News & Publications
2024
2024 News and Publications
April 2024
Publications
Carmen Mannella, PhD, Adjunct Professor, Department of Physiology and Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, was co-author of “PMF-seq: a highly scalable screening strategy for linking genetics to mitochondrial bioenergetics” which was published in Nature Metabolism on February 27, 2024.
March 2024
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, presented a lecture to students at University College, London, by Zoom on February 8th entitled “Xenografts of Skeletal Muscle to Study Muscular Dystrophies”.
Publications
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was corresponding author of “Optimization of xenografting methods for generating human skeletal muscle fibers in mice” in Cell Transplantation.
February 2024
Appointments
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was appointed to a two-year term on the Patient Engagement Collaborative (PEC), a working group for a joint project between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) that discusses topics related to medical product regulation.
Honors and Awards
Anshu Kumari, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Vivek Garg's Lab, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine was awarded American Heart Association Fellowship for investigating Cardiolipin Modulation of Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter in Barth Syndrome.
January 2024
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor and Hans Moldenhauer, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, published the study, ‘Structural mapping of patient-associated KCNMA1 gene variants,’ in the Biophysical Journal, ePublication ahead of print 2023 Dec 1:S0006-3495(23)04120-6.
2023
2023 News and Publications
December 2023
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, authored the invited review, ‘BK Channelopathies and KCNMA1-Linked Disease Models,’ to be published in the February, 2024 issue of Annual Review of Physiology. Review in Advance first posted online on October 31, 2023, at https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-physiol-030323-042845.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor and Ria Dinsdale, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, authored the study, ‘Disease-associated KCNMA1 variants decrease circadian clock robustness in channelopathy mouse models,’ in the November 6 issue of The Journal of General Physiology.
November 2023
Honors and Awards
Samuel Barlow, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, has been awarded the 2023 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation. As a Finalist, Dr. Barlow received $5,000 and an invitation to participate in an in-person competition. As the winner of the prize, he received a $50,000 prize. Dr. Barlow is a fellow in the laboratory of Thomas Blanpied, PhD. https://investor.regeneron.com/news-releases/news-release-details/regeneron-announces-2023-winners-regeneron-prize-creative/
October 2023
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor and Ria Dinsdale, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, published the study, ‘Disease-associated KCNMA1 variants decrease circadian clock robustness in channelopathy mouse models,’ in the Journal of General Physiology. The article will appear online in the next week at the Journal of General Physiology (DOI 10.1085/jgp.202313357).
September 2023
Appointments
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology was appointed as a regular member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Grants and Contracts
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology grant titled “The Role of Dysferlin in Skeletal Muscle In Vitro and In Vivo” was renewed for the period of July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 by the Jain Foundation Scientific Advisory Board.
Publications
Carmen Mannella, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology and Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, was corresponding author of “Structural Analysis of Mitochondria in Cardiomyocytes: Insights into Bioenergetics and Membrane Remodeling” which was published in Molecules (Special Issue on Mitochondrial Function and Dysfunction) on July 21, 2023.
August 2023
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, gave a lecture at The Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP) at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland on May 30, 2023 entitled ‘KCNMA1-linked channelopathy—Defining a new neurological disorder.’ The UDP is part of the Undiagnosed Disease Network (UDN), an NIH Common Fund initiative that focuses on the most puzzling medical cases referred to the NIH Clinical Center, in conjunction the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the NIH Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR).
Grants & Contracts
Emily DeMarco, Graduate student in the Program in Neuroscience, received a three-year, $122,178 F31 Individual NRSA Fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDA) entitled, “Elucidating the dynamic role of PTPσ in synaptic nano-organization and NMDA receptor function.”
Vivek Garg, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology received a four-year $1,359,600 R01 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for “Molecular Physiology of Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter.”
Stephanie Pollitt, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, received a three-year, $202,746 F32 Individual NRSA Fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) entitled, “Mechanisms of cell adhesion molecule LRRTM2 in basal and potentiated synaptic signaling.”
Honors & Awards
Samuel Barlow, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, has been selected as one of ten nationwide Finalists for the 2023 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation. As a Finalist, Dr. Barlow received $5,000 and an invitation to participate in an in-person competition for the prize which comes with a $50,000 award.
July 2023
Appointments
Owen Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology was invited to be the 2023 Mercator Fellow to the Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Germany from June until August 2023.
Publications
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology is the editor for Textbook of Ion Channels: Three Volume Set (Textbook of Ion Channels, 1-3) 1st Edition, published on June 30, 2023.
June 2023
Grants and Contracts
Stephanie Pollitt, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, received a three-year, $202,746 F32 Individual NRSA Fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) entitled, “Mechanisms of cell adhesion molecule LRRTM2 in basal and potentiated synaptic signaling.”
Emily DeMarco, Graduate student in the Program in Neuroscience (laboratory of Dr. Tom Blanpied, Professor, Department of Physiology), received a three-year, $122,178 F31 Individual NRSA Fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDA) entitled, “Elucidating the dynamic role of PTPσ in synaptic nano-organization and NMDA receptor function.”
Honors and Awards
Samuel Barlow, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, has been selected as one of ten nationwide Finalists for the 2023 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation. As a Finalist, Dr. Barlow received $5,000 and an invitation to participate in an in-person competition for the prize which comes with a $50,000 award.
