Scientist of the Month
The Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLAST) program at the University of 91视频 Fairbanks (UAF) highlights scientists from all biomedical fields through the Scientist of the Month articles. These articles are shared across the University of 91视频 Fairbanks (UAF) and University of 91视频 Southeast (UAS) campuses, and all BLaST partner institutions which include I募isa摹vik College, Fort Lewis College, Din茅 College, Salish Kootenai College, and 91视频 Pacific University. Below are the Scientists of the Month recognized by calendar years. Click on their names to access their flyers.
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2024-April | Robin Masterman | Scholar | Hibernation biology; The benefits and drawbacks to using traditional healing in the treatment of behavioral health issues; Stable isotopes and human diet; and Food sovereignty and security in the YK-Delta | Kelly Drew, Hoshi Sugiura, Andrea Bersamin, Diane O'Brien, Nikola Nicolic, Emily Sousa, and Ellen Chenoweth |
UAF Fairbanks
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2024-March | Gabriel Miller | Scholar | Effects of Rabies Viral Glycoprotein Binding on Human and Dog 伪7 Nicotinic Receptors; and Effects of siRNA silencing on VDR expression and Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Microglia | Maegan Weltzin, Brittany O'Brien, Alireza Badei, Alex Cornwall, Nikola Nicolic, Emily Sousa |
UAF Fairbanks
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2024-February | Michael Martins | Scholar | Using HAARP to Measure Temperatures and Winds in the Ionosphere as a Function of Height | Mark Conde, JR Ancheta, Heidi Shepard, Evita Maniatopoulou, Eduardo Jany, Benjamin Keisling, Brenda Konar, Torin Hooge, Nikola Nicolic, Emily Sousa, Andrew Cyr |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-December/ Jan. 2024 | Maggie House | Scholar | Biomonitoring Cripple Creek鈥檚 Water Quality After a Reconstruction Through Macro-Invertebrate Diversity | Christi Buffington, Dr. Jeff Muehlbauer, Sarah Barcalow, Lori Gildehaus | UAF Fairbanks |
2023-December/ Jan. 2024 | Maggie House | Scholar | Biomonitoring Cripple Creek鈥檚 Water Quality After a Reconstruction Through Macro-Invertebrate Diversity | Christi Buffington, Dr. Jeff Muehlbauer, Sarah Barcalow, Lori Gildehaus |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-October | Julie-Anne Brown | Scholar | Sustainable fish population management in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim (AYK) region | Dr. Kelly Drew, Maggie Harings, Hoshi Sugiura, Hannah Robinson, Sarah Barcalow, Dr. Andres Lopez, Eric Schoen |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-May | Logan Ito | Scholar | Comparative Genetic Analysis of Herring | Andres Lopez, Don Larson, Emily Sousa, Arleigh Reynolds |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-March | Shadrach Stitz | Scholar | Investigation into the role of zirconocene in mediating or catalyzing peptide bond formation | William (Bill) Howard, Emily Sousa, Nikola Nikolic |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-February | Christian Bolton | Scholar | Examining warming temperatures in the Antarctic that affect marine wildlife | Kristin O'Brien, Andrea Bersamin, Andrej Podlutsky, Emily Sousa, Hannah Robinson |
UAF Fairbanks
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2023-January | Tirzah Bryant | Scholar | Behavioral patterns of snowshoe hares at salt licks | Knut Kielland, Emily Sousa, Andrew Cyr |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-December | Daphne Mueller | Scholar | Microbial community diversity in sediment and water from the Chena River | Andr茅s Lopez, Mario Muscarella, Linda Nicholas-Figueroa, Andrej Podlutsky, Sasha White, Emily Sousa, Theresa Vertigan |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-November | Laura Ekada | Scholar | Getting through a Pandemic: The Role of Culture and Traditions in a Rural 91视频 Native Community | Jacques Philip, Inna Rivkin, Cathy Brooks, Janessa Newman, Emily Sousa |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-October | Tyler Baker-Chapman | Scholar | Effects of bacteriophage on antibiotic resistance | Mario Muscarella, Theresa Vertigan, Emily Sousa |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-September | Orlin Gologergen | Scholar, URE | Stable isotope analysis of bowhead whale skin and blubber | Jan Straley, Lauren Wild, Ellen Chenoweth, Emily Sousa |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-August | Mario Muscarella | FPP | The 91视频 Wild Berry Microbiome Project | None |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-May | Jeramiah Brown | Scholar | DNA Repair Efficiency in Lung Cancer Cell Lines, and MinION novel technology-enrich for a specific target genome using adaptive sampling | Dr. Andrej Podlutsky, Dr. Devin Drown, Natalia Podlutskaya |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-April | Daniel Dykes | Scholar | The effects of social isolation on OCD mice | Abel Bult-Ito, Thomas Kuhn, Natalia Podlutskaya |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-March | Paul Larson | Scholar | Waterfowl ecology, population dynamics, and physiology | Diane O鈥橞rien, Matthew Wooller, Andrew Cyr |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-February | Samantha Wade | Scholar | Sequencing the genome of an oil-degrading bacterium from the Arctic Ocean | Mary Beth Leigh, Linda Nicholas-Figeuroa, Natalia Podlutskaya |
