Our Research Sites
Students will be placed into one of 8 research sites, located across the University of Pittsburgh campus as well as UPMC facilities. Each site has a specific focus, and often do very different types of research projects. Details about the sites can be found below.
Site Directors:
Deborah L. Galson, PhD Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology; Associate Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics; Member, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Molecular and Cellular Cancer Biology Program; Member, McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine; Co-Director, Pittsburgh Center for Interdisciplinary Bone & Mineral Research
Malabika Sen, PhD Research Associate Professor of Medicine
Project Examples from CB Scholars:
- Novel drug targets for the treatment of small cell lung cancer
- Evaluation of how SNORD67 promotes distant metastases
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on prostate cancer diagnosis
- The effect of diallyl trisulfide (DATS) on TCA cycle in breast cancer cells
- The microbiome is required for intestinal regeneration after radiation injury
Site Director:
David Boone, PhD Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics
Project Examples from CoSBBI Scholars:
- Comparison of Query Performance of a Research Data Warehouse Stored in a Relational Star Schema Database vs in a NoSQL Document-Store Database
- Identifying Transcription Factor Binding Motifs: A Convolutional Neural Network Approach
- Using Natural Language Processing to Improve the Prediction of Relevant Data in Electronic Medical Records
- Can Varying the Salutation and Subject Lines of E-Mail Prompts Increase Patient Log-Ins to an Internet Support Group for Mood and Anxiety Disorders?
- Automated Image Analysis for Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Protein Expression Levels to Assess their Use as Biomarkers for Prostate Cancer
Site Directors:
Joseph C. Ayoob, PhD Associate Professor of Computational and Systems Biology
David R. Koes, PhD Associate Professor of Computational and Systems Biology
Example CompBio Projects include:
- Creating a computational model of protein-protein and protein-drug interactions
- Building a generative model of intercellular phenotypic heterogeneity in cultured cancer cells
- Mathematical modeling of cell fate decision pathways of apoptosis and other cell death mechanisms
- Simulating and visualizing the dynamics of proteins and protein complexes
- Knowledge-based ligand conformer generation for virtual drug screening
Site Directors:
Greg Delgoffe, PhD Assistant Professor of Immunology; Member, Tumor Microenvironment Center
Tullia Bruno, PhD Assistant Professor of Immunology; Member, Tumor Microenvironment Center; Member, Cancer Immunology and Tumor Immunotherapy Program
Project Examples from ICI Scholars:
- Effects of Overexpression of T-bet on Murine Tumor Cell Lines In Vitro
- Immune Checkpoint Blockade for Immunotherapy of Breast Cancer
- The Effect of Nitrosylation on Cysteine-based Caspase-1 Activity
- Identification of HSP90i-Sensitive Client Proteins for Conditional T Cell Targeting of Melanomas
- Regulation of Dendritic Cell Activation by NK Cells in the Presence of HSPs
Site Director:
Yuanyuan Chen, PhD Assistant Professor of Department of Ophthalmology
Example OPT Projects include but not limited to:
- Development of recombinant VZV in which the latency associated transcript is mutated.
- Exploration of pharmaceutical and stem cell strategies for glaucoma and optic neuropathy.
- Pharmacological studies of misfolded proteins in the retina.Accordion Sample Description
Site Director:
Steven Evans, MD Clinical Professor of Surgery; Director, Division of Community Engagement
Project Examples from Surgery Scholars:
- Investigating Novel Biomarkers
- Outcome measures regarding procedural approaches for ruptured abdominal aorticaneurysms
- Predicting postoperative lung cancer recurrence and survival using Cox proportional hazards regression and machine learning
- Determining the Optimal Chemotherapy To Be Used in TACE Therapy by Analyzing Patient Data
Site Directors:
Andy Duncan, PhD Associate Professor of Pathology; Member, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center Molecular and Cellular Cancer Biology Program
Serafina Lanna Program Manager, Aging Institute
Project Examples from TDX Scholars:
- Analysis of Six2+ Cells During Mouse Kidney Development and their Contribution to Ectopic Kidney Organogenesis
- Role of ECM and Macrophages in Glioblastoma Progression
- Evaluating the Phenotype of Macrophages in the Pathology of Endometriosis
Site Director:
Partha Roy, PhD Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering
Project Examples from WCRC Scholars:
- Comparison of Relative Ovarian Toxicities of Two Platinum Agents in a Mouse Model
- Role of Polyploid Cancer Cells in Breast Cancer Chemoresistance and Tumor Recurrence
- BT20 Lobular Carcinoma Cells Express Prolactin
- Prevention of Chemotherapy-induced Gonadotoxicity in a Mouse Model
- The Potential Role of the Stromal Component in Mammary Outgrowth