May 2023
Publications
Carmen Mannella, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology and Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, was author of “In Silico Exploration of Alternative Conformational States of VDAC” which was published in Molecules on April 7, 2023.
April 2023
Honors and Awards
Ivy Dick, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology received the 2023 Paul F. Cranefield Award from the Society of General Physiologists. https://www.sgpweb.org/.
January 2023
Publications
Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases and the Greenebaum Cancer Center, was senior author of “Selective Targeting of Metastatic Ovarian Cancer Using an Engineered Anthrax Prodrug Activated by Membrane Anchored Serine Proteases” which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA on July 12, 2022.
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physiology, Stephen Gottlieb, MD, Professor, Department of Medicine (Cardiology), John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology and another colleague were co-authors of “Whither Withering? What We Can Still Learn from Cardiotonic Steroids About Heart Failure and Hypertension” which was published in American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology on December 6, 2022.
Owen M. Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was among the co-authors of “Kidney epithelial cells are active mechanobiological fluid pumps,” which was published in Nature Communications on April 28, 2022.
Owen M. Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was among the co-authors of “Defining cellular complexity in human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease by multimodal single cell analysis,” which was published in Nature Communications on October 30, 2022
2022
2022 News and Publications
October 2022
Grants and Funding
Sara J. Codding, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, received a five year K99/R00 ‘Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independence (MOSAIC)’ career transition award that supports early career investigators from diverse backgrounds with the goal to enhance diversity in the biomedical research workforce. The funding supports two years of continued training and three years at the independent phase for a total amount of $963,251 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to “Visualize the divergent conformational dynamics of KCNH channels”.
Publications
A paper authored by Bradley E. Alger, PhD, Professor Emeritus, UMSOM, has been selected for presentation at a special event during the Society for Neuroscience Convention in San Diego, CA, on November 16, 2022. The paper, “Neuroscience Needs to Test Both Statistical and Scientific Hypotheses,” is part of a Dual Perspective debate on the topic, ”Should We Abandon Statistical Significance Testing in Neuroscience? Arguments for Replacing It With Estimation Methods vs Retaining and Improving It.”
August 2022
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Michael Anderson, MS, a PhD candidate in the Program in Neuroscience, Department of Physiology, presented an invited lecture at the Gordon Conference on Synaptic Transmission held in Barga, Italy in June. The topic of his presentation was “Direct Visualization of Triheteromeric NMDA Receptor Trafficking and Organization.”
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, presented a lecture at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences at the University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg Germany, entitled “Molecular control of subsynaptic architecture.” Dr. Blanpied also presented a lecture at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japan Neuroscience Society, held virtually in Okinawa, Japan June 30 to July 3. His lecture was part of a symposium on “Visualization of Synaptic Dynamics” and was entitled, “Synaptic nanoorganization that controls receptor activation.”.
July 2022
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, presented " Using human skeletal muscle xenografts to study Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD)" in the Program in Cardiac Surgery at Ohio State University College of Medicine on May 26, 2022.
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Su Mi Park and Hans Moldenhauer, Postdocs, and Cooper Roache, Katia Matychak, and Amber Plante, Graduate students, Department of Physiology; Abby Lieberman, Technician, Department of Pharmacology; and Phil Iffland, PhD, Assistant Professor, and Peter Crino, MD, PhD, the Dr. Richard and Kathryn Taylor Endowed Professor and Chair, Department of Neurology, will publish ‘BK channel properties correlate with neurobehavioral severity in three KCNMA1-linked channelopathy mouse models,’ in an upcoming issue of eLife.
June 2022
Grants and Contracts
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a $278,382 annual renewal from the Jain Foundation for “The Role of Dysferlin in Skeletal Muscle In Vitro and In Vivo”.
February 2022
Publications
Robert Bloch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, co-authored “The C2 Domains of Dysferlin: Roles in Membrane Localization, Stabilization of Ca2+ Signaling, and Membrane Repair” in The Journal of Physiology.
January 2022
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, and collaborator Sotirios Keros, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical Center, along with national and international collaborators, published the Case Series, ‘Lisdexamfetamine therapy in paroxysmal non-kinesigenic dyskinesia associated with the KCNMA1-N999S variant,’ in the upcoming issue of Movement Disorders Clinical Practice.
Owen M. Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor, and Victoria L. Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from the Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors of “Epigenome-wide association study of serum urate reveals insights into urate co-regulation and the SLC2A9 locus”, which was Published in Nature Communications on December 9th, 2021.
Owen M. Woodward, PhD, Associate Professor, and Victoria L. Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from the Department of Physiology, were the authors of “Urate transport in health and disease”, which was published in Best Practice and Research Clinical Rheumatology on October 21, 2021.
2021
2021 News and Publications
December 2021
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, presented a virtual talk at the ESMED (European Society for Medicine) Congress (held in Vienna, Austria), "Muscle xenografts reproduce key molecular features of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD)".
Grants and Contracts
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a 2 year grant from the FSHD Society (Lexington, MA) entitled "SLC34A2 as a Biomarker for FSHD", total direct costs $153,200.
November 2021
Publications
Vivek Garg, PhD, Assistant Professor (first and co-corresponding author),Liron Boyman, PhD, Assistant Professor and W. Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor, all from the Department of Physiology and the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology (BioMET), were the authors of “The Mechanism of MICU-Dependent Gating of the Mitochondrial Ca2+ Uniporter,” which was published in eLife on August 7, 2021.
