Ivana Semova, PhD
Summer 2012

Ivana first participated in the IBMS program before joining the department and the lab of John Rawls where her studies culminated in her dissertation, “The role of gut microbiota and diet in lipid metabolism.”  She is continuing her work in the Rawls lab as a postdoctoral fellow.

Katy Liu, PhD
Summer 2012

Katy is a student in the MD/PhD program.  She conducted her PhD studies in Richard Cheney's lab where she investigated myosin-X and completed her dissertation, "Functions of Myosin-X in Polarized Epithelial Cells." She has resumed her studies in the medical curriculum at UNC.

Mahita Kadmiel, PhD
Fall 2011

Mahita conducted her dissertation research under the mentorship of Dr. Kathleen Caron. She completed her dissertation, "The Role of Receptor Activity Modifying Protein-2 (RAMP2) in Female Endocrine Physiology," in December 2011. She has accepted a postdoctoral position with the NIEHS.

Deepti Rao, PhD
Summer 2011

Deepti's research in the lab of Dr. Paul Manis culminated in her dissertation entitled, “Cholinergic Modulation of Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity in Auditory Cortex.”  She has accepted a position as Director of Research at Biological Coprocessors in the Boston, MA, area.

Michael Kerber, PhD
Summer 2011

Mike studied myosin X function in the lab of Dr. Richard Cheney and defended his thesis, "The Role of Myosin X in a Putative System of Intrafilopodial Transport," in June 2011. He is now a postdoctoral fellow here in the department, in the lab of Dr. Carol Otey.

Shiliang Wang, PhD
Spring 2011

Shiliang completed his dissertation research in the lab of Dr. James Faber, and defended his thesis, “Dissecting the Genetic Architecture of Complex Traits: Hot Spots and Vascular Collaterals” in December 2010.  Shiliang went on to complete a Master's degree in Public Health and is currently enrolled in UNC's MBA program.

Robert Fellner, PhD
Fall 2010

Bob conducted his dissertation research on "Prouroguanylin’s Role in the Homeostatic Response to Dietary Sodium: Hormone Precursor or Active Signaling Agent" under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Goy.  He accepted a postdoctoral position position in the lab of Dr. Edward Inscho in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia.

Kathryn Hamilton, PhD
Fall 2010

Kate completed her dissertation, "Role of Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 in Colorectal Cancer," in the Lund lab in September 2010.  She has relocated to Philadelphia where she is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Anil Rustgi, MD, in the Division of Gastroenterology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Brett Rollins, MS
Fall 2010

Brett completed his thesis project, "Regulation of the Epithelial Sodium Channel (ENaC) by the Short Palate, Lung, and Nasal Epithelial Clone (SPLUNC1)," in the Tarran lab in the Cystic Fibrosis Center.

Victoria Newton, PhD
Summer 2010

Vicki's doctoral project, "Suppressor of cytokine signaling-2 and epidermal growth factor receptor modulates insulin-like growth factor signaling in intestinal cancer," was conducted under the guidance of Kay Lund.  Vicki is staying at UNC as a SPIRE postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Scott Magness.

Youjun Chen, PhD
Summer 2010

Youjun successfully defended her dissertation, entitled "Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) Regulates Axon Arborization and Cytoskeleton Organization via its Amino-Terminus," which in the Snider lab. Youjun continued her work in the Snider lab as a postdoctoral fellow until January 2012 when she accepted a research associate position with the Page lab at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida.

Brookelyn Haddock, MS
Summer 2010

Brooke completed her thesis in the lab of C. William Davis in the Cystic Fibrosis Center.  She has returned to her home state of California.

Lucia Seminario Vidal, MD, PhD
Spring 2010

Lucia's dissertation work on "Mechanisms of ATP release in airway epithelial cells" was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Eduardo Lazarowski in the CF Center.  She and her family have relocated to New Jersey where she will complete her medical residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Melinda DiVito, PhD
Fall 2009

Melinda's work in the lab of Dr. Richard Cheney was on "Myosin X and Myosin XIX in Intracellular Transport." She continued her project in the Cheney lab as a postdoctoral fellow.  In Fall 2010, Melinda accepted a position as a Fellow of the Christine Mirzayan Science & Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program in the Policy and Global Affairs Division of the National Academies in Washington D.C.

Sushmita Jha, PhD
Fall 2009

Sushmita's work on her dissertation, "Role of the NLR Gene Family Members in Neuroinflammation and Demyelination in the CNS," was conducted under the guidance of Dr. Jenny Ting in the department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Sushmita is continuing her work with Dr. Ting as a postdoctoral fellow.

Hsin-Yuan Cheng, PhD
Fall 2009

Hsin began her doctoral studies in the Smyth lab at UNC, then followed Dr. Smyth to the University of Kentucky to complete her thesis on "Regulation of the Pulmonary Vasculature by Lysophospholipase D Autotaxin-Lysophosphatidic Acid Signaling." She is now a postdoctoral fellow at La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology in the lab of Catherine C. "Lynn" Hedrick, PhD.

Brooks Scull, MS
Spring 2009

Brooks completed his thesis, "Intestinal regeneration after irradiation: Stem cells and Sox9," in the Lund lab.

Tiffany Thai, PhD
Spring 2009

Tiffany completed her dissertation, "Functional characterization of ADP ribosyl cyclase signaling pathways in the renal microcirculation" under the direction of William Arendshorst, PhD. She is currently postdoctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Jeffrey Sands, MD, at Emory University.

Xinshuo completed her thesis, "Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 is required for axon growth and development," in the Snider lab in spring of 2009.

After graduation, Xinshuo accepted a position as a professional research assistant in the lab of Kate Horwitz at University of Colorado, Denver.