Predoctoral Opportunities

Lab of: Shuying Sun, PhD
Department: General Medical Sciences- Oncology
Research Description: This project aims to provide an opportunity for exceptionally talented students to learn how to do statistical, computational and bioinformatics analysis for high throughput sequencing and/or microarray data. Ideal students should have strong programming skills (e.g., familiar with R/Splus and perl, or be very motivated learn new things) and know some basic statistics and biology knowledge. Students in the department of computer science and statistics/biostatistics are welcome to apply.
Please Contact: If interested, please send your CV and undergraduate and graduate transcripts to:
Shuying Sun, PhD
Assistant Professor
General Medical Sciences-Oncology
Email: sxs1066@case.edu
Current as of: June 11, 2012
Lab of: Maryann Fitzmaurice, MD, PhD
Department: Pathology
Research Question: The Diagnostic Optical Spectroscopy and Imaging Laboratory in the Department of Pathology in the CWRU School of Medicine is devoted to development of novel instrumentation and techniques to diagnose human disease in patients, in vivo, in real time, at the bedside, using optical spectroscopy and imaging. In a nutshell, we are developing cutting edge, paradigm-shifting approaches to disease diagnosis by analyzing how light interacts with tissue. One such technique is Raman spectroscopy, an optical technique that yields a detailed chemical and morphologic fingerprint of the tissue, which can be translated into a disease diagnosis. We are currently testing a portable Raman spectroscopy system for the diagnosis of breast cancer and microcalcifications, conducting both ex vivo studies of excised breast biopsy tissue cores and in vivo clinical studies in patients undergoing vacuum-assisted breast needle biopsies in the Breast Center at UHCMC. There are opportunities for undergraduate students, medical students, residents and fellows to participate in these research studies, tailored to their specific background and interests.
Please Contact: Maryann Fitzmaurice, MD, PhD
Senior Research Associate and Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Pathology
Maryann.Fitzmaurice@case.edu
Current as of: January 5, 2011
Lab of: Qing Yin Zheng, MD
Department: Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery
Research Description: Title: The roles of Cadherin and TNF-α in apoptosis
Short description of the project: A recent report (Eur J Pharmacol. 2009 Dec 25;625(1-3):195-8) suggests Cadherins as novel targets for anti-cancer therapy. We recently have a manuscript in revision reporting on "A new mouse mutant of the cadherin 23 gene with early-onset hearing loss facilitates evaluation of otoprotection drugs" We found that Caspase-8 expression was up-regulated in mutant inner ears, and TNF-α was significantly regulated in the early stage by a semi-Q-RT-PCR. So the summer project is to examine TNF-α and related gene expression level using the cancer center real time PCR service. The student will learn to to extract RNA extraction and convert to cDNA and design assay real time PCR service. The student will also perform IHC to localize the up-regulated TNF-α and related proteins and trace their cellular origin. It is particular import to find out if TNF-α and related proteins come from adjacent cells and travel to inner ear hair cells and them trigger extrinsic apoptosis pathway in hair cells. This research may potentially lead to identification of novel targets for anti-cancer therapy through promoting extrinsic pathway resulting in apoptosis of cancer cells.
Please Contact: Qing Yin Zheng, MD
Assistant Professor
Department of Otolaryngology- Head and Neck Surgery
qyz@case.edu
Current as of: May 10, 2010