October 2021
Appointments
Robert Bloch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, was named an editor of the Striated Muscle Physiology section of Frontiers in Physiology.
Publications
Robert Bloch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, published “Desmin interacts with STIM1 and coordinates Ca2+ signaling in skeletal muscle” in JCI Insight.
Robert Bloch, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, published “Biomechanical Properties of the Sarcolemma and Costameres of Skeletal Muscle Lacking Desmin” in Frontier Physiology.
John Hamlyn, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Physiology, published “Cucumis sativus extract elicits chloride secretion by stimulation of intestinal TMEM16A ion channel” in Pharmaceutical Biology.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, and Megan Rizzo, PhD, Professors, and Amber Plante and Vishnu Rao, Graduate students, Department of Physiology, published “Comparative Ca2+ channel contributions to intracellular Ca2+ levels in the circadian clock,” in the inaugural issue of Biophysical Reports, on September 8, 2021 (volume 1(1):100005).
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Beth McNally, Research Associate, and Amber Plante, Graduate student, Department of Physiology, published “Contributions of CaV1.3 channels to Ca2+ current and Ca2+-activated BK current in the suprachiasmatic nucleus,” in Frontiers in Physiology, on September 10, 2021.
September 2021
Publications
Bradley E. Alger, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Department of Physiology, published "The Usefulness of Popper: A Scientist's Reply to Professor Charlotte Sleigh," in History and Philosophy of Science and Science Teaching, July 2021.
August 2021
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Jacob Miller, MS1 Summer PRISM fellow, and Hans Moldenhauer, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, published the invited review ‘An Emerging Spectrum of Variants and Clinical Features in KCNMA1-Linked Channelopathy,’ in the journal Channels, July 5, 2021 (volume 15, pages 447-464).
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Amber Plante and Josh Whitt, Graduate students, Department of Physiology, published ‘BK channel activation by L-type Ca2+ channels Cav1.2 and Cav1.3 during the subthreshold phase of an action potential,’ in the Journal of Neurophysiology, online publication ahead of print June 30, 2021.
July 2021
Grants & Contracts
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a four-year, $1,596,058 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NIH/NHLBI) for ‘Daily regulation of ionic currents.’
June 2021
Grants & Contracts
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Professor in the Department of Physiology, was awarded a Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund Discovery grant entitled "Using Non-Canonical Amino Acids to Repair hERG LQT2 Mutants in hiPSC-CMs".May 2021
Michael Anderson, graduate student in the Department of Physiology, Program in Neuroscience, received a three-year Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual Predoctoral National Research Service Award from NIMH entitled, "Direct Visualization of Triheteromeric NMDA receptors.”
April 2021
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Bradley E. Alger, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physiology, has had a selection from his book, Defense of the Scientific Hypothesis: From Reproducibility Crisis to Big Data, featured in a collection entitled, “In Science We (Still) Trust? Misinformation, Half-Truths, and Uncertainty in the Scientific Community” published by Oxford University Press on March 9, 2021; chapters and blog posts are freely available at:
https://pages.oup.com/scimed/1333145484401119190/in-science-we-still-trust
March 2021
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Bradley Alger, PhD Professor Emeritus in the Department of Physiology, created a YouTube series of short (5-10 min) lectures on topics related to the scientific hypothesis.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_d2R0Dg0zzlSBmt0T5vuJg
Honors and Awards
Dr. Karl Hsieh and his wife, Dr. Catherine Lee, have endowed a scholarship in the name of Mordecai Blaustein. MD Professor in the Department of Physiology, at the Washington University Medical School (WUMS). Dr. Blaustein is an WUMS alumnus (class of 1961) and was a professor in the WUMS Physiology Department from 1968 until 1979.
W Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor in the Department of Physiology was selected as a 2020 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. AAAS Fellows are selected annually for their contributions to their respective fields and the body of science.
https://www.medschool.umaryland.edu/news/2021/Three-Top-University-of-Maryland-School-of-MedicinePhysician-Scientists-Honored-as-Distinguished-Fellows-by-AAAS.html
2020
2020 News and Publications
November - December 2020
Honors and Awards
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received the 2021 Biophysical Society Award in the Biophysics of Health and Disease, for her work on the new neuromuscular disorder, KCNMA1 Channelopathy. This award honors a Biophysical Society member who has made a significant contribution to understanding the fundamental cause or pathogenesis of disease, enabling the treatment or prevention. The award will be presented at the upcoming 2021 annual meeting of the Biophysical Society in February.
October 2020
Publications
John Hamly, PhD, Professor in the Department of Physiology and Shabnam Salimi, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor in the Department 00 Epidemiology and Public Health cowrote an article on COVID-19 in aging entitled “COVID-19 and Crosstalk With the Hallmarks of Aging”, which was published in The Journals of Gerontology on June 16, 2020. The article was cited by Veronique Greenwood, the science section author of the New York Times on September 8, 2020.
September 2020
Appointments
Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology and Associate Director for Training and Education in the Marlene and Stuart Greenebaum Cancer Center, began a 2-year term as President of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), a position that will be followed by another 1-year term as Past-president. The ASBMB is an international society with over 11,000 members, made up of students, researchers, educators and industry professionals, whose mission is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology and to promote the understanding of the molecular nature of life processes. The Society serves the scientific community through publication of scientific journals, organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of career development and science education at all levels, and promotion of diversity in the scientific workforce. Among the contributions during her presidency, Dr. Antalis is looking forward to assisting the society in transitioning the ASBMB journals to fully open access in 2021 and working against the politicization of science funding and of scientific results.
