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HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

MD-PhD Program newsletter spring 2005



volume 16



number 1

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Defying Convention Describing the newest class of MD-PhDs

In this issue 2 NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 4 ANNUAL RETREAT CELEBRATES PROGRAM’S 30TH YEAR 5 THE “P” WORD 6 FOR THE RECORD: AWARDS, PUBLICATIONS, PHDS COMPLETED, PROGRAM EVENTS, RESIDENCY APPOINTMENTS

Quentin Baca is a New Mexico native who graduated from Stanford University in chemistry in 2004. At 6’2” and the shortest of his three brothers, he suffers from a “short complex” and hopes to justify his existence through cooking and research. He does not mind being one of the few New Pathway students in this year’s MD-PhD class, and he hopes he can find a lab that lets him mix his physical chemistry background with

LINDA BURNLEY

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rom getting kicked out of a bar during our first week in Boston to our Friday night potluck dinners in Vanderbilt Hall to the grand festivities of Solapalooza in Craig’s back yard, it was clear from the start that this year’s MD-PhD class would have a special bond. Despite breaking off into separate HMS societies, separate graduate programs, and separate labs, our group of 12 only continues to get closer and depend on each other more and more for moral support, academic guidance, and comic relief. At the risk of sounding trite, we thought it worthwhile to take a few sentences to highlight the diversity of our class. We are a group with varied interests and backgrounds, drawn together by a common passion for basic science, clinical medicine, and free food. The twelve of us hail from five different countries, seven different states, and eleven different kindergartens. We have worked with organisms that range in genome size from 30,000 to 3,000,000,000 base pairs. We have birthdays in seven of the twelve months. And our dorm rooms can be found on three of the six floors of Vanderbilt Hall. These are but a few examples that underscore the fact that our class simply defies all conventional labels. Below are short blurbs that describe each of the members of the first year MD-PhD class. We wrote these ourselves, but deftly employed the third person to convey a sense of deep significance and import.

First year MD-PhD students following the white coat ceremony last fall. Front row (L-R): Zachary Morris, Mai Anh Huynh, Sol Schulman, Peggy Hsu, Lauren Barr, Michael Tibbetts; back: Martin Kurtev, Ben Rapoport, Quentin Baca, Srinivas Viswanathan, Dan Herman, Craig Mermel.

biological and medical applications before his need for green chile drives him back to visit New Mexico. Lauren Barr comes to Boston from the tiny town of Pendleton, IN, via the bustling metropolis of Philadelphia where she studied biochemistry and biotechnology at the University of Pennsylvania. Lauren is an avid football fan, and her love of the Indianapolis Colts and their dreamy place kicker Mike Vanderjagt is surpassed only by her hatred of the New England Patriots. When she’s not out expanding her impressive shoe collection or perfecting her margarita recipe, Lauren can be found studying neuroscience in hopes of someday figuring out synaptic transmission at the molecular level. She aspires to be a roadie for U2, but in case that doesn’t work out, she’d also love to be a great PI, professor, and pediatric neurologist. Daniel Herman graduated from MIT in 2004 with a degree in biology. As an undergraduate he performed research in many subfields within neuroscience, including hippocampal learning and memory and cortical development. Daniel’s current biomedical interests are focused around neucontinued on page 3

New Head of MD-PhD Social Sciences Track Appointed Allan Brandt, PhD, Amalie Moses Kass Professor of the History of Medicine was appointed in January as Director for the social sciences track of the MD-PhD Program. Dr. Chris A. Walsh continues to be the Director for the basic sciences track. Linda Burnley, Director of Administration and Finance, will lead the administrative efforts of both tracks. See Harvard Medical School “Focus,” April 8, 2005 issue for more details.

