Calendar of Events
Presented by
Manish Patankar, PhD
Professor, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Division of Reproductive Sciences
Associate Director, Endocrine and Reproductive Physiology (ERP) Program
University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health
About
Dr. Manish Patankar is a Professor in the Division of Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Patankar grew up in Thane, India, a city that borders Mumbai (Bombay). His wife is a physical therapist at the American Family Children’s Hospital and they have a 7 year old daughter who is in first grade at Glenn Stephens Elementary.
Dr. Patankar graduated from the University of Bombay, India with a B.S. in Chemistry in 1987. Subsequently, he received his Masters of Science in Organic Chemistry from the University of Bombay in 1990, and his Masters of Chemistry from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia in 1993. Dr. Patankar then completed his PhD in Biomedical Sciences at Eastern Virginia Medical School/Old Dominion University in 1998.
Dr. Patankar was an instructor and Research Professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School until 2004 when he joined the department as Professor and also became a member of the UW-Madison Carbone Cancer Center. His current research includes developing diagnostic tests for ovarian cancer and preeclampsia and strategies for treating ovarian cancer.
Collaborations at UW-Madison include: Drs. Joseph Connor, David Abbott, Paul Sondel, David Beebe, Ralph Albrecht, Mark Cook, Sean Fain, Ian Rowland, Hirak Basu and and Lingjun Li. Non UW-Madison collaborations include: Drs. Mitchell Ho and Ira Pastan (National Cancer Institute), Dr. Jennifer Gubbels (Augustana College, SD), Rebecca Whelan (Oberlin College, OH), Biotech Industry: Neoclone Biotechnology (Madison), and Gentel Biosciences (Fitchburg).
Dr. Patankar teaches Endocrine Physiology, Biology 151, and lectures on immunology in several different courses on campus.
What does he do in this spare time? He loves music and watching SpongeBob with his daughter.
One of the most interesting places that Dr. Patankar has visited is Bergen, Norway.
Research Focus
The primary focus of my research is to devise specific methods for early diagnosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and to understand the effect of factors produced by ovarian tumors on the functional capacity of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. This research involves extensive utilization of glycoproteomic analysis in conjunction with cellular immunology, molecular biology and glycobiology.
Presented by
Stephanie Olivier-Van Stichelen, PhD
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry
Medical College of Wisconsin
About
Dr. Olivier-Van Stichelen received her PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of Lille, France in 2012. Her work was focused on the understanding of the nutrient-sensing O-GlcNAcylation in colorectal cancer development with a special interest in diet-dependent modification of the oncogene beta-catenin.
After completion of her degree, she was appointed as a post-doctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. In this lab, Dr. Olivier-Van Stichelen worked on different aspects of O-GlcNAcylation during development including X-inactivation of the O-GlcNAc Transferase gene. She also developed a brain O-GlcNAcase knockout model and studied the impact of sugar consumption during pregnancy on O-GlcNAc-dependent development of metabolic homeostasis. More recently, she developed interests in understanding the importance of artificial sweeteners for offspring’s metabolism and microbiome.
Dr. Olivier-Van Stichelen established her lab at the Medical College of Wisconsin at the crossroad of sweeteners, pregnancy, development and metabolism.
Research Focus
Due to the global trend of growing sweetener consumption, determining the interplay between diet and pre- and post-natal development is emerging as a critical area for research. Currently, the average American eats around 22 teaspoons of added sugar every day (30 sugar cubes/day hidden in foods). This modern glucose-rich diet correlates with an increase in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes and others metabolic syndromes. Moreover, the effort to reduce sugar consumption has led people to consume more non-caloric sweeteners (Aspartame, Sucralose, Acesulfame-K…). While they appear healthier for glucose homeostasis than a high carbohydrate diet, recent studies have shown that artificial sweeteners impact glucose metabolism as well as gut microbiota, rising questions about their excessive use.
Therefore, understanding what happens when caloric and non-caloric sweeteners are metabolized is of utmost importance for public health and the focus of my research group.
Nutrient-dependent O-GlcNAc cycling in development and disease
O-GlcNAcylation is one of the key components of diet-responsive signaling. This unique glucose rheostat is a ubiquitous and dynamic glycosylation of intracellular proteins with approximately 1000 modified proteins described to date. Two key enzymes drive O-GlcNAc cycling: The O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) adds the modification and the O-GlcNAcase (OGA) removes it. Although many studies have focused on the decrease or complete absence of O-GlcNAc cycling by modulating the expression or activity of OGT, only a few studies have targeted hyper-O-GlcNAcylation by disturbing OGA. Because this post-translational modification is directly dependent on glucose input, depleting OGA creates an artificial and constant hyperglycemia-induced O-GlcNAcylation state. Using Oga and Ogt knockout (KO) cellular and mouse models, we can decipher the impact of high carbohydrate diet on embryonic development.
