Cell Biology & Physiology NEWSLETTER VOLUME 5, ISSUE 3 FALL 2025
Inside:
From the Chair
Welcome!
Congratulations!
Accomplishments, Announcements & Highlights
I am honored to share my first message as Chair of the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology. I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Nancy Kanagy for her leadership over the past five years and for her many contributions during more than 30 years at the UNM School of Medicine. Nancy has been a dedicated researcher, educator, and mentor, and has received numerous professional awards recognizing her impact. We are grateful for all she has done for our department and wish her the very best in her retirement. This fall also brings several reasons to celebrate across our department. I would like to welcome Dr. Olan Jackson-Weaver, our newest faculty member. Olan brings an exciting research program on endothelial glycocalyx injury in trauma and hemorrhagic shock. He returns to UNM, where he completed his PhD with Dr. Kanagy. We are thrilled to have him back in Albuquerque and look forward to his contributions to research, teaching, and service within our department and the School of Medicine. Dr. Amy Gardiner was recently recognized at the HSC Promotion & Tenure Ceremony for her promotion to Associate Professor with tenure. Amy’s NIH-funded research explores how microRNAs shape cerebrovascular development and contribute to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and how these pathways affect brain tumor growth and angiogenesis. She is also an innovative educator and dedicated mentor whose leadership has strengthened both our graduate and medical curricula. I am truly grateful to have Amy as a valued member of our department. I also want to congratulate Dr. Jay Naik on receiving the UNM Regents’ Lectureship Award, which honors excellence in teaching, scholarship, and leadership. This is a wonderful acknowledgment of Jay’s many contributions to our department and to the broader university community. Other achievements include Dr. Laura Gonzalez Bosc receiving a new NIH R01 grant to study immune homeostasis in the pathogenesis of hypoxic pulmonary hypertension. Given her leadership experience, broad research background, collaborative spirit, and dedication to promoting a vibrant research environment in our department, she will serve as our new Vice Chair of Research. Congratulations to Dr. Megan Tuineau, recipient of the George D. Montoya Scholarship, for her dissertation titled The Pathophysiological Role of Mitochondrial Acid-Sensing Ion Channel 1a in Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension. Megan recently defended her dissertation in Dr. Nikki Jernigan’s laboratory and will soon begin a postdoctoral position at the University of Vermont. Congratulations also to Dr. Jacob Anderson on his successful dissertation defense. He will continue as a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Naik’s laboratory. This issue also highlights several new trainees and staff joining our department and many impressive accomplishments from the Ganesan, Machin, Naik, Piccirillo, and Singh labs. We also thank Dr. Arun Ganesan for organizing the upcoming inaugural UNM RNA Biology Symposium and for coordinating Team RNA Club in this year’s Lobo Cancer Challenge, which achieved unprecedented success in raising funds to support cancer research and patient care. I hope you all take time this fall to enjoy friends and family, the amazing weather, the smell of roasting green chile, and the beautiful displays of balloons. I am proud of what we have achieved together and look forward to continuing this momentum. Tom Resta, PhD Regents' Professor and Department Chair
Dr. Jay Naik,
Congratulations to Megan Tuineau a recipient of the George D. Montoya scholarship. Her dissertation titled: "The pathophysiological role of mitochondrial acid-sensing ion channel 1a in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension."
Regents’ Lecturer is a special title bestowed on selected tenured junior faculty members who, in the judgment of the Dean and on the advice of a faculty selection committee, merit recognition of their accomplishments as teachers, scholars and leaders both in university affairs and in their national/international professional communities.
Megan Tuineau and Dr. Nikki Jernigan
Dr. Amy Gardiner's Lab
Olan Jackson-Weaver, PhD
Dr. Olan Jackson-Weaver was born and raised in Albuquerque. He attended UNM for undergraduate as well as graduate school, and received his PhD in the Department of Cell Biology and Physiology under Nancy Kanagy, working on hydrogen sulfide signaling in the vasculature. He then undertook postdoctoral work at UCLA and USC in Los Angeles, gaining experience in neuroscience and biochemistry. He began his independent lab at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he investigated mechanisms of endothelial glycocalyx damage in the context of traumatic injury and hemorrhagic shock. Glycocalyx damage is though to be a major contributor to the coagulopathy and organ failure in trauma patients, which are deadly complications for which effective treatments are lacking. His lab seeks to understand molecular level signaling events that lead to this glycocalyx damage, in hopes of identifying therapeutic targets that can reduce mortality in this patient population. The lab has received funding from the National Institute of General Medical Science to pursue this work. Olan is excited to bring this research program back to his hometown and looks forward to exciting discoveries, training the next generation of scientists, and fruitful collaborations.
