Akrita Bhatnagar (e-mail)

Junior, Biology/Biotechnology, George Mason University

Mentor: Joel Stiles / PSC
Project: Monte Carlo Simulations of Catecholamine Neurotransmitters using Cell-Attached Patch Amperometry
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
The exocytotic event in chromaffin cells revealed by patch amperometry (1997) A. Albillos et al., Nature, 389, 509-12.
paper | presentation

Click here for Akrita's comments on the BBSI @ Pitt 2007

Frederick Doamekpor (e-mail)

Senior, Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh

Mentor: G. Bard Ermentrout / Mathematics, Pitt
Project: Rotation of Oscillating Waves in Electroencephalograms
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Initiation, Propagation, and Termination of Epileptiform Activity in Rodent Neocortex In Vitro Involve Distinct Mechanisms, David Pinto et al., The Journal of Neuroscience, 25(36):8131– 8140 (2005).
paper | presentation

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Lisa Gabor (e-mail)

Junior, Biomedical Engineering, George Washington University

Mentor: Judith Klein-Seetharaman / Structural Biology, Pitt
Project: Evaluation of Different Biological Data and Computational Classification Methods for Use in Protein Interaction Prediction in Signaling Pathways in Humans
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Yanjun Qi, Ziv Bar-Joseph, and Judith Klein-Seetharaman (2006) Evaluation of Different Biological Data and Computational Classification Methods for Use in Protein Interaction Prediction, PROTEINS: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics 63:490–500
paper | presentation

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Alexander Heitman (e-mail)

Senior, Mathematics, University of Pittsburgh

Mentor: Jeffry Madura / Chemistry & Biochemistry and Center for Computational Sciences, Duquesne University
Project: Exploring an Alternative Method to Compute Protein Electrostatics
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Electrostatics of nanosystems: Application to microtubules and the ribosome Nathan A. Baker et al., PNAS, 98, 10037-10041 (2001). doi:10.1073/pnas.181342398
paper | presentation

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Manjula Kasoji (e-mail)

1st Year Graduate School, Bioinformatics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Mentor: Bino John / Computational Biology, Pitt
Project: Transcriptional Regulatory Elements and Factors of Kaposi’s Sarcoma Human Virus
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Regulatory circuit of human microRNA biogenesis. Lee et al., PLoS Computational Biology, doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030067.eor
paper | presentation

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Rahul Kumar (e-mail)

Junior, Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University

Mentor: Michael Sacks / Bioengineering, Pitt
Project: Approaches in Heart Valve Tissue Engineering
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Cyclic flexure and laminar flow synergistically accelerate mesenchymal stem cell-mediated engineered tissue formation: Implications for engineered heart valve tissues (2006) George C. Engelmayr, Jr., et al., Biomaterials 27, 6083–6095.
paper | presentation

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Kia Montgomery (e-mail)

Junior, Chemistry, Grambling State University

Mentor: Billy Day / Pharmaceutical Sciences and Chemistry, Pitt
Project: QSAR of Microtubule Stabilizing Dictyostatins
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Total Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of C16 Analogs of (–)-Dictyostatin, Won-Hyuk Jung et al., Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 50 (2007), in press.
paper | presentation

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Casey Overby (e-mail)

1st Year Graduate School, Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington; graduated from University of Pennsylvania, Biology/Biotechnology

Mentor: Sanjeev Shroff / Bioengineering, Pitt
Project: A Model Based Analysis of Steady-State versus Dynamic Elements in the Relationship between Calcium and Force
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Pressure-calcium relationships in perfused mouse hearts, MacGowan et al., Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 290: H2614–H2624, 2006
paper | presentation

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Neil Parikh (e-mail)

Junior, Economics/Biology, Rice University

Mentor: G. Bard Ermentrout / Mathematics, Pitt
Project: Modeling Mammal-Mosquito Parasite System Incorporating TGF-Beta1 Protein and Nitric Oxide
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
A reduced mathematical model of the acute inflammatory response: I. Derivation of model and analysis of anti-inflammation (2006) Angela Reynolds et al., Journal of Theoretical Biology, 242, 220–236.
paper | presentation