Meet the New Executive Committee Addressing the key issues and priorities of the MD-PhD Program n his first year as program director, Dr. Chris A.Walsh set up a new MD-PhD Executive Committee (EC) to address the key issues and priorities of the basic sciences MD-PhD track. The committee, which has been meeting regularly since last fall, is charged with improving the integration of medical and graduate studies, ensuring that we maintain an open and responsive career advising system for all MD-PhD students, providing strategic advice to the director, and facilitating the operational aspects of the program. Dr. Chris Walsh chairs the committee which includes Linda Burnley, administrative director; Stephen Blacklow, MD, PhD, associate professor of pathology, HMS, associate pathologist, Brigham & Women’s Hospital; Joel N. Hirschhorn, MD, PhD, assistant professor of genetics and pediatrics, Children’s Hospital/HMS, associate member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Alan M. Michelson, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine, HMS, associate physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, associate investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and Maria Ann Rupnick, MD, PhD, instructor in cardiovascular medicine, HMS, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, research associate, Vascular Biology Program, Children’s Hospital Boston Research Affiliate, Chemical Engineering, MIT. Dr. Stephen Blacklow replaces Richard Maas, MD, PhD, professor of genetics and Howard Hughes Investigator, as course director of the first MD-PhD summer course “Molecular Biology of Human Disease.” Dr. Maas conceived and developed the original course that started in 2000 and served as an inspiring teacher and enthusiastic course leader for the past five years. Dr. Blacklow co-directed the course last summer with Dr. Maas and planning for the 2005 course is underway to begin again in July for next year’s new class. Dr. Blacklow also serves as advisor for MD-PhD students in the PROGRAM New Pathway’s Peabody Society newsletter as well as the graduate programs SPRING 2005 in BBS and biophysics. Editor Dr. Joel Hirschhorn has Linda Burnley been named associate director of Assistant Editor the program to focus primarily Janelle McCluskey on the graduate education Designer aspects of the training program. Kathleen Sayre He is currently organizing a This newsletter is published twice a year summer poster session to prowith this issue representing the 15th anniversary since it was first published in 1990. mote scientific exchange between medical students inter©COPYRIGHT 2005 BY THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE ested in pursuing graduate trainwww.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd ing and the first and second year

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MD-PhD students completing summer lab rotations. Dr. Hirschhorn also serves in the capacity as special advisor to medical students who are planning to pursue graduate training. More recently, he is co-chairing the program’s admissions process for the cycle 2 applicants. Dr. Alan Michelson, a longstanding member of the admissions and advising committees, continues, along with Dr. Walsh, to cochair the MD-PhD Committee of Advisors that meets regularly to review the progress of all MD-PhD students. Dr. Michelson offers a compassionate understanding of the complexities and challenges that arise from transitioning back and forth between medical and graduate training. He continues to offer advice not only to the Castle Society students where he is the designated advisor for MDPhD students but he is often called upon to help with sensitive and unique issues that arise from navigating the dual degree training. Dr. Maria Rupnick, also named associate director, will continue to examine the clinical aspects of the training program. In her role as course director for the longitudinal course in clinical medicine (LCCM) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Rupnick has long been committed to helping students at the crucial transition as they face the return to patient care following a long hiatus in the lab. Dr. Rupnick is a facilitator in the annual meeting to introduce the clerkship directors to the year 2 students in preparation for their upcoming required 2 month summer clerkship. As course director of the LCCM, Dr. Rupnick is charged with identifying faculty preceptors to help link students to patients in the hospitals. With medical education reform ahead at HMS, Dr. Rupnick expects to expand her role in improving and overseeing the clinical experience of the program. The new executive committee augments the program’s more traditional organizational committees: the Faculty Standing Committee, the Subcommittee on Admissions, the Committee of Advisors and the program’s administrative staff. Dr. Walsh is thrilled to have a new team of leaders to support the goal of ensuring that students receive an excellent medical scientist training experience.

PROGRAM NOTE

Jordan Kreidberg, MD, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics, has volunteered to organize speakers for “meet the investigator” seminars, the annual student/faculty retreat and other special events throughout the year. For ideas and suggestions, please email [email protected].

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NEWEST CLASS continued from page 1

rological diseases, spanning from pathophysiology to neuroregeneration. Beyond Longwood he has continued to adapt to the New England lifestyle by recently learning to ski and enjoying Super Bowl and World Series victories. Peggy Hsu is from Bethlehem, PA and graduated in 2003 with a degree in molecular biology from Princeton University. Having conducted thesis research on nutrient sensing and growth regulation in S. cerevisiae, she has spent a considerable amount of time communing with mutant yeast. After graduation, Peggy spent a year in Dresden, Germany, where she not only studied post-Golgi sorting and transport but also immersed herself in good music, engorged her belly with almond cake, and spent a considerable amount of time communing with mutant friends.

