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Nature Communications: Integrated analysis of telomerase enzymatic activity unravels an association with cancer stemness and proliferation (Zheng Lab)

January 12, 2021

        Nighat Noureen, Shaofang Wu, Yingli Lv, Juechen Yang, W. K. Alfred Yung, Jonathan Gelfond, Xiaojing Wang, Dimpy Koul, Andrew Ludlow & Siyuan Zheng Abstract Active telomerase is essential for stem cells and most cancers to maintain telomeres. The enzymatic activity of telomerase is related but not equivalent to the expression of TERT, the catalytic subunit of the complex. Here we […]


Emily Selig of Libich Lab, Awarded a Spot on CPRIT Training Grant

January 8, 2021

      Emily Selig recently earned her PhD at the University of Melbourne, Australia where she was employing biophysical and biochemical approaches to investigate the mechanisms by which the small heat-shock proteins aB-crystallin and heat-shock protein 27 (Hsp27) inhibit protein misfolding and incorporation into amyloid fibrils. These proteins are ubiquitously expressed chaperone proteins responsible […]


Mucosal Immunology: Campylobacter infection promotes IFNγ-dependent intestinal pathology via ILC3 to ILC1 conversion

November 19, 2020

Wayne T. Muraoka, Anna A. Korchagina, Qingqing Xia, Sergey A. Shein, Xi Jing, Zhao Lai, Korri S. Weldon, Li-Ju Wang, Yidong Chen, Lawrence W. Kummer, Markus Mohrs, Eric Vivier, Ekaterina P. Koroleva & Alexei V. Tumanov Abstract Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a heterogeneous family of immune regulators that protect against mucosal pathogens but can also […]


Nature Communications: Integrative transcriptome and chromatin landscape analysis reveals distinct epigenetic regulations in human memory B cells (Pertsemlidis)

November 16, 2020

Justin B. Moroney, Anusha Vasudev, Alexander Pertsemlidis, Hong Zan & Paolo Casali Abstract Memory B cells (MBCs) are long-lived and produce high-affinity, generally, class-switched antibodies. Here, we use a multiparameter approach involving CD27 to segregate naïve B cells (NBC), IgD+ unswitched (unsw)MBCs, and IgG+ or IgA+ class-switched (sw)MBCs from humans of different age, sex and race. Conserved antibody variable gene expression […]


Stand Up to Cancer: Alexander J. R. Bishop, DPhil to Lead One of Three Trans-Atlantic Teams to Study Hard-to-Treat Childhood Cancers

October 20, 2020

Published On: October 19, 2020 Shared by Rosanne Fohn SAN ANTONIO (Oct. 19, 2020) — Although COVID-19 has become the top health and research priority around the world, a child is still diagnosed with cancer every two minutes globally. To meet this urgent need, the Stand Up To Cancer and Cancer Research UK’s Pediatric Cancer New […]


Scientific Reports: “Transcriptomic Sex Differences in Sensory Neuronal Populations of Mice”

September 23, 2020

Jennifer Mecklenburg 1, Yi Zou 2, Andi Wangzhou 3, Dawn Garcia 2, Zhao Lai 2 4, Alexei V Tumanov 5, Gregory Dussor 3, Theodore J Price 3, Armen N Akopian 6 7 Abstract Many chronic pain conditions show sex differences in their epidemiology. This could be attributed to the sex-dependent differential expression of genes (DEGs) involved in nociceptive pathways, including sensory neurons. This study aimed to identify sex-dependent DEGs in estrous female versus male […]


Raushan Kurmasheva, PhD, Part of Dmitri Ivanov, PhD, CPRIT Grant Team “Identifying and Optimizing Small Molecules for Drug Development.

September 8, 2020

SOURCE: UT Health San Antonio Newsroom “The following are the additional researchers and their awards: Dmitri Ivanov, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry and structural biology, will receive an Individual Investigator Research Award for Cancer in Children and Adolescents in the amount of $1,198,659. The topic is “Enhancing Cytarabine Response Through SAMHD1 Inhibition.” Dr. Ivanov’s team […]


Advanced Photon Source: How SARS-CoV-2 RNA Evades Host Immune Responses (Gupta Lab)

August 26, 2020

As we all know too well, the virus SARS-CoV-2 causes severe respiratory illness COVID-19. In parallel with the critical search for a cure, scientists are working diligently to develop effective treatments that can help lower the morbidity of this deadly virus. To develop these therapeutics, we must understand how the virus is able to invade […]


Luiz O.F. Penalva PhD Awarded CPRIT Grant to Study New Glioblastoma (GBM) Regulator

August 20, 2020

PROJECT SUMMARY Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and most aggressive brain tumor type among adults with a 14 months average patient survival. Despite all genomic efforts in recent years, novel therapies based on GBM common mutations and alterations have been disappointing. To build an alternative route, we have been focusing on oncogenic RNA binding […]


Alexander Pertsemlidis, PhD Co-Awarded National Science Foundation Grant.

August 20, 2020

PI: Leonidas Bleris, PhD                       Co-PI: Alexander Pertsemlidis, PhD (UT Dallas)                                              (UT Health San Antonio) PROJECT SUMMARY Collaborative Research: Unraveling extracellular microRNA communication Overview: […]