Current Students

Education: B.S., Physiology & Neurobiology, University of Connecticut; Master of Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBD

Research Interests: My interests include human longevity, exercise and nutrition for disease treatment and prevention, neuroplasticity, neural regeneration, bioastronautics

Publications

• Won C, Damsky W, Singh I, Joseph P, Chichra A, Oakland H, Lu J, Vallabhajosyula P, Bardia A, Szabo C, Wang A, Borges K, Koff J, Rochester C, King B, Chun H. Hijaking the Sars-Cov-2 Cytokinopathy: Janus Kinase Inhibitors for Moderate to Severe Covid-19 (2020).
• Nangia G, Borges K, Reddy KR. Use of HCV-infected organs in solid organ transplantation: An ethical challenge but plausible option. Journal of Viral Hepatitis. 2019; 00:1-10.
• Borges KA, Dai J, Parikh ND, et al. Rationale and design of the Hepatocellular carcinoma Early Detection Strategy study: A multi-center longitudinal initiative of the National Cancer Institute's Early Detection Research Network. Contemporary clinical trials. 2018; 76:49-54.
• Rajapakse CS, Leonard MB, Kobe EA, Slinger MA, Borges KA, Billig E, Rubin CT, Wehrli FW. The Efficacy of Low-Intensity Vibration to Improve Bone Health in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease is Highly Dependent on Compliance and Muscle Response. Academic radiology. 2017; 24:1332-42.

Education: B.S., Biology, Summa Cum Laude, Stony Brook University

Year: 1st year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: At NYITCOM, I am interested in investigating the contributions of the central and peripheral nervous systems in various disease processes. As an undergraduate, I assisted in investigating the role of endothelial-specific Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) in mitigating renal injury in response to anti-angiogenic therapies. Prior to NYITCOM, I participated in research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where I primarily worked on investigating the bidirectional crosstalk between the autonomic nervous system and cancer. More specifically, I worked on understanding the role of specific brainstem nuclei and the sympathetic nervous system in promoting tumor initiation, progression and subsequent metastasis in preclinical models. Additionally, utilizing various modern neuroscience techniques (e.g., optogenetics, fiber photometry, EEG/EMG) I worked on characterizing the deleterious effects of chemotherapy and cachexia on normal sleep/wake architecture.

Publications

• Berisha, A., Shutkind, K., & Borniger, J. C. (2022). Sleep disruption and cancer: chicken or the egg?. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 16, 600.
• Wu, Y., Berisha, A., & Borniger, J. C. (2022). Neuropeptides in Cancer: Friend and Foe?. Advanced Biology, 6(9), 2200111.

Education: B.S., Biology, Summa Cum Laude, Stony Brook University

Year: 1st year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: My undergraduate research project focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern the crosstalk between immune cells and intestinal stem cells in maintaining the integrity of the intestinal mucosa. Specifically, I investigated the role of the Th17 cell-lineage-defining cytokine, IL-17A, in mediating secretory epithelial cell differentiation in the gut. Prior to NYITCOM, I participated in research at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where I focused on the growth/synaptogenic promoting role of the tissue-resident macrophages of the brain, microglia. Specifically, I investigated the contribution of microglia in the regulation and maintenance of specialized chandelier cell (ChC) inhibitory synapses during postnatal development. The importance of proper ChC function is underscored by the association of ChC connectivity defects with various neurological disorders. During my time at NYITCOM, I plan to continue unraveling the important cellular and molecular interactions that govern various diseases.

Publications

• Gallo, Nicholas B., Artan Berisha, and Linda Van Aelst. "Microglia regulate chandelier cell axo-axonic synaptogenesis." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119.11 (2022): e2114476119.
• Lin,Xun, Stephen J. Gaudino, Kyung Ku Jang, Tej Bahadur, Ankita Singh, Anirban Banerjee, Michael Beaupre, Timothy Chu, Hoi Tong Wong, Chang-Kyung Kim, Cody Kempen, Jordan Axelrad, Huakang Huang, Saba Khalid, Vyom Shah, Onur Eskiocak, Olivia B. Parks, Artan Berisha… Pawan Kumar. "IL-17RA-signaling in Lgr5+ intestinal stem cells induces expression of transcription factor ATOH1 to promote secretory cell lineage commitment." Immunity 55.2 (2022): 237–253.