Non-Nutritive Sweeteners in pregnancy and lactation
Part of my lab is interested in understanding the impact of Non-Nutritive Sweetener (NNS) consumption through pregnancy and lactation. Although, NNS have been found in mother’s milk and in placental blood circulation, no study has focused on the fundamental effect of those non-caloric sweeteners on the developing organism.
Among the impacts described in adults are changes in intestinal hormonal secretion, glucose metabolism and most fascinating, re- duction of the gut microbiota. Nevertheless, the fundamental mechanisms of those changes are far from understood. Glycoproteins found on the surface of the intestinal epithelium define the glycocalyx and are an essential mammalian mechanism of communication with the gut microbiome. Their reciprocal relationship with the gut microbiome regulates not only nutrient breakdown, and food absorption, but also infection. We are convinced that by altering both microbiome and the detoxification process, NNS exposure in early life will impact metabolic homeostasis later in life.
Presented by
Xiaowen Bai, MD, PhD
Xiaowen Bai, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy
Medical College of Wisconsin
About
Dr. Bai’s research interests are centered on the application of stem cells on disease modeling and tissue regeneration. The current major focus of the laboratory is to utilize gain- and loss-of-function approaches to examine the novel molecular mechanisms underlying the roles of non-coding RNAs, mitochondria, and genetic factors in neurodegeneration and cardiotoxicity in mice, and translate the findings to humans using stem cell-derived brain cells, heart cells, three-dimensional mini brains, and heart organoids.
Research Area 1:
Non-coding RNAs, mitochondria, and cell stress-related genes in neurodegeneration:
Neurological disorders have emerged as a predominant healthcare concern in recent years due to their severe consequences on quality of life and prevalence throughout the world. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of these diseases and the interactions between different brain cell types is essential for the development of new therapeutics. Many drugs (e.g., anesthetics), environmental factors (e.g., alcohol), diseases, and genetic risks are related to neurodegeneration. We examine the novel molecular mechanisms underlying the roles of microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, mitochondria, immediate early and other cell stress-related genes in neurodegeneration using both mouse, and human stem cell-derived brain cell and three-dimensional mini brain models
Research Area 2:
Stem cell-mediated myocardial regeneration
Myocardial infarction is one of the major causes of death throughout the world. Currently, there is not a highly effective approach for treatment. Stem cells hold promise in repairing injured cardiac tissue. Our lab is involved in studying the effect of the transplantation of adipose tissue-derived stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes on myocardial regeneration following ischemia injury. A molecular imaging method has been developed to investigate the molecular mechanisms controlling homing, engraftment, and survival of injected cells in vivo.
Research Area 3:
The mechanisms of impaired cardioprotection under diabetic conditions
Hyperglycemia has been shown to be particularly detrimental to the cardioprotective effects, with the underlying mechanisms remaining largely unknown. We have developed and validated a clinically relevant model of functional human cardiomyocytes derived from both normal induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and diabetes mellitus iPSCs. This in vitro model of human disease will enable developmental and comparative studies of normal and diabetic cardiomyocytes to address genetic and environmental mechanisms responsible for attenuation of cardioprotection signaling in diabetics.
Presented by
Paul Campagnola, PhD
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
University of Wisconsin-Madison
About
Campagnola’s research is directed toward developing high resolution imaging modalities. The technologies his group has developed can readily be applied to problems in eye and vision research. For example, the technique of Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) to image collagen fibrillar structure has been used by other labs to image the corneal structure. Expanding into eye research is a natural direction for the Campagnola Laboratory.
Alterations to the extracellular matrix (ECM) composition and structure are thought to be critical for tumor initiation and progression for several epithelial carcinomas, including those of the ovary and breast. Our lab develops Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy tools to quantitative assess these alterations in the stroma where we correlate the optical signatures with structural changes in the fibrillar assembly between normal and diseased tissues. This physical approach provides objective measurements that may be used to understand disease progression. To further investigate how remodeling enables invasion and metastasis in vivo we use multiphoton excited (MPE) photochemistry to fabricate biomimetic in vitro models of the ovarian ECM. The nano/microstructured models simulate the crosslinked fibrillar structure of the native ECM.
Tissue engineering has vast potential to improve human health by repair and maintenance of existing tissue or generation of replacement of tissues and organs. A major limitation has been an incomplete understanding of the underlying cell-ECM interactions that govern cell adhesion which will ultimately affect downstream functions. Our approach to this problem utilizes MPE photochemistry to create 3D biomimetic scaffolds directly from crosslinked proteins. Beginning with bio-inspired designs we will seek to achieve improved function.
