Payton Harmon
Student Spotlight
Turning Taste Science into Lifesaving Care for Children
Research Cafe, April 16 @ 3 PM ET
April 16, 2025
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Event Description
|
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.
|
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.
Patricio Mujica
Graduate Program Membership
Member Members of the graduate faculty may supervise doctoral dissertations and master's theses as well as serve on or chair doctoral and master's committees. Learn more by visiting the SGS bylaws page.
Contact
Phone
973-972-2863
iJOBS Workshop: SciPhD Leadership and Business Skills for Scientists
Professional Development
Rutger University
126 College Ave, Multipurpose Room, New Brunswick
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Event Description
This is a two day in-person only workshop. You only need to register once, however, all sessions are required.
SciPhD is run by Human Workflows, LLC (http://sciphd.com/) and helps trainees assess their current skill set, express it in business-friendly language as well as recognize/fill skill gaps in areas such as communication, leadership, team building, negotiation and project management. This workshop focuses on 24 essential core competencies valued by industry and business, relates those competencies to activities and behaviors commonly experienced by academic scientists through the scientific method, and demonstrates how those competencies work together to form the operational competencies that are essential in business. These transition business competencies can also be applied by academic and government scientists in running their laboratories. SciPhD is a very interactive and hands-on exposure to these concepts with real action items to take away from the workshop. Throughout the program, students and postdocs will experience at least four behavioral-based interview experiences in which they will play the role of the candidate and the interviewer.
Topics include:
The Business of Science
Successful Communications as a Scientist
Six Leadership Styles
Developing Your People
Negotiation and Finance
Building Effective Teams
Strategic Project Management for Scientists
Applying What You've Learned
Dates and Times – ALL OF THE SESSIONS ARE REQUIRED
January 14 9 AM – 5 PM)
January 15 (9 AM -5 PM)
IN PERSON ONLY at College Ave Student Center, 126 College Ave, Multipurpose Room, New Brunswick
iJOBS Virtual Site Visit: Genentech/Roche
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
Join us for an exclusive career panel and company information session with Genentech, a proud member of the Roche Group. Genentech was the world’s first biotech firm, delivering breakthrough treatments for cancer, multiple sclerosis, and rare diseases. Hear from Rutgers alum who work at Genentech/Roche as a principal scientist, computational bioinformatician, technical leader, as well as a senior leader who is an executive director of global manufacturing. We will learn how they made the transition to industry and what it is like to work at this innovative company.
iJOBS and Erdos Institute Seminar: AI in Clinical Research and Trials
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://us06web.zoom.us/my/erdosinstituteEvent Description
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere these days including where PhD scientists are involved in clinical trials and digital health. Join us to learn from Kamala Maddali, DVM, PhD about how she has founded a healthcare consulting and advisory firm focused on accelerating innovation across precision medicine, diagnostics, artificial intelligence, and digital health. She will share how she has leveraged her computational skills to gain expertise in
- Precision Medicine & Companion Diagnostics (CDx)
- Oncology, Neuroscience & Rare Disease Strategy
- AI/ML, Multimodal Data & Real-World Evidence (RWE)
- Biomarkers, Liquid Biopsy & Digital Pathology
- Pharma, Diagnostics & Health System Partnerships
- Business Development & Commercial Strategy
- Academic, Clinical & KOL Collaborations
- Market Access & Innovation Ecosystem Development
iJOBS Annual Symposium
Professional Development
Phone
908-803-9874Virtual Location
https://rutgers.zoom.us/my/alderja Passcode: JanetEvent Description
We are excited to invite current graduate students, postdocs, alumni, industry professionals, and faculty to attend our annual iJOBS symposium. The agenda will include:
- Keynote speaker, will be Adrianne Wong, PhD who is Senior Director, Oncology Search and Evaluation, Global Business Development at pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo. Dr. Wong will speak about how pharma decides what to prioritize in their portfolio and how to strategize innovation. This will help attendees as future industry professionals understand what happens behind the scenes in pharma as they make decisions on their therapeutic pipelines.
- Professional Development Workshop by Juliet Chin Hart, Career Strategy for Scientists: Building Your Value Proposition. A value proposition is the answer to "what do you offer, and why does it matter," stated clearly enough that someone else can act on it. Each attendee will leave with a written first draft of your value proposition that you can start using and refining in your resume, your next interview, or your next performance conversation.
- Update of iJOBS activities and outcomes followed by our current Phase 3 trainees sharing about their iJOBS shadowing experiences and coursework.
- Networking lunch where industry professionals will share their advice with current trainees.