News and Awards
Nominata Award
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is pleased to announce Heankel Lyons, a fourth year student in the Genetics, Development, and Disease Graduate Program, as the recipient of the 2024 Nominata Award, the highest honor for academic and research accomplishment bestowed by the graduate school unto an advanced graduate student. Ms. Lyons is mentored by Ben Sabari, PhD, in the Cecil H. and Ida Green Center for Reproductive Biology Sciences. In her dissertation research, Heankel discovered novel mechanisms that drive biomolecular condensate specificity and function in the regulation of gene transcription during cellular differentiation and in dysregulated gene expression in cancer. Part of this work has been published and featured on the cover of Cell.
Runner-up Yichi (Tony) Zhang, PhD, will receive a Dean’s Discretionary Award. Tony, who was in the Molecular Biophysics Graduate Program, completed his PhD last summer in the lab of Eric Olson, PhD, Department of Molecular Genetics, identifying the contribution of the myogenin-myostatin axis to cancer cachexia-induced muscle atrophy and establishing the role of the nuclear envelope protein Net39 in muscle development, maintenance, and disease. This work appeared in Nature Structural and Molecular Biology and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
History
The Graduate Student Organization (GSO) created the Nominata Award in 1980 to stimulate academic excellence and research achievement among the advanced graduate students. The award consisted of a monetary prize and a gift certificate from Majors Scientific Books. Today, the Committee on Graduate School Awards, comprised of graduate school faculty, judges the nominees. The recipient receives a monetary award and the honor of presenting their research to the UT Southwestern community within the forum of the University Lecture Series.
Send an Debbie.Conley@utsouthwestern.edu to learn more about the competition.
Brown-Goldstein Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research
The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is pleased to announce that Simon Lebek, M.D., a former postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Eric Olson, Ph.D. and Rhonda Bassel-Duby, Ph.D., in the Department of Molecular Biology, as the 2024 recipient of the Brown-Goldstein Award for Excellence in Postdoctoral Research. Dr. Lebek has recently transitioned to his new faculty appointment at University Hospital Regensburg in Germany.
Honoring the contributions of Drs. Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein to the training of the next generation of scientists, this award is the highest honor for research accomplishment bestowed by the Graduate School on a postdoctoral research fellow. Chosen by a committee of graduate school faculty members, the winner receives a monetary prize as well as the opportunity to present the University Lecture.
Dr. Lebek’s research projects have focused on understanding pathologic mechanisms of common cardiovascular diseases and developing new therapeutic strategies against them. He found an overactivation of the stress-responsive enzyme CaMKIIδ in myocardial biopsies from patients with sleep apnea, which resulted in proarrhythmic alterations of the myocardial sodium and calcium homeostasis and subsequent multicellular arrhythmias. He then identified an ATP-competitive CaMKIIδ inhibitor that improved myocardial function and blocked arrhythmias in patients’ biopsies. As conventional compound-based strategies often face significant limitations that preclude clinical translation, Dr. Lebek conceived the idea of using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to modulate pathogenic CaMKIIδ. He developed several gene editing strategies that improved survival and conferred cardioprotection against various heart disease entities in mice. Moving toward clinical translation, he generated a humanized CaMKIIδ knock-in mouse model to deploy the editing strategies optimized for the human genome in vivo in adult mice. Use of a heart-specific promoter restricted the editing exclusively to cardiomyocytes, thereby reducing the risk of potential side effects. Dr. Lebek’s work, which has appeared in the journals Science and Circulation, may thus lead to an advanced strategy for heart disease therapy.
In addition, award finalist Sabareesan Thody, Ph.D., a former postdoctoral scholar and now Assistant Instructor in the laboratory of Michael Rosen, Ph.D., in the Department of Biophysics, will receive a Dean’s Discretionary Award. Dr. Thody’s research focused on unraveling the intricate relationship between small molecules, encompassing metabolites and drugs, and membraneless organelles termed ‘biomolecular condensates’. His use of diverse techniques, including various spectroscopy, biochemical assays, microscopy, and advanced metabolomic mass spectrometry approaches, allowed him to explore the roles of these small molecules in condensate formation.
Please support our excellent trainees by attending the University Lecture to congratulate them and hear Dr. Lebek’s University Lecture entitled “Precise Gene Editing As A Therapy For Cardiovascular Diseases” on Wednesday, April 24th at 4:00 PM in NG3.112 (note location).
Send an Debbie.Conley@utsouthwestern.edu to learn more about the competition.
Ida M. Green Award
Please join Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in congratulating Gina Park, who has been selected to receive the 37th Annual Ida M. Green Award.
Gina J. Park, a 3rd year student in the Cell and Molecular Biology Graduate Program and an M.D./Ph.D. candidate in the University’s Perot Family Scholars Medical Scientist Training Program. As part of her dissertation research in the lab of HHMI Investigator Vincent Tagliabracci, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology, Gina discovered the mechanism of mRNA capping by SARS-CoV-2, which involves a novel reaction catalyzed by a pseudokinase domain. This work, reported in Nature, has also been recognized by the UTSW 2022 Kirkpatrick Award and by an award for best poster at the 2022 FASEB Protein Kinases and Phosphorylation Conference.
Ms. Park’s contributions in support of fellow UT Southwestern graduate students include serving as a student representative for WISMAC, participating in outreach activities for the STARS symposium, playing an active role in the Women in MSTP Committee, and working with the Alliance for Women Scientists as a panelist for Careers in Science and Medicine discussions at the Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School in Dallas and the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Fort Worth, both all-girls public schools.
The award will be presented at a private ceremony that will include guests of the recipient, graduate school faculty and staff, members of WISMAC, representatives of Southwestern Medical Foundation and of the Cecil Green Estate.
The Ida M. Green Award was established in 1987 with a bequest from Mrs. Green to Southwestern Medical Foundation. With encouragement from her husband, Cecil Green, the award was established to acknowledge a female graduate student in the UT Southwestern Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to research excellence, the well-being of fellow students, and exceptional community service. The honor comes with a monetary award provided by the Women in Science and Medicine Advisory Committee (WISMAC) and Southwestern Medical Foundation.
Send an Debbie.Conley@utsouthwestern.edu to learn more about the competition.
William F. and Grace H. Kirkpatrick Award
On behalf of the Graduate School Awards Committee, we are pleased to announce the recipient of the William F. and Grace H. Kirkpatrick Award is Devon Jeltema.
The William F. and Grace H. Kirkpatrick Award is given annually to the graduate student who submitted the most scientifically meritorious NIH F or equivalent fellowship grant application during the prior academic year, as judged by the Graduate School Awards Committee. The award provides funds to kickstart the proposed research, irrespective of the funding agency’s decision.
Devon Jeltema, is a fifth year PhD student in the laboratory of Nan Yan, Ph.D., in the Department of Immunology. Ms. Jeltema’s application, entitled “Role of PARP7 in Negative Feedback Regulation of Type I Interferon Signaling,” examines the regulation and function of the ADP-ribosyltransferase PARP7 in maintaining immune homeostasis in vivo, which may identify novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of diseases associated with type I interferon signaling including autoimmunity, infection, and cancer.
Send an Debbie.Conley@utsouthwestern.edu to learn more about the competition.