Education: B.S., Biochemistry, Florida State University

Year: 2nd Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: Haotian Zhao, Ph.D., M.D.

Research Interests: I am interested in studying tumorigenesis, tumor heterogeneity, and the molecular mechanisms that drive tumor progression with a focus on epigenetics, molecular cross-talk, mircoRNA, and the tumor micro-environment. As an undergraduate, I began studying tumorigenesis and growth regulating pathways utilizing Drosophila melanogaster models to analyze genetic interactions in the development of cancer of different tissues. Throughout my neurosurgical-oncology clinical research fellowship, I recognized an important barrier to the development of effective treatments for the notoriously heterogenous glioblastoma remains understanding its tumorigenesis, genetically modulated molecular signaling, dynamic tumor microenvironment, and overall biology. Additionally, I hope to investigate the development of unique organoid model systems for rare cancers and study theories of evolutionary biology in the context of cancer.

Publications

• Patel NV, Khatri D, D'Amico R, Abrams M, Reichman N, Filippi CG, Anderson T, Ratzon F, Wong T, Fralin S, Li M, Faltings L, Langer DJ, Boockvar JA. Vascularized Temporoparietal Fascial Flap: A novel surgical technique to bypass the Blood Brain Barrier in Glioblastoma. World Neurosurgery. 2020 July 23.
• Faltings L, Kulason KO, Patel NV, Wong T, Fralin S, Li M, Schneider JR, Filippi CG, Langer DJ, Ortiz R, Boockvar JA. Rechallenging Recurrent Glioblastoma with Intra-Arterial Bevacizumab with Blood Brain–Barrier Disruption Results in Radiographic Response. World neurosurgery. 2019 Nov 1;131:234-41
• Patel NV, Faltings L, Wong T, Fralin S, Ray A, Li M, Ortiz R, Langer D, Boockvar J. Super-Selective Intra-Arterial Cerebral Infusion Bevacizumab for Treatment of Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma: Phase I/II Clinical Trial Early Results. Neurosurgery. 2019 July; 131(1)
• Nossek E, Schneider JR, Kwan K, Kulason KO, Du V, Chakraborty S, Rhame R, Faltings L, Ellis J, Ortiz R, Boockvar JA, Langer DJ. Technical Aspects and Operative Nuances Using a High-Definition 3-Dimensional Exoscope for Cerebral Bypass Surgery. Operative Neurosurgery. 2019 Aug 1; 17(2): 157-63.
• Faltings L, Kulason KO, Du V, Schneider JR, Chakraborty S, Kwan K, Pramanik B, Boockvar J. Early Epidural Blood Patch to Treat Intracranial Hypotension after Iatrogenic Cerebrospinal Fluid Leakage from Lumbar Tubular Microdiscectomy. Cureus. 2018 Nov 26; 10(11): e3633. DOI 10.7759/cureus.3633
• Ray AE, Faltings L, Machnicki S, Goenka A, Opher E, Steinberg J, Ratzon F, Novoselac AV. Bone Metastasis as the Only Site of Disease in a Patient 7 Years Post Treatment for a Locally Advanced Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma. JOP. J Pancreas. 2018 Nov 30; 19(6): 268 - 272
• Kwan K, Schneider JR, Du V, Faltings L, Boockvar JA, Oren J, Levine M, Langer DJ. Lessons Learned Using a High-Definition 3- Dimensional Exoscope for Spinal Surgery. Operative Neurosurgery. 2018 August 14; opy196
• Kwan K, Faltings L, Schneider JR, Boockvar JA. Local Immunotherapy for Malignancy: A Role for Brain Tumors?. Neurosurgery. 2018 Jun 18;83(1):E5
• Schneider JR, Kulason KO, Khan MB, White TG, Kwan K, Faltings L, Kobets AJ, Chakraborty S, Ellis JA, Ortiz RA, Filippi CG, Langer DJ, Boockvar JA. Commentary: Advances in Glioblastoma Therapies: Collaborative Effort between Physicians and the Biotechnology Industry. Neurosurgery. 2018 Jun 8
• Schneider JR, Kwan K, Kulason KO, Faltings L, Colantonio S, Safir S, Loven T, Li J, Black K, Schaeffer BT, Eisenberg M. Primary Solitary Retro-clival Amyloidoma. Surg Neurol Int. 2018 May 15.
• Faltings L, Deng W. Interaction of Different Growth Regulating Pathways in Drosophila melanogaster. Florida State University Libraries. 2017

