RECENT GRADUATES
2018
Jugajyoti Baruah
Advisor: Kishore Wary
Defense Date: March 6, 2018
Thesis Title: "Role of Endothelial Nanog in Homeostasis of Adult Tissue Microenvironment"
2017
Jennifer Klomp
Advisor: Andrei Karginov
Defense Date: September 8, 2017
Thesis Title: "Dissecting the Role of c-Src in the Regulation of Adherens Junctions Using Engineered Kinases"
Current Position: T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of North Carolina-Lineberger Cancer Center, Channing Der Lab
Russell Smith
Advisor: John O'Bryan
Defense Date: April 12, 2017
Thesis Title: "A Novel Affinity Reagent to RAS Perturbs Its Function in Cells"
Current Position: Intramural Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute, Deborah Morrison Lab
Pascal Yazbeck
Advisor: Dolly Mehta
Defense Date: January 31, 2017
Thesis Title: "Focal Adhesion Kinase, Maintenance of Sphingosine 1 Phosphate Receptor 1 Expression and Barrier Function"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Harvard Medical School, Tanya Mayadas Lab
2016
Zheng Xu
Advisor: Xiaoping Du
Defense Date: July 19, 2016
Thesis Title: "Integrin Alphallbbeta3-dependent Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Platelets"
Brian Estevez
Advisor: Xiaoping Du
Defense Date: July 7, 2016
Thesis Title: "Signaling Mechanisms of the Glycoprotein Ib-IX-V Complex and Role of LIm Kinase 1 in Platelet Activation"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Mory Poncz Lab
Justin R Sysol
Advisor: Roberto Machado
Defense Date: May 25, 2016
Thesis Title: "Role of the SphK1/S1P Signaling Axis in the Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension"
Current Position: MSTP Student at UIC
Venkateswaran Ramamoorthi Elangovan
Advisor: Joe Garcia
Defense Date: March 17, 2016
Thesis Title: "Genetic and Epigenetic Regulation of NAMPT/PBEF Expression in Human Lung Endothelium"
Andrew Barazia
Advisor: Jaehyung "Gus" Cho
Defense Date: January 20, 2016
Thesis Title: "Role of DREAM in Neutrophil Function and Platelet-Neutrophil Interactions in Thrombo-Inflammatory Disease"
Current Position: Applications Scientist at Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Denver, CO
2015
Bo Shen
Advisor: Xiaoping Du
Defense Date: December 9, 2015
Thesis Title: "The Role of Galpha13 in Integrin Signaling and Function"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Sean Morrison Lab
Matthew Weist
Advisor: Masuko Ushio-Fukai
Defense Date: November 25, 2015
Thesis Title: "Mitochondrial Fission Protein, DRP1: A New Regulator of VEGF-Induced Angiogenesis"
Current Position: Clinical Data Manager, University of Chicago Medicine
Alicia N Rizzo
Advisor: Steven Dudek
Defense Date: June 1, 2015
Thesis Title: "The Role of Abl Family Kinases in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome"
Current Position: MSTP Student at UIC
Brian Burmeister
Advisor: John O'Bryan
Defense Date: May 7, 2015
Thesis Title: "PKA Phosphorylation of Shp2 Inhibits its Phosphatase Activity and Modulate Substrate Specificity"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Paul Burridge Lab
Melissa Geyer
Advisor: Yulia Komarova
Defense Date: March 10, 2015
Thesis Title: "The Role of End Binding Protein 3 in Regulating the Permeability of the Endothelial Barrier"
Current Position: Medical Science Liasion, Assurex Health, Chicago
2014
Myung-Jin Oh
Advisor: Irena Levitan
Defense Date: November 25, 2014
Thesis Title: "Mechanisms and Consequences of oxLDL induced endothelial cell stiffening"
Current Position: T32 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago, Jun Fang Lab
Nazila Daneshjou
Advisor: Asrar B Malik / Yulia Komarova
Defense Date: October 21, 2014
Thesis Title: "Role of Rac1 in Regulating the Integrity of Endothelial Adherens Junctions"
Current Position: Medical Writer, Meridius Health Communications, San Diego, CA
Maulik Patel
Advisor: Andrei Karginov
Defense Date: September 15, 2014
Thesis Title: "PDZ-RhoGEF Drives Gastrin Releasing Peptide Stimulated Colon Cancer Cell Migration"
Current Position: UCSD, Pfizer Research Postodctoral Fellowship, Clinical Pharmacology-Oncology
Keegan M Delaney
Advisor: Xiaoping Du
Defense Date: September 12, 2014
Thesis Title: "The Role of Rac1 in Platelet Signal Transduction and Function"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Mojgan Naghavi Lab
Auditi Debroy
Advisor: Chinnaswamy Tirruppathi
Defense Date: July 9, 2014
Thesis Title: "Stromal Interacting Molecular 1 Signaling and Lung Vascular Barrier Function"
Current Position: Medical Science Liasion (Immuno-Oncology), Bristol-Meyers Squibb
Ruby Fernandez
Advisor: Jason Yuan
Defense Date: June 23, 2014
