zur Nieden Research Group at UC Riverside
2013 - 2014 News Archive
Nicole Sparks and Lauren Walker win best presentation awards at UCR Environmental Toxicology Annual Student Symposium
June 20 , 2014
The zur Nieden lab is pleased to announce that both Nicole Sparks and Lauren Walker won the "Student Choice" and "Best First Year Presentation" awards, respectively, at this year's Environmental Toxicology (ETOX) Annual Student Symposium for their presentations on their most recent research. The ETOX Annual Student Symposium showcases the work of all of the students in the Environmental Toxicology Graduate Program at UCR.
Congrats, Nicole and Lauren!
Darcie McClelland Descalzo passes final defense
June 9, 2014
zur Nieden lab is very proud to announce that Darcie passed her final defense this morning. Darcie presented her work in mouse embryonic stem cells further elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underly cell fate decision under high glucose conditions in a talk entitled, "Glucose-induced Oxidative Stress Modulates Pluripotency and Differentiation through TCF/CTNNB1 and FOXO/CTNNB1 mediated Transcription."
Congratulations, Darcie!
Nicholas Ventura selected for RISE summer program
May 22, 2014
zur Nieden lab is happy to announce that Nicholas was selected to partipate in the UCR Summer RISE Research Program.
RISE is a 9-10 week summer research program which facilitates research experiences, training, seminars, workshops all directed towards preparing participants for succesful graduate and professional study.
Congratulations, Nicholas!
Kevin Keller awarded Outstanding TA Award
May 9, 2014
zur Nieden lab is pleased to announce that Kevin was awarded an Outstanding Teaching Assistant (OTA) Award for 2014. Recipients of this award are department-selected to recognize their exceptional teaching skills and recognized at the Graduate Division Excellence in Teaching Banquet in spring.
Congratulations, Kevin!
New Publication: Review of Osteodegenerative Diseases by Darcie McClelland Descalzo, Devon Duron Ehnes, and Dr.zur Nieden
April 22, 2014
zur Nieden lab is happy to announce that Darcie, Devon, and Dr. zur Nieden's review article entitled "Stem cells for osteodegenerative diseases: current studies and future outlook" was published in the March issue of Regenerative Medicine.
While a number of therapies are currently prescribed for the treatment of osteodegenerative disorders, many lack significant capacity to halt degeneration and/or possess adverse side effects. As degenerative diseases of the bones, muscles, and connective tissue are common diseases of old age and the population of the world's elderly contiues to grow, so do concerns regarding the availability of safe and effective treatment options for such conditions. One proposed therapeutic option has been that of stem-cell based regenerative therapies. Though stem cell theraputic options are still in need of further efficacy and safety evaluations, recent progress in animal models and clinical trials suggests that stem cell-based bone and cartilage regenerative therapies have the potential to expand current therapeutic options for treatment of osteodegenerative diseases.
The article can be accessed here.
Devon Duron Ehnes wins "Best Oral Presentation" at 2014 SELECTBIO Annual Clinical Translation of Stem Cells Conference
April 21, 2014
zur Nieden lab is proud to announce that Devon won the distinction of "Best Oral Presentation" this week at 2014 SELECTBIO Annual Clinical Translation of Stem Cells Conference for her talk entitled "Overexpression of miR-361 in embryonic stem cells as a means to generate clinically relevant osteoprogenitors."
Kevin Keller and Nicole Sparks also presented posters on their investigations of the roles of the Wnt 5a pathway in development and effects of ROS generated by exposure to sidestream tobacco and smokeless tobacco extract on osteogenesis, respectively.
Good work, everyone!
Kevin Keller awarded UCR Dissertation Year Program Award
April 11, 2014
zur Nieden lab is proud to announce that Kevin was awarded a UCR Dissertation Year Program (DYP) Award for Fall 2014. The DYP is awarded to UCR PhD candidates during the year in which they anticipate completion of their degree.
Congratulations, Kevin!
Tiffany Satoorian to give speech at 2014 CNAS Commencement
April 8, 2014
Tiffany was chosen as the 2014 College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and School of Medicine graduate commencement speaker. She will represent the many CNAS graduate students who have completed their studies within the past year at UC Riverside.
Congrats, Tiffany!
Tiffany Satoorian presents at Loma Linda University
Mar 5, 2014
Tiffany presented her work at Loma Linda University today in a presentation entitled "Hyperglycemia alters cell fate through Foxo3a/CTNNB1 activity." The talk featured Tiffany's studies on the effects of glucose levels on stem cell fate and development.
Great work, Tiffany!
New Publication: Dr. zur Nieden on cESC osteogenic differentiation
Mar 3, 2014
Dr. zur Nieden's work on feeder-free and feeder-dependent cESC cultivation and osteogenic differentiation was published today in Osteoporosis International.
The publication was achieved through the collaborative efforts of Drs. Trettner, Findeisen, and Taube of the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in Leipzig, Germany and Drs. Horn (Institute for Transfusion Medicine, Essen Germany), and Sasaki (Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kanagawa, Japan).
The results of this study provide support for development of primate-based near clinical transplantation studies that in turn allow for efficacy evaluations of ESC-derived osteoblasts
The article can be accessed via PubMed or by clicking here.
Tiffany Satoorian quoted by CSUSB newspaper
Feb 21, 2014
Tiffany was quoted today in an article discussing the creation of the first human lung by a research team at the University of Texas. The article appeared in the Coyote Chronicle, CSU San Bernardino's school newspaper, and can be found online here.
Way to go, Tiffany!
Rama Manneh and Anja Jung join zur Nieden lab
January 27 , 2014
The zur Nieden lab is pleased to welcome Rama and Anja as our new undergraduate research assistants. Both Rama and Anja are first-year students at UCR and are majoring in Neuroscience and Microbiology, respectively.
Welcome, Rama and Anja!
Veronica Puig-Sanvicens passes thesis defense
January 6, 2014
Veronica defended her thesis on Monday, January 6 and received the distinction of summa cum laude for her work.
As an exchange student, Veronica performed a portion of her research in zur Nieden lab with Dr. zur Nieden acting as her thesis co-director. Veronica's head thesis director was Professor Carlos Semino at the Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona, Spain.
Congratulations Veronica!
Tiffany Satoorian passes final defense
December 19, 2013
zur Nieden lab is proud to announce that Tiffany has passed her final defense this morning. Tiffany presented her work with stem cells and cell fate under high glucose conditions in a presentation titled, "Critical interplay between AKT and CTNNB1 in the regulation of cell fate decisions."
Congratulations, Tiffany!
Darcie McClelland-Descalzo featured in UCR's "Year in Review"
December 11, 2013
Darcie was featured today in UCR's "Year in Review" which showcased the best highlights of 2013 for UCR. The showcase and full story can be found here. Look for her in the 22nd photo (of the Neil A. Campbell Science Learning Laboratory second phase opening).
zur Nieden lab receives CAAT grant
December 6, 2013
The zur Niden lab has received a 2013-2014 grant from the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT). The funds will support lab studies on the use of induced pluripotent stem cells to predict skeletal teratogenicity of environmental chemicals.
The full abstract can be found here.
Nicole Sparks receives renewed IFER funding
October 31, 2013
Nicole has received a 2013-2014 IFER Graduate Fellowship renewal for her project, “In Vitro Prediction of Skeletal Teratogenicity of Environmental Chemicals."
The full story can be found here. Congrats, Nicole!