Education: B.A., Chemistry, magna cum laude (concentration in Biochemistry and Minor in Psychology), Hunter College, City University of New York

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: TBA

Publications

• Navjot Guru, Paula Demétrio de Souza Franca, Giacomo Pirovano, Cien Huang Snehal Patel, Thomas Reiner. [18F]PARPi imaging is not affected by HPV status in vitro (2020). Molecular Imaging. In press.
• Paula Demétrio De Souza França, Navjot Guru, Sheryl Roberts, Susanne Kossatz, Christian Mason, Marcio Abrahão, Ronald A. Ghossein, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence-guided resection of tumors in mouse models of oral cancer (2020). Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67958-8
• Paula Demetrio de Souza Franca, Navjot Guru, Abigail R. Kostolansky , Audrey Mauguen, Giacomo Pirovano, Susanne Kossatz, Sheryl Roberts, Marcio Abrahao, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner, Elizabeth Jewell. Poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase1: A potential molecular marker to identify cancer during colposcopy procedures (2020). Journal of Nuclear Medicine. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.120.253575.
• Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Susanne Kossatz, Christian Brand, Daniella Karassawa Zanoni, Sheryl Roberts, Navjot Guru, Dauren Adilbay, Audrey Mauguen, Cristina Valero Mayor, Wolfgang A. Weber, Heiko Schöder, Ronald A. Ghossein, Ian Ganly, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. A Phase I Study of a PARP1-targeted Topical Fluorophore for the Detection of Oral Cancer. medRxiv 2020.11.09.20228536; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.11.09.20228536
• Junior Gonzales, Javier Hernández-Gil, Thomas C Wilson, Dauren Adilbay, Mike Cornejo, Paula Demétrio de Souza Franca, Navjot Guru, Christina I Schroeder, Glenn F King, Jason S Lewis, Thomas Reiner. Bimodal Imaging of Mouse Peripheral Nerves with Chlorin Tracers. Mol Pharm. 2021 Jan 6. doi: 10.1021/acs.molpharmaceut.0c00946. Epub
• Junior Gonzales, Giacomo Pirovano, Jonathan Chow, Paula Demetrio de Souza Franca, Julie Kaae Klint, Navjot Guru, Glenn King and Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence labeling of Hs1a for near-infrared nerve visualization. EJNMMI research, 2020;10(1): 49. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13550-020-00630-4
• Giacomo Pirovano, Stephen Jannetti, Lukas Carter, Ahmad Sadique, Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Paula Demétrio De Souza França, Masatomo Maeda, Brian Zeglis, Jason Lewis, John Humm, and Thomas Reiner. Targeted brain tumor radiotherapy using an Auger emitter (2020). Clinical Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-19-2440
• Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Sheryl Roberts, Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Christian Mason, Daniella Karassawa Zanoni, Marcio Abrahão, Heiko Schöder, Ian Ganly, Snehal G. Patel, Thomas Reiner. Fluorine-18 labeled poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase1 inhibitor as a potential alternative to 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose positron emission tomography in oral cancer imaging. (2020). Nuclear Medicine and Biology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucmedbio.2020.01.004
• Thomas C. Wilson, Stephen A. Jannetti, Navjot Guru, Nagavarakishore Pillarsetty, Thomas Reiner, Giacomo Pirovano. Improved radiosynthesis of 123I-MAPi, an Auger theragnostic agent 2020 Jul 2. Int J Radiat Biol. 2020;1-7. doi:10.1080/09553002.2020.1781283
• Junior Gonzales, Paula Demétrio de Souza França, Yan Jiang, Giacomo Pirovano , Susanne Kossatz, Navjot Guru, Dimitry Yarilin, Akello J. Agwa , Christina Schroeder, Snehal G. Patel, Ian Ganly , Glenn King, Thomas Reiner. Fluorescence Imaging of Peripheral Nerves by a Nav1.7-Targeted 2 Inhibitor Cystine Knot Peptide (2019). Bioconjugate Chemistry. DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00612
• Christian A. Mason, Susanne Kossatz, Lukas M. Carter, Giacomo Pirovano, Christian Brand, Navjot Guru, Carlos Pérez-Medina, Jason S. Lewis, Willem J.M. Mulder, Thomas Reiner. 89Zr-HDL PET tracer monitors response to a CSF1R inhibitor. (2019) Journal of Nuclear Medicine. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.119.230466

