Directory - Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund

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Kailin R. Mesa, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

New York University

Project Title: Uncovering the role of the inflammatory response in digit tip regeneration

Several vertebrate species have the astonishing ability to regenerate their limbs following amputation. In mammals, including both mice and humans, this regenerative capability has been restricted to the digit tip. Both digit tip and complete limb regeneration follow a stereotypic process termed epimorphic regeneration where a population of progenitor cells, termed the blastema, form at the injury site to replace the multiple tissues lost (including blood vessels, nerves, bone, etc.). Several studies have demonstrated that macrophages are essential for epimorphic regeneration. However, it remains largely unknown how macrophages facilitate blastema rather than scar formation. Utilizing the mouse digit tip, which displays regenerative or scarring outcomes dependent on amputation site, we are functionally testing which immune cell types uniquely contribute to epimorphic regeneration. Furthermore, by combining diverse genetic tools with intravital imaging, we are beginning to understand how injury-induced inflammation yields a permissive tissue environment for epimorphic regeneration in mammals.

David G. Mets, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Project Title: Identification of genetic constituents of learning in songbirds through a new system for molecular marker development

Tycho ET. Mevissen, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Mechanism of transcription-coupled DNA interstrand cross-link repair

DNA interstrand cross-links (ICLs) covalently connect the two strands of DNA, thereby blocking essential processes including DNA replication and transcription. Cells have evolved intricate pathways to repair ICLs and other DNA lesions to ensure genome integrity. In the Walter laboratory, we use egg extracts from the African clawed frog Xenopus laevis to biochemically dissect the molecular events during DNA replication and repair. Importantly, these and other processes are faithfully recapitulated in this highly tractable cell-free system._x000D_
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My current work focuses on how different lesions, including ICLs, are repaired in a transcription-dependent manner. Although Xenopus egg extracts are generally considered to be transcriptionally quiescent, I set out to develop an in vitro transcription system to eventually investigate transcription-coupled DNA repair pathways of chemically distinct lesions. My study aims to biochemically characterize the underlying mechanisms as well as to identify novel factors involved in transcription-coupled DNA repair._x000D_

Elliot M. Meyerowitz, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Project Title: Steroid-responsive genes of Drosophila

Yuxuan (Phoenix) Miao, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Project Title: Dissecting the immune evasion mechanisms of tumorigenic stem cells

My research interest is to harness the power of immune system to combat cancer. This goal requires sophisticated understanding in both immunology and cancer biology. My prior graduate training has equipped me with extensive knowledge in immunology, and showed me how the immune system evokes robust and multilayered responses to defend our body against infections. However, compared to the vigorous response to infections, the immune system often becomes incompetent when it encounters cancer, especially malignant tumors. My goal during the fellowship period is to develop a cancer model in which I can trace the co-evolution between tumor-initiating stem cells and immune system, ultimately to the point of evasion of immune surveillance, so that I can identify the root of the blunted ant-tumor immune response during the cancer progression. With Dr. Fuchs’ expertise in epithelial stem cells and cancers, and my background in immunology, I feel that I’m uniquely poised to tackle this fascinating problem.

Roger L. Miesfeld, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Project Title: Modulation of gene expression by regulatory proteins

Peter J. Mikulecky, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Scripps Research Institute

Project Title: Kinetic analysis of 30S ribosomal subunit assembly

Marcos E. Milla, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Project Title: Protein folding information in the Arc repressor

Stephen C. Miller, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Chemical inhibition of microtubule nucleation

Elizabeth A. Miller, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Project Title: In vitro reconstitution of Golgi biogenesis in S. cerevisiae

Craig T. Miller, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University

Project Title: Developmental genetics of stickleback raker number

Allan M. Miller, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Project Title: Biochemistry of cell type control in yeast

Tomer Milo, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Massachusetts General Hospital

Project Title: A spatial stochasticity theory resolves how host-protective T cell responses emerge amid regulatory T cell immunosuppression

Dr. Tomer Milo appreciates distilling simplicity out of complex biological systems. During his graduate work, Milo developed elegant theories for a variety of human diseases and collaborated with experimentalists to validate them. In his fellowship he will develop his own experimental expertise and combine it with his theoretical expertise to tease apart immune processing of self vs. foreign antigens.

During Dr. Milo’s thesis research in Dr. Uri Alon’s lab at the Weizmann Institute of Science he “studied design principles of physiological systems to better understand complex human diseases.” His work provided groundbreaking insight into the tumor microenvironment, bipolar disorder, and autoimmune disease. In his work, Milo used mathematical modeling to identify molecular players and cellular interactions critical in a host of biological diseases.

