The Element October 2015

Baylor College of Medicine

inside

A Message from the BRASS PresidentDear BRASS Members and Supporters:

Welcome to fall and another season of celebrating the work being done by our BRASS Scholars, the best and the brightest students at the Baylor College of Medicine Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Notable highlights since our spring newsletter include a very special thanks to:

u BRASS Tea & Toddies Highlights and Photos

u BRASS Scholars 2015 Yearbook Achievements and Awards

u BRASS Scholars Spotlight Lin Zhu, Kassie Manning, Dr. Meagan Barry and Dr. Cathryn Cadwell

BRASS Scholars 2015 Yearbook BRASS Scholars Spotlight

BRASS Officers 2015-2016 BRASS ScholarsGetting to Know Them

p Carolyn and Dr. Mike Mann graciously opened their beautiful River Oaks Home for a truly memorable 20-year BRASS anniversary celebration.

p Peter VanDerlofske

p Elsie Eckert presents Dr. Huda Y Zoghbi the first annual Diana Brown Memorial Mentor of the Year Award.

Founder Myra WilsonPresident Peter VanDerlofskeVice President Elsie EckertPast President Diana Brown*Treasurer Lisa ChandlerEvent/Membership Chair Linda KuykendallSecond Vice President Don D. JordanRecording Secretary Jo Ann PetersenScholar Liaison Elsie EckertResearch Award Liaison Ed McMahonMentor Liaison Dr. Jim BocellMember At Large Jay Comeaux2016 Scholar Selection Chair Dr. James BonarNew 2016 Scholar Selection Committee Member Lisa ChandlerScholar Selection Committee Member Robin Simon Baylor Liaisons Dr. Matthew Baker *deceased

Want to host a scholar get together? Can’t make an upcoming arts or sporting event? Have extra tickets for a gala or a luncheon?

One of the best things about being a member of BRASS is the opportunity to spend time with the BRASS Scholars; you will have the time of your life! Contact Elsie Eckert at 713-789-2434 or ejs@elsiesmithdesign.com if you have tickets to donate or you’d like to arrange for a get-together or go to dinner with them.

MEMBERSHIP AND PROGRAM INFORMATIONhttp://connect.bcm.edu/brassor Please contact: 713.798.45199 or blesener@bcm.edu

p Myra Wilson presents BRASS Lifetime Benefactor, Carolyn Faulk the Angel of theYear Award.

BRASS Scholars Major Accomplishments

Prestigious NIH Grants Awarded To Two BRASS Scholars

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p Kassie Manning, Ph.D., 2012-2013 BRASS Scholar was also a featured speaker at the 2015 Tea & Toddies. She thanked Judi and Jack Johnson and the Wintermann Foundation and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo for their continued support. Both have provided funds that were crucial in helping her move forward in her research and providing an advantage that many Ph.D. students do not have. Kassie was awarded a predoctoral NIH training grant covering $22,920 of her stipend for the year 2015-2016, This is a major award and achievement. BRASS is proud to have helped these two outstanding scholars achieve such well-deserved recognition in their research endeavors.

p Lin Zhu, M.D./Ph.D., 2013-2014 BRASS Scholar was a featured speaker at the 2015 Tea & Toddies. She spoke about the importance of the mentoring program and how much valuable information she had received from the mentoring event hosted by Doug Erwin earlier this year. Valuable and very applicable tips on successful entrepreneurial approaches helped her write a very effective grant request. Lin was recently awarded a very prestigious NIH fellowship (National Research Service Award) that she had applied for. It will provide three years of funding for her M.D./Ph.D. training. This is an award of true merit and very sought after by her peers.

u The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for its $95,000 donation that funds research equipment and travel to scientific meetings and forums for our BRASS scholars

uThe David and Eula Wintermann Foundation for its $50,000 gift that funds discretionary research stipends for each BRASS scholaruBRASS Lifetime Benefactors Carolyn and Dr. Mike Mann for hosting and underwriting our 20th Anniversary

Tea and Toddies in their homeuLifetime BRASS Angels Doug and Mary Erwin for sponsoring a mentoring evening, including an amazing

wine tasting and dinner, with Houston business executives, high tech entrepreneur Keith Kreuer, and former astronaut Bernard Harris

It is with great enthusiasm that we welcome our four new 2015-2016 scholars: u Wanderson Cabral de Rezende – Ph.D. u Carli Domenico – Ph.D. u Elizabeth Campbell – Ph.D. u Joanne Hsu – M.D./Ph.D.

You will definitely enjoy getting to know them; they are brilliant, multi-faceted and fun to be around!Each was introduced at the September Scholars Reception, where we celebrated the 4th Annual Judi and Jack Johnson BRASS Super STAR Day. The Scholars reception was once again generously hosted by Al Trullenque and Martha Molina and underwritten by Jay and Linda Comeaux.

