Postdoctoral Research Symposium

The Keynote Speaker for the 2022 PRS was Nicola Allen, PhD

Dr. Nicola Allen is an Associate Professor in the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, USA. She received her PhD working with David Attwell at University College London studying neuronal responses to ischemia, and performed Postdoctoral research with Ben Barres at Stanford University, where she identified how astrocytes regulate the formation of functional synapses between neurons. Current work in the Allen lab investigates how astrocytes regulate neuronal synapse number and synaptic function across the lifespan in health and disease. The goal is to use this knowledge of astrocytes to repair synapses when they are dysfunctional in diverse neurological disorders. Dr. Allen has been recognized with a number of awards, including being named a Pew Scholar, Ellison New Scholar in Aging, and receiving a Career Accelerator Award from the CZI Neurodegeneration Network. She is the former postdoctoral advisor for Jefferson Neuroscience faculty member, Elena Blanco-Suárez, PhD.

View complete details on Dr. Allen's website.

2022 PRS Award Winners

Outstanding Research In-Depth Presentation - Dr. Piyush Mishra, from the laboratory of Dr. Gyorgy Hajnoczky

Outstanding Research Lightning Presentation - Dr. Meghan Gannon, from the research office of Dr. Diane Abatemarco

Outstanding Poster Presentations - Dr. Ashutosh Phadte, from the laboratory of Dr. Anna Pluciennik; Dr. Ankita Srivastava, from the laboratory of Dr. Raj Vadigepalli

Outstanding Early Discoveries Research Presentations - Dr. Miyuki Hayashi, from the laboratory of Dr. Lin Guo; Dr. Manjuprasanna Voddarahally Nagaraju, from the laboratory of Dr. Ulhas Naik

The Keynote Speaker for the 2021 PRS was Treena Livingston Arinzeh, PhD.

Dr. Arinzeh is a Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Dr. Arinzeh received her BS. from Rutgers University in Mechanical Engineering, her MSE in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University, and her PhD in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.  She worked for several years as a project manager at a stem cell technology company, Osiris Therapeutics, Inc.  Dr. Arinzeh joined the faculty of NJIT as one of the founding faculty members of the department of Biomedical Engineering and served as interim chairperson and graduate director. Her most notable or cited work to date has been in the use of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) with bioactive ceramics to induce bone formation in a large bone defect without the use of immunosuppressive therapy. This study served the basis for FDA approval to pursue clinical trials using allogeneic MSCs for various applications. Dr. Arinzeh has been recognized with numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). She recently served as the chairperson for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering (MTE) Study Section. She is currently a co-PI and the Director of Diversity of the NSF Science and Technology Center on Engineering Mechanobiology, which is a multi-institutional center with the University of Pennsylvania. 

2021 Virtual PRS Award Winners

Outstanding Research In-Depth Presentation - Dr. Francesco De Pascali, from the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Benovic

Outstanding Research Lightning Presentation - Dr. Arijita Ghosh, from the laboratory of Dr. Gyorgy Hajnoczky

The Keynote Speaker for the 2020 PRS was Lance A. Liotta MD, PhD

Dr. Liotta is a Tenured Professor in the College of Science, George Mason University. He received the MD and PhD (Bioengineering) from Case Western Reserve University, and fulfilled his residency at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he initiated a research program that, to date, has yielded more than 700 publications and more than 100 issued or allowed patents. At NIH Dr. Liotta was Chief, Laboratory of Pathology, Chief, Section of Tumor Invasion and Metastasis, and Deputy Director of NIH under NIH Director Bernadine Healy. He and Dr. Emanuel Petricoin of the FDA set up the first NIH/FDA Clinical Proteomics Program and created the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM).

Dr. Liotta has invented and patented, along with his laboratory co-inventors, high-impact technologies in the fields of diagnostics; microdissection (Laser Capture Microdissection), and proteomics (Reverse Phase Protein Microarrays, Biomarker Harvesting Nanoparticles, Preservation chemistries for tissue, and Protein Painting to discover drug targets), that have been used to make broad discoveries. The Laser Capture Microdissection prototype is in the Smithsonian Collection.

Dr. Liotta has unique expertise in organ extracellular matrix biology for which he made major discoveries concerning the biochemistry of the basement membrane. The CAPMM team applies these technologies to discover novel markers for early stage infectious and neoplastic disease, sepsis, traumatic brain injury, and graft versus host rejection, within an accredited CAP/CLIA diagnostic lab for patient testing.

Dr. Liotta has received numerous scientific awards, including election to AIBME Fellows status, the Arthur S. Flemming Award, the NIH Award of Merit, the Surgeon General’s Medallion, and the 2015 Virginia SHEV award for Research and Scholarship. Since he joined George Mason Dr. Liotta has been continuously funded as an NIH PI. Dr Liotta and Dr. Petricoin, as co-PIs have raised more than $25M in grant funding to support the team.

CAPMM inventions licensed by Mason were the basis of two existing biotech companies Ceres Nanoscience and Theranostics/Avant DX. Three additional startups are being formed using IP licensed from CAPMM: Monet Pharma, Precision Biosciences, and Precision Pharma. Dr. Liotta emphasizes creativity and innovation in research, and education. 

2020 Virtual PRS Award Winners

Dr. Cory Knudson, from the laboratory of Dr. Luis Sigal - Oral Session I
Dr. Clare Adams, from the laboratory of Dr. Christine Eischen - Oral Session II