2025 Biomedical Research Day: Bridging Science and Health
Tuesday, May 6th, 2025 | 9:00am - 3:20pm
This event showcased the latest discoveries by featured faculty speakers as well as undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees at the U of A College of Medicine – Phoenix. All trainees were invited to prepare posters to present their research findings, and top abstracts in Cardiopulmonary, Neuroscience, and Cancer Cell Biology & Immunology were selected for oral presentations. Thanks to our generous sponsors, the Arizona Biomedical Research Centre and the Flinn Foundation there was no cost to attend.
2025 Agenda
- 8:00 - 9:00 – Registration opens and poster setup
- 9:00 - 9:10 – Welcoming remarks - Fredric Wondisford, MD, MS, MBA; Dean, U of A College of Medicine – Phoenix
Session One – Cardiopulmonary
- 9:10 - 9:35 – Christopher Glembotski, PhD; Vice Dean for Research; Director, Translational Cardiovascular Research Center; Professor, Internal Medicine
“Does 3 represent the state of completeness in a career researching the heart?” - 9:35 - 9:50 – Ashton Jorgensen, PhD (Postdoc)
“Sex differences in cardiac fibroblast response to transient angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition” - 9:50 - 10:05 – Natascha Schippel (Graduate student)
“Erythropoietin-dependent acquisition of CD71hiCD105hi phenotype within CD235a− early erythroid progenitors” - 10:05 - 10:20 – Ryan Woltz, PhD (Postdoc)
“Disruption of a single R395:E398 salt bridge by PIP2 shifts the state distribution towards an open and conductive state in human small-conductance Ca2+-activated potassium channels”
10:20 - 10:40 – Break
Session Two – Neuroscience
- 10:40 - 11:05 – Isabelle Schrauwen, PhD; Associate Professor, Translational Neurosciences
“Omics-driven insights into the pathophysiology of neurological and sensorineural disorders” - 11:05 - 11:20 – Chris Brown, PhD (Postdoc)
“Increased neuronal plasticity accelerates vision deficits in the P23H murine model of retinitis pigmentosa” - 11:20 - 11:35 – Bhavik Rajaboina (Undergraduate)
“Persistent glial dysfunction in the hippocampus after diffuse axonal injury: sex differences and implications for neurodegeneration” - 11:35 - 11:50 – Sunny Vansdadia, BS (Medical Student & Clinical Research Graduate Student)
“Predicting brain metastasis from lung cancer: a SEER database ML analysis”
12:00 - 1:00 – Lunch and Posters Session 1
1:00 - 2:00 – Lunch and Posters Session 2
Session Three – Cancer Cell Biology and Immunology
- 2:00 - 2:15 – Rayna Shaik (Undergraduate)
“Gas marble therapeutics mitigate oxidative stress in chronic wounds” - 2:15 - 2:30 – Hunter O'Brien (Graduate student)
“ITGA3, a novel predictive biomarker for FAK-FAT targeted therapeutics in melanoma” - 2:30 - 2:45 – Anita Garwolinska (Undergraduate)
“Targeted lipidomics unveils complex lipids in cervicovaginal environment as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for endometrial cancer” - 2:45 - 3:10 – Suwon Kim, PhD; Associate Professor, Basic Medical Sciences; Director, Personalized Active Learning, UME
“ING4 tumor suppressor, tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), and metastasis: a butterfly effect”
3:10 - 3:20 – Oral presentation awards and closing remarks
Event Recap
Biomedical Research: Bridging Science and Health focused on the research discoveries of faculty, as well as undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral trainees at the College of Medicine – Phoenix.
The day was divided into three central areas of research: cardiopulmonary, neuroscience, and cancer cell biology and immunology. And those areas were divided into several talks — selected from the top abstracts that were submitted — and headlined by college faculty. The faculty presentations included Dr. Glembotski, Isabelle Schrauwen, PhD, associate professor of Translational Neurosciences, and Suwon Kim, PhD, associate professor of Basic Medical Sciences.
In addition, trainees were invited to present their findings through posters. The top two oral and poster presentations of the day were:
Oral:
- First Place – Rayna Shaik, Gas Marble Therapeutics Mitigate Oxidative Stress in Chronic Wounds.
- Second Place – Ashton Jorgensen, PhD, Sex Differences in Cardiac Fibroblast Response to Transient Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition.
Poster:
- First Place – Yang Zheng, PhD, Pathogenic Calmodulin Mutations Have Distinctive Effects on the Cardiac SK Channel.
- Second Place – Huzaifah Sheik, Evaluation of the Binding Profile of Novel Paxillin Cyclic Peptide for the Treatment of Melanoma.
2025 Biomedical Research Day Planning Committee
- Taben Hale, PhD - Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Associate Dean, Graduate Studies
- Ashton Jorgensen, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow, Basic Medical Sciences
- Nicole Jimenez, PhD - Postdoctoral Scientist, Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Marjan Fakhrizadeh Esfahani, MS - Graduate Student, Internal Medicine and Translational Cardiovascular Research Center
- Nicolle Hipschman, BS - Graduate Student, Internal Medicine
- Casey Mazio - Program Manager, Translational Research Office
If you have any questions please email PBC-TREO-EVENTS@arizona.edu.