Dazhe Chen, Ph.D.
“Ingested nitrate and nitrite and end-stage renal disease risk among licensed pesticide applicators and spouses in the Agricultural Health Study”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Epidemiology Branch

Yu-Ying Chen, Ph.D.
“Somatic cell fate specification and separation in the fetal ovary”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Kathryn Dalton, Ph.D., V.M.D., M.P.H.
“Occupational Farm Exposures Associated with Indoor Home Microbiota”
Mentor: Stephanie London, M.D., Dr.P.H.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Jennifer Ish, Ph.D.
“Residential proximity to carcinogenic industrial air emissions and breast cancer incidence in a United States-wide prospective cohort”
Mentor: Alexandra J White, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Laura Kammel, Ph.D.
“Circadian disruption induces breast cancer-permissive estrogen receptor transcriptional program in hormone sensitive mammary epithelium”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology Laboratory

Suneet Kaur, Ph.D.
“Unraveling the AKAP79-Orai1 Interaction: Implications for Immune Response Regulation”
Mentor: Anant Parekh, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Ryan M Marquardt, Ph.D.
“The Serum Response Factor-Myocardin Pathway is Essential for Female Reproductive Function”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Sookjin Moon, Ph.D.
“Flotillin-2 ablation in T cells enhances antigen sensitivity and functionality”
Mentor: Michael Fessler, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease

Sukanya Saha, Ph.D.
“Bioenergetic stress triggers Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis-like symptoms in mice”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology

Ziyue Wang, Ph.D.
“Shotgun metagenomics sequencing reveals novel insights of indoor dust microbiota compared with 16S rRNA technology”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, Ph.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch

Pelin Yasar, Ph.D.
“Establishing Estrogen Receptor α Enriched Mouse Mammary Organoids to Investigate Transcriptional Dynamics and Heterogeneity”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology Laboratory

Dana Al-Hasan, Ph.D.
“Racial and Economic Residential Segregation and Dementia Incidence”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Adriana Alexander, Ph.D.
“Sex-specific Regulatory Networks Prime Primordial Germ Cell Fate Commitment”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Ru Pin Chi, Ph.D.
“WNK1 Is Indispensable for Spermatogenesis and Male Fertility via Regulating Translation”
Mentor: Marcos Morgan, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Justin Collier, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
“PKM2 Is a Major Contributing Factor in Glis3ko-induced Polycystic Kidney Metabolic Reprogramming”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Symielle Gaston Harrison, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Racial/Ethnic Differences in Associations of Traumatic Childhood Experiences with Both Metabolic Syndrome Prevalence and Type 2 Diabetes Risk”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Mandy Goldberg, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Beauty Product Use During Puberty and Breast Cancer Risk in U.S. Women”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Jacob Gordon, B.S.
“Cryo-EM Structure of the Human PELP1-WDR18 Complex Reveals Insights into the ER-PELP1 Signaling Axis”
Mentor: Robin Stanley, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Ankit Gupta, Ph.D.
“TUT4 and TUT7 Uridylate the Rna of the Mouse Coronavirus Mhv and Facilitate Its Replication”
Mentor: Marcos Morgan, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Anand Jaguva Vasudevan, Ph.D.
“Biochemical and Structural Analysis of ZATT/ZNF451”
Mentor: Scott Williams, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology

Laura Kammel, Ph.D.
“Whole Organ Immuno-smfish Enables Spatial Gene Expression Analysis in Single Cells Within a Complex 3D Environment”
Mentor: Joseph Rodriguez, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Christine Langton, Ph.D.
“Soy-based Infant Formula Feeding and Uterine Fibroid Development in a Prospective Ultrasound Study of African-american Women”
Mentor: Donna Baird, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Wan-Ning Li, Ph.D.
“The Role of Serum Response Factor in Regulating Hormonal Responsiveness in Female Reproduction”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Dillon Lloyd, B.S.
“Type 2 Diabetes Risk Prediction in a Multi-ethnic Cohort Supports the Potential of Polyexposure Risk Scores”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch

Jasmine Mack, M.S., M.P.H.
“A Multi-ethnic Genome-wide Association Study Identifies Novel Candidate Loci near the RARB and LRP1B Genes Associated with Gestational Hypertension in the Personalized Environment and Genes (PEGS) Cohort”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch

Tanushree Mukherjee, Ph.D.
“Glis3 Protects Against Deregulated Osteogenesis”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Amanda Riccio, Ph.D.
“Structural Insight and Characterization of Human Twinkle Helicase in Mitochondrial Disease”
Mentor: William Copeland, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology

