BRET News
Congrats, Dr. Hargrove-Wiley!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Hargrove-Wiley! Who: Ebony Hargrove-Wiley, PhD Department: Cancer Biology PI Mentor: Barbara Fingleton Research: Sex-Specific Immune Responses and Immunomodulatory Pathways in Breast Cancer Vanderbilt Impact: “IMSD, the ASPIRE Program/BRET Office, and Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center were instrumental in my training.” Post-PhD Plans: Entering Pharmaceutical Industry Clinical and Medical Affairs
Congrats, Dr. Tran!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Tran! Who: Jenny Tran, PhD Department: Biochemistry PI Mentor: Breann Brown Research: Understanding how differences in protein structure affect different organisms. Vanderbilt Impact: “The MSRC Proteomics Core were fundamental to some of the core data during my graduate studies. The Center for Structural Biology provided me the instrumentation to conduct experiments and to...
Congrats, Dr. Loberg!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Loberg! Who: Matthew Loberg, PhD Department: Cancer Biology PI Mentor: Vivian Weiss and Ethan Lee Research: Thyroid cancers often respond well to therapy, yet a minority progress; the goal of my research is to identify factors associated with thyroid cancer progression. Vanderbilt Impact: “Many different core facilities (VANTAGE, VANGARD, CISR, TPSR, DHSR, high-throughput...
Congrats, Dr. Hayes!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Hayes! Who: James Hayes, PhD Department: Cell and Developmental Biology PI Mentor: Dylan Burnette Research: We identified new proteins in the heart that regulate how it produces contractile force. Vanderbilt Impact: “One which made an enormous impact was the Vanderbilt Nikon Center for Excellence and those working within it. My results were not...
Congrats, Dr. Glass!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Glass! Who: Sarah Glass, PhD Department: Cell and Developmental Biology PI Mentor: Bob Coffey Research: My work has looked at how one protein, DPEP1, impacts immune cell infiltration into colorectal cancer tumors, which can impact immunotherapy outcomes. Vanderbilt Impact: ” The ASPIRE program made an impact on my training by giving me professional...
Congrats, Dr. Sanchez!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Sanchez! Who: Zachary Sanchez, PhD Department: Cell and Developmental Biology PI Mentor: Dylan Burnette Research: My research was focused on the diversity of mitochondria in different cellular contexts. Vanderbilt Impact: “The Vanderbilt resources that made the biggest impact in training: CISR Core, Outreach, and the tremendous support from the CDB department.” Post-PhD Plans:...
Congrats, Dr. Bermudez!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Burmudez! Who: Tomas Burmudez, PhD Department: Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology PI Mentor: Maria Hadjifrangiskou Research: I have studied how common and novel routes to fosfomycin resistance in uropathogenic E. coli affect how well the pathogen can cause infection in the host. Vanderbilt Impact: “IMSD was a fantastic resource that really helped me adapt to...
Congrats, Dr. Stricker!
Mar. 27, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Stricker! Who: Aubrie Stricker, PhD Department: Cell and Developmental Biology PI Mentor: Andrea Page-McCaw Research: My research focuses on understanding how damage to the basement membrane, a specialized form of extracellular matrix, is both detected and repaired. Vanderbilt Impact: “The ASPIRE office was essential in my career development, and I’m grateful for the...
Congrats, Dr. Lake!
Mar. 26, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Lake! Who: Lake, Allison, PhD Department: Human Genetics PI Mentor: Lea Davis Research: My research focuses on leveraging electronic health records-linked biobanks to evaluate gene-by-environment interactions contributing to psychiatric conditions. Vanderbilt Impact: “The BioVU and Synthetic Derivative resources through VICTR were invaluable resources for my research. The collegial and collaborative atmosphere of the...
Congrats, Dr. Tran!
Mar. 5, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Tran! Who: Minh Tran, PhD Department: Chemical and Physical Biology PI Mentor: Jens Meiler and Kevin Schey Research: I studied antibody-antigen interactions to guide structured-based vaccinology. Vanderbilt Impact: “The ASPIRE Program in the Office of Biomedical Research Education and Training (BRET) was highly supportive of my studies and ready to assist at any...
Congrats, Dr. Holt!
Mar. 4, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Holt! Who: Clinton Holt, PhD Department: Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology PI Mentor: Ivelin Georgiev Research: Computation-driven development of viral vaccines and therapies Vanderbilt Impact: “”ACCRE’s computing cluster enabled complex ML analyses for our antibody/vaccine work, while the Animal Care facility and Flow Core provided essential resources for in vivo studies and immune cell...
Congrats, Dr. Esteban!
Mar. 4, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Esteban! Who: Alejandro Llorente Esteban, PhD Department: Molecular Physiology and Biophysics PI Mentor: Nancy Carrasco Research: Investigated how the environmental pollutant perchlorate affects the iodide transporter NIS and engineered modified variants that more effectively deliver radioactive therapy directly to cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues Vanderbilt Impact: “At the CSB Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility,...
Congrats, Dr. Spencer!
Mar. 4, 2025—Who: Paige Spencer, PhD Department: Cell and Developmental Biology PI Mentor: Ken Lau Research: Investigating how bacteria trigger region-specific gut inflammation in genetically susceptible hosts Vanderbilt Impact: “My projects were made possible through the collaborative efforts of researchers across multiple centers, groups, and core facilities on campus, especially the Epithelial Biology Center (EBC), Digestive Disease...
Congrats, Dr. Nabukhotna!
Mar. 3, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Nabukhotna! Who: Kateryna Nabukhotna, PhD Department: Biochemistry PI Mentor: Borden Lacy Research: Studying how Clostridioides difficile toxins increase the severity of infection Vanderbilt Impact: “The Vanderbilt Institute for Infection, Immunology, and Inflammation (VI4) and Center for Structural Biology (CSB) communities created a supportive and collaborative research environment. Translational Pathology Shared Resource (TPSR) provided...
Congrats, Dr. Stark!
Feb. 17, 2025—Congrats, Dr. Stark! Who: Amy Stark, PhD Department: Pharmacology PI Mentor: John Penn Research: Studying prostanoids, the downstream molecules inhibited by NSAIDs like ibuprofen, and their receptors as highly specific targets to manage inflammation that occurs in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy Vanderbilt Impact: “The ASPIRE Program, especially Dr. Ashley Brady, helped support me...