UAF Fairbanks
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2022-January | Natalia Podlutskaya | RAMP | Diabetes in 91视频 Native People, Hibernation and DNA repair, and I'qmik toxicity | Andrej Podlutsky |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-November | Megahn Reese | URE | DNA repair in ovarian cancer cell lines OV90 and SKOV3 in response to x-ray damage using the standardized comet assay procedure | Andrej Podlutsky, Robert Williams |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-October | Shayna Matson | Scholar | DNA analysis of biofilms in UAF water sources | Devin Drown |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-September | Craig Chythlook | Scholar | Rural Water Services Impact on Subsistence | Barbara Johnson, Ellen Lopez |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-June | David Harvey | Scholar | Human respiratory health hazards from volcanic ash impacting the village of Nelson Lagoon following the March 2016 Pavlof Volcano eruption; and Reconstructing plant communities through sediment cores in Kodiak, AK | Chris Maio, Nancy Bigelow, graduate student Lindsey Smith, Elisabeth Nadin, Sean Regan, and Ken Severin |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-May | Tristan O-Donoghue | URE | Cancer cell lines and their affinity to undergo DNA repair after being exposed to UV and X-ray radiation | Andrej Podlutsky, Robert Williams |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-April | Todd Brinkman | Faculty | Wildlife ecology on the North Slope, Interior, and Southeast 91视频, concentrating on large mammals such as deer, moose, caribou and bears. | none |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-March | Tony Thompson | Scholar | the study of DNA (eDNA) and fish ecology, developing an eDNA assay that can detect and quantify Arctic Lamprey, Lethenteron camtschaticum, in freshwater aquatic systems | Andres Lopez, Cristina Hansen, Lori Gildehaus |
UAF Fairbanks
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2021-Feb | Michelle Quillin | Scholar | Bioaccumulation of mercury in northern fur seals from St. Paul, Island, 91视频, relative to rookery fidelity; Juvenile Chinook Salmon | Lorrie Rea, Stephanie Crawford, Erik Schoen, Todd Brinkman | UAF Fairbanks |
2021-Jan | James McKay | URE | Examination of nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy associated mutations in subtypes of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; and Computational Modeling of Wild-type and Sleep Related Hyper-motor Epilepsy Associated Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Using Single-Channel Patch Clamp Electrophysiology | Maegan Weltzin/Renate Wackerbauer | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-Dec | Michael Castellini | RL5 Research Core Senior Director | Comparative vertebrate physiology, biochemistry and behavioral adaptations in diving marine mammals and birds, population health and response to climate change | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-Nov | Brianna Lu | Scholar | Effects of 91视频 botanicals as a naturopathic therapy for Parkinson's disease expressed in C. elegans and mice; and Effects of diet and aging on alpha synuclein overexpression in C. elegans | Malabika Maulik, Abel Bult-Ito | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-October | Maegen Weltzin | FPP | Rabies glycoprotein interacts with neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in a subtype-selective manner; Microbiology | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-June, July, August, September | none | none | none | none | none |
2020-May | Ava Parrish | Scholar | Quantitative analysis of popular pre- workout supplements; and Social scaffolding between Milo the Robot and individuals with ASD | Joanne Healy | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-April | none | none | none | none | none |
2020-Mar | Shelby McCahon | Scholar | Effects of Photoperiod and Dopamine Disruption on Sleep and Mass Gain | Todd O鈥橦ara, Marianne Lian, Andrew Cyr, Anusha Shankar, Cory Williams, Todd Brinkman | UAF Fairbanks |
2020-Feb | none | none | none | none | none |
