NIEHS Environmental Toxicology Training Program at UTMB Toxicology News Archives Toxicology News Archives Toxicology News Archive List Samantha Sheller-Miller UTMB NIEHS Pre-doctoral Fellow is awarded Meeting Travel Award January 19, 2018 Samantha Sheller-Miller was awarded an SRI Travel Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation, for her abstract entitled: “Environmental Toxicant Induced Cellular Injury is Reflected in Placental Exosomes“. Travel awardees are recognized at the Annual Meeting by having their names placed both on a sign, as well as on a slide projected throughout the meeting. Ms. Sheller-Miller is an NIEHS ETox T32-supported pre-doctoral fellow working in the laboratory of ETox Faculty Trainer Dr. Ramkumar Menon, at UTMB. Cynthia Tapia UTMB NIEHS Pre-doctoral Fellow is awarded Drs. Giovanni and Maria Grazia Micci Award for Mentoring Excellence December 9, 2016 Cynthia Tapia was awarded the Drs. Giovanni and Maria Grazia Micci Award for Mentoring Excellence from the UTMB Graduate School of Biological Sciences, for her outstanding work as a research mentor over the past academic year. Ms. Tapia is a UTMB Presidential Scholar and an NIEHS ETox T32-supported pre-doctoral fellow in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Graduate Program, at UTMB. She was also featured for this award in the regional press with a news story that can be viewed here. Tox News Archives -Dec 2016 and before UTMB NIEHS Pre-doctoral Fellow is awarded Dr. Mary Faggard-Kanz Travel Award Scholarship For Environmental Toxicology December 9, 2016 KarryAnne K. Belanger was awarded the Dr. Mary Faggard-Kanz Travel Award Scholarship For Environmental Toxicology from the UTMB Graduate School of Biological Sciences, for her outstanding research work in Environmental Toxicology over the past academic year. This scholarship is awarded in memory of Dr. Mary Faggard-Kanz, an outstanding toxicology researcher at UTMB for over 20 years. Ms. Belanger is an NIEHS ETox T32-supported pre-doctoral fellow in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, at UTMB. Research Presentation by UTMB NIEHS Pre-doctoral Fellow Wins Award at Lone Star SOT meeting in Waco, Texas November 5, 2016 Olga Zolochevska won an award for best poster presentation at the Lone Star Regional Society of Toxicology meeting at Baylor University in Waco, TX, on November 5, 2016. Her presentation detailed her continued work in the area of toxicology in Alzheimer’s Disease, in her poster entitled, “MicroRNA-4723 and -485 modulate amyloid beta synaptotoxicity in a cellular model of Alzheimer’s Disease”. Ms. Zolochevska is an NIEHS ETox T32-supported pre-doctoral fellow in the Neuroscience and Cell Biology Graduate Program, at UTMB. Research Paper by UTMB ETox Trainee and Trainer Featured as Paper of the Week and Best of the Year December 18, 2015 The paper “Neil2-null Mice Accumulate Oxidized DNA Bases in the Transcriptionally Active Sequences of the Genome and Are Susceptible to Innate Inflammation” with co-authors Dr. Leopoldo Aguilera-Aguirre, Ph.D., an ETox T32-post-doctoral fellow, and Dr. Istvan (Steve) Boldogh, Ph.D., and ETox Faculty Trainer, was featured in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, when editors announced that this Paper of the Week was one of 16 chosen for Best of the Year designation in the DNA and Chromosomes category, further highlighting UTMB’s continued research achievements in the area of DNA Damage and Repair. The Best of the Year articles were selected from the 55 papers published last year. One Best of the Year article was chosen from each of the journal’s TOC groups for its excellence and potential impact on the field. Neil2-null Mice Accumulate Oxidized DNA Bases in the Transcriptionally Active Sequences of the Genome and Are Susceptible to Innate Inflammation Anirban Chakraborty, Maki Wakamiya, Tatiana Venkova-Canova, Raj K. Pandita, Leopoldo Aguilera-Aguirre, Altaf H. Sarker, Dharmendra Kumar Singh, Koa Hosoki, Thomas G. Wood, Gulshan Sharma, Victor Cardenas, Partha S. Sarkar, Sanjiv Sur, Tej K. Pandita, Istvan Boldogh, and Tapas K. Hazra October 3rd, 2015 The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 290, 24636-24648. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.658146 Cheryl Watson, PhD, Inducted into Academy of Master Teachers October 28, 2015 Dr. Cheryl Watson, Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and one of our esteemed Environmental Toxicology Training Program Faculty Trainers, was inducted into the UTMB Academy of Master Teachers (AMT), as a University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor, in October, 2015. Dr. Watson joins a select group of faculty at UTMB to become a member of the AMT, through a rigorous peer-review process evaluating her teaching innovations and experience, teaching evaluations, and teaching materials dissemination, over the course of a recent 10-yr period. We have been privileged to have Dr. Watson as a Faculty Trainer of our NIEHS T32 fellows for over 15 years. Dr. Watson was also recently featured as a teacher of the Reproductive Toxicology segment in our new graduate course, "Principles of Toxicology," offered through the Graduate Program in Pharmacology and Toxicology, as part of the Graduate School of Biological Sciences, here at UTMB. UTMB NIEHS ETox T32 Pre-doctoral Fellow Joseph Shearer wins 1st Place Award at 2015 Lone Star Regional Society of Toxicology Meeting October 24, 2015 Congratulations to UTMB Environmental Toxicology NIEHS T-32 Pre-doctoral Trainee Joseph Shearer, who won a First Place Award for his poster presented at the Fall 2015 Lone Star Regional Society of Toxicology Meeting Houston, TX, entitled: "A Pilot Study of Arsenic-Induced Immunomodulation of the Prostate Tumor Microenvironment." Joseph works in the laboratory of Dr. Marxa Figueiredo, on the effects of arsenic in prostatic cancer development. Sulfur dioxide emissions have decreased but the air pollutant is still a concern for asthmatics July 16, 2015 Emissions of the air pollutant sulfur dioxide have been dramatically decreased during the past 30 years but for some people even a little inhaled sulfur dioxide may still be too much. "Asthmatics are particularly sensitive to sulfur dioxide and can be more likely to suffer asthma complications but scientists still don't know exactly why that is so," said Bill Ameredes, director of the Inhalation Toxicology Core Facility of the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. News Room Article / Abstract UTMB ETox Associate Dwayne Carter wins 2 Awards at 2015 Society of Toxicology Meeting April 9, 2015 UTMB Environmental Toxicology Associate Trainee Dwayne Carter won both the Carl C. Smith Graduate Student Award for Meritorious Research, and a Graduate Student Travel Award from the Society of Toxicology. Dwayne works in the laboratory of Dr. Cornelis Elferink on the Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), and presented his work at the 2015 SOT meeting in San Diego, California, in March. Cheryl Watson PhD Expert for EPA Panel Discussion June 23, 2014 Dr. Cheryl Watson, as editor-in-chief of the Landes journal Endocrine Disruptors, and developer of relevant high-throughput assays for environmental estrogens, attended a joint Endocrine Society-EPA panel discussion on June 23, 2014 in Chicago. The group of 14 scientists representing these organizations was led by Dr. David Dix, EPA's Director of the Office of Science Coordination and Policy, and of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and Dr. Loretta Doan, Director of the Endocrine Society Science Policy Office. The special focus was on how to more accurately and systematically capture human exposure data, and incorporating academic basic science into the computational and risk assessment programs of the EPA, to help inform the regulatory process. Dr. Boldogh is a Recipient of an International Award, Doctor Honoris Causa June 6th, 2013 Istvan Boldogh, DM&B, PhD, represented the United States as one of international scholars to receive the Doctor Honoris Causa (DHC) in ceremonies at Semmelweis University (one of the oldest European universities), Budapest, Hungary. The award originated at the University of Oxford, England, in the 15th century and is given for extraordinary achievements in natural and technological sciences, as well as political, law, philosophical studies. The other participants who received the DHC were Hartmut P.H. Neumann, MD (Chair, Surgery, Freiburg, Germany) and Constantin Copotoiu, MD (Dean, Radiotherapist, Marovasarhely, Romania). Jorg Weidenhammer, MD (President, Asklepios Hospital Clinics, Hamburg, Germany) received a Honorary