Department of Pharmacology Works in Progress:
Speaker: Sean Golinski, Research Technologist in the lab of Richard Smith, PhD.
Title: "Profiling Ion Channels in Primary Human Neurons"
Abstact: Pathogenic channelopathies caused by dysfunction of voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs) can result in a variety of complications including intellectual disability, seizures, malformations of cortical development, and mortality. While existing research models such as hiPSCs, mice, and heterologous expression systems are essential for disease characterization related to VGSCs, they are not best suited for analysis during prenatal development, where therapeutic windows prior to disease onset reside. Using human fetal samples acquired from pathology, we are able to assess VGSCs in native human cells and identify the specific contributions of the most expressed VGSCs to cellular electrical properties. These results will ultimately improve our understanding of the role of VGSCs to prenatal human development, and help us identify potential mechanisms of physiology, disease, and treatment.
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Speaker: Hao Pan, PhD Candidate in the lab of Huiping Liu, MD, PhD.
Title: "Investigating Interactiofn Between the Immune System and Circulating Tumor Cells and Its Impact on Clinical Outcomes"
Abstract: Understanding how immune cells interact with cancer is critical for improving patient outcomes. In this work, we analyze single-cell RNA sequencing data from breast cancer patients, focusing on monocytes across different circulating tumor cell (CTC) states. Using non-negative matrix factorization (NMF), we identify gene expression modules that capture coordinated biological programs. We then apply a diffusion-based modeling framework to predict cell states and quantify the contribution of each module to disease progression. This approach enables both accurate classification and biological interpretation, revealing key gene modules and candidate targets associated with cancer progression.
Pharmacology Dept
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