Featured Speaker: AnnaMarie Connolly, MD, FACOG – “We Can All Agree: No One Starts the Day Wanting to Do a Bad Job – Getting to Our Best Days Through Critical Thinking, Feedback, and Innovation”
Chief of Education and Academic Affairs for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
About Dr. Connolly
Dr. Connolly obtained her MD from Tufts University. After completing her residency in OBGYN at the University of North Carolina (UNC), she worked as a specialist in private practice for 2 years. She then returned to UNC and completed a fellowship in Urogynecology/Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery. Dr. Connolly continued her career at UNC where she was named the Annie Louise Wilkerson, MD ’36 Distinguished Professor, served as the Obstetrics and Gynecology clerkship director for 7 years, Residency Program Director for 11 years, the Fellowship Program Director for the Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship for 4 years and was also the Vice Chair for Education in the department of OBGYN. She is now the chief of education and academic affairs of ACOG.
While her clinical experience focused on urogynecology, her primary academic interests include medical education and the effect of childbirth on the pelvic floor. She has published original research on educational and clinical programming and tool development.
Her commitment to clinical practice and medical education has been recognized by the UNC School of Medicine. This includes her Directorship of the UNC Teaching Scholars Program for the past 13 years. Dr. Connolly has been honored for her educational efforts with multiple awards throughout her career at UNC. She is nationally recognized for her leadership in medical education.
Learn more about the E. James Aiman, MD, Endowed Lectureship
Featured Speaker: Isabel C. Green, MD, MEHP
“Not Just SIM-antics: Maximizing Simulation for Surgical Skills”
About Dr. Green
Dr. Green completed her Obstetrics & Gynecology residency at John Hopkins University and fellowship in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery at Georgetown University-MedStar. She serves as the Associate Program Director for the OB/GYN residency program at Mayo Clinic and directs a transition to residency course in the Mayo Medical School. She is also the Fellowship Director for Minimally Invasive Gynecology and a consultant of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery and Gynecology at Mayo Clinic.
Her practice interests are in office hysteroscopy and also the management of abnormal uterine bleeding, cervical dysplasia and chronic pelvic pain. Since residency she has been engaged in undergraduate and graduate medical education, with a focus in surgical education. In 2017 she completed a Masters of Education in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins University.
Learn more about the E. James Aiman, MD, Endowed Lectureship
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Presented by
Hallgeir Rui, MD, PhD
WBCS Endowed Professor of Breast Cancer Research
Vice Chair of Research, Department of Pathology
Director of MCW Tissue Bank
Associate Director of Shared Resources, MCW Cancer Center
Medical College of Wisconsin
About
Hallgeir Rui, MD, PhD is internationally recognized for his research on hormone signaling in breast cancer, and has a strong track record of leadership, mentoring and collaboration. He is the WBCS Endowed Professor of Breast Cancer Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), with his primary appointment in the Department of Pathology, and a secondary appointment to the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology. In addition, Dr. Rui serves as the Associate Director of Basic Science and Shared Resources at the MCW Cancer Center. With his past experience as a Program Leader and Shared Resource Director at the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, Dr. Rui brings valuable experience to the MCW Cancer Center efforts toward NCI-designation. Dr. Rui serves on the Breast Cancer Translational Research Committee of NRG Oncology.
A central focus of hisresearch is on molecular profiling of solid tumors, with published track record in malignancies of the breast, pancreas, prostate, colon, head and neck and melanomas. Key areas of interest are therapy-relevant protein expression, including pathway-activation status and tumor immunology-related markers, with development of better predictive markers and improved personalized cancer care as the overarching goal. Efforts are dedicated to improving methods and applications for quantitative, multiplex immunohistochemistry (IHC) for single-cell protein marker analyses – histocytometry – in solid tumors.
His laboratory invented novel ultrahigh density tissue arraying technology termed cutting-edge matrix assembly (CEMA) that overcomes limitations of core-based tissue arrays (US patent 8,349,584). Our laboratory, in collaboration with Dr. Kay-Uwe Wagner, developed novel prolactin-humanized NSG-Pro mouse strain for more accurate modeling and drug response testing of human breast cancer and other prolactin receptor-positive cancers, and my team has established a panel of new patient-derived breast cancer xenograft models in NSG-Pro mice.
