Biography 2008

John Condeelis is Professor and co-Chairman of the Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM). He is the director of the Cancer Center program “Tumor microenvironment and metastasis” and co-Director, with Robert Singer, of the Gruss Lipper Biophotonics Center of AECOM, a center dedicated to the development and application of optical imaging technologies. His training is in nuclear physics, optical physics and cell biology. He worked for the US Navy on particle accelerators and wave guides, and was a PhD student of Robert Allen, the developer of video microscope imaging, with whom he learned live cell microscopy and polarized optics. His current research interest is in tumor cell motility, chemotaxis and invasion during metastasis. He has pioneered the use of combined multiphoton imaging with expression analysis to derive gene expression signatures that define the pathways used by tumor cells in mammary tumors to move and invade blood vessels.  He discovered the Invasion Signature of breast tumors. He has devised optical microscopes for uncaging, biosensor detection and multiphoton imaging for these studies and has used novel caged-enzymes and biosensors to test, in vivo, the predictions of the invasion signature regarding the mechanisms of tumor cell chemotaxis to EGF. He has authored more than 200 scientific papers on various aspects of cell and cancer biology, and optical imaging.  He has held elected office in national societies including President of the New York Society of Experimental Microscopists, 2006-2009 Council of the American Society of Cell Biology, and 2006-2007 Centennial Program Committee of the American Association of Cancer Research. He has served on numerous study sections at NIH and the ACS and as Chairman of the Physiology and Cell Biology Study Section, the Gordon Conference on Motile Systems, and the Board of Scientific Councilors of the Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at NIH. He has served on editorial boards of prominent journals including Journal of Cell Biology. His honors include the Allen Foundation Scholar Award, the Hirschl Career Scientist Award, and election as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served as a consultant to the NCI for planning 3 programs: 1.Tumor Microenvironment, 2.Tumor cell dormancy and 3.Tumor Metastasis.

Biographical Information on Student Speakers:

Dr. David Wassarman:

Dr. Scott Gehler is a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Patricia Keely in the Department of Pharmacology since 2004.  Dr. Gehler received his Bachelor's degree from Cornell College (Mount Vernon, IA) and is PhD from the University of Minnesota.    His bachelor's degree is in Biology and Psychology and his PhD is in Neuroscience (laboratory of Paul Letourneau studying signaling mechanisms of growth cone motility and axonal guidance).

Jennifer Lamberski is a 6th year MCP student in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Burgess in the Department of Oncology.   She graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor's in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2002. 
Jenny began in Dick's lab working on bacterial transcription.  That changed after completing the last of her program classes, Pharmacology 710, which required one to write a "practice" NIH grant application.  Her "practice" application on ERR alpha and breast cancer turned into a Department of Defense-funded thesis project. Jenny will be graduating with her PhD from our Program at the end of this year.

Christine is a third year MD/PhD student in the Pharmacology Department at Duke University.  She is working in the Biochemistry Department on a collaborative project between her mentor Dr. Christopher Newgard at Duke and Dr. Alan Attie here at the UW.  The focus of the project is to uncover genetic aspects of diabetes and metabolism. Christine graduated from Notre Dame in 2003 with a BS in Biology.

Stephanie Markovina is a 4th year Cellular and Molecular Biology student who is also in the MD/PhD Program.  She is in Dr. Shigeki Miyamoto’s lab in the Department of Pharmacology.   Stephanie graduated with her Bachelor’s in Biology at the Washington University in St. Louis. 

Dr. Anna Huttenlocher:

Derek Pavelec is a 4th year MCP student with Dr. Scott Kennedy in the Department of Pharmacology.   Derek graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, IA.   He received his Bachelors in Biology and Biochemistry in 2004.  

Michelle Bonar (my last name is pronounced: bo--nar) is a 4th year student in Dr. Michael Hoffmann's lab in the Department of Cancer Biology.   Michelle graduated from Northern Illinois University where she received her Bachelor's in Biology in 2004.

Kevin Walters is a 3rd year cellular and molecular biology student in Dr. Anna Huttenlocher's lab in medical microbiology and immunology.  Kevin graduated from Purdue University where he received his Bachelors in molecular biology in 2005.

Monica Gavala is a 5th year MCP student in Dr. Paul Bertics lab in Biomolecular Chemistry.   Monica graduated from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Monica graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry in 2003.

 

Previous Years' Symposiums: