By Christina Crowe
Shu Chen, Ph.D., Ona Faye-Petersen Endowed Professor, Neuropathology, has been awarded an R01 grant funding his research on biomarkers for early diagnosis of mixed pathologies in Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias. The grant, from the National Institute on Aging, is funded at $3.68 million over five years, through 2028.
The goal of the project is to develop and validate diagnostic biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, such as tauopathies, Lewy body dementia and their comorbidities, using easily accessible peripheral tissues, such as skin.
“Currently we don’t have a definitive diagnosis for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in living patients—it requires an autopsy,” Chen says. “The brain is most inaccessible. We have devised an assay to measure misfolded protein—including in colon biopsy and the skin—and hope to develop a noninvasive biomarker that can be used for routine diagnosis during a clinic visit.”
On June 1, UAB Pathology hosted the sixth annual C. Bruce Alexander Lecture in Pathology Education featuring Amy Treece, M.D., Chief of Pediatric Pathology, Children's of Alabama.
In Treece's talk, titled,"What I Wish I Knew in Residency: Lessons in Life and Career Development," she addressed leadership, mentoring, and networking, including some of the tougher topics of imposter syndrome and learning how to say no.
A mentor himself of many residents during his time at UAB Pathology, Dr. C. Bruce Alexander was present for the lecture and posed for photos with several of his former resident trainees who are now on faculty in the department.
Dr. C. Bruce Alexander (seated) poses with current and former residents, including Dr. Amy Treece in center (in blue dress).
Dr. Marisa Marques, Professor, Laboratory Medicine and a fellow former resident of UAB Pathology whose career was celebrated at a symposium in May, introduced Dr. Treece.
Watch the full lecture recording here on our UAB Pathology YouTube channel.
by Hannah Buckelew
Selvarangan Ponnazhagan, Ph.D., Endowed Professor in Experimental Cancer Therapeutics in the UAB Department of Pathology’s Division of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, has recently been awarded a $1.7 million R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute based on his project submission, titled, “Mechanisms and therapeutic targeting of osteoimmune functions of RANKL in breast cancer.” The award will run through March 31, 2027.
Dr. Brandi McCleskey, UAB Pathology Residency Program Director, with 2023 Boyd Medal Awardee Karan Goel, M.D.by Christina Crowe
UAB medical student Karan Goel is the 2023 recipient of the William Boyd Medal, distributed at the 2023 University of Alabama School of Medicine Dean's Awards ceremony, held on May 20, 2023. The Boyd Medal is given each year to the UAB medical student whose performance in all aspects of their pathology education has been most outstanding.
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