Postdoc Kudos Archive

Each month we will feature recent SOM postdoc accomplishments, such as high impact papers, awards, and grants. Do you know a postdoc that should be featured? Email us to include them in next month's kudos at postdocaffairs@jhmi.edu.

Winter 2023

Mahmoud El Baassiri, M.D., Pediatric Surgery

Dr. El Baassiri published the paper Infiltrating Anti-Inflammatory Monocytes Modulate Microglial Activation through TLR4-IFN Dependent Pathways following Traumatic Brain Injury in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, January 2023, doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000003858

Dr. El Baassiri published the paper Pharmacologic TLR4 Inhibition Skews Toward a Favorable A1/A2 Astrocytic Ratio Improving Neurocognitive Outcomes following Traumatic Brain Injury in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, January 2023, DOI: 10.1097/TA.0000000000003887

Winter 2022

Dr. Kristal Lyn Brown, Ph.D., MSPH, Internal Medicine

Dr. Brown published the paper “Eating to cope: Advancing our Understanding of the effects of exposure to racial discriminiation on maladaptive eating behaviors”, In the International Journal of Eating Disorders, October 2022
Seema Banerjee, PhD, FAAO, Department of Ophthalmology-Glaucoma

Seema was awarded as one of the top 200 young scientist participants at the Hong Kong Laureate forum 2022-2023 for her thesis work on Myopia and Neuroscience. Seema was also awarded as an international scientific fellow by the American Academy of Optometry as a Fellow of the American Academy of Optometry.
Jennifer Alejo, M.D., Department of Surgery

Dr. Alejo is a recipient of the 2022 Career Impact Award. The Career Impact Award honors members of a wider JHU Community who have gone above and beyond to support the professional aspirations of their colleagues. Dr. Alejo will be honored at the Career Impact Award Ceremony on November 15, 2022.

August/September 2022

Congratulations! Two JHMI Postdoctoral fellows have been named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellows.

Nicolle Rosa Mercado, Ph.D.

Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Nicolle has been named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellow.
Joshua Raji, Ph.D.

Department of Neuroscience
Joshua has been named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Hanna Gray Fellow.

Summer 2022

2022 Postdoctoral Research Accelerator Awardees

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs is pleased to announce the 2022 Postdoctoral Research Accelerator Awardees. Please join us in congratulating them.
*Funded by a generous gift from the DuBose Fund

Vera Dunlock, PhD, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
Project: Mapping Signaling to Understand T-Cell Exhaustion in Cancer
Faculty PI: Dr. Sergi Regot
Inês Godet, PhD, Department of Oncology
Project: Leveraging Rapid Autopsy Data Reveals that Intratumoral Hypoxia Promotes Metastatic Liver-Organotropism in Breast Cancer
Faculty PI: Dr. Daniele Gilkes
Hayden Hyatt, PhD, Department of Physiology
Project: Differential Functions of SFXN1 and SFN4: The Unexplored Sides of Sideroflexins
Faculty PI: Dr. Steven Claypool
Kanghoon Jung*, PhD, Neuroscience Department
Project: Structural and Functional Plasticity of Cortical Axo-Axonic Synapses for Healthy Cognition
Faculty PI: Dr. Hyungbae Kwon
Wathsala GH Liyange*, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology
Project: Development of Multi-Arm Anti-VEGF-Fab’/F(ab)2 for Regulation of VEGF Mediated Angiogenesis
Faculty PI: Dr. Kannan Rangaramanujam
Alberto Marin-Gonzalez*, PhD, Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry
Project: Dynamics of the 3D Genome during Double-Strand Break Repair
Faculty PI: Dr. Taekjip Ha
Joscelyn Mejias*, PhD, Department of Ophthalmology
Project: Age-Related Changes in the Immune Response to Synthetic Materials
Faculty PI: Dr. Jennifer Elisseeff
Matthew Reid, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Project: Sleep as a Novel Biomarker to Predict Treatment Response to Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
Faculty PI: Dr. Patrick Finan
Sergio Vicencio-Jimenez*, PhD, Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
Project: Elucidating the Role of Olivocochlear Efferents in Hearing Using Optogenetics
Faculty PI: Dr. Amanda Lauer
JiaoJiao Xu, PhD, Department of Physiology
Project: Uncovering the Sex-Specific Role of Olfactory Receptor 558 in Blood Pressure Regulation
Faculty PI: Dr. Jennifer Pluznick
Yingchao Xue, PhD, Department of Dermatology
Project: Defining the Contribution of Body-Wide Skin Stretch to Obesity-Related Inflammation
Faculty PI: Dr. Luis Garza

April/May 2022

Dr. Kuldeep Gupta, Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Dr. Gupta is the recipient of a Scholar-in-Training Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Dr. Gupta will receive the award at a special awards ceremony to be held at the Annual AACR meeting in April in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Dr. Naomi Dirckx, Orthopaedic Surgery

Dr. Dirckx has recently been awarded an NIH Pathway to Independence K99/R00 award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). Her NIAMS-funded research project is entitled: Mechanisms of impact of osteoblast “citration” on skeletal mineralization and global citrate homeostasis.

