Molecular and Cellular Pathology Graduate Student Michael Pitter successfully defended his PhD thesis on March 15, 2024, and officially became Michael Pitter, PhD, MS. Pitter completed his thesis research in the laboratory of Dr. Weiping Zou, the Charles B. de Nancrede Professor, Professor of Pathology and Surgery. Pitter’s thesis, “The Role of Peptidyl Arginine Deiminases in Regulating Anti-tumor Responses in Immune Cells” reports on his research which demonstrated that PAD2 and PAD4 enzymatic activity supported tumor growth and when inhibited, may serve as a novel target in the treatment of cancer. He also discovered that PAD4 citrullinated STAT1, controlling STAT1 transcriptional activity, and consequently, MHC-II expression and function in macrophages. This work featured multiple novel findings in macrophage biology which may be exploited for the treatment of cancer and was published in Cell Reports.
Please join us in congratulating Dr. Michael Pitter on the successful completion of his PhD!
In a manuscript published this week in JAMA Oncology, senior author Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan and members of the EDRN-PCA3 Study Group reported on their development and validation of a new 18-gene urine-based test for diagnosis of high-grade prostate cancer, MPS2. This test was initially developed in the Department of Pathology.
University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center researcher Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, has received a $5 million grant from the J.C. Kennedy Foundation to conduct laboratory tests of a potential drug candidate targeting a master regulator that controls the majority of genes involved in the most challenging type of prostate cancer. The SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex was previously found to facilitate access to enhancers that oncogenes can bind to, driving downstream gene expression in cancer. Degrading a subunit of this complex blocks the oncogenes [...]
Dr. Xiaobing Jin Shares His Story
The Clinical Pathology Symposium traveled to Danto Auditorium to showcase the Future of Pathology.
Healthcare disparities arise from multiple sources, some of which are cultural and rooted in historical biases. In health research, most study participants in the past have been of European descent. This delayed the identification of specific genetic differences that are found more frequently in non-Europeans, leading to misdiagnoses and inappropriate healthcare for those with these differences. One of these is the Duffy-null genotype leading to a Duffy-associated neutrophil count (DANC) that is lower than established reference ranges.
Dr. Asma Nusrat, F. Peyton Rous Professor and Director of Experimental Pathology, was awarded the 2024 Rous-Whipple award at the American Society for Investigative Pathology Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2024 in Baltimore, MD.
The ASIP Rous-Whipple Award is presented to a senior scientist with a distinguished career in research who has advanced the understanding of disease and has continued productivity at the time of the award, including impactful science [...]
Congratulations to Drs. Sarah Farran and Isabella Holmes who will be joining the Chief Resident team this upcoming academic year.
It is with profound sadness that we write about the unexpected passing of Dena Ryan, a member of our Pathology Informatics team who managed MediaLab for the Department of Pathology. Dena was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and attended Lowell High School in Lowell, Michigan. Upon graduation, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in biology from Michigan Technological University in 1999, followed by a second bachelor’s degree in clinical laboratory sciences from Eastern Michigan University, before finding her way to Michigan Medicine’s Department of Pathology as a laboratory technician. She later transitioned to Pathology Informatics to support the MediaLab application as a business analyst.
The MCP team is proud to share the news that MCP student Gabrielle "Gabbi" Rozumek is the recipient of the 2024 Phyllis M. Wise Biomedical Sciences Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Service.
Gabbi is very passionate about and dedicated to serving her community. Since 2016, she has touched so many lives by serving in numerous and various capacities. A few of her efforts include:
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from across Michigan Medicine are focused on cutting-edge research to understand and address food allergies as members of the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center. Nicholas Lukacs, PhD, the Godfrey Dorr Stobbe Professor of Pathology and Scientific Director of the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center, and James R. Baker Jr., Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Biologic Nanotechnology and Director of the MHWFAC, were instrumental in founding the food allergy center in 2015 and in recruiting an exceptional team of researchers to the Center. One of their goals since the inception of the MHWFAC was to see it become recognized as one of the world’s elite research centers in its field. Recently, this goal was achieved when the National Institutes of Health awarded them one of just 10 seven-year CoFAR Cooperative Agreement Grants, recognizing the center’s exceptional ground-breaking research.
