VCOM 2021 Annual Report

RESEARCH

Vikas Sehdev, PhD • VCOM REAP: Targeting

K. Adam Morrow, PhD • VCOM REAP: The Role of Intracellular Osteopontin in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Dr. Morrow serves as Co-PI with Rebekah Morrow, PhD on this project. Rebekah Morrow, PhD • VCOM REAP: The Role of Intracellular Osteopontin in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Dr. Morrow serves as Co-PI with K. Adam Morrow, PhD on this project. Ramu Anandakrishnan, PhD • VCOM REAP: Investigating the effect of a rare mutation in Fetuin-B on the progression of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Robin Varghese, PhD and Katherine Baumgarner, MS serve as investigators, along with colleagues from Virginia Tech’s Department of Biochemistry and Radford University’s Department of Psychology. P. Gunnar Brolinson, DO • VCOM REAP (matching funds from VT ICTAS): Effects of Routine Head Impact Exposure in Sports: Ocular Motor Function and Saliva-Based Biomarkers. A collaborator from VT Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics serves as Co-PI along with Dr. Brolinson. • VCOM & VMCVM One Health Program: A Novel Rehabilitative Loading Approach for Improved Musculotendinous Healing. Dr. Brolinson is Co-PI on this project with a collaborator from VMCVM. Virginia Campus

PI on this project with JuliSu DiMucci-Ward, PhD.

L-type calcium channels with Amlodipine exhibits significant anticancer activity in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers. Investigators on this project are Steven Enkemann, PhD and a collaborator from Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Patrick Fisher, PhD • VCOM REAP: Effects of plant based AdipoR1 agonists on Insulin-independent Glucose Transport in Skeletal Muscle Cells. Jon Hagar, PhD • VCOM & VMCVM One Health Program: Utilizing Novel Model the Unique Kinase NIK during Colorectal Cancer. Dr. Hagar serves as Co-PI along with Stephan Brown, MD, PhD and a colleague at VMCVM. • VCOM REAP: Interrogation of T cell regulation by CBL family ubiquitin ligases to identify novel immunotherapy strategies. Lindsay Tjiattas-Saleski, DO • VCOM REAP: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Work-Life Balance and Mental Health of Resident Physicians. • VCOM REAP: Evaluating the Systems to Define Novel Mechanisms Controlled by • VCOM REAP: Personality Types in Third Year Medical Students: Correlations to Success on Family Medicine Rotations. • VCOM REAP: Do OMS-III Family Medicine rotations at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC) and underserved clinics influence medical student decisions to enter primary care specialties in rural and underserved populations? utilization of telemedicine in obstetrics and gynecology: a survey of the practitioner perspective.

Louisiana Campus

Melissa Lipsmeyer, PhD • VCOM REAP: Linking the

gut microbiome, female reproduction and obesity: Identifying protective molecular mechanisms of the bacterial metabolite, Indole-3-propionic acid, in ovarian and placental cells against obesity-induced cellular stress. Dr. Lipsmeyer serves as Co-PI with Robin Varghese, PhD on this project. Pawel Michalak, PhD • VCOM & VMCVM One Health Program Experimental evolution of SARS-CoV-2 as a new tool to identify adaptive changes in the viral genomes with implications for replication, infectivity, and COVID-19 outbreaks. Dr. Michalak is Co-PI on this project with a collaborator from VMCVM. • VCOM REAP: Next-gen vector- borne disease surveillance across VCOM subtropical and tropical sites. Lin Kang, PhD, Dean Sutphin, PhD and Kasia Michalak, MSc serve as investigators on this project as well as collaborators at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Institute and VMCVM.

89