Download April 2016

Holland Regenerative Medicine
Newsletter
Regenerative Medicine Speaker
May 11, 2016, 10:30 a.m. | DRC I 1004
Adrian F. Gombart, PhD
Principal Investigator,
Linus Pauling Institute
Associate Professor
Department of
Biochemistry and Biophysics
Oregon State University
Dr. Gombart’s research is focused
on understanding the regulation of
antimicrobial peptide expression by
the vitamin D pathway. When immune
cells called macrophages encounter a
pathogen and become activated, the
vitamin D pathway is turned on, leading
to the induction of the cathelicidin
antimicrobial peptide if serum levels
of vitamin D are sufficient. His lab
has shown that this mechanism is
conserved in humans and primates but
not in other mammals. Therefore, they
developed a transgenic mouse that
carries the human cathelicidin gene.
Using this model, they are testing the
ability of vitamin D to protect against
infection by influenza, Salmonella, and
Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Vitamin
D has been used to treat tuberculosis,
and its deficiency is associated with
increased risk of tuberculosis. This
model will allow them to test the role of
vitamin D and cathelicidin during initial
infection, latency, and reactivation.
Post-Doctoral Candidate Seminar
May 2, 2016, 2:00 p.m. DRC I 1006
Michael Ebeid, PhD
Department of Biomedical Sciences
Creighton University
His primary research goals are directed
towards understanding the role of
Atoh1 Transcription factor and micro
RNA 183 family in the development of
inner ear mechanosensory hair cells.
Through utilizing pluripotent stem cells
and multipotent otic progenitor cells, he
and his colleagues were able to show
the impact of Atoh1 and miR-183 on the
transcriptome of the two cell models.
They identified novel downstream targets
and gene networks related to hair cell
development as well as the contextual
impact on Atoh1 function. Their finding
will enable future regenerative studies
to achieve more efficient programming
and in-vitro differentiation of inner ear hair
cells. They are also utilizing transgenic
mouse models having miR-183 family
knocked out to assess inner ear hair cell
phenotype, function and global gene
expression. He is also in the process
of writing 2 first-author manuscripts
on his or their including our research
findings over the past 4 years.
Volume 4 | April 2016
Faculty Highlight
In August of 2015, Haitao Wen joined the faculty of the
Department of Microbiology and Pathology at UNMC
and became a member of the Regenerative Medicine
Program. Dr. Wen came to us from the University of North
Carolina School of Medicine’s Jaycee Burn Center, where
he focused on reconstruction and regeneration. Dr. Wen
has a PhD from the University of Michigan Medical School
in molecular and cellular pathology. The Wen laboratory
studies innate immunity and inflammatory-associated
diseases. They’re employing various approaches including
Haitao Wen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Pathology and Microbiology
Holland Regenerative
Medicine Program
University of Nebraska
Medical Center
gene deletion, biochemical, proteomics, and animal
models to study the mechanisms by which immune
receptors regulate inflammation and cell stress responses
and their applications in inflammation-associated
diseases. Two of his major research directions are Nrf2
regulation of cell stress response in polymicrobial sepsis
and mitochondrial metabolism on immune signaling.
Dr. Lei is using his engineering and human pluripotent
stem cell (hPSC) biology expertise to resolve unsolved
human health problems. He is developing new concepts
and technologies to address the significant challenges in
the process from bench top to bedside for hPSC-derived
cells. Dr. Lei is exploring hPSC-derived synthetic tissues
for the next-generation of regenerative medicine and GMP
compliant 3D culture systems for the scalable production
of stem cells and synthetic tissues. His research also
examines the efficient combination stem cell therapies for
Yuguo Lei, PhD
Assistant Professor
Chemical and Biomolecular
Engineering
University of NebraskaLincoln
April 2016 | 2
various degenerative diseases (Parkinson’s, Huntington’s,
Alzheimer’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord
injury, stroke, myocardial infarction and diabetes), novel
biomaterials mimicking the transitional extracellular
matrixes for stem cell expansion and delivery, and synthetic
3D human tissue arrays for high throughout drug discovery.
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone
who came to our Regenerative
Medicine Symposium
on April 15 at
Mahoney State Park.
The evening was a great success!
We received excellent feedback on the
talks, posters and annual report.
Thank you especially to our speakers
from UNMC and UNL and to our chair
people, Angie Rizzino and Andrew
Dudley, who graciously stepped in at the
last minute to fill unexpected spaces.
We had over 100 people in attendance
and 20 posters wer presented by
students, postdoctoral fellows,
and faculty collaborators.
We look forward to seeing
you all again in 2017!
Holland Regenerative Medicine | 3
Mary and Dick Holland
Regenerative Medicine Program
985965 Nebraska Medical Center
Omaha, NE 68198-5965
402.559.7584
unmc.edu/regenerativemed
Upcoming Research Forums
May 11, 2016
May 25, 2016
Adrian F. Gombart, PhD
Principal Investigator,
Linus Pauling Institute
Associate Professor
Department of
Biochemistry and Biophysics
Oregon State University
Bin Duan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Internal Medicine
University of Nebraska Medical Center
May 18, 2016
Aimin Peng, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Oral Biology
University of Nebraska Medical Center
Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. DRC I 1004
Refreshments Provided
Volume 4 | April 2016
If you have any news or
upcoming events that
you would like featured
in the next edition of
the in-house Holland
Regenerative Medicine
Newsletter, please send
the information to jenni.
irving.unmc.edu