We are also pleased to announce our new BRASS liaison is Dr. Matthew Baker. Dr. Baker was our BRASS Scholar in 1996-97. He is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine and runs a lab conducting research too complex to describe in this message! We are thrilled to have him back in the BRASS family!

As always, the BRASS board and I truly appreciate all of you for your continued support!

Best wishes, Peter

Generous funding from Judi and Jack Johnson and the David and Eula Wintermann Foundation, The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Ed McMahon and the Donald E. McMahon Endowment,

and the Buck Bukowski BRASS Travel Endowment all help to fund these worthwhile and important accomplishments that are milestones in the success of our BRASS Scholars.

Derrick Chu - M.D./Ph.D. - Best oral presentation, Society for Maternal Fetal

Medicine Meeting, Feb. 2015- Best poster, International Human Microbiome

Consortium, Apr. 2015- Became engaged to BRASS Scholar Amanda Koire

Paul Fahey - M.D./Ph.D. - Three manuscripts in preparation (two as second

author)- Attended the Society for Neuroscience meeting - Has become a teaching assistant for the medical

school nervous system class

Kassie Manning - Ph.D.- Awarded best research seminar talks out of the 3rd

year students in the IMBS program - Awarded a predoctoral NIH training grant covering

$22,920 of her stipend for the year 2015-2016- With a travel grant from the Houston Livestock

Show and Rodeo, traveled to the International Myotonic Dystrophy Consortium Meeting in France.

- Received supplemental funds from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to fund a high-throughput screen to identify proteins misregulated in myotonic dystrophy

Meagan Barry - M.D./Ph.D. - Co-authored 4 major papers- 3 important poster presentations, winning 2nd

place with the one presented at the Global Health Symposium

- Nominated for the Deborah K. Martin Award - Participated in two important training courses

(thanks to the help of BRASS funds)- Brilliantly defended in October 2015 and was

awarded her Ph.D.

Mark Hamilton - M.D./Ph.D.- Co-authored 4 major papers- Travelled two important meetings, thanks to the help

of BRASS funds: ICGC Face-to-Face Broad, Boston, MA (Fall). ICGC Face-to-Face: UCSC, Santa Cruz, CA (Spring)

Amy Pohodich - M.D./Ph.D.- Co-authored a paper with Dr. Huda Zoghbi on Rett

syndrome

Amanda Koire - M.D./Ph.D.- Co-authored a major paper- Oral presentation upcoming in Jan. 2016 at the

Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, - Became engaged to BRASS Scholar Derrick Chu

Cathryn Hughes Cadwell - M.D./Ph.D.- Co-authored 3 major papers- Attended two very beneficial meetings with BRASS

support in Washington, D.C. and Utah- Brilliantly defended in July 2015 and was awarded

her Ph.D.- She and husband Chris will be welcoming in a new

member to the Cadwell family, due in December

Larissa Nitschke – Ph.D.- Co-authored 3 major papers- Awarded with the Claude W. Smith Fellowship

Award in recognition of Outstanding academic performance

Lin Zhu - M.D./Ph.D.- Co-authored a major paper- Presented a poster at the Organization for Human

Brain Mapping annual meeting in Honolulu, HI tin June

- Applied for and awarded a very prestigious NIH fellowship (National Research Service Award) It will provide three years of funding for her M.D./Ph.D. training

- Became engaged to Justin Olszeski

Rob Seilheimer - M.D./Ph.D.- Poster at the 2015 ARVO ( Association of Research in

Vision and Ophthalmology) conference

p Chu p Fahey

p Pohodich p Nitschke

p Manning

p Seilheimer

p Barry

p Zhup Koire

p Hamilton

p Cadwell

Meagan Barry brilliantly defended and received her Ph.D. on Monday, October 19, 2015. Her “dissertation defense” was A Therapeutic Tc24 Nanoparticle Vaccine Against Trypanosoma cruzi nI a Mouse Model of Chagas Disease. She was in

the in interdepartmental program in Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine. Her mentor was Peter J. Hotez, M.D. Ph.D. who is the Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and her clinical mentor was Laila Woc-Colburn, M.D., Director of Medical Education, NSTM at Baylor College of Medicine. Meagan was our 2011 -2012 BRASS scholar and she makes all of us so very proud, congratulations Dr. Barry!

Cathryn Hughes Cadwell, our BRASS Scholar in 2010-2011 defended in July 2015 and has now received her Ph.D. ; she was in the lab of Dr. Andreas Tolias, in the Department of Neuroscience. Cathryn is currently back in medical school for the

next 2 years here in Houston. Her dissertation defense was extremely well received by the review board. Congratulations Dr. Cadwell, you are proof positive that the BRASS mission of “the pursuit of excellence in biomedical research” is being fulfilled!

