VCOM 2025 Annual Report

89

RESEARCH

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Carolinas Campus Bidyut Mohanty, PhD REAP: Novel nucleic acid-protein interactions in neural disorders ALS-FTD. Dr. Mohanty is the PI, and David Eagerton, PhD serves as an investigator. Lisa Carroll, MD REAP: Measuring the Impact of Sleep Hygiene on Chronic Disease Management: A Community Focused Study. Louisiana Campus Uzochukwu Adabanya, MD Jenna Dittmar, PhD examination of the microvasculature of the spinal and paraspinal regions using a latex injection method. Stephen DiGuiseppe, PhD VCOM/VMCVM One Health Program: Therapeutic Potential of Interleukin 21 in Alphavirus-Induced Chronic Arthritis. Dr. DiGuiseppe serves as Co-PI on this project along with a collaborator from the VMCVM. Kasia Michalak, MS is an investigator. Hassin Ebrahim, PhD Delta-CRP: Dual Targeting of mTOR and PCSK9 for the Control of Triple Negative Breast Cancer. Dr. Ebrahim and a colleague at the ULM College of Pharmacy are Co-PIs. Zakaria Abd Elmageed, PhD Delta-CRP: Preclinical model for targeting SUMOylation pathways in metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer. Dr. Elmageed serves as Co-PI on this project along with a collaborator from the ULM College of Pharmacy. Lin Kang, PhD Delta-CRP: Targeting SUMOylation Pathway To Sensitize Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cells To Enzalutamide Treatment. Dr. Kang and a collaborator from the ULM College of Pharmacy are Co-PIs. Matthew Overturf, PhD Savannah Newell, PhD REAP: Seeing the invisible: An

When I think about my future career, I envision myself working here, in southwest Virginia. This place truly means so much to me and I hope that I can give back to the community one day. When I have thought about my goals and which specialty fits those, primary care specialties are at the top of my list because I feel like that is where I can have the greatest benefit to my patients.”

Nikola Kochánska’28 VCOM-Virginia, Jeanne Horne Stosser Endowed Medical Scholarship

Pawel Michalak, PhD REAP: NextGen Surveillance for Vector borne Disease across VCOM’s Central America and Caribbean Regional Network. Dean Sutphin, PhD (VCOM Virginia) and Lin Kang, PhD are investigators. Virginia Campus Ramu Anandakrishnan, PhD REAP: Preliminary clinical validation of a blood-based screening panel for non-small cell lung cancer. Robin Varghese, PhD is an REAP: A Pilot Study for the Diagnosis of Endometriosis Through Detection of Circulating Endometrial Cells and Biomarkers. Jim Mahaney, PhD serves as Co-PI. Blaise Costa, MPharm, PhD VCOM/VMCVM One Health Program: Evaluation of safety, pharmacokinetics and analgesic efficacy of novel NMDA receptor modulator on Canis Familiaris (Dogs). Dr. Costa serves as Co-PI on this project with a investigator on this project. Carrie Champine, DO Jim Mahaney, PhD

Chris Reilly, PhD VCOM /VMCVM One Health Program: Targeted NIK Deletion in Myeloid Cells and B Cells in MRL/lpr Lupus Mice. A collaborator from VMCVM serves as Co-PI with Dr. Reilly on this project.

Kelly Roballo, DVM, PhD VCOM/ICTAS Matching Program:

Investigating the inflammatory response in the chronic phase of induced blast spinal cord injury. Dr. Roballo serves as Co-PI with a colleague from Virginia Tech Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics. This is a 1:1 funding match program with Virginia Tech. Robin Varghese, PhD REAP: Understanding mechanisms by which MmuPV1 E6 promotes proliferation. Ramu Anandakrishnan, PhD is an investigator on this project.

faculty member from VMCVM. Shannon Murray, PhD

REAP: A Platform for Screening Myeloid derived Suppressor Cell Therapies Across Tumor Types. Robin Varghese, PhD is an investigator on this project.