May 2026
Grants
Chengyan Chu, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, received a three-year, $231,000 award from the American Heart Association for “Image-Guided Intra-Arterial Gene Delivery of Therapeutic Nanobodies with Enhanced Blood-Brain Barrier Opening in CSVD.”
Jonathan Lederer, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, received a one-year voucher support totaling $5,000 from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR) for “Three-dimensional Structure of a Minimum Metabolic Unit in Mouse Heart.”
Presentations, Events, Lectures & Workshops
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, delivered a lecture via Zoom on March 13, 2026, to students at University College London (UK) titled “Xenografts of Skeletal Muscle to Study Muscular Dystrophies.”
Fourth Annual Department of Radiation Oncology Research Symposium
Faculty, researchers, and trainees from across UMB attended the Fourth Annual Department of Radiation Oncology Research Symposium, held on March 27, 2026, at the SMC Student Center.
Chaired by Amit Sawant, PhD, Professor, the event featured more than 45 podium and poster presentations representing a wide range of collaborative basic, translational, and clinical investigations. Tarek Hanna, MD, Professor and Dean John M. Dennis Chair & Chief of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, was the keynote speaker. The program included a lunchtime poster viewing, a welcome from William F. Regine, MD, Department Chair, and sessions on biology, clinical research, and physics.
Awards were presented for the best podium and poster presentations. The event concluded with a reception for participants and attendees.
The Annual UM Radiation Oncology Research Symposium was initiated in 2023 to encourage increased intra- and interdepartmental collaboration, support successful research award tracks for young trainees, enhance faculty career development, and foster academic-industrial partnerships. Sponsors were Decipher by Veracyte, Lantheus, AstraZeneca, Sumitomo Pharma, and Tempus.
2nd International Conference on Psychology and Psychiatry
The 2nd International Conference on Psychology and Psychiatry will take place on November 18–19, 2026, in Bangkok, Thailand, at the Grand Mercure Bangkok Atrium Hotel.
This year’s theme, “Exploring the Frontiers of Psychology and Psychiatry,” will bring together leading psychologists, psychiatrists, researchers, mental health professionals, and academicians from around the world for two days of insightful discussions and meaningful collaboration.
Whether presenting, expanding a professional network, or seeking fresh perspectives, this conference offers a dynamic platform to exchange ideas, gain global insights, and contribute to the future of psychological and psychiatric sciences. The conference will feature keynote lectures by renowned experts, interactive plenary sessions, and poster presentations showcasing groundbreaking research and innovative practices across mental health, behavioral science, cognitive therapy, neuropsychiatry, and more.
Publications
Robert Bloch, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, was the senior author of "Dysferlin's C2A Domain Supports Normal Ca2+ Signaling and Membrane Repair in Dysferlin-Null Myofibers, in press in the Journal of General Physiology. He was also among the co-authors of “Spatiotemporal DUX4 Toxicity in FSHD: From Epigenetic Derepression to Biomarker-driven Targeted Therapies,” which was published in Neuromuscular Disorders on March 31, 2026.
Matthew Brown, MD, Medical Resident; Kai Sun, MS, Biostatistician; and Mark Mishra, MD, all with the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Conditional Survival Estimates for Malignant Glioma Patients: Secondary Analysis of RTOG 9006,” which was published on March 19, 2026, ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Aldo Camargo, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Gianpaolo Del Mauro, MS, Research Fellow; and Ze Wang, PhD, Professor, all with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were co-authors of “Cross Entropy Gradient Analysis for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment,” which was published in March 2026 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. Epub ahead of print.
Travis Hoover, MD, Medical Resident, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Long Term Results of Proton Therapy in Adult Infradiaphragmatic Lymphoma,” which was published in the March e-collection of the International Journal of Particle Therapy.
Brian Mathur, PhD, Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology & Physiology, was the senior author of “Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activation of Claustrum Projection Neuron subtypes is Enhanced by Alcohol," which was published in Neuropharmacology on March 30, 2026.
Sina Mossahebi, PhD, Associate Professor; Jason Molitoris, MD, PhD, Associate Professor; and William F. Regine, MD, Professor, all with the Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Novel Use of Peak Optimized Particle Therapy for the Delivery of Three-dimensional Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy,” which was published in the March 11, 2026, issue of Frontiers in Oncology.
Robabeh Rahimi, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Defining Clinically Relevant Residual Motion for Respiratory-Gated Scanning Proton Therapy of Liver Cancer: A Patient-Derived 4D Dynamic Dose Analysis,” which was published on March 30, 2026, ahead of print in Physica Medica.
Feyruz Rassool, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was among the authors of “Targeting the ANGPTL4/NRP1/ABL1/RAD51 Axis Reverses Cisplatin Resistance By Impairing DNA Damage Repair in Head and Neck Cancer,” which was published on March 31, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.
Amit Sawant, PhD, and Lei Ren, PhD, Professors, Department of Radiation Oncology, were among the authors of “Radiation Oncology-Biology Integration Network (ROBIN): Bridging the Gap Between Biological Research and Clinical Practice,” which was published on April 6, 2026, ahead of print in Clinical Cancer Research.
Hem Shukla, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Radiation Oncology, was the senior author of “HIF1α Mediates Resistance to Radiation and to KRAS Inhibitors in Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma,” which was published in the March 26, 2026, issue of PLoS One.
Matthew Trudeau, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology & Physiology, was the author of “The PAS Domain Directly Regulates hERG Channel Gating in Patch-clamp Fluorometry Recordings,” which was published in Biophysical Journal on March 19, 2026.
Xinglin Zeng, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow; Yiran Li, PhD, Assistant Professor; Ruoxi Lu, Lab Member; Lucas Lemos Franco, BS, Research Fellow; and Ze Wang, PhD, Professor, all with the Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, were among the co-authors of “Spatially and Temporally Progressive Hypoperfusion in Alzheimer's Disease Revealed by Normative Modeling,” which was published in March 2026 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Dr. Zeng was the first author and Dr. Wang was the last author.