The American Association for Cancer Research recently released their 2024 Women in Cancer Research Scholar Awards and Rita A. Avelar, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in the DiFeo Laboratory, was one of just twelve women scholars awarded. This award is presented to early-career, meritorious female scientists at the AACR Annual Meeting, which will be held April 5-10, 2024, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
When thinking of Pathology, many people think of tests being run in a laboratory located “somewhere” or of autopsies being performed in the morgue. It is considered a field with little direct contact with patients, and this may be true for much of the department, but not all. One area of the department that has a lot of patient contact is our phlebotomy services. Phlebotomists are the people who collect blood at your bedside in the hospital or as you sit in a chair at a blood-drawing station. This high-demand career field is staffed with people whose goal is to make sure you have the best experience possible while having your blood drawn for testing.
One of these people is Jonathan Jennings, a phlebotomist at the Briarwood Clinics in Ann Arbor. Jennings has worked in this role for the past ten years, but phlebotomy was not his initial career choice in life. He occupied his younger years as a truck driver, making daily runs delivering goods around the Midwest. Years of long hours of sitting and bumping along in a semi took its toll on his body and by 40 years of age, his back could no longer endure the punishment. He had a choice to make…go on disability or find a career where his back issues could be accommodated.
Dr. Rouba Ali-Fehmi Shares Her Global Passion
Congratulations to Celina Kleer, MD, the Harold A. Oberman Collegiate Professor of Pathology and Director of Breast Pathology Research, on her election to the prestigious Association of American Physicians (AAP). The AAP is an honorary society dedicated to the advancement of scientific and practical medicine and admits only 70 new members to its rank each year. Election is highly selective and as described on their website, is “an honor extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in basic or translational biomedical research.” Kleer will be formally inducted into the AAP at their Annual Meeting in Chicago next month.
David Harro recalls 40 Years in Pathology
Dr. Daniel Boyer was recently announced as the Hematopathology Section Director. The hematopathology section consists of eleven faculty members who provide expert subspecialty diagnostic services and care for a large population of Michigan Medicine and MLabs patients using a variety of technologies including morphology, flow cytometry, cytogenetics, FISH, and molecular diagnostics. The service is anticipated to grow in volume and complexity as our integrated care network expands, and Dr. Boyer's leadership will be instrumental to our joint success.
Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate student, Derek Dang, successfully defended his thesis, “Beyond the Warburg Effect: A study of metabolic alterations in malignancies of the posterior fossa” on January 19, 2024, becoming Dr. Derek Dang. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Derek Dang on his achievements.
If you are interested in learning more about the MCP Graduate Program, click here or email Dr. Jeff Rual at jrual@med.umich.edu.
Our Apheresis Unit’s faculty and staff take excellent care of the patients who come through their doors. Their dedication and compassion were recently recognized by Michigan Medicine’s Office of Patient Experience as they were awarded as one of the top two sites for performance on the patient experience metric for the past two quarters. Keith Gran, Chief Patient Experience Officer, and Devin Uppert, OPE Administrative Director presented members of the Apheresis Team with their award on March 19, 2024.
Giving Back During Spring Break 2024
The Center for Global Health Equity (CGHE) at the University of Michigan announced the winners of their CGHE Grant competition and two of Pathology’s faculty were among the four award recipients. Dr. Rouba Ali-Fehmi and team were awarded one of three CGHE Seed Grant Awards and Dr. Lee Schroeder and team received the year’s only Impact Accelerator Program Award.
S2, EP1
In this episode, Dr. David Gordon, a cardiovascular pathologist, stops by The Path Report to discuss his specialty, hereditary heart conditions, and more.
Sunita Punjabi (MT-ASCP) reflects on nearly 34 years in Microbiology
It is with sorrow that we report that Associate Professor Emeritus Dr. Eugene M. Silverman and his wife, Alida Silverman, both recently passed away and their funeral was held on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
On January 19, 2024 the new Apheresis Unit at the University Hospital opened.
