Research Cafe, April 16 @ 3 PM ET
April 16, 2025
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Event Description
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Masuda Akther is a third-year graduate student in the Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology program, currently conducting research in Dr. Alexander Valvezan's lab at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (CABM). With a strong interest in translational studies, she has focused her research career on bridging fundamental science and clinical applications. Her current work centers on developing cancer therapeutics, specifically targeting cancer metabolism to identify new treatment strategies for patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC). Outside the lab, she enjoys spending time in nature, finding inspiration and balance in the outdoors. Exploiting the unique metabolism of tumor cells to develop new therapies. Mutations in the tumor-suppressor genes TSC1 and TSC2 cause Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), a genetic disorder that can lead to tumor growth, and are also linked to certain cancers. Tumors lacking TSC1or TSC2 show increased activity of mTORC1, a protein complex that drives cell growth and metabolism. Our research has revealed that TSC2-deficient cells are highly dependent on the enzyme IMPDH, which is crucial for producing guanine nucleotides—essential building blocks for DNA and RNA. Blocking IMPDH with a drug called Mizoribine, which is already approved for clinical use, creates stress on DNA replication and damages the DNA in TSC2-deficientcells, ultimately causing them to die. However, these cells can adapt to this treatment by activating pathways that repair DNA damage and manage replication stress, making them less sensitive to the drug. To overcome this resistance, we tested combining Mizoribine with drugs that block key proteins in these pathways, such as ATR, CHK1, CHK2, DNA-PK, WEE1, and ATM. Our preliminary results show that combining Mizoribine with an ATR inhibitor (AZD6738), which is being tested in cancer clinical trials, significantly increases cell death in TSC2-deficient cells compared to using Mizoribine alone. Similarly, inhibitors targeting WEE1 (AZD1775) and CHK1/CHK2 (AZD7762) also boost Mizoribine effects. These findings suggest a promising new treatment strategy: combining drugs that block DNA repair and replication stress pathways with IMPDH inhibitors to more effectively kill cancer cells lacking TSC2.
Veronica Armour is a PhD student in the Department of Library and Information Science and the Director for the Innovation, Design, & Entrepreneurship Academy at Rutgers University-New Brunswick. Her research is inspired by the pathways she has constructed as she’s navigated her career journey and her observations of the ways in which undergraduates’ career pathways are constructed and evolve while at university. Mapping Pathways: How Information Shapes Transitional Journeys My research tells the story of how and why information is used to create a pathway to support the navigation of a transitional period in an individual's life. Pathways can be constructed (think of planned or designed paths) or informal, sometimes called desire paths, that emerge as shortcuts taken by individuals when an official path does not exist or is not practical to take. This presentation will discuss how we might use a socio-material perspective to tell the story of pathways through mapping information structures to see what shapes a pathway and mapping information sources to see who is found along the way. By emphasizing the actors and relations involved in our information interactions, I expand our view of information behavior beyond the individual/cognitive perspective to encompass a community/social perspective.
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Join us for our next Research Café on Tuesday, April 16 at 3:00 PM (via Zoom) for an inspiring session showcasing the diverse and innovative work of graduate students at Rutgers.
Allison Bond & Rebecca Risman
Awards & Honors
The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) is pleased to announce the winners of the second annual SGS Community Engagement Award, recognizing graduate students who have demonstrated ethical, collaborative engagement through their research, teaching, and advocacy to advance the public good.
2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Finals
Awards & Honors
March 14, 2025 – New Brunswick, NJ – The 2025 Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Final Round at Rutgers University School of Graduate Studies (SGS) brought together eight doctoral finalists for an engaging competition that challenged them to present their research in just three minutes.
iJOBS Workshop: Grant Writing F-Fellowships and Thesis Proposals
Professional Development
April 30, 2026
12:00 - 2:00 pm
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Research Tower
170 Frelinghuysen Road
EOHSI (Room C)
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Phone
908-803-9874Event Description
Interested in submitting an NIH F-Series Fellowship application or getting ready to write your thesis proposal? This is a great workshop for graduate students and postdocs to get your started on your F31, F32, F30 or F99/K00 applications. This is also a good way to start to prepare for your propositional qualifying exam. The workshop will focus on the Specific Aims section.
iJOBS Seminar: Navigating the Publication Process and Careers in Publishing
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
Get advice on everything from how to select an appropriate journal to best practices in experimental design, manuscript preparation, and submission to help you get your papers published. The speaker will be Andrea Marat, PhD Senior Scientific and Reviews Editor, Journal of Cell Biology. Andrea did her PhD at McGill University and a postdocs in Berlin. Andrea joined the Rockefeller University Press in 2016 as a Scientific Editor at the Journal of Cell Biology. In addition to handling research manuscripts, Andrea is responsible for all Reviews and Perspectives published in the journal.
The Dean as Santa
Dean Mark Robson Celebrates the Season with Graduate Families
Graduate students and their families came together for a warm and joyful holiday celebration at the Graduate Student Lounge on the College Avenue Campus, hosted by Supporting Parents and Caregivers at Rutgers (SPCR) in collaboration with the Office of Graduate Student Life.
iJOBS Workshop: Standing out in your career search through Strategic Networking and Branding
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
This workshop is designed for biomedical PhD students and postdoctoral fellows seeking to differentiate themselves in a competitive job market. Participants will learn from Penny Pearl of 2Actify how to strategically build and leverage professional networks, articulate a clear professional brand, and communicate their skills and interests with intention across academic, industry, and nontraditional career paths. The session will cover practical approaches to networking, informational interviews, online presence, and personal branding statements, along with strategies for maintaining authentic, meaningful professional relationships. Attendees will leave with actionable tools to increase visibility, confidence, and impact in their career search.
iJOBS Workshop: Effective Mentoring of Undergraduates in Research
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
This active learning workshop for PhD students, Postdoctoral Fellows and faculty will use techniques and case study discussions in breakout sessions to teach tools and skills to better mentor undergraduate students in a research setting. Attendees will also reflect upon approaches they would use to mentor trainees and employees when they are running a lab or research group in the future. An opportunity to earn a Microbadge in Mentoring Undergrads will be available for those who wish to follow up with additional activities.
iJOBS Seminar: Thinking, Working, & Leading Like an Industry Scientist
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
The seminar delivered by Manisha Sinha, PhD will cover the following core themes that are unique to industry compared to academia and will help you transition to an industry role:
Time as a critical resource; Designing “killer experiments” for go no-go decisions; Planning for efficiency; Cross-functional collaboration; Framing results in the context of program strategy; Working within constrained budgets; Developing a product (not project) mindset; Early-career habits that accelerate impact and advancement in industry settings. Join us to shift your mindset to that of an industry professional!
iJOBS Workshop: Genomics Data Carpentry
Professional Development
International Center for Public Health
225 Warren Street
Newark, NJ 07103
Phone
908-803-9874Event Description
Note: This is a 2 day in person workshop. You only need to register once, however attendance at both days is required from 9am-5pm.
Data Carpentry workshops are for any researcher who has data they want to analyze, and no prior computational experience is required. This hands-on workshop teaches basic concepts, skills and tools for working more effectively with data. The focuses of this workshop will be working with genomics data, and data management & analysis for genomics research. They will cover metadata organization in spreadsheets, data organization, connecting to and using cloud computing, the command line for sequence quality control and bioinformatics workflows.
IN PERSON ONLY International Center for Public Health (ICPH) auditorium, 225 Warren St, Newark, NJ
Lunch will be served