Virginia Savy, Ph.D.
“The Butterfly Effect: Abnormal Calcium Signaling at Fertilization Has a Long-term Impact on Offspring Weight”
Mentor: Carmen Williams, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Chitrangda Srivastava, Ph.D.
“Loss of JAZF1 Mdulates High-Fat Diet-Induced Gut Microbial Dysbiosis and Protect Against Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Danielle Stevens, Ph.D.
“Early Pregnancy Phthalate and Phthalate Alternative Metabolites in Relation to Fetal Cardiac Development”
Mentor: Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Xiukun Wang, Ph.D.
“The Histone H3.3 Chaperone Hira Facilitates the Recruitment of the Nurd Complex to Promote the Exit From the Pluripotent State in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells”
Mentor: Guang Hu, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Ziyue Wang, Ph.D.
“A Novel Normalization Method for Microbiome Sequencing Count Data”
Mentor: Alison Motsinger-Reif, M.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch

MyeongJin Yi, Ph.D.
“Vitamin D Regulates Uterine Stromal Cell Differentiation in Vitro and in Vivo”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Dana Al-Hasan, Ph.D.
“Using INLA-SPDE Spatial Modeling to Examine Associations Between Neighborhood Characteristics and Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia”
Mentor: Chandra Jackson, Ph.D., M.S.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Ciro Amato, Ph.D.
“Our Differences Make Us Complete: The Identification of Novel Cell Populations in Penis Development and their Involvement in Hypospadias”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology Branch

Komlan Atitey, Ph.D.
“Performance Metrics of High Dimensional Reduction Methods for Better Visualization and Interpretability of Separable Biological Data”
Mentor: Benedict Anchang, Ph.D.
Lab: Biostatistics & Computational Biology Branch

Yichang Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
“A Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based High-Throughput Platform with Artificial Intelligence Technology to Screen for Developmental Toxicants”
Mentor: Erik Tokar, Ph.D.
Lab: Mechanistic Toxicology Branch

Justin Collier, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
“GLIS3-Deficiency Leads to Impaired Renal Mitochondrial Metabolism and Polycystic Kidneys”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

David Diaz Jimenez, Ph.D.
“Glucocorticoids Rewire Macrophage Metabolism and Inflammation through Transcriptional Reprogramming of the IRG-1 and SUCNR1 expression”
Mentor: John Cidlowski, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Alexander C. Foo, Ph.D.
“Vicilin Buried Peptides (VBP)'s Mediate Cross-Reactivity Between Evolutionary-Distant Species”
Mentor: Geoff Mueller, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology

Meredith Frazier, Ph.D.
“Searching for U: Cryo-EM Structures of the SARS-CoV-2 Endoribonuclease Nsp15 Reveal Insight into Nuclease Specificity and Dynamics”
Mentor: John Cidlowski, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Matias Grodzielski, Ph.D.
“Glucocorticoids Regulate Gene Expression and Stimulate Proplatelet Formation in Murine Megakaryocytes”
Mentor: Robin Stanley, M.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Jicheng Li, Ph.D.
“DBS-based Chemogenetic Gene-Therapy Rescues Motor Deficits in Mice with Advanced Parkinson's Disease”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology

Tapas Pradhan, Ph.D.
“GLIS3 Plays a Critical Role in Astrocyte Differentiation and Function”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Yun-Gil Roh, Ph.D.
“Loss of GLIS2 Initiates Nephronophthisis Through Macrophage Infiltration by Direct Regulation of Fibrosis/ECM and Immune/Inflammation Gene Expression”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Sukanya Saha, Ph.D.
“Pathophysiological Study of Fungicide Benomyl in Parkinson's Disease”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology

Yosuke Sakamachi, Ph.D.
“Toll-Like-Receptor 5 Protects Against Pulmonary Fibrosis by Reducing Lung Dysbiosis”
Mentor: Stavros Garantziotis, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Jennifer Woo, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Early Life Trauma and Incident Breast Cancer”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Xian Wu, Ph.D.
“Mechanisms of Cadmium-Induced Aberrant Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Cardiomyocytes and Cardiac Organoid Formation Mimicking Heart Development”
Mentor: Erik Tokar, Ph.D.
Lab: Mechanistic Toxicology Branch

