Graduate Program in the Biomedical Sciences

2024 PhD Thesis Defenses

MATANEL YHESKEL

Thesis Title: Leveraging Patient Intellectual Disability-Associated Variants to Uncover Novel Roles of the Histone Demethylase KDM5 in Drosophila

Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024
Time: 11:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Julie Secombe
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics

SHIVANI KHAROD

Thesis Title: Role of Fragile X Ribonucleoprotein and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Local Translation Regulation and Plasticity in the Mature Mammalian Presynaptic Terminal

Date: Thursday, May 30, 2024
Time: 11:00am
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
Laboratories of Drs. Pablo Castillo and Robert H. Singer
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

RYAN GRAFF

Thesis Title: Platelet PI3Kβ Regulates Breast Cancer Metastasis

Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2024
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Jonathan Backer and Anne Bresnick
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Molecular Pharmacology

ALEXANDER FERRENA

Thesis Title: Molecular and Clinical Implications of Skp2 Inhibition in Osteosarcoma

Date: Monday, May 13, 2024
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Deyou Zheng and Bang Hoang
PhD Candidate, Department of Clinical Investigation

CHRISTIAN LAVADOS JER

Thesis Title: The Role of SLIRP and Its Phosphorylation in the Regulation of Mitophagy

Date: Wednesday, May 1, 2024
Time: 10:00am
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Rajat Singh
PhD Candidate, Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology

VERONICA VEKSLER

Thesis Title: Characterizing the Role of CD14+CD16+ Monocytes in HIV-associated Neurocognitive Impairment in the Context of Viral Suppression

Date: Friday, April 26, 2024
Time: 9:00am
5th Floor Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Joan Berman
PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology

JEB ENGLISH

Thesis Title: Thrombopoietin-Mimetic Provides Protection Against Radiation-Induced Multi-Organ Injury

Date: Monday, April 15, 2024
Time: 10:00am
LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Chandan Guha
PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology

SHIRA GLUSHAKOW-SMITH

Thesis Title: Leveraging the PI3Kinase Pathway in Targeting Leukemic and pre-Leukemic Stem Cells

Date: Friday, April 12, 2024
Time: 1:15pm
5th Floor Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratories of Drs. Kira Gritsman and Amit Verma
PhD Candidate, Department of Cell Biology

NOURA GHAZALE

Thesis Title: Delineating RNASEH1-R-loop Interactions In Vivo

Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Teresa Bowman and Robert H. Singer
PhD Candidate, Department of Developmental and Molecular Biology

NOËLIE CAYLA

Thesis Title: Exploring the Cerebellar Projections to the Hypothalamus: An Anatomy, Physiology, and Behavior Investigation

Date: Tuesday, April 9, 2024
Time: 10:00am
Zoom, and Tishman Auditorium, Kennedy Center
PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience

RUIXUAN WANG

Thesis Title: Mechanisms of Age-Related Intestinal Decline and Its Role in Alzheimer's Disease.

Date: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Time: 1:00pm
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Derek Huffman
PhD Candidate, Department of Molecular Pharmacology

ZACHARY FLAMHOLZ

Thesis Title: Towards the Utilization of Uncultivated Bacteriophages for Translational Applications in Human Health and Disease

Date: Friday, March 8, 2024
Time: 9:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratory of Dr. Libusha Kelly
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Systems & Computational Biology

BRETT BELL

Thesis Title: Radiobiological Investigations of Orthovoltage X-Rays, Proton FLASH, and Carbon Ion Radiotherapy

Date: Monday, February 12, 2024
Time: 10:00am
3rd Floor Lecture Hall, Forchheimer
Laboratory of Dr. Chandan Guha
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Pathology

MORAIS BROWN

Thesis Title: Protein Dynamics, Transition-States, and Inhibitor Binding in Methylthioadenosine Nucleosidases

Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Time: 11:00am
1st Floor Lecture Hall, Forchheimer Building
Laboratory of Dr. Vern Schramm
PhD Candidate, Department of Biochemistry

JOSHUA REYNOLDS

Thesis Title: Interleukin-6 at the Crossroads Between Choroid Plexus Clearance Deficits and Cognitive Dysfunction in Neuropsychiatric Lupus

Date: Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Time: 11:00am
Zoom, and LeFrak Auditorium, Price Center
Laboratories of Drs. Chaim Putterman and Myles Akabas
MD-PhD Candidate, Department of Neuroscience