Med Students, Faculty Member Present Research Data at National Science Conference

Last month, three students and one faculty member from the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine presented their work at the 2017 Experimental Biology Conference.

The annual conference is a combined meeting of six different organizations spanning the biological sciences: the American Association of Anatomists (AAA), the American Physiological Society (APS), the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP), the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET). The meeting was created in 2012 to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration in research and advocate for science. This year’s themes included professional development, education, and public engagement.

“Presenting at a national research conference promotes networking, and it exposes students to a wider professional community,” said Lewis P. Rubin, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso), whose lab all of the student presenters worked in.

“Audience and poster attendee feedback is so important. It often provides great suggestions for improving or extending the particular study.”

Presentations by TTUHSC El Paso researchers included:

Poster Presentations

Christian Draper

Third-year medical student (MS3)

Draper C, Rubin LP, Gong X: Carotenoid-mediated protection of human retinal pigment epithelial cells against hypoxic stress

Chase H. Foster (MS3)

Foster CH, Sambalingam D, Gong X, Rubin LP: Neuroprotective effects of lutein in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury

Lucy Li (MS2)

Li L, Rubin LP, Gong X: Expression of MEF2 transcription factors in human placenta and involvement in trophoblast invasion and differentiation

Platform (Oral) Presentations

Lucy Li (MS2)

Li L, Rubin LP, Gong X: Expression of MEF2 transcription factors in human placenta and involvement in trophoblast invasion and differentiation

American Physiological Society session “Novel Genetic Risk Factors and Early-Pregnancy Mechanisms Contributing to Preeclampsia”

Xiaoming Gong, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Deptartment of Pediatrics

Gong X, Sambalingam D, Ferruzzi MG, Rubin LP: Lutein selectively accumulates in the neonatal brain via breast milk

American Society for Nutrition session “Carotenoids and Health”