Publications
Owen Woodward, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology, and Victoria Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, were authors of “Sex Differences in Urate Handling,” which was published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences on June 16, 2020.
August 2020
Promotions
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Department of Physiology, was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor, effective July 1, 2020.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Department of Physiology, was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor, effective July 1, 2020.
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Department of Physiology, was promoted from Associate Professor to Professor, effective July 1, 2020.
Publications
Owen Woodward, PhD, Assistant Professor; Kazi Hoque, PhD, Research Associate; Eryn Dixon, Student; and Victoria Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, all from the Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors of “The ABCG2 Q141K Hyperuricemia and Gout Associated Variant Illuminates the Physiology of Human Urate Excretion,” which was published in Nature Communications on June 2, 2020.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Professor; Jenna Harvey, PhD, Research Associate; and Amber Plante, Graduate Student, all from the Department of Physiology, published the invited review “Ion Channels Controlling Circadian Rhythms in Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Excitability,” in the October 2020 issue of Physiological Reviews.
June 2020
In the News
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, and Hans Moldenhauer, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, were featured in the Journal of Neurophysiology Podcast discussing their recent study “Comparative Gain-of-Function Effects of the KCNMA1-N999S Mutation on Human BK Channel Properties,” which was published in the February 2020 issue of The Journal of Neurophysiology.
May 2020
Honors and Awards
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was honored by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) with a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award for his grant, “Internal Dynamics of the Postsynaptic Density,” now in its 13th year. According to NIMH, “The objective of the MERIT Award program is to provide stable, long-term support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctively superior and who are likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner. It is hoped that the provision of long-term, table support will foster continued creativity and lessen the administrative burdens associated with preparation and submission of regular research grant applications.”
Sara Codding, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, in the Lab of Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was honored in February with the 2020 Paul F. Cranefield Post-doctoral Fellow Award by the Society of General Physiology for her manuscript, “The hERG Potassium Channel Intrinsic Ligand Regulates N- and C-Terminal Interactions and Channel Closure,” in the Journal of General Physiology. This study uncovered a novel structural and functional role of the intrinsic ligand in the potassium channel hERG using whole cell electrophysiology and spectral FRET techniques. Dr. Codding has been featured by SGP on their website and twitter @SGPweb.
Grants and Contracts
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received a one-year, $5,000 grant from the UMB Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR) Voucher Program for “Animal Models of KCNMA1-linked Channelopathy.”
Patents
Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor, and her former graduate student Erik Martin, PhD, both from the Department of Physiology and the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases (CVID), were issued U.S. Patent Number 10,568,929 “Engineered Anthrax Protective Antigen Proteins for Cancer Therapy,” which is a patent on engineered anthrax protective antigen proteins for cancer therapy based on the targeting of overactive tumor-associated membrane-anchored serine proteases.
Publications
Bradley Alger, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of Physiology, authored “Defense of the Scientific Hypothesis: From Reproducibility Crisis to Big Data,” which was published by Oxford University Press, October 2019.
John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was the senior author of “Sodium Pumps, Ouabain and Aldosterone in the Brain: A Neuromodulatory Pathway Underlying Salt-Sensitive Hypertension and Heart Failure,” which was published in the March 2020 issue of Cell Calcium.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, and Jenna Harvey, PhD, Research Associate, both from the Department of Physiology, co-authored the invited review “Ion Channels Controlling Circadian Rhythms in Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Excitability,” which was published in Physiological Reviews on March 12, 2020.
March 2020
Appointments
Li Zhang, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, has been selected as Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Plasminogen Activation and Extracellular Proteolysis. He will serve as Vice Chair for the 2022 Gordon Research Conference and as Chair for the 2024 Gordon Research Conference.
Grants and Contracts
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was awarded a five-year, $110,000 year subcontract on a newly funded $617,468 National Institutes of Health grant for “Mechanisms of DUX4 Mediated FSHD Pathology.”
Publications
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor, Departments of Physiology and Medicine, was the first author of “Multipurpose Na+ Ions Mediate Excitation and Cellular Homeostasis: Evolution of the Concept of Na+ Pumps and Na+/Ca2+ Exchangers,” which was published in Cell Calcium on January 25, 2020. In addition, Dr. Blaustein and John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, were the authors of “Ouabain, Endogenous Ouabain and Ouabain-like Factors: the Na+ Pump/Ouabain Receptor, its Linkage to NCX, and its Myriad Functions,” which was published in Cell Calcium on January 9, 2020.
Guiling Zhaoo, PhD, Assistant Professor; Humberto Joca, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; and Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor and Director, all from the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, co-authored “ATP-Dependent and Voltage-Regulated Blood Flow in Heart: Electro-Metabolic Signaling,” which was published in the March 2020 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. An image from this publication is also being considered for a PNAS cover. Separately, Drs. Zhao and Lederer, along with Aaron Kaplan, MD, PhD, Cardiology Research Fellow, and Maura Greiser, MD, PhD, Research Associate, all from the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, co-authored “The Surprising Complexity of KATP Channel Biology and of Genetic Diseases,” which was published in the March 2020 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
2019 and Older
2019 and Older News and Publications
2019
November 2019
Publications
Liron Boyman, PhD, Research Associate; Mariusz Karbowski, PhD, Associate Professor; and Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor and Director, all from the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology, were among the co-authors of “Regulation of Mitochondrial ATP Production: Ca2+ Signaling and Quality Control,” which was published in the November 2019 issue of Trends in Molecular Medicine. This publication was also the Feature Review of the Special Issue: Mitochondria—from Diagnosis to Treatment in Cell Press Reviews.