Craig Mermel graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2004 with degrees in Biochemistry and Mathematics. As an undergraduate, Craig studied the molecular mechanisms regulating granulocytic development. He is currently fascinated by the parallels between normal developmental pathways and tumorigenesis, and hopes to explore how the recombination

in physics. Before entering the M.D.-Ph.D. program he completed a second master’s degree in mathematics at Oxford University, where his research focused on mathematical models of neural systems. Ben is pursuing his Ph.D. in the MIT Physics Department and is particularly interested in electronic interfaces with the human nervous system. He is also an avid long-distance runner and erstwhile cartoonist.

Sol Schulman is from Buffalo Grove, IL and graduated from Brandeis University in May, 2004 with a BS/MS in biochemistry. Although best known for his landmark 7th grade poster entitled “The Effect of Light and Salt on Brine Shrimp,” his subsequent research has been in medicinal chemistry and protein biochemistry. Sol is currently interested in how proteins and viruses cross membranes and regularly assures interviewers and self alike that a better Students invited Dr. Michael Sandel, the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of understanding of these processes will be Government, as their guest speaker for a lunch seminar they organized last summer. of clinical utility. A once-serious musiMai Anh Huynh’s family, part of a wave cian and avid outdoorsman, Sol is of “boat people” from Vietnam, settled in Evansville, IN, after they were sponsored from events that occur in maturing lymphocytes con- known to enjoy his remote wilderness excursions their refugee camp by a Midwestern Catholic tribute to the process of lymphoma formation. In with trumpet in hand. charity. A Hoosier at heart, Mai Anh nevertheless his spare time, you will find Craig enjoying time Michael Tibbetts graduated from Princeton liked Harvard enough to stay on for her MD-PhD with his fiancée Lauren and attempting to pry the University with a degree in molecular biology after graduating with an A.B. in biochemical sci- remains of his Harvard ID from the ferocious and is now in the HST program. He was raised in ences in 2004. Mai Anh spent her undergrad jaws of his beagle puppy Lily. Clearwater, Florida but spent many vacations in summers in the “real” Cambridge, working on a Zachary Morris is not actually the star of the Cayman Islands where his family can trace its thesis in structural biology at the MRC-LMB. Her “Saved by the Bell” though he does confess to roots to the 18th century. He grew up playing experience there inspired her to pursue a career as watching the show and modeling his every soccer competitively and along with several other a physician-scientist. During her nine months in move off the show’s main character who main- first-year MD-PhD students competed in the the UK, she enjoyed traveling through Spain, tains the same namesake. Zach is a native of Vanderbilt Hall indoor soccer league this past fall. Switzerland, France, and Italy. Now that her travRockford, IL though he votes as a resident of He has previously studied gynodioecious plant els are limited to exploring Boston by foot, Mai Stevens Point, WI—where his parents now live species and solved protein crystal structures, but Anh also finds time to run, dance, and spend time —because it’s more of a swing state. Prior to is now interested in targeted cancer therapies. outdoors. She enjoys all types of music but limits joining the rank and file at HMS, Zach completSrinivas Viswanathan was raised in Tenafly, NJ. performance to whistling or singing when no one ed a B.A. at Ripon College in chemistry and He attended college at Yale and graduated in is in earshot. Mai Anh is happy that BBS offers biology. He then deferred his admission to HMS 2004 with a BS/MS degree in molecular bioenough options to encompass the breadth of her for two years while he studied medical anthrophysics & biochemistry. As an undergraduate, research interests, which currently include strucpology and history of science and medicine at he worked in a molecular virology lab, studying tural biology, cancer biology, and neuroscience. Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. His Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus. Srini is now in the She’s even happier to have found such wonderful research interests lie in membrane protein HST program, and his current scientific interclassmates in the HST and MST program. structure-function relationships and he is parests lie in stem cell biology and the cellular pathMartin Kurtev graduated from MIT in 2004 ticularly interested in the processes of viral entry ways that are disrupted in human cancers. He with degrees in biology and neuroscience. His and tumor cell metastasis. This past winter enjoys squash, playing the violin, and ruminatresearch at MIT focused on studying the molec- break Zach was married to his high school ing on the plight of the follicular dendritic cell. ular basis of aging. Currently in the HST med- sweetheart, Camie Jeske. They are both enjoying Most recently, he has taken to riding the E line ical program, Martin intends to pursue a PhD the Boston area and are tremendously grateful for free and wearing winter hats indoors. In the in the molecular neuroscience. Martin was for all the wonderful friends they’ve made in the future, he plans to combine basic science with born in Bulgaria and at the age of 15 moved to HMS M.D.-Ph.D. program. clinical practice in an academic setting. He Chicago, IL where he attended high school. In Benjamin Rapoport graduated from Harvard hopes that his poor sense of direction does not his spare time he enjoys playing soccer and University in 2003 with an undergraduate degree cause him to get lost on his way from the bench other sports and reading novels. in physics and mathematics and a master’s degree to the bedside. SPRING 2005