Senator title. Dr. Boldogh is a Professor in UTMB's Department of Microbiology and Immunology. He was one of 63 candidates from the United States, Europe and Asia, and selected by the Scientific Review Panel of the Faculty Senate at Semmelweis University. Nomination required research collaborations between the awardee's home institution and Semmelweis University. Importantly, this award recognizes the excellence of the School of Medicine and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UTMB Health. The Review Panel also considered the excellence of the departments and centers in which Dr. Boldogh works: the Department of Microbiology and Immunology (recently ranked fifth in research funding among microbiology and immunology departments in the United States), the Sealy Center of Molecular Medicine, and the Center of Environmental Toxicology. NIEHS T32 Grant in Environmental Toxicology Renewed August, 2012 Bill T. Ameredes, M.S., Ph.D., Professor, Medicine, and Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Director of the UTMB Environmental Toxicology Training Program, has successfully renewed the Environmental Toxicology (ETox) T32 Training Grant with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health, beginning July of 2012. The Training Grant entitled, "Molecular Mechanisms of Environmental Injury" has been consistently funded at UTMB for over 20 years. "This grant enables us to continue our outstanding tradition of NIH support for our pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees, as well as the training faculty within the program, here at UTMB," said Dr. Ameredes. NIEHS F-31 Fellow and ETox T32 Trainee Associate Rene Vinas article featured in Science Daily Rene Vinas, B.S., M.S., performed experimental work resulting in a recent publication: "Mixtures of xenoestrogens disrupt estradiol-induced non-genomic signaling and downstream functions in pituitary cells," which appeared in the journal Environmental Health. NIEHS ETox Pre-doctoral Fellows Given Travel Awards from SOT Anita Reno, and Catherine Rondelli, both NIEHS pre-doctoral fellows in the laboratories of respective ETox faculty trainers Bill T. Ameredes and Sherif Abdel-Rahman, have been awarded Graduate Student Travel Awards by the Society of Toxicology, to support their attendance and presentation of their research work at the national SOT meeting in San Antonio, Texas, March 10-13, 2013. NIEHS Post-Doctoral Trainee Nicole Bjorklund Receives Alzheimer's Grant Nicole Bjorklund, PhD, an NIEHS post-doctoral trainee in the laboratory of Giulio Taglialatela, received a grant from the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. NIEHS ETox Trainee Jazmin Ruiz Assists with Research Mentorship of Undergraduate Student Jazmin Ruiz, an Fellow supported by the UTMB NIEHS T32 in Environmental Toxicology, assisted with research mentorship of UTMB Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) student KarryAnne Belanger, from Wheaton College, in the laboratory of Dr. Bill T. Ameredes, the Director of the UTMB ETox Training Program, and founding member of the UTMB Academy of Research Mentors. NIEHS F-31 Fellow and ETox T32 Associate Rene Vinas wins Alternative Methods Award Rene Vinas, B.S., M.S., was awarded a Student Research Training in Alternative Methods Award at the recent national Society of Toxicology (SOT) in San Francisco, in March 2012. NEIHS ETox T32 Trainee Jazmin Ruiz awarded Minority Trainee Travel Award Jazmin Ruiz, B.S., will receive a Minority Trainee Travel Award (MTTA) from the American Thoracic Society (ATS), for international research meeting in San Francisco, in May 2012. NIEHS F-31 Fellow and ETox T32 Associate Rene Vinas awarded 2012 Outstanding Abstract Award Rene Vinas, B.S., M.S., will receive an Outstanding Abstract Award from The Endocrine Society for his abstract: "Chemical Mixtures of Bisphenol-A and Bisphenol-S Disrupt E2-Induced Non-Genomic Signaling in mER[alpha]-Enriched (GH3/B6/F10) Rat Pituitary Cell Line," for presentation at the ENDO 2012 meeting in Houston in June, 2012. Mr. Vinas is a pre-doctoral graduate student of the Pharmacology/Toxicology graduate program of the UTMB Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS), working in the laboratory of UTMB ETox Faculty Trainer and ETox Training Program Associate Director, Cheryl S. Watson, Ph.D.