Education: B.A., Biology (Biochemistry Concentration), College of the Holy Cross

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: TBA

Publications

• Young CJ, Caffrey M, Janton C, Kobayashi T. Reversing the miRNA -5p/-3p stoichiometry reveals physiological roles and targets of miR-140 miRNAs. RNA. 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35332065
• Nishimori S, O'Meara MJ, Castro C, Noda H, Cetinbas M, da Silva Martins J, Ayturk U, Brooks DJ, Bruce M, Nagata M, Ono W, Janton CJ, Bouxsein ML, Foretz M, Berdeaux R, Sadreyev RI, Gardella TJ, Jüppner H, Kronenberg HM, Wein MN. Salt-inducible kinases dictate parathyroid hormone receptor action in bone development and remodeling. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2019 Aug 20. PMID: 31430259.
• Exconde, Patrick M., Janton CJ, Makkay AM, Papke RT, Gomez AV, and Mills KV. "Fitness Cost of Two INTEINS in Halobacterium Salinarum." The FASEB Journal 33.S1 (2019).
• Janton CJ, Gomez AC, Makkay AM, Papke RT, and Mills KV. "Salt‐dependent Protein Splicing: In Vitro Enzymology and in Vivo Physiological Relevance." The FASEB Journal 32.S1 (2018).

Education: B.S., Biology, St. John's University

Year: 3rd Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: Michael Hadjiargyrou, Ph.D.

Research Interests: I am working with a novel pan-musculoskeletal gene, Mustn1. Mustn1 has been shown to play a role in muscle, bone, and cartilage development and regeneration. My current project involves creating conditional knockout mice to assess phenotype changes to test the hypothesis that ablation of Mustn1 will result in defect in myogenesis in differentiation and fusion of myofibers that will lead to skeletal muscle development failure and thus loss of function. The data from this research will be used to enhance understanding of the regulatory mechanism of skeletal myogenesis and how Mustn1 is involved in the process.

Education: B.S./D.O. Program, New York Institute of Technology

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBD

Research Interests: Public health, anthropology, musculoskeletal repair, health policy and preventative medicine

Publications

• Lee, C. J., Woo, W., Kim, A. Y., Yon, D. K., Lee, S. W., Koyanagi, A., Kim, M. S., Tizaoui, K., Dragioti, E., Radua, J., Lee, S., Smith, L., & Il Shin, J. (2022). Clinical manifestations of COVID-19 breakthrough infections: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of medical virology, 94(9), 4234–4245. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.27871
• Grine, F. E., Lee, C., Mongle, C. S., Billings, B. K., Wallace, I. J., & Mngomezulu, V. (2020). Secular trends in cranial size and shape among black South Africans over the late 19th and 20th centuries. Annals of human biology, 47(5), 446–456. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2020.1783361

Education: B.S., Honors, Emory University

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: Dong Zhang, PhD

Research Interests: TBA

Publications

• Pereira, P. M. R., Ragupathi, A., Shmuel, S., Mandleywala, K., Viola N. T., Lewis, J. S., HER2-targeted PET imaging and therapy of hyaluronan-masked HER2-overexpressing breast cancer, Molecular Pharmaceutics 17, 327-337, 2020
• Pereira, P. M. R., Mandleywala, K., Ragupathi, A., Carter, L., Goos, J. A. C. M., Janjigian, Y., and Lewis, J. S. Temporal Modulation of HER2 Membrane Availability Increases Pertuzumab Uptake and Pretargeted Molecular Imaging of Gastric Tumors. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 60, 1569–1578, 2019.
• Kozlowski, R., Ragupathi, A., and Dyer, R. B. Characterizing the Surface Coverage of Protein–Gold Nanoparticle Bioconjugates. Bioconjugate Chemistry 29, 2691–2700, 2018.
• Pereira, P. M. R., Sharma, S. K., Carter, L. M., Edwards, K., Pourat, J., Ragupathi, A., Janjigian, Y. Y., Durack, J. C., and Lewis, J. S. Caveolin-1 mediates cellular distribution of HER2 and affects trastuzumab binding and therapeutic efficacy. Nature Communications 9, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-07608-w, 2018.
• Poty, S., Membreno, R., Glaser, J. M., Ragupathi, A., Scholz, W. W., Zeglis, B. M., and Lewis, J. S. The inverse electron-demand Diels–Alder reaction as a new methodology for the synthesis of 225Ac-labelled radioimmunoconjugates. Chemical Communications 54, 2599–2602, 2018.