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Celebrating 30 years Retreat participants celebrate the program’s 30th birthday year ver one hundred faculty and students participated in the MD-PhD Program’s Annual Retreat last October 2004 at Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Dr. Anne B. Young, Julieanne Dorn professor of neurology at HMS and the chief of neurology service at MGH, delivered the Eva J. Neer Memorial Lecture, “Huntington’s Disease: From the Shores of Lake Maracaibo to the Clinic.” Dr.Young who holds MD and PhD degrees from Johns Hopkins, delivered a wonderful talk that stretched from bench to bedside, summarizing her work on finding families with Huntington’s disease, mapping the gene, studying the gene function, and now moving to developing therapeutics that might slow neuronal degeneration. Senior students who gave oral presentations were Jakob Begun, Martin Burke, Irene Chen, Christopher Connor, Jean-Marc Gauguet, Arlo Miller, and Bradley Molyneaux. An exciting faculty discussion on stem cell research was

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moderated by Jeffrey D. Macklis, MD, associate professor of medicine (MGH): “Science, Politics, and Applications of Stem Cell Research.” On Sunday morning, Drs. Maria Rupnick, Joel Hirschhorn, Denisa Wagner and Chris A Walsh led a discussion with the students on how to choose a research problem. Everything from the differences between Bacon and Aristotle’s theories of knowledge, to the burning question of how to get out of the lab before your hair turns gray, was discussed. The general principles provided again by Dr. Hirschhorn for this article are: Ask important questions Be passionate about your questions or your field of inquiry or your approach Expose yourself to other ideas Be aware of different types of experiments/projects: hypothesis-testing (“Gallilean”) vs. descriptive (“Baconian”), which can give unexpected results (but, “you can’t plan unexpected results”)

“Class II” experiments: If the experiment comes out one way, you learn something, but the other result is uninformative “Class III” experiments: No matter how it comes out, you learn nothing. Do as many class I experiments as you can and avoid class III experiments. The retreat event capped the end of the program’s year long celebration of 30 years of continuous NIH grant support from the Medical Scientists Training Program (MSTP) Grant. Other sponsors for the 2004 retreat included Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research,Inc, Abbott Laboratories, Genzyme Corporation, Invitrogen Life Technologies Corporation, Merck Research Laboratories, New England BioLabs, Inc, Praecis, Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Schering-Plough Research Institute.

“Class I” experiments: No matter how they turn out, the answer is interesting. Descriptive experiments, or experiments in new fields are often class I

At left, retreat participants; upper right, Ilya Leskov and Salil Garg; middle, Irene Chen; lower right, Drs. Anne Young and Chris Walsh. PHOTOS BY MOSHE JAKUBOWSKI AND LINDA BURNLEY

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SPRING 2005

The “P” word BY JOSÉ O.ALEMÅN

hanks to the generous support of the UCSD MD-PhD program,

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I had the opportunity to attend the 2004 “Days of Molecular Medicine” Conference at the Wellcome Trust Institute Genome