Dr. Rui has extensive experience in facilitating multidisciplinary and collaborative program projects, including a concluded $6.7 million Promise Project Award funded by Susan G. Komen Foundation. Attesting to the productive use of immunofluorescence-based quantitative histocytometry and tissue arraying technologies for high-throughput application of innovative and nonstandard technologies for immunoprofiling of solid tumors, I led a multidisciplinary team that quantified levels of more than 100 therapy-relevant protein markers in nearly 3,000 breast cancer specimens, using tissue arrays and accompanying clinical data assembled and procured by a consortium of five institutions. As the leader of this consortium, I coordinated extensive efforts to combine tissue resources, data, equipment resources and broad areas of expertise.
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Presented by
Victor Jin, PhD
Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Endowed Chair of Bioinformatics and Data Analytics
Director, Bioinformatics Shared Resources
Professor, Institute for Health and Equity/Biostatistics
Medical College of Wisconsin
About
Dr. Jin has extensive experience in developing computational and genomics approaches for analyzing various omics-seq data, and runs a systems biology lab with a balanced dry and wet components.
Research Interests:
1) Developing genomics and computational approaches for the identification of three-dimensional (3D) chromatin interactions from the various omics-seq data.
2) Functionally and mechanistically characterizing the roles of epigenetic marks in cancer development and progression using novel techniques such as 3C/ChIP/RT-qPCR, 3D-FISH and CRISPR/Cas9.
3) Adapting/applying genome-wide omics-seq techniques in patient tissues to identify epigenetic-driven therapeutic targets and biomarkers.
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Featured Speaker: Serena H. Chan, MD, FACOG – “Gynecologic Surgery in Pediatric/Adolescent Patients: Special Considerations & Management of Mullerian Anomalies”
About Dr. Chan
Serena H. Chan, MD, FACOG, is Chief of the Pediatric & Adolescent Gynecology division at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She is also an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Dr. Chan earned her Medical Degree from Oregon Health and Science University before completing her Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. She also completed a Fellowship in Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Fellowship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Chan’s clinical specialties include medical and surgical management of pediatric and adolescent gynecologic concerns, congenital abnormalities of the female reproductive tract, and fertility preservation and reproductive endocrine issues in girls undergoing gonadotoxic therapy. Her research interests include gynecological concerns in females with anorectal malformations, trainee education in provision of adolescent reproduction health services. She has published and presented on the topics of surgical management of reproductive tract anomalies, fertility preservation, and gynecologic concerns in adolescent/young adult cancer survivors. She is a member of the North American Society for Pediatric/Adolescent Gynecology (NASPAG), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
Register via Zoom for those not able to attend in person
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Presented by
Wei Xu, PhD
Professor of Oncology, Marian A. Messerschmidt
Associate Director,, McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research
Director of MCW Tissue Bank
Co-Director, Genetic and Epigenetic Mechanism Program, Carbone Cancer Center
About
Dr. Xu’s laboratory explores the protective roles of environmental and nutritional estrogenic compounds in mammals for breast cancer prevention and treatment. Estrogen receptors (ERs) exist in two forms, ERa and ERb, which have opposing roles in cell proliferation. Estrogenic compounds can control balance between mammary cell proliferation and differentiation via stimulating the formation of different forms of ER dimers. Xu lab has developed the Bioluminescent Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) assays for detecting in vivo homodimerization and heterodimerization of ERa and ERb induced by estrogenic compounds. Biological functions of these estrogenic compounds are currently being investigated in cell-based and breast cancer mouse models. Dr. Xu’s laboratory has also employed biochemical and functional genomic approaches, as well as mouse genetics to decipher the contribution of histone arginine methylation to the epigenetic control of cancer cells. The major focus of Xu lab is on a protein arginine (R) methyltransferase CARM1/PRMT4, a nuclear hormone receptor co-activator. Dr. Xu has identified a number of non-histone substrates for CARM1 and is in the progress of elucidating the functions of protein arginine methylation in breast cancer initiation and progression.
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Presented by
Bo Wang, PhD
Director – Tissue Regenerative Engineering Laboratory (TRE Lab)
Assistant Professor – Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin
About
Dr. Bo Wang, Director and Principal Investigator of the TRE Lab, received her PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2012 and completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, in 2016. She joined the Marquette-MCW Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering in January of 2019 with research interests that include stem cell engineering, hard-tissue engineering and 3D bioprinting, as well as vascular tissue engineering, imaging, modeling and simulation.
The Tissue Regenerative Engineering Laboratory is developing bio-functional engineered tissues that provide advanced therapeutic options for such conditions as birth defects, bone disorders, and liver and vascular diseases. To do this, the TRE Lab will first develop a greater understanding of the biological and molecular processes involved in regenerative regression.
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