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By: Published Date: Mar 18

By: Published Date: Mar 15
  

Amber Buel

Amber Buel (mentors: Patrizia De Sarno, Ph.D. and Chander Raman, Ph.D.) and Jocelyn Hauser (mentor: Janet Yother) were honored on Friday, March 8, 2013, at the UAB Graduate School Awards Luncheon in the Bartow Arena Green and Gold Room. Buel’s presentation, “Lithium Controls Central Nervous System Autoimmunity through Modulation of IFN-γ Signaling,” received third place in Session 14, and Hauser’s presentation, “Modulation of Capsule Production in Streptococcus pneumoniae by SpxB and Hydrogen peroxide,” received third place in Session 11.

Jocelyn Hauser

The annual UAB Graduate Student Research Day competition is open to all degree-seeking UAB graduate students enrolled during the semester in which the competition is held. Each participant is limited to 12 minutes for their presentation, with 3 additional minutes for questions from the judging panel. Judges include faculty and post-doctoral fellows, representing a diverse group of scholars.

By: Published Date: Mar 12 Kathryn Doornbos, a graduate student in Dr. Michael Niederweis’s lab, is one of five graduate students to be awarded the 2013 Moses Sinkala Travel Scholarship.

“I'll be doing an 8-week collaboration with Wilbert Bitter at VU (Vrije Universiteit) in Amsterdam. Dr. Bitter has a well-established zebrafish embryo infection model for Mycobacterium marinum that enables detailed and rapid identification of phenotypes of mycobacterial mutants that would be difficult or impossible to observe in other animal models of mycobacterial diseases,” explains Doornbos.

Along with a monetary award, Doornbos will be honored at a luncheon on Monday, April 8th in UAB’s Edge of Chaos Atrium.

This prestigious travel award is presented by The Sparkman Center for Global Health to assist exemplary graduate and undergraduate students complete an international internship or research opportunity. To learn about the late Dr. Moses Sinkala, go to the UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health website.

By: Published Date: Mar 08 Dr. Brian Parks, Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, and graduate of the UAB Microbiology Department, will speak May 7, 2013 at Noon in the Learning Resource Center (1714 9^th Ave South) Room 102.

Parks, a graduate student in Dr. Janusz Kabarowski’s lab from 2004 to 2009, is studying the genetic nature of obesity and weight gain at the University of California, Los Angeles. His recent study using a systems genetics approach in mice analyzed genetic and environmental interactions affecting obesity, metabolic syndrome and gut microbiota composition. The results indicated that body-fat responses and gut microbe changes to high-fat, high-sugar diets have a very strong genetic component. “We have identified several genetic factors potentially regulating these responses,” says Parks.

Read Dr. Parks’ most recent results, “Genetic Control of Obesity and Gut Microbiota Composition in Response to High-Fat, High-Sucrose Diet in Mice,” in the January 2013 issue of Cell Metabolism and a commentary at http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/january2013/01282013weight.htm.

By: Published Date: Feb 27

The UAB Program in Immunology NIH Training Grant has been renewed with a perfect score of 10! Drs. Harry Schroeder and Laurie Harrington (Director and Co-Director of the Training Program and Grant) announced the good news February 26, 2013.

The UAB Program in Immunology has more than 69 members on the UAB campus including 14 Primary and 20 Secondary Faculty in the Department of Microbiology. As Drs. Schroeder and Harrington indicated in their announcement: "The training grant was judged on the quality of the written application, the qualifications of the Program Director and Co-Director, the track record of the previous and current trainees, the quality of the institution, and the track records and qualifications of the mentors. A score of 10 indicates that the committee viewed our program faculty and trainees very favorably."

Congratulations to all!

By: Published Date: Feb 20 The Office of Postdoctoral Education and the UAB Postdoctoral Association announced the winners for the 2013 Postdoctoral Research Day. Three postdocs from the Microbiology Department received awards:


These outstanding trainees were among approximately 50 entrants from UAB and SRI (Southern Research Institute). Each submitted a 300-word abstract and presented a 12-minute talk about their research project. Research Day was divided into six sessions with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards for each session. Microbiology postdocs presented in session 4.