Sequencing Campus in Hinxton, UK from March 18-20 hosted by Nature Medicine, UCSD and the Wellcome Trust. The theme for this meeting was Integrative Physiology and Human Disease: Neurohormonal and Metabolic Pathways. Fittingly, the symbol of the conference incorporated an integral to the surprise of us with technical backgrounds. My arrival in England began the day prior to the conference with a visit to Tate Britain in London before departing for Cambridge, a thoroughly historical and aesthetic experience before embarking on a weekend of cutting-edge science. The conference was hosted by Steve O’Rahilly of Cambridge University (UK), who stressed the importance of physiological understanding to the biomedical research conducted by the attendees. In this current rethinking of metabolism within the context of genetic regulation, the field of metabolic disease must vanquish resistance to physiology, the dreaded “P” word for many administrators and grant evaluators. The meeting promptly began with a keynote address by Jeffrey Friedman (Rockefeller) of leptin fame, in a presentation entitled “Molecular Physiology of Human Obesity and Related Metabolic Diseases.” In a very eclectic and encompassing style, the discoverer of leptin deconstructed the social and clinical perceptions of obesity and the important role of physician researchers in developing therapy for obesity that will eventually update our classification from personal choice to disease While quoting Lavoisier and Shakespeare in relating the importance of energy balance and the stigmatization of obesity, Professor Friedman carefully highlighted the intricate interplay among brain, fat, liver and muscle in the development of obesity. His analogy of leptin resistance and obesity with insulin resistance and diabetes bridged the physiology of metabolic syndrome in setting the stage for a weekend of engaging scientific discussion. The first session focused on the hypothalamic control of feeding and energy expenditure. Harvard University’s Terry Maratos-Flier gave an interesting presentation on the role of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) as an important mediator of the obese phenotype in a leptindeficient mouse model of obesity. Other notables in this session included Roger Cone (OHSU), Luciano Rosetti (AECOM) and David Cummings (U. Washington). Subsequently the DMM Forum showcased research around the globe to improve communications among scientists and possible scholarly collaborations. In a unique presentation, Kari Steffansson presented deCODE Genetics’ latest work identi-

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fying ALOX5AP allelic susceptibility to stroke in the Icelandic population. The forum included presenters from India, Pakistan, Estonia and other areas where the Wellcome Trust is involved in promoting medical research. The following day, the conference approached the field of intracellular mechanisms that regulate food intake through the understanding of transcription factors and signaling cascades. Harvard’s own Bruce Spiegelman presented work on genomic analysis of PGC-1adependent oxidative phosphorylation in diabetic muscle. With focus on biological and signal integration, the following sessions exposed the dialogue of muscle, fat and liver in the development of metabolic disease. Barbara Kahn (Harvard) presented exciting results on the role of leptin-mediated inhibition of AMP-kinase in the hypothalamus and its importance on regulating food intake in mice. In addition, Gerald Shulman (Yale) communicated NMR human studies on impaired mitochondrial activity in the insulin-resistant offspring of Type 2 Diabetics. Gary Ruvkun (Harvard) discussed RNAi models for insulin signaling in C. elegans. Other presenters included Leif Groop (Lund), Steve O’Rahilly (Cambridge), Takashi Kadowaki (Tokyo) and Markus Stoffel (Rockefeller). The 2004 “Days of Molecular Medicine” allowed me to bask in current translational research for the treatment of obesity, diabetes and metabolic disease. I met MD-PhD students from various universities around the world who shared a passion for understanding the intricacies of metabolism for the benefit of future patients. Likewise, faculty members at the meeting were accessible and supportive of combined degree education and bench-to-bedside research. Increasing interplay between disciplines to translate medical advances in metabolism from laboratory to the clinic was evident in the enthusiastic attendance at the conference and the intellectual exchange among the participants. I feel confident that MD-PhD education will allow me to seize strengths from medicine and science to further solidify the role of physicianscientists in understanding metabolic disorders by uttering the “P” word of physiology. Jose Aleman is a second-year Castle student doing his PhD at MIT in HST MEMP.

José O. Aleman

REFERENCES: Editorial. “Days of Molecular Medicine 2004.” Nat Med. 2004 ay;10(5):437. Friedman JM. “Modern science vs. the stigma of obesity.” Nat Med. 2004 Jun;10(6):563-9

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For the Record Current Student Awards and Honors

Greene JA. An ethnography of nonadherence: culture, poverty, and tuberculosis in urban Bolivia. Cult Med Psychiatry. 2004 Sep;28(3):401-25.

David Berry received the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for innovation and invention in February 2005. He also won the $1k competition at MIT in December 2004.

Greene, JA. Therapeutic Infidelities: Noncompliance Enters the Medical Literature: 1955-1975. Soc Hist Med 2004 17: 327-343.

Irene Chen received the 2005 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award sponsored by the Basic Sciences Division of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The award is sponsored by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and is given to 15 students internationally. Chen will participate in a scientific symposium from May 6 to 7 at the research center. Jeremy Greene was awarded the 2004 Shryock Medal by the American Association for the History of Medicine and the 2002 Roy Porter Essay Prize by the Society for the Social History of Medicine. John Hanna was a recipient of the 2004 Karnovsky Fellowship offered by the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Ben Sommers was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Fellowship in Ecomonics (2004-05) and the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Student Teaching, John F. Kennedy School of Government–Harvard University (2003-04). John Hanna and Dr. Joel Hirschhorn at the program’s annual retreat last fall.