2020-Jan | Samantha Haines and Sabrina Bishop | UREs | Transcriptomics of BCBL-1 Cell Line Following TPA Treatment | Andrej Podlutsky | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Dec | Jennie Humphrey | Scholar | Mobilizing 91视频n Genomics: Exploring 91视频's soil microbiome/ Prevalence of PQQ producing bacteria in 91视频n soil; and Chilkat Indian village food assessment in Klukwan, 91视频 | Devin Drown, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau, Andrea Bersamin | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Nov | Kristian Rivera | Scholar | Genetic repair dynamics and gene expression in cancerous (HeLa) and healthy (HDFa) cells; and Lipid composition impacts MHCII assembly in Nanodiscs | Andrej Podlutsky, Robert Williams, Tynan Becker, Thomas Kuhn | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Oct | Andrea Bersamin | FPP | Tundra to table: Instruments and education pilot testing; 91视频 Native Health and Subsistence | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Sept | Noah Khalsa | Scholar | Effects of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms; and Environmental conditions as drivers of fish abundance and distribution in the coastal Arctic | Andres Lopez, Amanda Kelley, Anne-Lise Ducluzeau | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-August | Don Larson | GMRA | Ecophysiological parasitology, animal survival techniques, adaptations to winter influence parasites, seasonal variation and overwintering strategies of two trematode parasites | UAF Fairbanks | |
2019-July | Courtney Hill | URE | Validation of Reflection Spectroscopy as a Biomarker for Fruit and Vegetable Intake in a Yup'ik Community | Andrea Bersamin | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-June | Stephanie Kennedy | GMRA | Immune pathways and mercury: human C3b and MeHg binding | Todd O'Hara | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-May | Andrej Podlutsky | FPP | DNA repair in virally infected cells/Cancer Biology | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-April | Melissa Clark | Scholar | Binding of hemagglutinin to Major Histocompatibility Complex II(MHC Class II) | Cristina Hansen, Tynen Becker | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Mar | Janessa Newman | Scholar | 1-Stories and Images of Community Strength from a Youth Dog Mushing Program in Rural 91视频. 2-Intergenerational Dialogue Exchange and Action to Facilitate Youth Wellness | Jacques Philip | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Feb | Maggie Castellini | UAF lab technician | The effects of mercury on animals in aquatic environments and the links between environmental, animal, and human health | Todd O'Hara | UAF Fairbanks |
2019-Jan | none | none | none | none | none |
2018-Dec | Aline Collin | GMRA | Bridging the gap between in vivo and in vitro research | UAF Fairbanks | |
2018-Nov | Mackenzie Jenkins | URE | Neurochemical pathways of the brainstem involved in adenosine A1 receptor agonistinduced hibernation in the Arctic ground squirrel (Urocitellus paryii) | Kelly Drew, Carla Frare | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-Oct | Ana Fiorella Carrasco | Scholar | Using next generation sequencing to detect hepatitis C virus infection in 91视频; and Immunology testing to detect HIV with the 5th generation; and BioPlex HIV Ag-Ab assay: Incidence of false positivity in a low-prevalence population and its effects on the current HIV testing algorithm | Jack Chen | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-Sept | Kimi Yatsushiro | GMRA | Examining postpartum depression screening behavior of prenatal care providers | Kendra Campbell | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-Aug | Annie Enderle | URE | Birch sap protein analysis and immunotolera nce | Tynan Becker | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-July | Devin Drown | FPP | Mobilizing 91视频n genomics with nanopore sequencing/ Biology & Microbiology | Devin Drown | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-June | Viktorija Podlutskaya | Scholar | DNA repair in virally infected cells | Andrej Podlutsky | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-May | Christina Edwin | Scholar | The effect of organic, range- fed, dietary meat on human protein synthesis; and now Tl'eegho baabe' in Maneelghaadze T'oh (Native foods in Koyukuk 91视频)- a personal journey of reclaiming identity through the making of moose head soup | Charlene Stern | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-April | none | none | none | none | none |
2018-Mar | Malabika Maulik | GMRA | Effect of 91视频n blueberry on Parkinson's disease model of C. elegans | Barbara Taylor | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-Feb | Mark Velasco | Scholar | The effects of hibernation on the rates of DNA repair in Arctic ground squirrels following DNA damage; and DNA Repair in Arctic Ground Squirrel Fibroblasts | Andrej Podlutsky | UAF Fairbanks |