Thesis Title: "Pathogenic Roles of STIM2 and Orai2 in the Development of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension"
Current Position: Senior Research Associate, Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Tustin, CA
Alejandra Chavez
Advisor: Dolly Mehta
Defense Date: June 20, 2014
Thesis Title: "Sphingosine Kinase 1 Signaling Regulates S1PR1 Interaction with VEGRF2 to Mediate Angiogenesis"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UIC
2013
Shalina Taylor
Advisor: Jingsong Xu
Defense Date: December 5, 2013
Thesis Title: "Requirement of Myeloperoxidase for Neutrophil Spatial Sensing"
Current Position: Cardiovascular Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, Marlene Rabinovitch Lab
Farnaz Bakhshi
Advisor: Richard Minshall
Defense Date: November 7, 2013
Thesis Title: "Mechanism of Caveolin-1 Degradation"
Position: Licensing Associate, Office of Technology Transfer and Corporate Partnerships, California Institute of Technology
Erin Kohler
Advisor: Kishore Wary
Defense Date: November 6, 2013
Thesis Title: "The Role of Nanog in Wnt Signaling-Mediated Endothelial Cell Dedifferentiation and Neovascularization"
Position: Postdoctoral Researcher, AbbVie
Nazir Okur
Advisor: John O'Bryan
Defense Date: September 19, 2013
Thesis Title: "Intersectin (ITNS) regulation of EGFR ubiquitylation"
Luiza Rusu
Advisor: Richard Minshall
Defense Date: August 13, 2013
Thesis Title: "Molecular Mechanisms of vWF Secretion"
Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, UIC Anesthesiology
Xiaowen Liu
Advisor: Jingsong Xu
Defense Date: July 19, 2013
Thesis Title: "The 'Go' and 'Stop' Mechanisms for Neutrophil Migration"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Harvard School of Medicine, David Clapham Lab
Christina Chow
Advisor: Tohru Kozasa
Date: February 7, 2013
Thesis Title: "Novel regulatory mechanisms ofm p115RhoGEF"
Current Position: Pharmacologist, Brookline Advisors, Chicago
Tracy Lynn Schmidt
Advisor: Dolly Mehta
Date: January 24, 2013
Thesis Title: "Endothelial Focal Adhesion Kinase and Endothelial Barrier Function"
Current Position: Clinical Project Manager, Medline Industries, Greater Chicago Area
Jessica Lowry
Advisor: Randal Skidgel
Date: January 15, 2013
Thesis Title: "A Novel c-Jun-N-Terminal Kinase Pathway Stimulates High Output eNos-Derived NO in Inflamed Endothelium"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Teepu Siddique Lab
2012
Emily Vandenbroucke St Amant
Advisor: Asrar B Malik
Date: November 1, 2012
Thesis Title: "The Role of PKCalpha-Mediated p120-Catenin Phosphorylation on Endothelial Permeability"
Current Position: Assistant Medical Director, GE Healthcare, Chicago
Ram Prasad Naikawadi
Advisor: Richard Ye
Date: August 30, 2012
Thesis Title: "Role of P-Rex1 in mediating Acute Lung Injury"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Scholar, UCSF School of Medicine-Pulmonary, Critical Care, Allergy and Sleep Medicine, Michael Matthay Lab
Robert Tell
Advisor: Richard Benya
Date: August 22, 2012
Thesis Title: "Gastrin Releasing Peptide Recepter Attenuates the Invasiveness of Colorectal Cancer Cells"
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Abbott, Greater Chicago Area
Kelly O'Brien
Advisor: Xiaoping Du
Date: July 20, 2012
Thesis Title: "The Role of Akt in Platelet Activation"
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, NHGRI, Genetics & Molecular Biology Branch, Hematopoiesis Section, NIH, Bethesda, MD
Crystal Zoe Hoeppner
Advisor: Richard Ye
Date: January 26, 2012
Thesis Title: "Identification of a Nuclear Localization Sequence in beta-Arrestin1: Functional Implications in NF-kB Activation"
Current Position: Consultant, Enterey Life Sciences Consulting, Chicago
Katy Wong
Advisor: John O'Bryan
Date: January 26, 2012
Thesis Title: "A Novel Role for Nucleotide-free Ras in Class II Phosphoinositide 3-kinase beta (PI3K-C2beta) Regulation"
Current Position: Medical Science Liasion, AstraZeneca, Boston, Ma
2011
Aaron Place
Advisor: Richard Minshall
Date: October 25, 2011
Thesis Title: "Molecular Mechanisms of Src Regulation by Csk, SHP-2, Cbp and Caveolin-1"
Current Position: Medical Science Liasion, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, Greater Chicago Area, IL
Erica Southgate
Advisor: Richard Ye
Date: April 19, 2011
Thesis Title: "Diversity in Ligands for Formyl Peptide Receptors"
Current Position: Field Application Scientist, EMD Millipore, Greater Chicago Area, IL
Alumni Spotlights
March 15, 2017
"It's not an easy road [to graduation], but if you have a goal in life, just don't quit, because at the end, the taste of victory is really very sweet." - Pascal Yazbeck, Graduating Class of 2017