Victoria Halperin Kuhns, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, and Owen Woodward, PhD, Assistant Professor, were among the co-authors of “Target Genes, Variants, Tissues and Transcriptional Pathways Influencing Human Serum Urate Levels,” which was published in Nature Genetics on October 2, 2019.
October 2019
Grants and Contracts
Sara Codding, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, received an Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) in the amount of $61,610 for “Conformational Dynamics of the Helix Voltage Sensor of the Potassium Channel Herg.”
Bruce Krueger, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a two-year, $424,875 R21 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS) for “Sexually Dimorphic Epigenetic Regulation of Fetal Brain Development by Environmental Stressors.”
Aaron Levy, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physiology, received a National Research Service Award (NRSA) in the amount of $122,452 for “Dissecting Pre-Vs Postsynaptic Actin Dynamics in Synapse Structure and Strength.”
Thomas Longden, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, received a two-year, $200,000 award from the American Heart Association for “Blood Flow in Learning and Memory.”
August 2019
In the Media
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was featured in the New York Times/Netflix documentary series “Diagnosis.” The series follows Dr. Lisa Saunders, an associate professor of internal medicine and education at Yale School of Medicine, as she attempts to help patients with unique illnesses and searches for a cure using wisdom of the crowd methods. Dr. Meredith’s was featured in Episode four “Looking For A Village,” where she explains the function of the KCNMA1 ion channel. Filming in her lab shows the mice she’s creating with transgenic modifications to the KCNMA1 gene and her research on the patient mutations in KCNMA1. Dr. Meredith and her research team in the Department of Physiology, Hans Moldenhauer, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Su Mi Park, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, and First-Year Medical Student, Mr. Cole Bailey, compiled a companion comprehensive review naming the ‘KCNMA1-Linked Channelopathy,’ synchronized to the release of the Netflix documentary. This review is a technical publication meant to be shared with physicians to quickly get them up to speed on the basic science and clinical phenotypes of the first patients known to have this disorder.
Honors and Awards
W. Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor, and Carmen Mannella, PhD, Visiting Professor, both from Department of Physiology and the Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology (BioMET), are among the creators of the image “Segmentation of Highly Convoluted Mitochondrial Inner Membranes from Electron Microscopic Tomograms.” The image was one of 11 finalists in the Art of Science Image Contest at the 63rd Annual Biophysical Society meeting, held in Baltimore, Md., on March 21, and is featured on Cell Press’ Beauty in Biophysics 2019 Cell Picture Show.
June 2019
Honors and Awards
Poorna Dharmasri, MS, a PhD Student in the Training Program in Integrative Membrane Biology (TPIMB), Program in Neuroscience, and the lab of Thomas Blanpied PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received the 6th Annual Hugo González-Serratos Scientific Presentation Award at the TPIMB Retreat on May 3, 2019 for his poster titled, “Glutamate Receptors as Directors of Synaptic Nanostructure.” The award was presented by Matt Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor, and Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, both from the Department of Physiology and Co-Directors of the TPIMB, and is made possible by a gift from the González-Serratos family.
Grants and Contracts
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received a four-year, $1,140,260 R01 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS) for “Regulatory and Functional Mechanisms in hERG Ion Channels.”
Publications
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor, and Sara Codding, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, both from the Department of Physiology, were co-authors of “The hERG Potassium Channel Intrinsic Ligand Regulates N- And C-Terminal Interactions and Channel Closure,” which was published in the Journal of General Physiology on April 1, 2019.
April 2019
Recent Appointments
Paul Welling, MD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was elected into the Association of American Physicians (AAP) in March 2019. The AAP, established October 10, 1885, is an honorific, elected society of America’s leading physician-scientists. The Association is composed of members who are leading senior physician-scientists and are competitively selected. The AAP seeks to inspire the full breadth of physician-led research across all fields, and to build a community of physician-scientists in support of the principle that objective science and evidence are essential foundations for improving patient care and the health of Americans.
Grants and Contracts
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, received a one-year, $200,000 grant from the Jain Foundation for “The Role of Dysferlin in Skeletal Muscle In Vitro and In Vivo.” Dr. Bloch also received a two-year, $200,000 subcontract grant from FSHD Global and the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine for “Pre-clinical Testing for FSHD CRISPR-inhibition Therapy.”
Li Zhang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a four-year, $1,868,061 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI/NIH) for “Targeting the Proinflammatory Activity of Integrin Mac-1 for Treatment of Atherosclerosis.”
Publications
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was a co-author of “Evolution of Our Understanding of Cell Volume Regulation by the Pump-Leak Mechanism,” which was published in the Journal of General Physiology on February 19, 2019.
February 2019
Grants and Contracts
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, received a four-year, $1,321,001 R01 Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS) for “Conformational Dynamics of hERG Ion Channels.”
January 2019
Grants and Contracts
Poorna Dharmasri, Neuroscience PhD Student, Department of Physiology, received an Individual National Research Service Award in the amount of $125,403 for “Glutamate Receptor-Mediated Organization of Synaptic Nanostructure.”