By: Published Date: Feb 19 Travel Awards: Apply by March 15, 2013 for travel awards between UAB and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) in Durban, South Africa. Faculty, post-doctorates or senior students at both UAB and K-RITH with research interests related to tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, including prevention sciences, are eligible to apply.

Pilot Project Awards: Apply by August 1, 2013 for Pilot Project Awards to develop collaborative projects between the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV (K-RITH) in Durban, South Africa. Faculty (at all levels) with research interests aligned with K-RITH investigators in the fields of tuberculosis or HIV/AIDS, including prevention sciences, are encouraged to apply.

Full instructions are available at the Infectious Diseases, Global Health and Vaccines Strategic Initiative website.

By: Published Date: Feb 08

	UAB Microbiology Professor Peter Prevelige, Ph.D., is noted for his research into viral capsid  assembly and his contributions to the field of nano-biotechnology. In an interview in the February 2013 issue BioTechniques Dr. Prevelige discusses his research focus and the potential impact of his current projects.

By: Published Date: Jan 29

The 21st Microbiology Research Retreat was held on November 9-11, 2012, at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort, Hotel LeCiel, Sandestin, Florida. The 111 attendees took advantage of the opportunity to share their diverse experiences and knowledge in the relaxing atmosphere of the Gulf Coast.

Pete Burrows, director of the Immunology Graduate Theme says, “The retreat provides an informal setting for students and postdocs to present their research and discuss it with the Microbiology faculty.”

The retreat began with a welcome speech from the new department chair, Dr. Frances Lund. Formerly at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, Lund brings with her a desire to broaden the Microbiology Department’s tradition of collaborative science.

The retreat schedule, filled with student and faculty presentations, also included an opportunity to honor a distinguished Microbiology Department alumnus, Sean Whelan. As a postdoc in Gail Wertz’s lab, Whelan focused on vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). He is now a faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology at Harvard Medical School.

The three-day retreat concluded with the presentation of awards. Students receiving awards at the retreat include:

Jiri Vlach – Most Outstanding Oral Presentation – Postdoc
Kimberly Thomas – Most Outstanding Poster – Graduate Student
Brandon Hatcher – Outstanding Poster – Graduate Student
Allison Brady – Most Outstanding Poster – New Investigator
Tyler Stewart – Outstanding Poster – New Investigator
Haley Echlin – Most Outstanding Oral Presentation – Graduate Student
Jeffrey Vahrenkamp – Outstanding Oral Presentation – Graduate Student
Ashley Burg – Outstanding Oral Presentation – New Investigator
Gregory Bedwell – Outstanding Oral Presentation – New Investigator
Kathryn Doornbos – Outstanding Oral Presentation – New Investigator

By: Published Date: Jan 08 Mark Walter is a Co-PI on a NIH R01 grant that received a perfect score (10). This is an outstanding and very rare accomplishment. The project title is Prevention of Primary HCMV Infection by Vaccinating against HCMV-Encoded IL-10. Congratulations, Mark!

By: Published Date: Jan 08

Congratulations to Leland Black (graduate student in Janusz Kabarowski’s lab) who received 3^rd prize for her poster presentation at the 23^rd Annual UAB Vascular Biology & Hypertension Symposium (October 8-9, 2012). Leland’s poster, one of 34 presented by graduate students and postdocs at this symposium, was entitled “HDL-Mediated Modulation of Autoimmunity in Normolipidemic Lupus-prone mice”.

By: Published Date: Jan 08

 Dr. Janet Yother has been selected as the School of Medicine faculty nominee for the UAB Diversity award. This award was established to recognize the significant achievements of faculty, staff and students who have worked to develop a more culturally diverse, competent and inclusive university community.

Yother was nominated by her students, both past and present, as the faculty member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to promote diversity within the department, graduate school and university.

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By: Published Date: Jan 02

Dr. Jan Novak’s laboratory welcomes four new members and says farewell to one.

From left to right:

By: Published Date: Jan 02 Congratulations to Drs. Sunnie Thompson and Elena Frolova for their promotions from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with Tenure!