Author Archives: Jonathon Cornett

GMB Graduate Student Brandon Mouery and researchers in the lab of GMB Faculty Member Jean Cook, PhD, Chair and Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, have identified the cellular processes that occur when you take a cancer drug meant to stop rapid cell growth in tumors. Cancer cells...

Congratulations to Erica Branham for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Erica’s project is titled: “Stressful life events confer risk for chronic posttraumatic musculoskeletal pain through DNA methylation changes at the POMC promoter.”        

Congratulations to Gabi Quickstad for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute of Dental & Craniofacial Research. Gabi’s project is titled: “Investigating the roles of the H3K4 methyltransferases KMT2C and KMT2D in chondrocyte differentiation and endochondral ossification.”          

Congratulations to Sarah Lester (they/them) for being awarded an F31 Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Sarah’s project is titled: “Understanding the Genetic Contributions to Variation in Ozone Exposure Response.”          

Ana Berglind, a Genetics and Molecular Biology graduate student in Erin Heinzen’s Lab, is the recipient of a F99/K00 award from the National Institutes of Health. Her project title is “Discovery and functional characterization of somatic variation in intractable focal epilepsy”. The purpose of the Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Fellow Transition...

The UNC Department of Genetics joined together with the Department of Pharmacology, the Curriculum in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB), the Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology (GMB), and the UNC Office of Rural Initiatives to participate in a day of community outreach with “Camp Med” on Thursday, June 20....

Noor Singh (Kacy Gordon Lab) published an article titled “The Rac pathway prevents cell fragmentation in a nonprotrusively migrating leader cell during C. elegans gonad organogenesis” in Current Biology showing how a highly conserved small GTPase can prevent cell fragmentation during leader cell migration in C. elegans gonad morphogenesis.      

Sarah Linnstaedt, PhD (GMB), Benjamin Vincent, MD, and Pengda Liu, PhD (GMB), were selected as Yang Family Biomedical Scholars in the eighth installment of this annual School of Medicine award. The UNC School of Medicine has named three outstanding researchers as recipients of the eighth annual Yang Family Biomedical Scholars...

In this new UNC School of Medicine Vital Signs series, graduate student Isabela Gerdes Gyuricza in the Parr lab is featured. Through her research at UNC, Gerdes Gyuricza has developed a clearer vision of how her work in genetic epidemiology can influence public health policies and make a difference in...

Micah Hysong (he/him), Genetics & Molecular Biology graduate student in Laura Raffield’s Lab (UNC Genetics), received the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award. This fellowship will pay for the remainder of his PhD and offer exciting opportunities. He got this fellowship based on both his research proposal...

Ryan Salcido, Genetics & Molecular Biology graduate student in Mauro Calabrese’s lab (UNC Pharmacology) and received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award for his research proposal “Escape from X-Inactivation: A Model to Study Reversal of Epigenetic Silencing” and his commitment to science education and outreach.    ...

Rachel Dumez-Kornegay & Rob Dowen: Probiotics in kombucha found to mimic fasting and reduce fat stores in C. elegans model   “These findings are significant as they are consistent with purported human health benefits of kombucha tea, which include protection against metabolic diseases, improved liver function, and reduced fat accumulation.” —...