2018
November 2018
In the News
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, delivered a lecture titled, “Dynamic Control of Synaptic Nanostructure and Function by Adhesion Molecules,” at the Cold Spring Harbor Asia Conference Meeting: Advances in Optical Imaging of Living Cells & Organisms: Focus on the Brain, which was held in Suzhou, China, October 15–19.
Honors and Awards
Austin Ramsey, Neuroscience PhD Student, Department of Physiology, received an Individual National Research Service Award in the amount of $83,306 for “Dynamic Control of Synaptic Substructure and Function by Adhesion Molecules.”
Publications
Sai Sachin Divakaruni, PhD, and Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, were co-authors of “Long-Term Potentiation Requires a Rapid Burst of Dendritic Mitochondrial Fission During Induction,” published in Neuron on October 11, 2018.
Owen Woodward PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, was a senior author of “Large-Scale Whole-Exome Sequencing Association Studies Identify Rare Functional Variants Influencing Serum Urate Levels,” published in Nature Communications on October 12, 2018.
October 2018
In the News
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, led the ‘Power Hour’ at the Ion Channels Gordon Research Conference (GRC) at Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, on July 9. The GRC introduced the Power Hour at its conferences to give all attendees the opportunity to discuss challenges women face in science and to support the professional growth of women by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring.
Honors and Awards
Paul Welling, MD, Professor, Department of Physiology, was named the Donald Seldin Lecturer at the American Heart Association (AHA) Annual Meeting on Hypertension in Chicago, IL on September 8, 2018. This is the highest honor of the AHA council on the Kidney and Cardiovascular Disease. Dr. Welling’s lecture described his group’s discoveries of a pathway that explains the profound effects of dietary potassium on blood pressure, and it’s implications for public health, and the development of new therapeutic strategies for hypertension, disorders of potassium balance, and kidney disease.
Grants and Contracts
Li Zhang, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology and Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the American Heart Association. Dr. Zhang’s study, “A Novel Radiation-Resistant CD11b-Expressing Leukocyte Population with Atheroprotective Activities,” will elucidate a novel resident macrophage population with atheroprotective activities. The mechanistic insights obtained from this study will also be used to design new therapeutic strategies for more effective intervention of atherosclerosis.
Publications
Selen Catania, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases and Department; and Dudley Strickland, PhD, Associate Dean for Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies and Director of the Center for Vascular & Inflammatory Diseases, and Professor of Surgery, were among the co-authors on “Macrophage LRP1 Promotes Diet-Induced Hepatic Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction by Modulating Wnt Signaling,” published in Mediators of Inflammation on September 3, 2018; and “LRP1 Regulates Smooth Muscle Contractility by Modulating Ca2+ Signaling and Expression of Cytoskeletal Related Proteins,” published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology on September 12, 2018.
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, together with collaborators at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, co-authored “Glutamate-Activated BK Channel Complexes Formed with NMDA Receptors,” published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on September 4, 2018.
August 2018
Appointments
Paul Welling, MD, Professor, Department of Physiology was named Chair of the Finance Committee for the American Physiological Society. Dr. Welling will serve a three-year term.
July 2018
Grants and Contracts
Tami Kingsbury, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine, received an 18-month Momentum Fellowship in the amount of $75,000 from The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research for “Molecular Interactions of PSEDN Members in Cancer.”
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Associate Professor and Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, both from the Department of Physiology, received a five-year, $1,044,840 competing renewal T32 training grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. This inter-departmental training grant will continue support for the Training Program in Integrative Membrane Biology, incepted in 1987 and now in its 31st year of continuous funding. The grant provides support for pre-doctoral training in the biophysics, biochemistry, structure, cell and molecular biology, and physiology of biological membranes, through the Graduate Program in Life Sciences.
Publications
Tami Kingsbury, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Center for Stem Cell Biology, was last author of “Calcineurin Regulatory Subunit Calcium-Binding Domains Differentially Contribute to Calcineurin Signaling in Saccharomyces cerevisiae,” published in Genetics on May 7, 2018.
Melissa Konopko, PhD, Allison Densmore, Laboratory Research Technician, and Bruce Krueger, PhD, Professor, all from the Department of Physiology, co-authored “Sexually Dimorphic Epigenetic Regulation of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Fetal Brain in the Valproic Acid Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder,” published in Developmental Neuroscience on October 27, 2017.
June 2018
In the News
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was invited to present the keynote lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience on April 26 at Temple University. His talk was titled, “Molecular Nanopositioning and Alignment Control Function of Single Synapses.”
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, presented a talk on “Immune Modulation of the Gut Innervation” on April 23 at Experimental Biology 2018 in San Diego, CA.
Grants and Contracts
Michele Vitolo, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, received a 4-year, $779,000 American Cancer Society Research Scholars Award for “Targeting Cytoskeletal Aberrations to Prevent Breast Cancer Metastasis.”
Publications
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was senior author of “Transcellular Nanoalignment of Synaptic Function,” published in Neuron on November 1, 2017. The article also appeared in print at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on November 11, 2017.
May 2018
In the News
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, presented “The Alternative Life of Macrophages” on March 12 to the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, Riverside.
March 2018
In the News
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, presented a symposium titled, “Molecular Nanopositioning and Alignment Control Synaptic Function” at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, held in San Francisco in February.