2018-Jan | Joanna Green | RAMP | Arctic microbes: Population abundance and the effects of a warming climate | Linda Nicholas-Figueroa | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Dec | none | none | none | none | none |
2017-Nov | Jimin "Josh" Kim | Scholar | Yukon Arctic ultra, nutritional liver health; and Functional benefits of weight loss in overweight/obese elderly | Robert Coker | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Oct | Ellen Lopez | Faculty | Community-based participatory research in tribal organizations | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Sept | Sheri Coker | GMRA | The influence of organic, wild game versus commercial meat on protein synthesis in humans | Robert Coker | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Aug | Raven Shaw | URE | Understanding the seasonal abundance of HABs near Science Center Fish Hatchery in Sitka, 91视频 | Esther Kennedy, Kitty LaBounty, Michael Jamros, Kari Lanphier | UAS Sitka |
2017-July | Thomas Kuhn | Faculty | HIV-1 gp120- induced actin rod formation: A novel mechanism for HIV associated neurodegeneration | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-June | Elena Vayndorf | Post-Doc | Neuronal aging and neurodegenerative diseases with ancillary interests in nutrition, toxicology and metagenomics | Barbara Taylor | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-May | Farimang Touray Jr. | URE | 91视频n Botanicals effects on aging, muscle health and neurodegener ative disease in C. elegans | Barbara Taylor | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-April | Jesse Klejka | Scholar | Diesel biodegradation potential of various birch and spruce rhizospheres; and Tumor Neoantigens (+ separate project) novel pathogen on 91视频's North Slope | Andrea Ferrante | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Mar | Paul Bahna | Faculty | Catheter/device-related infection/microbiology | none | UAS Sitka |
2017-Feb | Gabriel Cartagena | Scholar | Cross-cultural comparison of HIV/AIDS survivorship in 91视频 and Africa | Thomas Kuhn | UAF Fairbanks |
2017-Jan | Andrew Cyr | GMRA | The chemical feeding ecology of 91视频n fish: Mercury accumulation fish consumers, and One Health | Todd O鈥橦ara, Maggie Castellini | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-Dec | Scott Jerome | GMRA | Biomarkers and cognitive function of trained endurance athletes at 64 degrees North | Arleigh Reynolds, Kriya Dunlap | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-Nov | Abigail Moran | Scholar | Assessing the strengths and needs of our 91视频 informal caregivers and Hepatitis C and G | Jack Chen | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-Oct | Lauren Wild | GMRA | Diet and movement of male sperm whales in the Gulf of 91视频 | Jan Straley | UAS Sitka |
2016-Sept | Barbara Taylor | Faculty/PI | Aging, using a C elegans model examining neurophysiology and health issues | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-Aug | Vanessa Santana | Scholar | Effects of caffeine on anxiety-like and compulsive- like behaviors in a non-induced OCD mouse model | Abel Bult-Ito | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-July | Abel Bult-Ito | Faculty | The role of CREB signaling in mouse compulsive-like behaviors | none | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-June | Rebekah Hare | LRTT | Arctic microbes population abundance and the effects of a warming climate | Linda Nicholas-Figueroa | UAF Fairbanks/Ilisagvik College |
2016-May | Hugh Leonard | GMRA | Best clinical practices focusing on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in psychotherapy for individuals experiencing severe emotion dysregulation, more specifically efficacy and cultural responsiveness of DBT for 91视频 Native Communities | Mike Worrall, Kendra Campbell | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-April | Courtney Scerbak | GMRA | Focus on intricate relationship between genetics and diet with respect to aging: touch-receptor neuron aging processes within the worm model organism Caenorhabditis elegans | Barbara Taylor | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-March | Linda Nicholas-Figueroa | Faculty | Arctic microbes population abundance and the effects of a warming climate | none | Ilisagvik College - Barrow/ Utqiagvik |
2016-Feb | Amanda Grimes | Undergraduate | How specific environmental contaminants, accumulate in fish, the marine mammals that consume them, and the rest of the marine food web | Todd O鈥橦ara | UAF Fairbanks |
2016-Jan | Anne-Lise Ducluzeau | Post-Doc | Research in 91视频 investigating microbes in the Arctic Ocean and sea ice | Eric Collins | UAF Fairbanks |