Guangning Zong, Ph.D.
“Dopamine neuron challenges test for early detection of Parkinson's disease”
Mentor: Stephen Shears, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Alicia Chi, Ph.D.
“WNK1 regulates embryo implantation in mice through the phosphatase PP2A”
Mentor: Francesco DeMayo, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Nicholas Dietrich, Ph.D.
“The HSA domain of BRG1 is critical for BRG1-dependent gene expression changes and the interaction of BRG1 with multiple BAF and non-canonical BAF complex members”
Mentor: Trevor Archer, Ph.D.
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Alexander C. Foo, Ph.D.
“The mosquito protein AZ1 has both cytolytic and antiviral properties”
Mentor: Geoff Mueller, Ph.D.
Lab: Genomic Integrity & Structural Biology

Ming Ji, Ph.D.
“High-methionine intake inhibits tumor progression in immunocompetent mice”
Mentor: Xiaoling Li, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Jacob Kresovich, Ph.D.
“mBCRM: A methylation-based risk model for breast cancer”
Mentor: Jack Taylor, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Katelyn Lavrich, Ph.D.
“Evaluating the toxicological screening utility of 3D spheroid primary human hepatocyte cultures”
Mentor: Stephen Ferguson, Ph.D.
Lab: DTT Biomolecular Screening Branch

Kaitlyn G. Lawrence, Ph.D.
“Neighborhood deprivation and epigenetic age acceleration”
Mentor: Dale Sandler, Ph.D.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Xingyao Li, Ph.D.
“New model cell lines provide insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying ectopic calcification”
Mentor: Stephen Shears, Ph.D.
Lab: Signal Transduction

Wan-Chi Lin, Ph.D.
“The role of epithelial membrane protein 2 in regulation of pulmonary fibrosis and tissue remodeling”
Mentor: Michael Fessler, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Christopher Mazzone, Ph.D.
“High fat diets tune hypothalamic and mesolimbic feeding circuits to calorically dense foods”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology

Prashant Rai, Ph.D.
“Chronic type I interferon disrupts tissue macrophage homeostasis and induces bacterial susceptibility”
Mentor: Michael Fessler, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Saniya Rattan, Ph.D.
“Somatic cell lineage specification by Notch signaling in fetal mouse ovaries”
Mentor: Humphrey Yao, Ph.D.
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Yosuke Sakamachi, Ph.D.
“TLR5 protects against pulmonary fibrosis by preventing dysbiosis”
Mentor: Stavros Garantziotis, M.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Chitrangda Srivastava, Ph.D.
“GLIS3: A critical player in polycystic kidney disease”
Mentor: Anton Jetten, Ph.D.
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Barrett M. Welch, Ph.D., M.P.H.
“Moving toward understanding specific pathways of inflammation in pregnancy: prenatal exposure to consumer product chemicals and changes in plasma eicosanoids”
Mentor: Kelly Ferguson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Dahea You, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
“Population variability in neurotoxicity outcomes modeled in vitro with diversity outbred neural progenitor cells”
Mentor: Alison Harrill, Ph.D.
Lab: DTT Biomolecular Screening Branch

Jingheng Zhou, Ph.D.
“Dopamine neuron challenge test for early detection of Parkinson’s disease”
Mentor: Guohong Cui, M.D., Ph.D.
Lab: Neurobiology

Bevin Blake, M.S.
“Gestational exposure to the perfluorooctanoic acid replacement, GenX, induces adverse responses in maternal weight gain and placental health in CD-1 mice”
Study Section: Pharmacology and Toxicology/Environmental Health
Mentor: Dr. Suzanne Fenton
Lab: National Toxicology Program Lab

Qing Chen, Ph.D.
“Post-transcriptional Control of mouse embryonic stem cell maintenance by Ccr4-Not complex”
Study Section: Stem Cells - General and Cancer
Mentor: Dr. Guang Hu
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Alicia Chi, Ph.D.
“WNK1 in the Uterus: A Previously Undescribed Role In Mediating Implantation”
Study Section: Endocrinology
Mentor: Dr. Francesco Demayo
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Irina Evsyukova, Ph.D.
“Developmental Disruption of Locus Coeruleus-Norepinephrine Signaling Results in Male-Specific Behavioral Phenotypes Relevant to Neurodevelopmental Disorders”
Study Section: Neuroscience - Developmental
Mentor: Dr. Patricia Jensen
Lab: Neurobiology

Wei Fan, Ph.D.
“The role of SIRT1 in regulating embryonic stem cell sphingolipid metabolism and neural development”
Study Section: Cell Biology - General
Mentor: Dr. Xiaoling Li
Lab: Signal Transduction

Yi Fang, Ph.D.
“Histone Crotonylation Promotes Endodermal Commitment of Pluripotent Embryonic Stem Cells"
Study Section: Epigenetics
Mentor: Dr. Xiaoling Li
Lab: Signal Transduction