Education: B.A., Biochemistry, Vassar College

Year: 2nd Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: Dong Zhang, PhD

Research Interests:My interests lie in studying pathways involved in cancer biology with the overarching goal of identifying potential targets for personalized therapeutic treatments. I am also passionate about exploring ways to eliminate disparities in cancer treatments among minority groups.

Publications

• Caruso, F., Singh, M., Belli, S., Berinato, M., & Rossi, M. (2020). Interrelated Mechanism by Which the Methide Quinone Celastrol, Obtained from the Roots of Tripterygium wilfordii, Inhibits Main Protease 3CLpro of COVID-19 and Acts as Superoxide Radical Scavenger. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21239266
• Dardaei, L., Wang, H. Q., Singh, M. Fordjour, P., Shaw, K. X., Yoda, S., Kerr, G., Yu, K., Liang, J., Cao, Y., Chen, Y., Lawrence, M. S., Langenbucher, A., Gainor, J. F., Friboulet, L., Dagogo-Jack, I., Myers, D. T., Labrot, E., Ruddy, D., … Engelman, J. A. (2018). SHP2 inhibition restores sensitivity in ALK-rearranged non-small-cell lung cancer resistant to ALK inhibitors. Nature Medicine, 24(4), 512–517. https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4497
• Gainor, J. F., Dardaei, L., Yoda, S., Friboulet, L., Leshchiner, I., Katayama, R., Dagogo-Jack, I., Gadgeel, S., Schultz, K., Singh, M., Chin, E., Parks, M., Lee, D., DiCecca, R. H., Lockerman, E., Huynh, T., Logan, J., Ritterhouse, L. L., Le, L. P., Shaw, A. T. (2016). Molecular Mechanisms of Resistance to First- and Second-Generation ALK Inhibitors in ALK-Rearranged Lung Cancer. Cancer Discovery, 6(10), 1118–1133. https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.cd-16-0596
• Watters, A. K., Seltzer, E. S., MacKenzie, D., Young, M., Muratori, J., Hussein, R., Sodoma, A. M., To, J., Singh, M., & Zhang, D. (2020). The Effects of Genetic and Epigenetic Alterations of BARD1 on the Development of Non-Breast and Non-Gynecological Cancers. Genes. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes11070829

Education: B.S., Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Year: 3rd Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: Isaac Kurtzer, Ph.D.

Research Interests: I am studying how the human nervous system plans and executes coordinated movements to accomplish various tasks. I am interested in understanding the fundamental circuitry that underlies this sensorimotor control and how this circuitry fails in disease states such as Parkinson's disease. In the future, I hope to apply this knowledge within the field of neurostimulation in order to correct such motor pathologies or to augment motor control.

Publications

• Tanis, Daniel; Pilkar, Rakesh; Ibironke, Oluwaseun; Nolan, Karen "Improving Perception of Perturbations and Balance Using a Novel Dynamic Computerized Biofeedback Based Intervention after Traumatic Brain Injury", IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, 7/18/2018
• Ibironke, Oluwaseun; Tanis, Daniel; Nolan, Karen; Pilkar, Rakesh; "Improving Clinical Outcomes of Balance after Traumatic Brain Injury Using Computerized Biofeedback Based Intervention", IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, 7/19/2018

Education: Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), Dickinson College