Dr. Robert C. Bell, Assistant Professor of Pathology
Dr. Kamran Mirza, Assistant Chair for Education
In the world of research and grant funding, it is easy to lose sight of the effort required for foundations to provide funding to researchers and the underlying motivation for that funding. This is not the case, however, for Molecular and Cellular Pathology Graduate Student Joanna Lum. Lum was recently awarded the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation Fellowship Award, providing her with $200,000 over 3 years to study Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. DIPG is a brainstem glioma most commonly affecting children ages 5-9 years old. More than 90% of these children will die within 1.5 years. The DIPG foundation was created by two families who lost their sons to DIPG.
In Memoriam
David O. Ferguson, MD, PhD
June 11, 1966 – January 6, 2024
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of David O. Ferguson, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology. David passed away suddenly at the age of 57 on Saturday, January 6, 2024. He is survived by his wife, Dr. JoAnn Sekiguchi (Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Human Genetics, University of Michigan Medical School), their daughter, Brianna, and his brother, Peter Ferguson of Henderson, NV.
Please join us in congratulating him!
Dr. Gabriel Nunez 's Lab Makes Breakthrough Discovery in Colitis
Congratulations to our co-chief resident, Dr. Corey Post, for being selected by the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology as the recipient of the 2024 F. Stephen Vogel Award. This award is given to a resident who has published an outstanding paper in one of the USCAP’s affiliated journals, Laboratory Investigation or Modern Pathology, and will be presented to him at the USCAP Honors Session on Saturday, March 23, 2024.
S1, EP7
Chair of the Department of Pathology, Dr. Charles Parkos, stops by The Path Report to discuss some of the top highlights of 2023 and what he is most excited about in 2024.
Congratulations to Dr. Sahiti Marella on successfully defending her PhD dissertation entitled “Regulatory Networks that Govern the Esophageal Epithelial Proliferative Response in Eosinophilic Esophagitis Endotypes."
S1, EP6
Dr. Analisa Difeo, PhD drops by The Path Report, to discuss how she became interested in medicine, the work her lab is doing, and more!
Students who train in our Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate program find a broad range of opportunities before them as they graduate. Whether they wish to remain in academia, go to industry or pursue another path, their options are plentiful. Derek Dang, who will be defending his dissertation soon, decided to pursue a path that is taking him to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He was accepted into the prestigious Laboratory Leadership Service (LLS) Fellowship.
From Italy to Ann Arbor
Congratulations to Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate student, Madeline Sykes, on being selected for a 2023 Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant. These grants are awarded to students based on the quality of their research proposals and are used toward funding experiments for their thesis work.
November 28, 2023
A Global REACH seed grant aims to bridge stem cell biology and cutting-edge 3D retinal organoid technology to inform new research of childhood diseases that cause blindness.
Rajesh C. Rao, M.D., Leonard G. Miller Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Associate Professor of Human Genetics and Pathology, is a retina surgeon and physician-scientist. He garnered a $10,000 Partnership Development Grant last fall to collaborate with colleagues at the Ege University Faculty of Medicine, in Turkey, where the team was treating a very unique patient.
“This is just one of those needle-in-a-haystack situations. The disease the patient was suffering from, Strømme Syndrome, is so incredibly rare,” Rao said. “I’m really grateful that Global REACH [...]
Crohn’s disease (CD), one of the major forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is a chronic relapsing intestinal disorder that affects millions of people globally. The cause of CD is unknown, but it is thought to result from a dysregulated immune response against environmental factors, including intestinal microbes, in genetically susceptible hosts.
The critical role that the intestinal microorganisms, collectively known as the gut microbiota, plays in the pathogenesis of CD has been investigated over the past two decades. Given the importance of the gut microbiota in triggering CD, the development of therapeutic approaches that target disease-causing intestinal microbes may provide a unique approach to the treatment of this disease [...]
In April 2023, six Pathology employees from across the department came together for two days of training. Many of these had never met the others in the room as they worked in different units, on different campuses, and on different shifts. But they came together with a common goal: to become FiSH! Philosophy trainers with the aim of improving the culture in the Department of Pathology. Over two days of training, these strangers became a team of motivated trainers.
Multiple Department of Pathology faculty members have recently been recognized for their achievements and nominated to leadership roles for their excellence within their respective fields. These members continue to demonstrate the depth of our department's knowledge and research.