As a postdoc in Dr. Harikesh Wong’s lab at the Ragon Institute and Mass General, Dr. Milo will focus on systems immunology. Milo will investigate how a specific immune cell population, regulatory T cells, prevents autoimmune responses to self antigens while allowing appropriate immune responses against pathogenic non-self antigens. He thinks that the spatial segregation of the lymph node is crucial for this discrimination and will use high-resolution imaging and mouse models to tackle this question. Milo’s research will answer critical and fundamental questions in immune biology and provide insight into immune responses at homeostasis, during infection, and in autoimmune disorders.

Caroline Mirzayan, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Project Title: Regulation of eukaryotic DNA replication

Nawin C. Mishra, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Project Title: Mechanism of suppression or rg mutant in Neurospora

Prashant Mishra, M.D., Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

California Institute of Technology

Project Title: Regulation of mitochondrial fusion

I am investigating mechanisms of mitochondrial fusion within cells. The goal is to gain a better understanding of how mitochondrial dynamics are regulated.

My interest in scientific research began when I was young, and was fostered through participation in research programs and science fairs in junior high and high school. ¬†After completing my bachelor’s degree in biochemical sciences at Harvard University, I worked briefly for a biotechnology company developing treatments for patients suffering from rare genetic disorders. ¬†I then entered an MD/PhD program the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, allowing me to conduct basic science research while receiving training in patient care. ¬†I currently conduct research as a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, and plan to establish my own basic science laboratory in the future.

Patrick Mitchell, Ph.D. Simons Foundation-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Project Title: Pathogen-driven evolution of inflammasome genes

Kevin J. Mitchell, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Project Title: A screen for axon guidance molecules in mouse

Shekhar Mitra, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: DNA topology in viruses

Rachel M. Mitton-Fry, Ph.D. Agouron-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: Trapping endogenous spliceosomes for structural study

Satoru Miura, Ph.D. Genentech-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Diego

Project Title: Top-down modulation of visual cortex during attention

Hideo Miyawaki, M.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: Structure and hormonal responses of mammary glands of embryonic components

Joshua W . Modell, Ph.D. Simons Foundation-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Project Title: Self vs. non-self-discrimination during CRISPR-Cas adaptive immunity

Erica A. Moehle, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Project Title: Intra and trans-cellular mitochondrial communication in Parkinson's disease

Just like people, cells have to deal with stress. I study how stressed cellular organelles such as mitochondria communicate with the nucleus, and how this stress response is coordinated in normal settings and dysregulated in disease._x000D_
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I studied genetics as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, and then worked at Sangamo BioSciences to help develop human genome editing with engineered nucleases. I was then an NSF Fellow in the Tetrad PhD program at the University of California, San Francisco, where I worked in Christine Guthries laboratory. There, I studied how pre-mRNA splicing is regulated in particular, how the cell coordinates a pre-mRNAs transcription and its splicing. My interest in how discrete molecular processes are integrated inside the cell continues during my postdoctoral fellowship in Andrew Dillins laboratory, where I am studying a remarkable pathway called the mitochondrial unfolded protein response. In this pathway, nuclear-encoded mitochondrial protein chaperones are upregulated in response to signals from mitochondria experiencing proteotoxic stress. I am using a disease-in-a-dish model that combines human stem cell technology with genome editing approaches.

Michael J. Moore, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Rockefeller University

Project Title: Defining layers of post-transcriptional control in chronic inflammatory disease

Jeffrey D. Moore, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Project Title: Neuronal control of suckling behavior in newborn rodents

My research investigates the neural circuits that control instinctive behavior. Previously, my work focused on the innate active sensing behaviors of rodents that dominate exploration and social interactions. This work has led me to focus on questions that involve the nature of the motivational and descending drives that enable animals to generate robust and instinctive motor patterns in the appropriate context. With the expertise of the Dulac Laboratory, I hope to provide insight into these questions by defining the roles of specific, molecularly-defined cell types and neuronal circuit connectivity patterns that relate to such control. I hope to provide a unique perspective that stems from a background in engineering and the neural control of movement.

Karen E. Moore, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Oregon

Project Title: In vitro assay for Golgi to vacuole transport utilizing all yeast components

Jeffrey T. Morgan, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Utah

Project Title: The eukaryotic RNA-metabolite interactome and its role in gene regulation

The ability of cells and organisms to sense and respond to change is fundamentally driven by dynamic interactions between many different types of molecules. Although we understand some of these interactions, there are many to be uncovered.

I am investigating the landscape of RNA-metabolite interactions and their role in gene regulation. Although RNAs and small molecules can form specific and high-affinity interactions, we know effectively nothing of the RNA-metabolite interactome that might be present in eukaryotic cells. Using RNA-structure probing technologies coupled with high-throughput sequencing, I am studying a broad pool of human RNAs in various metabolic contexts, which will uncover the scope of interactions between human RNAs and human metabolites, identify the specific RNA-metabolite interactions that do occur, and allow us to test the role of these interactions in gene regulation. In complement to this approach, we have developed a screening platform to simultaneously measure the affinity between specific RNAs and 450+ human metabolites. This platform has allowed for rapid, targeted screening of viral RNAs that might sense host metabolism via RNA-metabolite interactions and can be applied to any RNA of interest.