Zuzana Tothova was awarded the Presidential Fellowship by President Summers, for her PhD study in the BBS program within Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences–Division of Medical Sciences. Recent Publications Ali MH, Taylor CM, Grigoryan G, Allen KN, Imperiali B, Keating AE. Design of a Heterospecific, Tetrameric, 21-Residue Miniprotein with Mixed alpha/beta Structure. Structure (Camb). 2005 Feb;13(2):225-34. Begun J, Sifri CD, Goldman S, Calderwood SB, Ausubel FM. Staphylococcus aureus virulence factors identified by using a high-throughput Caenorhabditis elegans-killing model. Infect Immun. 2005 Feb;73(2):872-7. Suh KY, Yang JM, Khademhosseini A, Berry D, Tran TN, Park H, Langer R Characterization of chemisorbed hyaluronic acid directly immobilized on solid substrates. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2005 Feb 15;72(2):292-8. Berry D, Lynn DM, Sasisekharan R, Langer R. Poly(beta-amino ester)s promote cellular uptake of heparin and cancer cell death. Chem Biol. 2004 Apr;11(4):487-98. Chyung JH, Raper DM, Selkoe DJ. {gamma}-Secretase Exists on the Plasma Membrane as an Intact Complex That Accepts Substrates and Effects Intramembrane Cleavage. J Biol Chem. 2005 Feb 11;280(6):4383-92. Epub 2004 Nov 29. Coffee MP, Garnett GP, Mlilo M, Voeten HA, Chandiwana S, Gregson S. Patterns of movement and risk of HIV infection in rural Zimbabwe. J Infect Dis. 2005 Feb 1;191 Suppl 1:S159-67. Currier SC, Lee CK, Chang BS, Bodell AL, Pai GS, Job L, Lagae LG, Al-Gazali LI, Eyaid WM, Enns G, Dobyns WB, Walsh CA. Mutations in POMT1 are found in a minority of patients with Walker-Warburg syndrome. Am J Med Genet A. 2005 Jan 6;133A(1):53-57. Manke IA, Nguyen A, Lim D, Stewart MQ, Elia AE, Yaffe MB. MAPKAP kinase-2 is a cell cycle checkpoint kinase that regulates the G2/M transition and S phase progression in response to UV irradiation. Mol Cell. 2005 Jan 7;17(1):37-48.