Symielle Gaston, Ph.D.
“Childhood Chemical Hair Product Usage and Early Menarche among African-American Women”
Study Section: Cultural Social and Behavioral Sciences
Mentor: Dr. Chandra Jackson
Lab: Epidemiology Branch

Chunfang Gu, Ph.D.
“Understanding the health benefits of quercetin and other dietary flavonoids: selective inhibition of an inositol polyphosphate kinase”
Study Section: Pharmacology and Toxicology/Environmental Health
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Shears
Lab: Signal Transduction

Dhirendra Kumar, Ph.D.
“ProteoGE: A proteogenomic tool for integrating proteomic, genomic and epigenomic data to discover novel protein-coding genes”
Study Section: Informatics/Computational Biology
Mentor: Dr. Raja Jothi
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Xingyao Li, Ph.D.
“Signal transduction and nutrient balance: regulation by inositol pyrophosphates of the cellular transport of inorganic phosphate”
Study Section: Physiology
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Shears
Lab: Signal Transduction

Wan-Chi Lin, Ph.D.
“Epithelial Membrane Protein 2 is required for fibrosis and tissue remodeling in the lung”
Study Section: Physiology
Mentor: Dr. Micheal Fessler
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Jingli Liu, M.D., Ph.D.
“A nongenomic mechanism for “metalloestrogenic” effects of cadmium in human uterine leiomyoma cells through G protein-coupled estrogen receptor”
Study Section: Pharmacology and Toxicology/Environmental Health
Mentor: Dr. Dixon Darlene
Lab: National Toxicology Program Lab

Daisy Lo, Ph.D.
“Unraveling the mechanism of substrate processing by the AAA-ATPase Rix7”
Study Section: Protein Structure/Structural Biology
Mentor: Dr. Robin Stanley
Lab: Signal Transduction

Kathleen McCann, Ph.D.
“H/ACA snoRNAs are determinants of stem cell homeostasis”
Study Section: RNA Biology
Mentor: Dr. Traci Hall
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology

Angelico Mendy, M.D., Ph.D.
“Association of Urinary Levels of Bisphenols F and S Used as Bisphenol A Substitutes with Asthma Outcomes”
Study Section: Epidemiology/Biostatistics - Prognosis and Response Predictions
Mentor: Dr. Darryl Zeldin
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Monica Pillon, Ph.D.
“Structural Basis for Active Site Coordination Within a Multienzyme pre-rRNA Processing Complex”
Study Section: Protein Structure/Structural Biology
Mentor: Dr. Robin Stanley
Lab: Signal Transduction

Prashant Rai, Ph.D.
“Chronic type I interferon excess disrupts tissue macrophage homeostasis in vivo”
Study Section: Immunology - Autoimmune
Mentor: Dr. Michael Fessler
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation, and Disease

Yun-Gil Roh, Ph.D.
“GLIS2 causes kidney fibrosis through transcriptional regulation of cell migration- and immune cell recruitment-related genes”
Study Section: Gene Expression
Mentor: Dr. Anton Jetten
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Chitrangda Srivastava, Ph.D.
“The transcriptional mediator JAZF1 plays a critical role in regulating metabolic syndrome and adipocyte differentiation”
Study Section: Endocrinology
Mentor: Dr. Anton Jetten
Lab: Immunity, Inflammation & Disease

Zhenzhen Wang, Ph.D.
“Design and application of LED-activated, thermolabile lipid nanocarriers for delivery of polyphosphate cell-signals into cell cytoplasm”
Study Section: Biochemistry - General, Proteins, and Lipids
Mentor: Dr. Stephen Shears
Lab: Signal Transduction

Hongyao Yu, Ph.D.
“INO80 Regulates Chromatin Landscape and Transcription to Maintain the Primed Pluripotent State”
Study Section: Chromatin and Chromosomes
Mentor: Dr. Guang Hu
Lab: Epigenetics & Stem Cell Biology Laboratory

Fei Zhao, Ph.D.
“The Remain of the Male: Unexpected Contribution of the Male Tract Mesenchyme to the Female Reproductive Tract”
Study Section: Developmental Biology
Mentor: Dr. Humphrey Yao
Lab: Reproductive & Developmental Biology

Jingheng Zhou, Ph.D.
“Silencing Dopamine Neurons During Sleep as a Potential Therapeutic Strategy for Parkinson’s Disease”
Study Section: Neuroscience - Neurological and Neurodegenerative Disorders and Injury
Mentor: Dr. Guohong Cui
Lab: Neurobiology