February 2018
Publications
Mordecai Blaustein, MD, Professor, and John Hamlyn, PhD, Professor, both from the Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors on “Update on Angiotensin II: New Endocrine Connections Between the Brain, Adrenal Glands and the Cardiovascular System” in Endocrine Connections, 2017 Aug 30. Dr. Blaustein, also authored “The Pump, the Exchanger and the Holy Spirit: Origins and 40-Year Evolution of Ideas About the Ouabain-Na+ Pump Endocrine System” in the American Journal of Physiology Cell Physiology, 2018 Jan 1. This article, accompanied by an editorial written by the editors of the journal, describes the origins of Dr. Blaustein’s 1977 hypothesis and the subsequent discoveries that led to the elucidation of a novel endocrine system. More recently, Drs. Blaustein and Hamlyn were among the co-authors on “Central and Peripheral Slow-Pressor Mechanisms Contributing to Angiotensin II-Salt Hypertension in Rats” in Cardiovascular Research, 2018 Feb 1.
January 2018
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Josh Whitt and Beth McNally, PhD, Research Associate, all from the Department of Physiology, were co-authors on “Differential Contribution of Ca2+ Sources to Day and Night BK Current Activation in the Circadian Clock” in The Journal of General Physiology, 2017 Dec 13.
2017
December 2017
In the News
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, delivered a keynote presentation on “Novel Therapeutic Targets for Type 2 Diabetes” on November 3 at the International Congress on Diabetes and Its Complications in Linthicum, MD.
Appointments
Margaret McCarthy, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology, was elected as a fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
October 2017
Publications
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors of “Bidirectional Brain-Gut Interactions and Chronic Pathological Changes After Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice” in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2017 Jul 1 [Epub].
August 2017
Grants and Contracts
Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor of Physiology, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, received a five-year, $1,767,095 new R01 grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH)/National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Antalis’ study, “Protease Activated Receptor-2 (PAR-2) Signaling and Metastatic Ovarian Cancer,” will elucidate a newly discovered proteolytic pathway that regulates ovarian tumor angiogenesis. It is anticipated that data generated from this study will bring better understanding of which could provide new strategies for controlling this devastating disease.
Publications
Marguerite Buzza, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Physiology; Subhradip Mukhopadhyay, PhD, Fellow, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases; Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, and Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor, Department of Physiology, were among the co-authors on“Inflammatory Cytokines Down-Regulate The Barrier Protective Prostasin-Matriptase Proteolytic Cascade Early in Experimental Colitis” in Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2017 Jun 30;292(26):10801-10812.
Alan Shuldiner, MD, the John L. Whitehurst Professor of Medicine and Director of the Program for Pharmacogenomics and Genomic Medicine, and Braxton Mitchell, PhD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, were among the co-authors on “Heritability of Plasma Neopterin Levels in the Old Order Amish” in Journal of Neuroimmunology, 2017 Jun 15;307:37-41. Dr. Mitchell was also among the co-authors on “Aneurysms with Persistent Patency After Treatment with the Pipeline Embolization Device” in Journal of Neurosurgery, 2017 Jun;126(6):1894-1898.
July 2017
In the News
Thomas Blanpied, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, presented an invited lecture on “How Nanostructure Controls Synapse Function” at the Gordon Research Conference “Excitatory Synapses and Brain Function,” held in Les Diablerets, Switzerland in early June.
Publications
Subhradip Mukhopadhyay, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, and Toni Antalis, PhD, Professor, and Rajabrata Sarkar, MD, PhD, Professor, both from the Departments of Physiology and Surgery, were among the co-authors on “Myeloid p53 Regulates Macrophage Polarization and Venous Thrombus Resolution by Inflammatory Vascular Remodeling in Mice” in Blood, 2017 Mar 20 [Epub ahead of print].
June 2017
Honors and Awards
Nevins Todd, MD, Associate Professor, Departments of Medicine and Physiology, received the Student Council Preclinical Faculty Award at the 2017 School of Medicine graduation ceremony on May 18.
May 2017
Grants and Contracts
Curt Civin, MD, Associate Dean for Research; Director, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine; and Professor of Pediatrics and Physiology, received a subcontract from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) to participate and advise on stem cell and molecular biology in the new NIH P41-funded “Center for Engineering Complex Tissues” (CECT; PI: John Fisher PhD, Chair, Department of BioEngineering, UMCP). Total five-year funding for the Center is $6,302,200. Collaborators also include Rice University and Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. CECT will oversee six collaborative projects, six service projects, and multiple training programs to foster expert collaborations for the advancement of tissue engineering.
April 2017
In the News
Curt Civin, MD, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Physiology, Director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, and Associate Dean for Research; Tami Kingsbury, PhD, Assistant Professor of Physiology, Center for Stem Cell Biology & Regenerative Medicine; and Nancy Hardy, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, spoke at and led a CASSS Scientific Society symposium organized by NIST, IBBR and MedImmune entitled “Release Criteria for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapies” on February 9 in Rockville, MD.
Publications
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Parasites, Nutrition, Immune Responses, and Biology of Metabolic Tissues” in Parasite Immunology, 2017 Feb 24 [Epub ahead of print].