Gregg B. Morin, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: Primer recognition properties of the human telomere terminal transferase enzyme

Roger J. Morris, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Connecticut

Project Title: Surfaces of cells of nervous tissues

Frank R. Moss, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, San Francisco

Project Title: Structural studies of membrane fission and highly constricted membranes

Walther H. Mothes, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Molecular mechanism of retroviral fusion

Sherry L. Mowbray, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Berkeley

Project Title: X-ray crystallographic studies of chemotaxis receptors

J. Brian Mudd, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of California, Davis

Project Title: Biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids

Sabin Mulepati, Ph.D. HHMI-Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Project Title: Live cell imaging of chromatin supercoiling dynamics in human cells

I received my BS in Biochemistry from Susquehanna University and my Ph.D. in molecular biophysics in Professor Scott Baileys lab at Johns Hopkins University. Broadly speaking, I am interested in exploring the structure-function relationship of biological macromolecules. For my Ph.D. thesis, I used different structural and biochemical methods to investigate the mechanism by which bacteria use their CRISPR immune system to destroy foreign DNA._x000D_
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In my postdoc with Professor Sunney Xie at Harvard University, my research focuses on the effects of chromatin structure on eukaryotic gene expression. More specifically, I am interested in understanding the dynamics of DNA supercoiling at a single-cell level. Outside the lab, I enjoy playing soccer and going on hikes.

Roland Dyche D. Mullins, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Johns Hopkins University /
The Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Project Title: Biochemistry of a cortical proilin binding complex

Dorothy I. Mundy, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Dundee

Project Title: Mechanisms of Golgi-fragmentation during mitosis

Maureen E. Murphy Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Princeton University

Project Title: p53 negatively regulates a microtubule-associated protein

Edwin D. Murphy, M.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: Heterologous transplantation of human tumors

John I. Murray, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Washington

Project Title: Embryonic single-cell gene expression in C. elegans

Marc AT. Muskavitch, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Harvard University

Project Title: Notch, a regulator of neural determination in D. Melanogaster

Monn Monn Myat, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Johns Hopkins University

Project Title: Tubulogenesis during Drosophila embryonic development

Carolyn J. Myers, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Wisconsin, Madison

Project Title: Isolation of the tol+ gene from Neurospora crassa

Marija S. Nadjsombati, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Utah

Project Title: Ron Tyrosine Kinase deficiency uncovers a critical regulator of anti-tumor T Cell responses

Metastasis, which includes the dissemination of tumor cells from a primary site and subsequent colonization of faraway sites, is the primary cause of cancer deaths. This process requires a failure of our immune system to recognize and destroy metastasizing cancer cells. As such, targeting cancer during the metastasis step will help create therapies for patients with many different types of cancers (breast, prostate, colon, etc.).

Dr. Marija Nadjsombati will investigate the immune response during metastasis in Dr. Alana Welm’s lab at the University of Utah. Dr. Nadjsombati will use mouse models of breast cancer which faithfully recapitulate metastatic propensity. Nadjsombati will develop new cancer models and investigate their transcriptional regulatory networks to decipher the role of T cell regulation in metastasis. These studies will provide novel insights on both T cell regulation and on targeted therapies for cancer immunology.

Nadjsombati built her expertise in immunology as a graduate student in Dr. Jakob von Moltke’s lab at the University of Washington. There she studied a specialized type of epithelial cells, called tuft cells, which initiate immune responses in the small intestine. Nadjsombati discovered that succinate triggers the downstream signaling in tuft cells that initiates a type 2 immune response. Additionally, by comparing different mice strains, and performing genetic crosses, Nadjsombati showed that Pou2af2 isoform expression is a key regulatory mechanism that determines tuft cell frequency. With this strong immunological background, Nadjsombati is poised to make new breakthrough discoveries on the immune regulation of metastasis.

Kazuya Nakakuki , M.D., D.Sc. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Yale University

Project Title: Nature of the reticulum cell and anaplastic types

Hiroyuki Nakamura, M.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Stanford University /
Massachusetts General Hospital

Project Title: Enzymatic basis of recombination

Toshitaka Nakamura, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

The Rockefeller University

Project Title: A genetic approach to study metabolite sensing and regulation in organelles

Dr. Toshitaka Nakamura is interested in understanding protein-chemical interactions that mediate how cells sense stress. During his graduate work he found and characterized new compounds that kill cancer cells by triggering a type of cell death called ferroptosis. In his fellowship, he is interested in understanding how cells handle iron and glutathione, a crucial antioxidant and detoxifying agent, to mitigate stress responses.

