All About Science, Scientists & Their Research

Kristine Deleon – Pennell, PhD

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Dr. DeLeon-Pennell was trained in cardiovascular sciences at Baylor University, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She has >10 years’ experience with all aspects of the inflammatory and fibrotic components of cardiac remodeling following myocardial infarction (MI). In particular, she has extensive training in matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) biology, extracellular matrix remodeling, and cardiac aging research.

Dr. Young’s current research area is the neurobiology and biophysics of sensory systems, and particularly audition, in reptiles. Audition in this group is remarkably diverse, including: pressure-coupled tympani in some taxa; tympanic and non-tympanic ears; elaborate stapedial dampening systems; separate low-frequency and high-frequency auditory pathways; as well as integration with pressure and/or vibration detection systems. A second area of research is the neurobiology of venom secretion, storage, and activation.

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Bruce Arthur Young , PhD

Anand Narayanan , PhD

Dr. Anand Narayanan has an interdisciplinary background in engineering, biology, and physiology, with specialized training in cardiovascular sciences, in lymphatics while at Texas A&M University and in heart and blood vascular adaptations now at Florida State University, having also studied cardiovascular-coupled organ system adaptations including cerebral, musculoskeletal, and gastrointestinal physiology. He has more than 10 years of physiology and immunology experience, in various research areas including auto-immune conditions, old age, exercise training, etc. His current research focuses on the interaction between the immune system and how it affects cardiovascular physiology.

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Dr. Erik Blackwood is currently a researcher at the University of Arizona, in the College of Medicine. Erik earned his PhD under Dr. Chris Glembotski at the San Diego State University Heart Institute, after completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Notre Dame.

Throughout his career, Erik’s research has focused on unlocking the therapeutic potential of various targets on pathological cardiovascular remodeling. In his current role, at the Translational Cardiovascular Research Center, Erik works closely with other scientists and physicians with an eye on discovering novel therapies for cardiovascular disease and rapidly moving them into the clinic to provide improved patient outcomes.

Erik has worked to equip the lab at the University of Arizona with innovative tools to help the team achieve their research goals. Some of this equipment, supplied by Scintica, includes simultaneous PET/MR imaging; a suite of surgical stations including surgical monitoring, anesthesia, and ventilators, as well as surgical microscopes; and finally systems to measure blood flow velocity.

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Erik Alexander Blackwood, PhD

Kara Wendel, PhD

Dr. Kara Wendel is a product manager at Scintica Instrumentation, she specializes in the Aspect M-Series compact MRI. Kara received her Ph.D. from UC Irvine where she studied how early life experiences shape brain circuits.

During her Ph.D., she utilized MRI and viral tracing to map circuits within animal models. She followed her passion for science and cutting-edge technology by joining Scintica Instrumentation where she now works closely with researchers to implement and optimize the use of MRI in laboratories.

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Dr. James Trosko received his Ph.D. in radiation genetics. Later, Dr. Trosko did a postdoctoral fellowship at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (1963-66) under Drs. Ernest Chu, Sheldon Wolf, and Richard B. Setlow in DNA damage/repair and in vitro mutagenesis. He issued the first paper showing that normal human cells could repair their UV-damaged DNA. Moreover, He was highlighted on the cover of Cancer Research as one of the researchers who linked gap junctions to the carcinogenesis process.

He created the term, “epigenetic toxicology”, after showing that most of the toxic chemicals in the environment (TCDD, PBB, PCB, DDT, Dieldrin, Adrin, toxaphene, pthalates, PFOA, etc.) were (a) not genotoxic and (b) could inhibit GJIC, reversibly at non-cytotoxic concentrations.

Also, his lab discovered that oncogenes, such as src, ras, raf, neu,[13] could stably inhibit GJIC, while tumor suppressor genes [14], as well as multiple cancer chemo-preventive agents ( green tea components, caffeic acid ethyl ester, genistein, beta-sitosterol, resveratrol, retinoids, carotinoids, kaempherol, etc.) [15-20], and even some chemotherapeutic agents ( Lovastatin ,SAHA) [21, 22], could either prevent the inhibition of GJIC by tumor promoters or increase GJIC in tumor cells, deficient in GJIC.

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James E. Trosko, PhD

Jevin Lortie, PhD

Dr. Jevin Lortie is currently conducting post-doctoral research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in the Nutritional Sciences Department. He grew up in the Chicago, Illinois area. He was first introduced to science by experimenting with cooking and baking. His current research involves muscle imaging, gut microbiome, and heart failure.

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Dr. Ben Rush attended Indiana University Bloomington for his undergrad and masters in public health, where he served as a graduate student researcher. He served two years with the American corps as a personal chef. He later returned to graduate school to obtain his Ph.D. in nutritional sciences where he studied how various body composition and bio-imaging methods can capture muscle quality with the goal to use those methods in lung cancer and aging intervention.

Ben is also the founder of the Deeper than Data Podcast where he explores the personal journeys, failures, and successes of scientists through storytelling and humor.

Listen to the Deeper than Data Podcast here 

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Ben Rush, PhD

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