News

Of note:

Congratulations to Dr. Arti Shukla, co-author on the manuscript "Extracellular Vesicle and Particle Biomarkers Define Multiple Human Cancers" published in the journal Cell. Read the paper

Please join Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger in congratulating Wyatt Chia on his successful thesis defense. Congratulations, Dr. Wyatt Chia, Ph.D.!!!

Please join Dr. Vikas Anathy in congratulating Nicolas Chamberlain and Dr. Emily Nakada.

Nicolas Chamberlain a PhD student recently published a paper entitled “Lung epithelial protein disulfide isomerase A3 (PDIA3) plays an important role in influenza infection, inflammation, and airway mechanics” in the journal Redox Biology (PMID 30735910). His abstract to be presented at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) conference was chosen to receive an abstract scholarship. The scholarship includes a full in-training registration to the 2019 ATS International Conference in Dallas, Texas. 

Dr. Emily Nakada was a post-doctoral fellow in our group. Her manuscript entitled “Conjugated bile acids attenuate allergen-induced airway inflammation and hyperresposiveness by inhibiting UPR transducers” has been recently accepted in the journal JCI Insight.

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Please join Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger in congratulating Allison Manuel and Evan Elko.

Dr. Allison Manuel is a post-doctoral fellow in our group.  Her abstract to be presented at the American Thoracic Society conference was chosen to receive an Abstract Scholarship . The scholarship includes a full In-Training Registration to the 2019 ATS International Conference in Dallas, Texas.  

Evan Elko is a PhD student. He just received notice that his F31 NIH application entitled: “Role of peroxiredoxin-4 in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis”  will be funded. 

Congratulations to Evan and Allison. 

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Christopher Dustin and Caspar Schiifers, students in Dr. Albert van der Vliet's lab, each won a Young Investigator Award for their presentations at the SRFBM conference in Chicago. (Nov 2018)

SRFBM conference 2018

[photo left to right: students:C. Dustin, C. Schiffers, SRFBM president F. Domann, principal investigator A. van der Vliet]


Announcements

Terri Messier, Research Analyst and Lab Manager of the Cunniff lab was recently awarded a Dean's Excellence in Research Award from the Larner College of Medicine. Terri has served the UVM community for over 25 years both as a scientist and steward of professionalism. Terri is a rigorous, creative and skilled scientist. She has authored 18 manuscripts, contributed to numerous patent applications and mentored an abundance of students. Terri serves on the UVM Laboratory Safety Partnership, the Youth Workforce Development Grad Challenge and is a member of the Vermont Biosciences Alliance. Terri is actively involved in the larger Chittenden county community, directing the Vermont Cancer Center Community Outreach Program that brings high school students into LCOM research labs and provides them with early exposure to science and research. Terri is a driving factor in the continuing success of our research and a role model for a dedicated and professional research scientist. Congratulations Terri!!

Congratulations to Dr. Yvonne Janssen-Heininger, Ph.D. on her selection as a new Fellow of the Society for Redox Biology and Medicine (SfRBM) in recognition of her outstanding contributions in the field of redox biology and to SfRBM. (Sep 2020)

From Yvonne Janssen Heininger, Ph.D.: nine members from the VLC/RBP group traveled to Ventura, CA to attend the Gordon Research Conference/Seminar on Oxygen Radicals that I organized together with Dr. Manisha Patel from Denver.

GRC

Congratulations to Cheryl van de Wetering who organized a highly successful Gordon Research Seminar on Oxygen Radicals: "Redox Processes from Chemical Reactivity to Their Role in Health and Disease" in Ventura CA February 1-2 2020.

Trainees from all over the world gathered, and gave oral and poster presentations along with elevator pitches in their work in redox biology. Cheryl also organized two keynote lectures held by leaders in our field. She single handedly did the fund raising and obtained grants that allowed her to reimburse travel and registration for the trainees. Congratulations to Cheryl on a job performed with the highest level of professionalism!

Congratulations also go to Dr. Allison Manuel. Allison won a GRC 2020 Mini-Bolt Award for the best elevator pitch of the conference!

IronBolt_MiniBolts

A special note of thanks to Dr. Albert van der Vliet who designed the Mini-Bolt Awards in line with the Iron Bolt Award that accompanies this conference. Albert started a new tradition in this GRC.

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braincunniff_280x400

The Cunniff Lab recently received funding from the Butler Family Foundation (managed by the Community Foundation for the Greater Capital Region) to investigate malignant mesothelioma tumor profiles that may predict sensitivity to therapies currently being developed in the Cunniff Lab, with support from RS Oncology. Malignant mesothelioma is a devastating disease that has no cure and is one of the most difficult tumors to treat. RS Oncology, in collaboration with the Cunniff Lab, is developing a therapeutic approach utilizing a novel mechanism of action that has shown promising pre-clinical activity.

This generous gift from the Butler Family will help to identify patients who are most likely to respond to current and new therapies under development. We are very thankful to the Butler Family for their generous support!

 

 

Publications

Alshaabi H, Shannon N, Gravelle R, Milczarek S, Messier T, Cunniff B. “Miro1-mediated mitochondrial positioning supports subcellular redox status.” Redox Biology 2020

Munson, Phillip B., Hall, Elizabeth M., Farina, Nicholas H., Pass, Harvey I., Shukla, Arti. "Exosomal miR-16-5p as a target for malignant mesothelioma." 2019 Sci Rep. Aug 19;9(1):11688 doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48133-0

Alshaabi H, Heininger M, Cunniff B. “Dynamic regulation of subcellular mitochondrial position for localized metabolite levels.” J Biochem. 2019 Jul 29. pii: mvz058. doi: 10.1093/jb/mvz058. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31359061.

Little AC, Hristova M, van Lith L, Schiffers c, Dustin CM, Habibovic A, Danyal K, Heppner DE, Lin MJ, van der Velden J, Janssen-Heininger YM, van der Vliet A. "Dysregulated Redox Regulation Contributes to Nuclear EGFR Localization and Pathogenicity in Lung Cancer". Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 19;9(1):4844. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41395-8. PMID: 30890751

Heppner DE, Dustin CM, Liao C, Hristova M, Veith C, Little AC, Ahlers BA, White SL, Deng B, Lam YW, Li J, van der Vliet A. "Direct cysteine sulfenylation drives activation of the Src kinase". Nat Commun. 2018 Oct;9(1):4522. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06790-1. PMID: 30375386 Free PMC Article

Anathy V, Lahue KG, Chapman DG, Chia SB, Casey DT, Aboushousha R, van der Velden JLJ, Elko E, Hoffman SM, McMillan DH, Jones JT, Nolin JD, Abdalla S, Schneider R, Seward DJ, Roberson EC, Liptak MD, Cousins ME, Butnor KJ, Taatjes DJ, Budd RC, Irvin CG, Ho YS, Hakem R, Brown KK, Matsui R, Bachschmid MM, Gomez JL, Kaminski N, van der Vliet A, Janssen-Heininger YMW. “Reducing protein oxidation reverses lung fibrosis.” Nat Med. 2018 Jul 9. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0090-y. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29988126

Bogdándi V, Ida T, Sutton TR, Bianco C, Ditrói T, Koster G, Henthorn HA, Minnion M, Toscano JP, van der Vliet A, Pluth MD, Feelisch M, Fukuto JM, Akaike T, Nagy P. “Speciation of Reactive Sulfur Species and their Reactions with Alkylating Agents: Do we have any clue about what is present inside the cell?” Br J Pharmacol. 2018 Jun 17. doi: 10.1111/bph.14394. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 29909607 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Vliet AV, Dick TP, Aust SD, Koppenol WH, Ursini F, Kettle AJ, Beckman JS, O'Donnell V, Darley-Usmar V, Lancaster J Jr, Hogg N, Davies KJA, Forman HJ, Janssen-Heininger YMW. “Rust never sleeps: The continuing story of the Iron Bolt.” Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Jun 15. pii: S0891-5849(18)31063-3. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2018.06.017. [Epub ahead of print] Review. PMID: 29913216 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Liu TL, Upadhyayula S, Milkie DE, Singh V, Wang K, Swinburne IA, Mosaliganti KR, Collins ZM, Hiscock TW, Shea J, Kohrman AQ, Medwig TN, Dambournet D, Forster R, Cunniff B, Ruan Y, Yashiro H, Scholpp S, Meyerowitz EM, Hockemeyer D, Drubin DG, Martin BL, Matus DQ, Koyama M, Megason SG, Kirchhausen T, Betzig E. “Observing the cell in its native state: Imaging subcellular dynamics in multicellular organisms”. Science. 2018 Apr 20;360(6386). pii: eaaq1392. doi:10.1126/science.aaq1392. PMID: 29674564

Heppner DE, Hristova M, Ida T, Mijuskovic A, Dustin CM, Bogdándi V, Fukuto JM, Dick TP, Nagy P, Li J, Akaike T, van der Vliet A. “Cysteine perthiosulfenic acid (Cys-SSOH): A novel intermediate in thiol-based redox signaling?” Redox Biol. 2018 Apr;14:379-385. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2017.10.006. Epub 2017 Oct 9. PMID: 29054072 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Free PMC Article