In Dr. Nakamura’s graduate research in Dr. Marcus Conrad’s lab at Helmholtz Munich, he investigated the role of the protein ferroptosis suppressor protein (FSP1) in halting ferroptosis, a form of cell death that functions by damaging cell membranes. Nakamura discovered molecules that block FSP1, which induces cancer cell death. He showed that these molecules work by moving FSP1 away from cell membranes, inactivating the inherent enzymatic activity that protects them from damage. Then, by studying FSP1 mutations from cancer patients and lab experiments, he found another inhibitor and identified out how both types work. Collectively, his research provided groundbreaking insight into the role of FSP1 in ferroptosis, and revealed how this protein can be therapeutically targeted in cancer treatments.

Now, as a fellow in Dr. Kıvanç Birsoy’s lab at Rockefeller, Nakamura will study how cells sense metabolites in different cellular compartments. To facilitate his studies Nakamura will develop a CRISPR-Cas9-based genetic screening platform that can target specific organelles. Then, he’ll leverage his platform to investigate iron and glutathione sensing in mitochondria. In addition to providing a novel, widely applicable research tool, Nakamura’s studies may provide new insights and identify tractable therapeutic targets in diseases like cancer and neurodegeneration.

Sandra Nakandakari-Higa, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Rochester

Project Title: In vivo mapping of lung microenvironmental interactions controlling CD8 tissue-resident memory persistence

Dr. Sandra Nakandakari-Higa wants to understand how a cell’s fate and function are determined. This process is not shaped in isolation; rather, it is shaped through continuous interactions with neighboring cells, forming dynamic networks of communication that orchestrate development, homeostasis, and immune responses. As a Jane Coffin Childs Fellow, she’ll use Labeling Immune Partnerships by SorTagging Intercellular Contacts (LIPSTIC), an approach she improved in her graduate work, to evaluate the persistence of memory T cells within the lung.

Using LIPSTIC, Nakandakari-Higa studied how brief interactions between immune cells and their cellular partners shape lasting immune responses during her graduate work in Gabriel Victora’s lab at The Rockefeller University. Nakandakari-Higa redesigned LIPSTIC so it no longer depends on one specific receptor–ligand pair. This made it broadly applicable for many types of cell interactions. She used this “universal” LIPSTIC to follow how dendritic cells activate T cells and how virus-specific T cell interactions change over time, and the tool can now help other researchers track immune contacts in detail.

As a JCC Fellow in Minsoo Kim’s lab at the University of Rochester, Nakandakari-Higa will focus on a key aspect of protective immunity: the generation and persistence of memory T cells in the lung. Infection with respiratory viruses generates these T cells and provides protection against reinfection. However, over time the numbers of these T cells wane which limits their effectiveness. Nakandakari-Higa will use her universal LIPSTIC technology to map the cellular interactions of memory T cells in the lung, and to analyze how those interactions change. She’ll also invert LIPSTIC to determine how signals delivered by the local microenvironment contribute to T cell survival. Her research may provide new clues that could inform ways to make vaccine protection last longer.

Yozo Nakata , M.D., Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Project Title: RNA synthesis

Kim A. Nasmyth, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

University of Washington

Project Title: Control of transcription in yeast

Victor F. Naturale, Ph.D. Jane Coffin Childs Fellow

The Rockefeller University

Project Title: Understanding how the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts: Linking subcellular processes to emergent supracellular patterns

Organismal development is an elegant progression from a single cell to billions or trillions of different cells that form our tissues and organs. While much is known about development at the molecular level, important questions remain about how subcellular molecular inputs integrate with “supracellular” physical behaviors of large cell collectives to shape our tissues. Little is known about how subcellular and supracellular dynamics relate among the mesenchymal cell types that give rise to all connective tissues including skin.

Dr. Victor Naturale will make inroads into these questions using a novel vertebrate skin cell platform developed in Dr. Amy Shyer’s and Dr. Alan Rodrigues’ lab at The Rockefeller University. Dr. Naturale expects that understanding how biological organization translates across length scales will provide novel insight into diverse areas including cancer microenvironments and mesenchymal birth defects that lack a single genetic cause.

Naturale developed his interest in developmental biology as a graduate student in Dr. Jessica Feldman’s lab at Stanford University. Working largely at the molecular to cellular scale, Naturale discovered that in C. elegans the polarity scaffold PAR-3 and the transmembrane protein HMR-1/E-cadherin collaboratively build polarity networks at epithelial cell-cell contacts. He demonstrated that HMR-1 also communicates cell polarity at the tissue level. Importantly, Naturale additionally identified a novel symmetry breaking cue arising at the supracellular scale due to emergent cell-cell contact patterns. This research, and the beautiful images within, were highlighted on the journal cover. In his postdoctoral research, Naturale will translate his experience identifying supracellular cues to a novel model system with relevance to cancer and developmental diseases.