February/March 2022

Dr. Ellen Boakye, Medicine (Cardiology)

Dr. Boakye published the paper ‘Nativity-Related Disparities in Preeclampsia and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among a Racially Diverse Cohort of US Women’ in the JAMA Network Open in December 2021.
Dr. Jennifer Alejo, Surgery

Drs. Alejo, Mitchell and Chang co-authored the paper ‘Prevalence and Durability of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Unvaccinated US Adults by History of COVID-19’ in JAMA in February 2022.
Dr. Jonathan Mitchell, Surgery

Drs. Alejo, Mitchell and Chang co-authored the paper ‘Prevalence and Durability of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Unvaccinated US Adults by History of COVID-19’ in JAMA in February 2022.
Dr. Amy Chang, Surgery

Drs. Alejo, Mitchell and Chang co-authored the paper ‘Prevalence and Durability of SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies among Unvaccinated US Adults by History of COVID-19’ in JAMA in February 2022.

January 2022

Dr. Elias Christodoulou, Oncology

Dr. Christodoulou published the paper "Engineering CAR-NK cells to secrete IL-15 sustains their anti-AML functionality but is associated with systemic toxicities" in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer in December 2021
Dr. Manoj Doss, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Dr. Doss published the paper "Psilocybin therapy increases cognitive and neural flexibility in patients with major depressive disorder" in Translational Psychiatry in November 2021
Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Oncology

Dr. Kumar published the paper "Supraphysiologic Testosterone Induces Ferroptosis and Activates Immune Pathways through Nucleophagy in Prostate Cancer" in Cancer Research in December 2021

December 2021

Dr. Tiago J. Costa, Biological Chemistry

Published the paper "Mitochondrial DNA and TLR9 activation contribute to SARS-CoV-2-induced endothelial cell damage" in Vascular Pharmacology in November 2021
Dr. Paola Ghanem, Oncology

Dr. Ghanem published the chapter "Immunotherapy for Lung Cancer and Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma" in Cancer Immunotherapy Principles and Practice, Second Edition” in October 2021
Dr. Anabel Gonzalez-Gil, Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Dr. Gonzalez-Gil published the paper "Induction of the endogenous sialoglycan ligand for eosinophil death receptor Siglec-8 in chronic rhinosinusitis with hyperplastic nasal polyposis" in Glycobiology in August 2021

November 2021

Dr. Omar Dzaye, Medicine

Published the paper "Modeling the Recommended Age for Initiating Coronary Artery Calcium Testing Among At-Risk Young Adults" in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, October 2021
Dr. Arathy Kartha, Ophthalmology

Awarded a K99 Path to Independence award from the National Eye Institute
Dr. Niladri Sinha, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Published the paper "Translational repression of NMD targets by GIGYF2 and EIF4E2" in PLoS Genetics, October 2021

October 2021

Dr. Marco Catipovic, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Dr. Catipovic was awarded the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Fellowship
Dr. Andrea Putnam, Molecular Biology and Genetics

Dr. Putnam published the paper "Regulation of Biomedical Condensates by Interfacial Protein Clusters" in Science, September 2021
Dr. Sergio Vicencio, Otolaryngology

Dr. Vicencio published the paper "Olivocochlear Changes Associated with Aging Predominantly Affect the Medial Olivocochlear System" in Frontiers in Neuroscience, September 2021

September 2021

Dr. MyungHyun Jo, Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry

Dr. Jo published the paper "Molecular Nanomechanical Mapping of Histamine-Induced Smooth Muscle Cell Contraction and Shortening" in ACS Nano, July 2021
Dr. Fabiana Pani, Medicine

Dr. Pani published the paper "B cells modulate the expression of MHC-II on cardiac CCR2? macrophages" in the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Aug 2021
Dr. Maame Sampah, Surgery

Dr. Sampah published the paper "Prenatal Immunity and Influences on Necrotizing Enterocolitis and Associated Neonatal Disorders" in Frontiers in Immunology

August 2021

Dr. Nicholas Andresen, Otolaryngology

Dr. Andresen published the paper "Comparison of Age-Related Pigmentary Changes in the Auditory and Vestibular Systems Within Mouse and Human Temporal Bones" in Frontiers in Neuroscience, May 2021
Dr. Jillian Eskra, Urology

Dr. Eskra published the paper "Specific Detection of Prostate Cancer Cells in Urine by RNA In Situ Hybridization" in The Journal of Urology, July 2021
Dr. Alberto Marin Gonzalez, Biophysics and Biological Chemistry

Dr. Marin Gonzalez received a Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellowship July 2021
Dr. Ronan Mooney, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Dr. Mooney published the paper "Training at asymptote stabilizes motor memories by reducing intracortical excitation" in Cortex, July 2021
Dr. Li Zhu, Biological Chemistry

Dr. Zhu published the paper "RNA-binding protein Maca is crucial for gigantic male fertility factor gene expression, spermatogenesis, and male fertility, in Drosophila" in PLOS Genetics, June 2021