BRASS - We Have Two More Doctors In The House!

Awards. Achievements & Milestones

2015 BRASS Tea & Toddies - Celebrating 20 Years 2015 BRASS Tea & Toddies - Celebrating 20 Years

1. Jeannie and Marshall Smith and Elsie Eckert

2. Carolyn Faulk,Ed McMahon and Hershey Grace

3. Dr. Huda Zoghbi and Dr. Debbie Johnson

4. Jay and Linda Comeaux5. Michael Gundry, Lin Zhu

and Cathy McNamara6. Darby Hopson and

Jo Ann Petersen7. Steve Brown and Phyllis

Pittman 8. Cathy and Bill McNamara9. Sidney and Don Faust,

Lavonne Cox and Denis DeBakey

10. Myra Wilson, Elsie Eckert and Carolyn Mann

11. Dr. Scott Basinger and Leisa Holland-Nelson

12. Judi McGee, Jeff Rawson and Carolyn Mann

13. Tamara Klosz Bonar and Dr. James Bonar

14. Rod and Mary Ellen Crosby15. Barbara Carroll

and Phyliss Pittman16. Linda Kuykendall

and Peter VanDerlofske17. Scott Evans, Elsie Eckert

and Jeff Henry18. Myra Wilson, Dr. Jim Bocell

and Jeanette Bocell19. Sidney Faust, Myra Wilson,

and Diane Lokey Farb20. Paul Fahey, Cathryn

and Chris Cadwell21. Rob Seilheimer and

Claire Ortbal22. Amy Pohodich and

Dr. Huda Zoghbi

23. Jarey Wang, Kassie Manning, Emily Moore and Paul Fahey

24. Zachary Criss and Larissa Nitschke

25. Kassie Manning and Linda Kuykendall

26. Jo Ann Petersen, Dr. Meagan Barry and Peter VanDerlofske

27. Guests enjoy the beautiful buffet at Tea & Toddies

28. Laura Hiles and David29. Dr. and Mrs. Philip Boone30. Myra Wilson and

Michael Gundry31. Judi Johnson and Dr. Scott

Basinger32. Dr. David Wright and

Elsie Eckert

Celebrating 20 Years

On April 8, 2015 the twentieth annual BRASS Tea & Toddies was held at the magnificent River Oaks home of Carolyn and Dr. Mike Mann. Their beautiful gardens served as the perfect background for a very fun and festive “evening to remember”! Hosted and underwritten by the Mann’s’ and the Mann

Eye Institute and Laser Center, more than $40,000 was raised for the research, education and scholarship endowments for the BRASS Scholars. Carolyn Faulk was named the 2015 BRASS Angel of the Year and Myra Wilson presented a Waterford Crystal angel to this most deserving member! Lifetime BRASS Benefactor Carolyn Faulk surprised Ed McMahon with a $10,000 check to BRASS in his honor, thanking him for all he does and continues to do for BRASS. Elsie Eckert presented Dr. Huda Y. Zoghbi the first annual Diana Brown Memorial BRASS Mentor Of The Year Award for the unparalleled impact her mentorship has had in the lives of her students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Brass salutes her for sharing her wisdom, integrity and compassion that has so impacted the confidence and success of her students. Dr. Zoghbi is making a difference! BRASS president, Peter VanDerlofske, presented Dr. Scott Basinger with a BRASS Angel Lifetime membership, thanking him for his many years of service as the BCM liaison to the scholars. His leadership and support have helped BRASS grow and become the outstanding success story it is today.

Dr. Matthew Baker, our 1996-1997 BRASS Scholar, was introduced as the new BCM Liaison to the Scholars. Matt is now an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine, doing research and running a lab. It is richly rewarding for all of us to be able to welcome Dr. Baker back to the BRASS family!

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p Dr. Matthew Baker BRASS scholar 1996 -1997, is welcomed back to the BRASS family as the BRASS Scholar Liaison.

p Peter VanDerlofske presents a lifetime Angel membership to Dr. Scott Basinger.

p Carolyn Faulk surprises Ed McMahon with a $10,000 donation to BRASS in his honor.

p Linda Kuykendall presents a gift to Carolyn and Dr. Mike Mann thanking them for hosting and underwriting the 2015 Tea & Toddies.

p Katie Clapp and her husband Jimmy congratulate her mother Carolyn Faulk for being named the 2015 BRASS Angel of the Year.

p Dr. Huda Zoghbi receives the Diana Brown Memorial Mentor Of The Year Award from Linda Kuykendall and Elsie Eckert.

p Myra Wilson announces Carolyn Faulk has been chosen as the 2015 Angel Of The Year.