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBD

Research Interests: TBD

Publications

• Frankowski KJ, Patnaik S, Wang C, Southall N, Dutta D, De S, Li D, Dextras C, Lin YH, Bryant-Connah M, Davis D, Wang F, Wachsmuth LM, Shah P, Williams J, Kabir M, Zhu E, Baljinnyam B, Wang A, Xu X, Norton J, Ferrer M, Titus S, Simeonov A, Zheng W, Mathews Griner LA, Jadhav A, Aubé J, Henderson MJ, Rudloff U, Schoenen FJ, Huang S, Marugan JJ. Discovery and Optimization of Pyrrolopyrimidine Derivatives as Selective Disruptors of the Perinucleolar Compartment, a Marker of Tumor Progression toward Metastasis. J Med Chem. 2022 Jun 23;65(12):8303–8331. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c00204. Epub 2022 Jun 13. PMID: 35696646.
• Sun H, Coussens N, Danchik C, Wachsmuth LM, Henderson MJ, Patnaik S. Hall M, Molinaro A, Daines D, Shen M (2022). Discovery of VapC1 small molecule nuclease inhibitors by virtual screening and scaffold hopping from an atomic structure revealing protein-protein interactions with native VapB1 inhibitor. J Chem Inf Model.
• Wachsmuth LM, Johnson MG, Gavenonis J (2017). Essential multimeric enzymes in kinetoplast parasites: A host of potentially druggable protein-protein interactions. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11(6): e0005720.

Education: B.S., Biology, University of Memphis; M.Sc., Nutrition Science, University of Memphis

Year: 1st Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: TBA

Publications

• Pingili AK, Chaib M, Sipe LM, Miller EJ, Teng B, Sharma R, Yarbro JR, Asemota S, et al. Immune checkpoint blockade reprograms systemic immune landscape and tumor microenvironment in obesity-associated breast cancer. Cell Rep. 2021 Jun;35(12):109285. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109285
• Cory TJ, Emmons RS, Yarbro JR, Davis KL, BD Pence. Metformin Suppresses Monocyte Immunometabolic Activation by SARS-CoV-2 and Spike Protein Subunit 1 (In review). Preprint available at bioRxiv, doi: 10.1101/2021.05.27.445991
• Pence BD, Yarbro JR, Emmons RS. Growth differentiation factor-15 is associated with age-related monocyte immunosenescence. Aging Medicine, September, agm2.12128. doi: 10.1002/agm2.12128
• Yarbro JR, Emmons RS, Pence BD. Macrophage Immunometabolism and Inflammaging: Roles of Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Cellular Senescence, CD38, and NAD. Immunometabolism. 2020;2(3):e200026. doi: 10.20900/immunometab20200026.
• Yarbro JR, Pence BD. Classical monocytes from older adults maintain capacity for metabolic compensation during glucose deprivation and lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Mech Ageing Dev, 183 (2019), Article 111146, 10.1016/j.mad.2019.111146
• Pence BD, Yarbro JR. Classical monocytes maintain ex vivo glycolytic metabolism and early but not later inflammatory responses in older adults. Immunity & Ageing 16: 3, 2019. doi: 10.1186/s12979-019-0143-1
• Yarbro JR, Pence BD. Monocytes in aging and exercise. Exercise Medicine 2: 15, 2018. doi: 10.26644/em.2018.015 Pence BD, Yarbro JR. Aging impairs mitochondrial respiratory capacity in classical monocytes. Experimental Gerontology 108: 112-117, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.04.008

Education: B.S./D.O., SUNY College at Old Westbury

Year: 2nd Year D.O./Ph.D.

Advisor: TBA

Research Interests: Cancer biology is what initially drew me to the bench, and personal loss due to cancer is what inspires me to now study targeted cell therapy. Prior to NYITCOM, my undergraduate research focused on the mechanisms of tumorigenesis in NSCLC. Specifically, I investigated the impact of common mutations in the phosphatase PTP1B, which is implicated in the EGFR pathway. At this juncture, I plan to study DNA damage repair pathways. I wish to approach this exciting area with the aim of elucidating novel specific pathways implicated in oncogenesis. The ultimate goal would be to exploit such pathways upstream and ultimately guide targeted pharmacologic therapies.

Publications

• Watters AK, Seltzer ES, MacKenzie D, Young M, Muratori J, Hussein R, Sodoma A, To J, Singh M, Zhang D. The role of BARD1 variants in non-gynecological cancers. Genes 2020