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Andrej Savol (e-mail)

1st Year Graduate School; graduated from University of Pittsburgh, Applied Mathematics/Music

Mentor: Carlos Camacho / Computational Biology, Pitt
Project: Time Delay in Structural Shifts: Modeling Multiple States
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Anchor residues in protein–protein interactions, Deepa Rajamani et al., PNAS, 101, 11287–11292 (2004). doi:10.1073/pnas.0401942101
paper | presentation

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Kamaldeep Singh (e-mail)

Junior, Bioengineering, University of the Pacific

Mentor: Judith Klein-Seetharaman / Structural Biology, Pitt
Project: Designing a Computational System to Predict Protein-Protein Interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Harold J Drabkin, Christopher Hollenbeck, David P Hill and Judith A Blake (2005) Ontological visualization of protein-protein interactions, BMC Bioinformatics, 6:29 doi:10.1186/1471-2105-6-29.
paper | presentation

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Rusty Stough (e-mail)

Senior, Chemistry, Geneva College

Mentor: Jeffry Madura / Chemistry & Biochemistry and Center for Computational Sciences, Duquesne University
Project: Protein Stability of a 21 Alanine Based Peptide
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
Solvent and mutation effects on the nucleation of amyloid {beta}-protein folding (2005) Luis Cruz et al., PNAS, 102, 18258-18263. doi:10.1073/pnas.0509276102.
paper | presentation

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Alissa Verone (e-mail)

Junior, Bioinformatics, Gannon University

Mentor: Joel Stiles / PSC
Project: Simulation of Catecholamine Release and Voltage Detection using Patch Clamp Amperometry
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 

Journal Club:
High calcium concentrations shift the mode of exocytosis to the kiss-and-run mechanism (1999) Eva Ales et al., Nat Cell Biol. 1, 40-44.
paper | presentation

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Tudor Achim (e-mail)

Junior, Fox Chapel High School

Mentor: Shlomo Ta'asan / Mathematical Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
Project: Using Ordinary and Stochastic Differential Equations to Simulate Cell Activities through an Agent-Based Model
Research Proposal  |  Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Poster Presentation 


Click here for Tudor's comments on the BBSI @ Pitt 2007

Ankur Agarwal (e-mail)

2nd Year Graduate School, Bioinformatics, George Mason University

Mentor: Takis Benos  / Computational Biology, Pitt
Project: Investigation and Comparison of Promoter Regulatory Sequences of Intronic and Intergenic miRNA Genes
Research Abstract  |  Research Presentation  |  Addendum

Journal Club:
DNA Familial Binding Profiles Made Easy: Comparison of Various Motif Alignment and Clustering Strategies, Mahony et al., PLoS Comput Biol. 2007 Mar 30;3(3):e61. Epub 2007 Feb 15.
paper | presentation

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Brook Chernet (e-mail)

Senior, Biology, St. Vincent College

Mentor: Immune Tolerance Network (ITN)
Project: Flow Cytometry Data Analysis and Management
Research Abstract 

Journal Club:
William R Pearson and Michael L Sierk (2005) The limits of protein sequence comparison?, Current Opinion in Structural Biology 20, 15:1–7.
paper | presentation

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Pavol Genzor (e-mail)

Senior Biology/Biotechnology, Biochemistry, St. Vincent College

Mentor: Martin Schmidt / Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry, Pitt
Project: Glucose sensing in yeast: site-directed and randomized mutagenesis of the Snf1 protein kinase regulatory subunit Snf4
Research Abstract

Journal Club:
Mark Johnston (1999) Feasting, fasting and fermenting: glucose sensing in yeast and other cells, Trends in Genetics 15, 29-33.
paper | presentation

Click here for Pavol's comments on the BBSI @ Pitt 2007

Amrit Kaur (e-mail)

2nd Year Graduate School, Biomedical Informatics, University of Pittsburgh

Mentors: Gilan El Saadawi / School of Nursing and  Wendy W. Chapman / Biomedical Informatics, Pitt
Project: Clinical Protocol Modeling
Research Abstract

Click here for Amrit's comments on the BBSI @ Pitt 2007