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Elsasser S, Chandler-Militello D, Muller B, Hanna J, Finley D. Rad23 and Rpn10 serve as alternative ubiquitin receptors for the proteasome. J Biol Chem. 2004 Jun 25;279(26):26817-22. Epub 2004 Apr 26. Lin KY, Lin SC. A tale of two molecules: nitric oxide and asymmetric dimethylarginine. Acta Cardiologica Sinica 2004;20:201-11. Mills CE, Robins JM, Lipsitch M. Transmissibility of 1918 pandemic influenza. Nature. 2004 Dec 16;432(7019):904-6. Miyamoto DT, Perlman ZE, Burbank KS, Groen AC, Mitchison TJ. The kinesin Eg5 drives poleward microtubule flux in Xenopus laevis egg extract spindles. J Cell Biol. 2004 Dec 6;167(5):813-8. Arlotta P*, Molyneaux BJ*, Chen J, Inoue J, Kominami R, Macklis JD. Neuronal Subtype-Specific Genes that Control Corticospinal Motor Neuron Development In Vivo. Neuron. 2005 Jan 20;45(2):207-21. Lin Z, Kumar A, Senbanerjee S, Staniszewski K, Parmar K, Vaughan DE, Gimbrone MA Jr, Balasubramanian V, Garcia-Cardena G, Jain MK. Kruppel-Like Factor 2 (KLF2) Regulates Endothelial Thrombotic Function. Circ Res. 2005 Feb 17; [Epub ahead of print]. Evans EE, Roeder RKW, Carter JA, Rapoport BI. Homoclinic tangles, bifurcations and edge stochasticity in diverted tokamaks. Contributions to Plasma Physics April 2004 44 (1-3): 235-240. Dillon CP, Sandy P, Nencioni A, Kissler S, Rubinson DA, Van Parijs L Rnai as an experimental and therapeutic tool to study and regulate physiological and disease processes. Annu Rev Physiol. 2005;67:147-73. Seeburg DP, Pak D, Sheng M. Polo-like kinases in the nervous system. Oncogene. 2005 Jan 10;24(2):292-8. Seeburg DP, Liu X, Chen C. Frequency-dependent modulation of retinogeniculate transmission by serotonin. J Neurosci. 2004 Dec 1;24(48):10950-62. Zhu PP, Patterson A, Stadler J, Seeburg DP, Sheng M, Blackstone C. Intra- and intermolecular domain interactions of the C-terminal GTPase effector domain of the multimeric dynamin-like GTPase Drp1. J Biol Chem. 2004 Aug 20;279(34):35967-74. Epub 2004 Jun 18. Sommers BD.Who really pays for health insurance? The incidence of employerprovided health insurance with sticky nominal wages. Int J Health Care Finance Econ. 2005 Mar;5(1):89-118. Sommers B. From Medicaid to Uninsured: Drop-Out among Children in Public Insurance Programs. Health Serv Res. 2005 Feb;40(1):59-78. Taniguchi CM, Ueki K, Kahn CR. Complementary roles of IRS-1 and IRS-2 in the hepatic regulation of metabolism. J Clin Invest. 2005 Feb 10; [Epub ahead of print]. Tibbetts MD, Shiozaki EN, Gu L, McDonald ER 3rd, El-Deiry WS, Shi Y. Crystal structure of a FYVE-type zinc finger domain from the caspase regulator CARP2. Structure (Camb). 2004 Dec;12(12):2257-63. Alkhalil A, Cohn JV, Wagner MA, Cabrera JS, Rajapandi T, Desai SA. Plasmodium falciparum likely encodes the principal anion channel on infected human erythrocytes. Blood. 2004 Dec 15;104(13):4279-86. Epub 2004 Aug 19. Park JB*, Yiu G*, Kaneko S, Wang J, Chang J, He Z. A TNF Receptor Family Member, TROY, Is a Coreceptor with Nogo Receptor in Mediating the Inhibitory Activity of Myelin Inhibitors. Neuron. 2005 Feb 3;45(3):345-51. (*= equal contributors)

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Special Events

PhDs Completed 2004-05 David A. Berry, Health Sciences and Technology, Biological Engineering at MIT. [Robert Langer, Ph.D.] Glycosaminoglycan regulation of cell function (4/05). Vassilios J. Bezzerides, Health Sciences and Technology, Biophysics (GSAS) at Harvard University [David Clapham, M.D., Ph.D.] Rapid Translocation of the TRPC5 Ion Channel: Implications for Growth Cone Motility (6/04). Emanuela Binello, Health Sciences and Technology, Medical Engineering and Medical Physics- Nuclear Engineering at MIT [Richard Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D.] Role of Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptors in Mechanisms of Rejection in Heart Transplantation (5/04). Jay H. Chyung, Holmes, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Dennis Selkoe, M.D.] Cell surface events in the amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (9/04). Jason I. Comander, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Cell and Develpmental Biology (DMS) at Harvard University [Michael Gimbrone, M.D.] Transcriptional and Functional Modulation of the Endothelial Cell Inflammatory Response by a Biomechanical Stimulus (10/04). Sophie C. Currier, Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Chris Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.] Genetics of Walker-Warburg Syndrome A Disorder of Brain, Muscle and Eye Development (6/04). Thomas A.S. Deuel, Health Sciences and Technology, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Chris Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.] Doublecortin and the Doublecortin-like Kinase in CNS Development and Plasticity (8/04).

Anna Farago, Ruth Foreman, Elizabeth Stover, and Zuzana Tothova outside the Salk Institute while attending the 2005 Days of Molecular Medicine Conference in March. Ashu Jadhav also attended the conference. The topic was “Stem Cell Biology and Human Disease.”

Jean-Marc Gauguet, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Pathology (DMS) at Harvard University [Ulrich R. von Andrian, Ph.D., M.D.] Normal and Malignant Lymphocyte Migration: Glycosyltransferases and Integrins in Lymphocyte Homing & CXCR4 Inhibition of Multiple Myeloma (4/05) Yonatan H. Grad, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Genetics (DMS) at Harvard University [George Church, Ph.D.] Computational analysis and prediction of regulatory sequences in bilaterians (5/04). Jeremy A. Greene, Castle, History of Science (GSAS), at Harvard University [Allan Brandt, Ph.D.] The Therapeutic Transition: Pharmaceuticals and the Marketing of Chronic Disease (5/04).

