation on: Genomics and Cancer Medicine, Speaker Introduction

9:10 – 9:30 Speakers: Eric Anderson PhD, Faculty Scientist at MaineHealth Institute for Research, Susan Miesfeldt MD at MaineHealth

Presentation on: Access to hereditary and targeted cancer care in Maine

9:30 – 9:50 Speaker: Susan Miesfeldt MD, at MaineHealth

Presentation on: Barriers to participation in cancer genomics research for rural and New Mainers

9:50 – 10:10 Speaker: Sarah Sinclair DO, at Northern Light Health Oncology

Presentation on: Oncology: The targeted agent and profiling utilization registry (TAPURTM) study

10:10 – 10:30 Speaker: Jordan Miner PhD, Candidate in Biomedical Engineering, University of Maine Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering

Presentation on: The Impact of a Potential Breast Cancer Therapeutic on Cellular Migration in 3D Spheroid Models

10:30 – 10:50 Speaker: [TBD]

Presentation on: [TBD]

10:50 – 11:05 Break

Session Time: 11:05 – 12:15; Session Topic: Translational Medicine; Session Chair: Rai Winslow PhD Director of Life Science and Medical Research; Professor of Bioengineering at the Roux Institute

11:05 – 11:20 Speaker: Benjamin Harrison PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of New England

Presentation on: Targeting RNA-Protein Interactions for Treatment of Persistent Pain

11:20 – 11:35 Speaker: Jane Disney PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Health at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: Healthy Water, Healthy Aging: What can animal models tell us about our drinking water?

11:35 – 11:50 Speaker: Jim Strickland MS, Senior Director of Research Partnerships and Translation at the Roux Institute

Presentation on: Translational Research

11:50 – 12:15 Podium Discussion; Discussion Moderator: Hermann Haller MD, President MDI Biological Laboratory

Podium discussion on: Qualifications in biomedicine – new job descriptions in biomedical research (workforce development in Maine)

12:15 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 4:30 Industry Workshop

1:30 – 3:00 Panel Discussion on Workforce Development

Moderator: Catharine Maclaren PhD, VP Talent & Diversity at Northern Light Health

Panelists: Beth Orcutt PhD, Vice President for Research at Bigelow; Aileen Huang-Saad PhD, Director of Life Sciences, Health and Engineering Programs at the Roux Institute; James Coffman PhD, Associate Professor at MDI Biological Laboratory; Director Maine IDEA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE); Renee Kelly Associate Vice President Office of Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Resources and Engagement (inSPIRE) at UMaine; Meredith Theeman PhD, Director Predoctoral & Postdoctoral Education at JAX

Session Time: 9:30 – 10:30; Session Topic: Microscopy; Session Chair: Frederic Bonnet PhD, Light Microscopy Facility Manager at MDI Biological Laboratory

9:30 – 9:45 Speaker: Brandon Aho PhD Candidate at UMaine

Presentation on: Super-Resolution Imaging Reveals Nanoscale Disruption of PIP2 Clustering by Cetylpyridinium Chloride in RBL-2H3 Mast Cells

9:45 – 10:00 Speaker: Frederic Bonnet PhD, Light Microscopy Facility Manager at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: Open access to a microscopy facility: A Closer Look at Microscopy at MDIBL

10:00 – 10:15 Speaker: Prayag Murawala PhD, Assistant Professor at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: AdvanceDisco and mesoSPIM microscopy: new horizons for whole mount imaging of tissue cleared samples

10:15 – 10:30 Speaker: Sam Hess PhD, Professor of Physics at UMaine

Presentation on: Super-Resolution Microscopy

10:30 – 10:45 Break

Session Time: 10:45 – 12:00; Session Topic: Cell Signaling; Session Chair: Melissa Maginnis PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology at UMaine

10:45 – 11:00 Speaker: Melissa Maginnis PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology at UMaine

Presentation on: Viral disruption of cell signaling

11:00 – 11:15 Speaker: Cory Johnson Postdoctoral Researcher at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: Spatial control of the Septin Cytoskeleton by GPCR signaling

11:15 – 11:30 Speaker: Dustin Updike PhD, Associate Professor at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: The cytoplasmic contribution to cellular potential

11:30 – 11:45 Speaker: James Godwin PhD, Assistant Professor at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: Using the salamander to guide new tissue regeneration and scar free healing strategies in mammals

11:45 – 12:00 Speaker: Robert Koza PhD, Faculty Scientist III Center for Molecular Medicine at MaineHealth Institute for Research

Presentation on: Investigation of thermogenesis using an acute cold-resistant Ucp1-knockout mouse model

12:00 – 1:00 Lunch

Session Time: 1:00 – 2:20; Session Topic: Kidney; Session Chair: Hermann Haller MD, President at MDI Biological Laboratory

1:00 – 1:20 Speaker: Iain Drummond PhD, Professor and Director Davis Center for Aging and Regeneration at MDI Biological Laboratory

Presentation on: Antagonistic Wnt pathways drive epithelial interconnections

1:20 – 1:40 Speaker: Ron Korstanje PhD, Associate Professor at JAX

Presentation on: Modifier genes for Alport Syndrome may be therapeutic targets for common types of kidney disease

1:40 – 2:05 Speakers: Benjamin King PhD, Associate Professor of Bioinformatics at UMaine, James Jarvis MD, Director of Clinical Education at Eastern Maine Medical Center – Northern Light Health

Presentation on: The Maine Chronic Kidney Disease Genetics Pilot Study

2:05 – 2:20 Speaker: Olaleye Olajuyin PhD Candidate, Biomedical Science at UMaine

Presentation on: Inflammatory signaling in zebrafish kidney regeneration

2:20 – 2:35 Break

Session Time: 2:35 – 3:50; Session Topic: Pathogens; Session Chair: Sue Ishaq PhD, Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at UMaine

2:35 – 2:50 Speaker: Sue Ishaq PhD, Assistant Professor of Animal and Veterinary Sciences at UMaine

Presentation on: Biogeography of gut microbes producing anti-inflammatories from broccoli sprouts in the diet

2:50 – 3:05 Speaker: Adriana Rosato PhD, Faculty Scientist at MaineHealth Institute for Research

Presentation on: Antibiotic resistant bacterial infection

3:05 – 3:20 Speaker: Kyle Brennan Masters Student, Aquaculture in the School of Food and Agriculture at UMaine

Presentation on: The use of probiotics to mitigate mortality in Atlantic Sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) larvae when challenged with pathogenic Vibrio species

3:20 – 3:35 Speaker: Caitlin Howell PhD, Associate Professor Bioengineering at UMaine

Presentation on: Large-scale vascularized polymers enable continuous sensing of and responding to bacteria at interfaces

3:35 – 3:50 Speaker: Rob Wheeler PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology at UMaine

Presentation on: Exfoliation provides a powerful window to understand the roots of yeast infections

Hudson Museum
Poster boards will be ready by 1:30 pm on Wednesday March 27. Posters should be up no later than 4:00 pm and removed at the end of the poster session, no later than 7:00 pm.

6:30 – 8:00 Banquet (dinner requires ticket purchased at registration), dinner will be served at 6:45
Wells Conference Center

2023/2024 Symposium Gallery