March 2017
Grants and Contracts
Dudley Strickland, PhD, Professor of Surgery and Physiology, Director of the Center for Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases, and Associate Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, received a seven-year, $5,405,872 new award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). This “Outstanding Investigator Award (R35 grant)” is designed to promote scientific productivity and innovation by providing long-term support and increased flexibility to experienced principal investigators, and is the first time this prestigious award has been issued by NHLBI. Dr. Strickland’s study, “Role of LDL Receptor Family Members in Protecting the Vasculature,” will use a well-developed mice model to investigate the mechanisms associated with aneurysm formation and define the role of LDL-receptor family members in this process. It is anticipated that data generated from this study will give insight into how members of the LDL receptor superfamily protect the vasculature from disease and may eventually allow intervention prior to rupture of the vessels and prevent death.
February 2017
Appointments
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, was appointed to a three-year term on the Advisory Board for the Biophysical Society and the Institute of Physics ebook publications series on biophysics, providing expertise in ion channels and systems biophysics.
Publications
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, co-authored “BK Channels are Required For Multisensory Plasticity In the Oculomotor System” in Neuron, 2016 Dec 2 [Epub ahead of print].
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “Neuroimmune Modulation Of Gut Function” in Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, 2016 Dec 30 [Epub ahead of print].
In Memorium
Lawrence Goldman, PhD, Emeritus Professor, Department of Physiology
The Department of Physiology regrets the passing of Emeritus Professor, Dr. Lawrence Goldman, on November 28, 2016.
Dr. Goldman earned his BS in Chemistry and Physics from Tufts University in 1958. He received his PhD degree in Zoology and Biophysics at UCLA in 1964. From 1964 to 1965, he obtained postdoctoral training in the Department of Neurology, College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York, before accepting a position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1965. In 1967, he joined the University of Maryland School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biophysics (later incorporated into the Department of Physiology). Dr. Goldman rose through the ranks to become Associate Professor with Tenure in 1970 and Professor in 1977. Dr. Goldman was also a Fulbright Senior Professor at the University of Saarlandes in Homburg, Germany, from 1987 to 1988.
Over his 41 year career at UM SOM, Dr. Goldman and his trainees made major contributions to our understanding of the ways in which ion channels open and close, particularly those gated by the voltage across the cell membrane. His research career was focused on the study of the fundamental physical mechanisms underlying generation and conduction of the action potential- the electrical unit of information flow in the nervous system. Among his many scientific contributions, Dr. Goldman provided experimental evidence explaining the proportionality between action potential conduction velocity and the square root of fiber diameter in nerve fibers. He also made significant contributions to our understanding of the biological underpinnings of the mathematical descriptions of ion channel gating made by Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley in their Nobel Prize-winning work.
Dr. Goldman’s contributions to our understanding of membrane biophysics have been widely recognized by his peers, as demonstrated by the many invited presentations of his work he made around the world. He will be missed by his colleagues in the Department of Physiology and the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
January 2017
Events, Lectures and Workshops
Andrea Meredith, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, and Mark Nelson, PhD, a former Department of Physiology trainee, co-organized the 70th Annual Society of General Physiologists Meeting and Symposium “Genetic Models for Ion Channel Function in Physiology and Disease,” held at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, September 7–11, 2016. The scientific program brought together 130 prominent scientists using genetic, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques to elucidate the molecular, cellular, and integrated physiology of ion channels in a variety of human disease models. Dr. Meredith also presented a talk entitled “Circadian Regulation of BK Channel Splice Variant Expression.”
Honors and Awards
Eryn Dixon, a PhD student in the laboratory of Owen Woodward, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, was awarded The Glaser Prize in Imaging for 2016 for her image showing a mini-kidney grown in a dish that has been induced to form a cyst resembling those characterizing polycystic kidney disease. The Glaser Prize was established to honor Dr. Edmund Glaser when he retired from the Department of Physiology. Dr. Glaser and his colleague, Dr. Hendrick Van der Loos, made a seminal contribution in the 1960’s by creating the first computer-assisted neuron reconstruction system - Neurolucida. He went on to found a company, MBF Bioscience, to further develop and market software for neuroscience imaging in 1988. The prize is awarded annually for the most visually attractive scientific image submitted by a student working in the laboratory of a faculty member in the Department of Physiology.
Stephen Davis, MBBS, FACE, FRCP, MACP, the Theodore E. Woodward Professor of Medicine and Chairman, Department of Medicine, has been elected to Mastership in the American College of Physicians (ACP). Election to Mastership recognizes outstanding and extraordinary career accomplishments. Masters must have made notable contributions to medicine. This includes, but is not limited to, teaching, outstanding work in clinical medicine (research or practice), contributions to preventive medicine, improvements in the delivery of health care, and/or contributions to the medical literature. According to ACP bylaws, Masters are elected “on account of personal character, positions of honor, contributions toward furthering the purposes of the ACP, eminence in practice or in medical research, or other attainments in science or in the art of medicine.” ACP activities are also taken into consideration for all candidates. This includes service to the ACP in an official capacity, participation in chapter activities, and involvement in the development of College products and educational programs. Volunteer and community service is also taken into consideration. Dr. Davis will formally be honored at a Convocation during the Internal Medicine Meeting 2017, ACP’s annual scientific conference, which will be held in San Diego, March 30–April 1.
Publications
Terez Shea-Donohue, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the co-authors on “The Synthesis of OspD3 (ShET2) in Shigella flexneri is Independent of OspC1” in Gut Microbes, 2016 Nov;7(6):486-502. She also was among the co-authors on “A Critical Role for IL-25 In Host Protective Th2 Memory Response Against Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri” in Infection and Immunity, 2016 Nov 18;84(12):3328-3337.