Ashutosh P. Jadhav, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Genetics (DMS) at Harvard University [Connie Cepko, Ph.D.] Regulation of vertebrate retinal development by the Notch signaling pathway (4/05). Arlo J. Miller, Holmes, BBS-Cell and Developmental Biology (DMS) at Harvard University [David Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.] The Regulation of Melanoma Antigens by the Microphthalmia Transcription Factor (5/04).

LINDA BURNLEY

Sanjiv Harpavat, Cannon, Neuroscience at Harvard University [Constance Cepko, Ph.D.] Roles of Thyroid Hormones in Chick Retinal Development (10/04).

At the 10th annual MD-PhD women’s dinner hosted last December by Dr. Anne Young. Left to right: Rochelle Witt, Dr. Cammie Lesser, Jenny Chang and Savita Dandapani.

David T. Miyamoto, Health Sciences and Technology, BBS-Cell and Developmental Biology (DMS) at Harvard University [Timothy Mitchison, Ph.D.] Probing the Functions of Kinesins in Mitosis (9/04). Sahar Nissim, Peabody, BBS-Cell and Developmental Biology (DMS) at Harvard University [Clifford Tabin, Ph.D.] Signaling Centers in Early Limb Development (4/05) Benjamin D. Sommers, Holmes, Health Policy (GSAS), at Harvard University [Joseph P. Newhouse, Ph.D.] The dynamics of public and private health insurance coverage in the United States (3/05). Jonathan S. Thierman, Health Sciences and Technology, Medical Engineering and Medical Physics at MIT [Kullervo Hynynen, Ph.D.] Sources of Difference Frequency Sound in a Dual-Frequency Imaging System with Implications for Monitoring Thermal Surgery (9/04). Lisa Zakhary, Castle, Neuroscience (DMS) at Harvard University [Catherine Dulac, Ph.D.] Anatomical and Functional Analysis of MicroRNAs in Mammalian Olfactory Neurogenesis (4/05). GSAS = Graduate School of Arts and Sciences BBS = Biological and Biomedical Sciences DMS = Division of Medical Sciences

SPRING 2005

Save the Date Note these upcoming program events Annual Spring Dinner

June 7

Commencement

June 9

Summer Course Begins July 6 23rd Annual Retreat

Oct. 14-16

HARVARD MD-PHD PROGRAM n e w s l e t t e r

7

For the Record Class of 2005 Internship/Residency and Postgraduate Appointments Jeremy A. Greene, Internal Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston, MA.

Scott D. Boyd, Pathology, Stanford University Programs – Stanford, CA.

Kumaran Kolandaivelu, Internal Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston, MA.

Martin D. Burke, Assistant Professor in Chemistry, University Of Illinois – Urbana, IL.

Gabriela Motyckova, Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital – Boston, MA.

Bradley C. Carthon, Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital – Boston, MA.

Jonathan G. Murnick, Transitional Year - Cambridge Hospital/CHA – Cambridge MA; Radiology – Massachusetts General Hospital – Boston MA.

Megan Purcell Coffee, Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital – Boston, MA. Christopher W. Connor, Preliminary Medicine, Mt. Auburn Hospital – Cambridge MA; Anesthesiology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston MA. Andrew E.H. Elia, Preliminary Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston MA; Radiation Oncology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston MA. Anita Goel, Research.

Hien Thanh Tran, Preliminary Medicine, Mt. Auburn Hospital – Cambridge MA; Dermatology – New York University School of Medicine – New York, NY.

LINDA BURNLEY

Francis J. Alenghat, Internal Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston, MA.

Francis Alenghat and Hein Thanh Tran

Thanh-Nga T. Tran, Preliminary Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Boston MA; Dermatology – Massachusetts General Hospital – Boston MA.

v i s i t o u r w e b s i t e a t w w w. h m s . h a r v a rd . e d u / m d _ p h d

HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL

MD-PhD PROGRAM newsletter TOSTESON MEDICAL EDUCATION CENTER 260 LONGWOOD AVENUE, ROOM 168 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02115-5720 [email protected] www.hms.harvard.edu/md_phd TEL 617-432-0991 FAX 617-432-2791

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