College of Pharmacy recognizes outstanding efforts at annual Research Day

The College of Pharmacy held its 18th Annual Research Day on November Nov. 16 in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Library and the Biomedical Research Towers. This was the first Annual Research Day to be hosted during fall semester.

The poster presentation portion of Research Day provided faculty, residents, staff and students the opportunity to present their research projects and findings and network with other potential collaborators. Later in the day, research presentations showcased the work of trainee and faculty researchers.

The trainee research group included undergraduate student Jake Schmitt; post-doctoral scholar/researcher Ximena Oyarzún-Gonzalez, PharmD, MS, PhD; graduate student Mike Boeckman, PhD; and academic teaching Fellow Jared Repas, PharmD. Faculty researcher presenters included assistant professor Razi Kebriaei, PhD; and research scientist Daniel Adu-Ampratwum, PhD. 

The Research Day keynote address was given by Dean Deanna Kroetz, PhD, BS Pharmacy ’85, dean and professor at the College of Pharmacy. Dean Kroetz’s address, “Reverse Translational Studies to Understand Drug Toxicity,” presented shared the results of genetic association studies of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) in breast cancer patients and mechanistic studies to explain identification of genetic biomarkers that predict patients’ risk of drug response or toxicity.

The day’s events concluded with a presentation of awards.

Poster Awards

Residents, PharmD and Undergraduate Student Division

First Place $500
Presenter: Caroline Wittman
Title: "Isolation and structure elucidation of chemical constituents of a botanical supplement: centella asiatica"
Authors: Caroline Wittman, Timothy Huang, Sara Neiheisel, Amala Soumyanath, Liva Rakotondraibe

Second Place $250
Presenter: Aashtha Shah
Title: "Utilization of a clonazepam bridge order set to increase prescribing accuracy and decrease re-admission rates: a retrospective chart review"

Authors: Aashtha S. Shah, Mick Harrison, James Herbst

Third Place $125
Presenter: Gillian Mulcahy​​​
Title: "Estrogen receptor (ER) subtype-dependent effects of ERβ agonists on the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in ERβ and ERβ knockout mice"
Authors: Gillian E. Mulcahy, Samuel K. Kulp, Justin Thomas, Mayu Fukuda, Tyler A. Wilson, Chad Bennett, Christopher C. Coss

Post-Doctoral Researcher & Research Staff Division

First Place $500
Presenter: Shruthi Kandalai
Title: "Characterizing imatinib's pharmacokinetics and impact on p-ERK signaling in SH-SY5Y cells"
Authors: Shruthi Kandalai, Jack C. Stromatt, Eman Ahmed, Levi Steenrod, Josh Hoak, Eric D. Eisenmann

Second Place $250
Presenter: Joo Young Na

Title: "Utilizing modeling and simulation to investigate the mechanisms

underlying pharmacokinetic drug-drug interactions between abemaciclib and olaparib in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian cancer patients"
Authors: Joo Young Na, Kasey L. Hill, Nicole L. Abbott, Linda R. Duska, Andrea E. Wahner Hendrickson, John L. Hays, Geoffrey I. Shapiro, Kathleen N. Moore, Mitch A. Phelps

Third Place $125
Presenter: Casey Madison
Title: "Targeting daptomycin resistance in methicillin resistant

staphylococcus aureus strains using adjunctive bacteriophage therapy"
Authors: Casey L. Madison, Anja S.J. Steinert, Corrin E. Luedeke, Neeka Hajjafar, Alexandra Partey, Arnold S. Bayer, Andrew Berti, Razieh Kebriaei

Graduate Students

First Place $500
Presenter: Justin Thomas
Title: "Novel agent OSU-ERB

-12 in combination with anti-PD1 therapy overcomes immune checkpoint

 inhibitor resistance in mice by promoting CD8^+ T cell activation"
Authors: Justin Thomas, Gregory M. Young, Pankaj Kumar, Tyler A. Wilson, Gillian Mulcahy, Mayu Fukuda, Hanna S. Radomska, Samuel K. Kulp, Chad Bennett, Mitch A. Phelps, Christopher C. Coss

