Martin Wood has been named director of the Charlotte Edwards Maguire Medical Library at the College of Medicine. He began at the library in 2009, became assistant director in 2012 and was named interim director in March after the retirement of Barbara Shearer. Wood graduated from FSU with a bachelor’s in mass communication and a master’s in library and information studies. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians. Senior Associate Dean Alma Littles said, “With a diverse background over the past two decades in libraries, technology, education, government and business, Martin has established himself as a frontrunner in the medical library field.”

Jackie Sanchez (Class of 2017) is the third-best collegiate female 9-ball player in the country. The national billiards competition was sponsored May 29-31 by the Association of College Unions International. (Read the Student Spotlight.) 

 Several FSU undergraduate students who work on research at the College of Medicine were honored at the recent Tribeta Biological Honor Society National Convention in Erie, Pennsylvania. Beta Beta Beta (TriBeta) is a society for students, particularly undergraduates, dedicated to improving the understanding and appreciation of biological study and extending boundaries of human knowledge through scientific research.

Barbara Dietrick (mentor, Dr. Tim Megraw) won second place in the oral division of molecular biology for her presentation "Determination of the genetic network involved in MCPH disease."

Also presenting at the convention were Lacy Goode (mentor, Dr. Pradeep Bhide) with her poster presentation "Translational Dysregulation as a Cause of GCHI Dopa-responsive Dystonia: Implications of Diagnois and New Therapeutics."

Rachel Davis (mentor, Dr. Choogon Lee) also competed in the poster division with her presentation "Post-translational Modifications of the Circadian Mechanism Mediated by Phosphorylation and Ubiquitination."

Megan Sweeney (mentor, Dr. Choogon Lee also competed as a oral presenter in molecular biology for her presentation. " Metabolic Regulation by E3 Ubiquitin Ligases B-Trcp1/2."

The convention offers student members a chance to report their research and to hear from outstanding graduate investigators and teachers who give invited lectures and hold informal discussions. Like graduate society meetings, the national conventions offer a chance to share current research and discuss scientific issues.

What do a glutamate receptor, brain wave frequencies and epilepsy have to do with one another? Understanding these neural inner-workings gives scientists more information to develop treatments for brain-related pathologies.

In his most recent study published in Neuroscience, Sanjay Kumar, Ph.D., wanted to know how varying stimulation patterned after brain wave frequencies affect a particular receptor he discovered and named. The FSU Receptor is a type of NMDA receptor involved in learning and memory– “synaptic plasticity.” It is distinguished from other NMDA receptors by its unique “subunit composition.”

“The FSU Receptor is roughly five times more permeable to calcium, which is a messenger responsible for activating many intracellular signal transduction pathways,” said Kumar, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. “It activates in a way never seen with conventional NMDA receptors.”

During this study, Kumar and co-author Jyotsna Pilli, Ph.D., learned that subunit composition of the NMDA receptor enables it to respond differently to a certain kind of stimulation.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is a first demonstration that NMDA receptors are exquisitely tuned to different brain wave frequencies,” Kumar said. “Different inputs onto neurons create different firing patterns which activate specific NMDA receptors and strengthen those and only those pathways.”

The FSU Receptor is also hypothesized to be part of the problem in temporal lobe epilepsy due to the fact that it is expressed in the temporal lobe and is super calcium-permeable. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common type of epilepsy in adults and is often refractory to anti-epileptic drugs. Kumar and his team plan to investigate the role of the FSU receptor in temporal lobe epilepsy and use it as a target for treatment possibilities.

“An unexplained hallmark of pathology noted in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy is the loss of a vulnerable population of excitatory neurons,” explained Kumar. “Our hypothesis is that under hyper-excitable conditions, these FSU Receptors open, and let huge amounts of calcium come in. Then they become vulnerable to excitotoxicity and eventually cell death.”

Armed with a new understanding of the role of various subunits that operate the FSU Receptor, Kumar and his team are looking for answers to this puzzle.

“We want to understand what the basis for temporal lobe epilepsy is. How does temporal lobe epilepsy come about? To understand it and find a cure for it, we have to get to the nuts-and-bolts level.”

Marshall Kapp, director of the Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine and Law and Michael Nair-Collins, assistant professor of behavioral sciences and social medicine, have published new articles on "Impaired professionals" and aging research.

Details:

Marshall B. Kapp & Michael Nair-Collins, “Impaired Professionals,” in Bioethics (4th ed.), Bruce Jennings, ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, Vol. 3, pp. 1628-1631 (2014).

Marshall B. Kapp, “Aging and the Aged: Research Ethics,” in Bioethics (4th ed.), Bruce Jennings, ed. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference, Vol. 1, pp. 129-131 (2014).

In addition, Kapp published:  “I’m Getting Turned Off: Emerging Consensus on Deactivating Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices,” Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 14-21, MEDICINE & LAW (2014).

Alice Pomidor, professor of geriatrics, will serve as co-project manager for a new study the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is conducting. The results of the, “Assessment of Health Care Providers and Older Adult Service Organizations to assist in the Prevention and Early Recognition of Florida’s At-Risk Drivers,” will be used by the Safe Mobility for Life Coalition to develop outreach and educational materials for health care professionals and service providers to assist aging at-risk drivers within their own communities. View the press release [pdf].

Sixteen students from the Class of 2015 have been chosen as the newest members of the FSU Chapman Chapter of the Gold Humanism Honor Society. Daniel Van Durme, faculty advisor, said the selection committee carefully reviewed the nominations. “These students rose to the top,” he wrote in an email to the College of Medicine, “as true exemplars of humanism by receiving multiple nominations from faculty, staff and peers in categories demonstrating clinical excellence, service to others, patient-centered approach to care and compassion.” These students were selected:

• Amanda Abraira
• Ryan Berger
• Maureen “Paulie” Bruns
• Tyler Caton
• Nicole Dillow
• Maria “Paula” Domino
• Brian Gordon
• John “JD” Hales
• Shermeeka Hogans-Mathews
• An Lawrence
• Yaowaree “Noona” Leavell
• Joanne Meador
• Patrick Murray
• Sarah Robbins
• Jonathan Salud
• James “Tyler” Zorn

Blakele Bakker (Class of 2015) is one of a dozen students this year who have received the Dr. Robert C. Knapp Medical Student Award. The awards, which give priority to Florida students, are presented by Hearing the Ovarian Cancer Whisper (HOW), in hopes that the students will consider a career in gynecologic oncology. The honorees receive $3,000, plus $2,000 more for expenses if they present their work at a recognized society. Bakker is a student at the Pensacola Regional Campus. The other award recipients were from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College and Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.

 Florida State University College of Medicine Dean John P. Fogarty has been selected as chair-elect of the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The LCME is the governing body of U.S. and Canadian medical schools that award the M.D. degree.

Visit med.fsu.edu for more information.

Tina Tso (M.D., ’11) received the Gillespy Award when she graduated from the Halifax Health Family Medicine Residency Program. She explained: “All the inpatient hospital nurses vote for the graduating resident who exhibits the qualities of a ‘caring doctor’ – specifically, compassion, caring, empathy, cooperativeness with nursing staff, kindness toward others and professional respect toward all members of the health-care team.” Tso is now a physician with Florida Health Care Plans.