Newest Members

Dr. Jennifer Humberson a new Medical Genetics resident/fellow.  She is a graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and completed her residency in Pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco Fresno Program last June. Support for her position is provided by the Bryson Program in Human Genetics.

Dallas Donohoe (PhD, LSU Health Sciences Center) will be joining Terry Magnuson’s lab a postdoctoral fellow.

Christine Powell (PhD, UNC Curriculum in Toxicology) will be joining David Threadill’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow.

Cliff Ramsdell (PhD, University of South Carolina) has joined Terry Magnuson’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow.

Josh Starmer (PhD, NC State University) has also joined Terry Magnuson’s lab as a postdoctoral fellow.

For more information about current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in Department of Genetics Labs, please visit individual researcher's web pages.
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Recent Departures

Eric Bankaitis (undergraduate researcher in David Threadgill’s lab) graduated in December, after successfully completing Biology Honors. Eric was mentored by Erica Rinella (graduate student in the Genetics and Molecular Biology Curriculum). Eric is planning to attend graduate school at Vanderbilt University.

Christina Paniccia (undergraduate researcher in David Threadgill’s lab) also graduated in December. Christina was mentored by Daekee Lee (Research Associate, now an Asst. Professor in Korea). Christina is planning to attend graduate school to become a Physician Assistant.

Joi Weeks (undergraduate researcher in David Threadgill’s lab) completed her research for Chemistry 99 with Ming Yu. Joi is planning to obtain a graduate degree in Chemistry.
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Awards & Honors

Dr. Frank Conlon, Assistant Professor, has been awarded the American Heart Association's National Established Investigator Award.

Jennifer Dackor (graduate student in the Genetics and Molecular Biology Curriculum, David Threadgill’s lab) received a Keystone Symposium Scholarship to present her research at the 2007 Keystone Symposia Conference “Reproduction Advances and Challenges” in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Drs. Courtney Griffin and Sundeep Kalantry (postdoctoral fellow in Terry Magnuson’s lab) have been awarded NIH Pathway to Independence grants. The NIH Pathway to Independence grant mechanism supports postdoctoral scientists for both mentored and independent research from the same award, and was instituted to facilitate the transition from postdoctoral researcher to independent and federally funded investigator. Courtney and Sandeep are among the first fellows selected to receive these important new awards.

C. Hawkins (Executive Assistant to Terry Magnuson) has been named a 2007 Meeting Professional to Watch by ConventionSouth magazine. Hawkins was also named the 2006 Planner of the Year by the North Carolina Chapter of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals.

Michell LaMerrill (graduate student in the Curriculum in Toxicology, David Threadgill’s lab) was recently awarded a travel award to present her research at the Society of Toxicology (SOT) 2007 annual meeting (Mar 25-29, Charlotte, NC).

Dr. Cynthia M. Powell, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Genetics was elected to the American Board of Medical Genetics for a 6-year term beginning January, 2007.  The ABMG is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties and oversees certification of individuals and accreditation of training programs in the field of human genetics.  Dr. Powell was also recently elected to the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Genetics and Birth Defects for a 6-year term beginning November, 2006.

Dr. Chuck Perou, Assistant Professor, has been awarded the 2006 Jefferson-Pilot Fellowship in Academic Medicine given by the UNC School of Medicine.

Dr. Kathleen Rao, Professor of Pediatrics, Pathology and Genetics and Director of the Cytogenetics Laboratory was elected to the committee for the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN) in August, 2006 for a term to run from 2007-2011.  The committee consists of eleven elected members from six geographical locations throughout the world.

Dr. Patrick Sullivan, Professor, has been awarded a GAIN Genotyping Award. Sullivan will use the award to elucidate the genetic basis of major depression.

Melanie Weed (graduate student in the Curriculum in Toxicology, David Threadgill’s lab) has been selected to be the 2007-2009 Student Representative for the North Carolina Society of Toxicology.

Ming Yu (graduate student in the Curriculum of Oral Biology, David Threadill’s lab) won an outstanding poster presentation award for her research presented at the International Mammalian Genome Society (IMGC) meeting held in Charleston, SC (Nov. 12-15, 2006).
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Recent Publications

Shawn Ahmed (2006). Uncoupling of pathways that promote post-mitotic lifespan and apoptosis from replicative immortality of C. elegans germ cells. Aging Cell 5: 559-563.

Jim Evans (2007). A future for medical genetics: lessons from Catch 22. Genet Med. 9(1):1-3.

Leslie Lange (2007). Association of Polymorphisms in the CRP Gene With Circulating C-Reactive Protein Levels and Cardiovascular Events. JAMA. 2006;296:2703-2711.

Terry Magnuson (2006). A simple enzymatic method for parietal yolk sac removal in early postimplantation mouse embryos. Dev Dyn. 2006 Dec 1.

Chuck Perou (2007) Gene-Expression-Based Predictors for Breast Cancer.N Engl J Med. 356(7):752-753.

David Threadgill (2006). Enhanced oligonucleotide microarray labeling and hybridization. Biotechniques. 41(6):685-6.
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