Second Place $250
Presenter: Xiaolei Meng
Title: "Lamotrigine promotes heterogenous cardiac conduction slowing and reentrant ventricular tachycardia"
Authors: Xiaolei Meng, D. Ryan King, Przemyslaw Radwanski​ 

​Third Place $125
Presenter: Xiaojun Hu
Title: "Fluorescent detection of peroxynitrite produced by myeloid-derived suppressor cells in cancer and inhibition by dasatinib"
Authors: Erick J. Carlson, Himanshu Savardekar, Xiaojun Hu, Gabriella Lapurga, Courtney Johnson, Steven Sun, William E. Carson, and Blake R. Peterson

CCTS Translational Science Award

First Place $500
Presenter: Md. Mohaimenul Islam
Title: "Application of the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to explain racial/ethnic disparities in adherence to antidepressant treatment"
Authors: Md. Mohaimenul Islam, Macarius Donneyong

2023 Administrative Research Staff Award

$500
Jessica Costic, MA

Jessica was nominated for the College of Pharmacy Administrative Research Staff Award by Mitch Phelps, PhD, professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology and Chris Coss, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology for her role as the administrative lead for both the Graduate Studies and Research Program Committees as well as her recent contributions to the college’s research strategic planning meetings this past summer and the college’s T32 grant application that was submitted in May of 2023. Drs. Phelps and Coss mention in their nomination letter that as a part of her committee work “Jessica often reports on diverse graduate or research-related initiatives, such as graduate student recruitment efforts, the status of planning for [our] annual research day, and coordination of selecting, inviting, and scheduling external speakers. The administrative burden across these two committees is substantial, and, as with all her work, Jessica makes high level operational excellence look effortless. In addition, they write that “no singular research staff member demonstrates initiative and creativity, fosters a cooperative and supportive work environment, and exhibits dependability and self-motivation to us quite like Jessica Costic.”

2023 Laboratory Research Staff Awards

$500
Daelynn Buelow, PhD
 
Daelyn was nominated by Sharyn Baker, PharmD, PhD, Gertrude Parker Heer Chair in Cancer Research and professor and chair of pharmaceutics and pharmacology; and Alex Sparreboom, PhD, professor of pharmaceutics and pharmacology. Their letter states, “the last 8 years at OSU have been exceptionally fruitful and productive times for Daelynn. She remains a highly dedicated, loyal, and self-motivated employee who quickly grasps novel concepts, has superior ability to independently design complicated experiments, and scores outstanding on virtually all job responsibilities during her annual evaluations. She goes above and beyond to get the job done, even out of regular working hours. While at OSU, Daelynn has continually challenged herself in both the research and healthcare facets of medicine and pharmaceutical sciences, as exemplified by her willingness to volunteer and provide her expertise during the COVID lockdown in the development of novel PCR assays directed against the virus. Daelynn is an extraordinarily highly valued and experienced member of our lab who excels at complex multitasking without loss of productivity and accuracy through a strong work ethic. She serves as a role model in our lab to all the staff and students, always exhibits a professional approach to all others she encounters in or outside the College community.”

$500
Yulin Ren, PhD

Yulin was nominated by A. Douglas Kinghorn, PhD, DSc, professor and Jack L. Beal Chair in the division of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy. His nomination letter states, “The primary laboratory skills of Dr. Ren are as a phytochemist, and she is highly adept in purifying milligram quantities of bioactive new natural products from tropical plants, and then determining their structures using spectroscopic methods. Of significance, Yulin Ren has isolated several lead compounds from tropical plants that subsequently have shown in vivo activity in a hollow fiber assay using immunodeficient mice, as performed at the University of Illinois at Chicago. More recently, Yulin Ren has worked with cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) as potential anticancer agents and has published a number of relevant articles on a representative molecule of this type called (+)-strebloside. Finally, I would like to highlight two other ways in which I think Yulin Ren excels in her research work. Yulin is excellent at maintaining collaborations developed earlier with other colleagues. In addition, Yulin has served as a very effective day-to-day overseer of the laboratory work of several younger colleagues, including nine undergraduate students over the last few years, of whom three have now entered medical school.”