Lito L Appell
Liliana Vega
Dr. Gurdeep Singh's Lab
Lab news: Two new BSGP PhD students, Liliana Vega and Lito L Appell, are rotating in Singh lab this Fall term. Liliana Vega is working on mapping chromatin 3D conformation changes associated with age-related macular degeneration. Lito L Appell is working on epigenetic clock and its acceleration linked to environmental stress. Two undergrad students, Niko Candia and Bodie Larson, presented their research on different projects during UPN research symposium. David Hoang, Niko Candia and Tanisha Medha started their BIOM410 projects this fall term in Dr. Singh lab as well. Teaching: Dr. Singh taught 4 lectures as Course Instructor for Course BIOM507 – “Advanced Molecular Biology” on the “DNA Repair, CNA-SV & SNV Signatures linked to DNA Repair Deficiency and DNA Damage Responses”. Dr. Singh as Block Co-Chair will again be teaching course “Practical Research Skills for Medical Students” to MD students this Fall term. Dr. Singh will also be delivering a lecture for BIOM522 – “Experimental Design and Methods in Molecular and Cellular Biosciences – Molecular Block”.
Tanisha Medha
David Hoang
We are thrilled to announce the first publication from Dr. Ganesan’s lab: Oncogenic lncRNA transgene transcription modulates epigenetic memory at a naïve chromosomal locus. Nucleus, 16(1), 2534242. https://doi.org/10.1080/19491034.2025.2534242. Additionally, we’ve submitted a preprint describing MetaChrome, our newly developed open-source software for automated metaphase chromosome analysis (bioRxiv 2025.09.02.673813; https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.02.673813). MetaChrome integrates deep learning with a user-friendly interface to accelerate and improve chromosome imaging workflows. We currently have three more manuscripts under review, reflecting the lab’s growing momentum in chromatin biology and genome stability research. We bid a warm farewell to Dr. Sharmila Govindaraj, who completed her postdoctoral training and is off to her next exciting chapter. Her work focused on Cr(VI)-induced R-loop-mediated chromosome instability. We also thank our summer interns, Vincent Vigil and Ketzia Fernandez (UPN students), for their contributions and wish them success in their future endeavors. We are excited to welcome Jayden Montoya, a C-PREP scholar, who will be working with us for the next two years on the epigenetic mechanisms of chromosome instability. This fall, Dr. Ganesan is teaching a section in BIOM 507 on Long Non-Coding RNAs and Circular RNAs. He also continues to co-direct the UNM RNA Club, fostering collaboration and community among RNA researchers at UNM. As part of UNM’s Research & Discovery Week, Dr. Ganesan is organizing the inaugural UNM RNA Biology Symposium, titled “Advancing RNA Biology in the UNM Community.” The event, scheduled for November 11, aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines to foster collaboration and highlight cutting-edge RNA research being conducted at UNM. Dr. Ganesan is also proud to have coordinated Team RNA Club in this year's Lobo Cancer Challenge. This event was a major success, raising a record amount of funding to support cancer research and patient care.
Dr. Arun Ganesan's Lab
Dr. Laura Gonzelez Bosc's Lab
New publication entitled: ‘ Spatial-in-Spatial: The Utility of Combining Fluorescence-Guided Multiple Sampling with Spatial-Omics in Human Glioblastoma’. It was published in Molecular Cancer Research.
New Grant:
1.Zheng X, Sabouri M, Irwin BJ, Bernardo J,Machin DR. TcMAC21 mouse model recapitulates abnormal vascular physiology observed in humans with Down syndrome.Physiological Reports. 13: 370384, 2025. PMID: 40474784. PMCID: PMC12141928.https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.70384 2.Li Z*, Sabouri M*, Zheng X,Machin DR. Time course and contributors to greater glycocalyx thickness and integrity following Western diet consumption.American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology. PMID: 40824919. PMCID: PMCID in progress. In press.https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00491.2025 3.Machin DR, Islam MT, Malouf A, Nguyen D, Sabouri M, Boulos M, Horn AG, Schulze KM, Layec G, Lesniewski LA, Donato AJ. Glycocalyx-targeted therapy prevents age-related muscle loss and declines in maximal exercise capacity.Aging. In press.https://doi.org/10.18632/aging
Disequilibrium in immune homeostasis in hypoxic pulmonary hypertension pathogenesis. R01HL166740.
Dr. Sara Piccirillo's Lab
Dr. Daniel Machin's Lab
Papers Recently Published
For more information or to submit news, please email Audrea, ANWinslow@salud.unm.edu
Jacob Anderson defended his dissertation on 8/5 and will continue as a Postdoctoral fellow in the Naik Lab. Crystal X Nguyen is a new technician in Naik lab.
Dr. Jay Naik's Lab