Clipped Wings

Speakers

Raphael Kopan, PhD

Washington University in St. Louis
email | web site | publications

Raphael Kopan is professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at Washington University. He is also professor of medicine in the Division of Dermatology. His research team is investigating the Notch signal transduction pathway, which provides developing tissues with a short-range communication channel for mediating cell-cell interactions. A second focus in the lab is intramembrane proteolysis mediated by a presenilin-containing enzyme, γ-secretase.

After receiving his PhD in molecular genetics and cell biology from the University of Chicago, Kopan completed his postdoctoral training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and went on to join the faculty of Washington University. Kopan is the recipient of several awards and fellowships, including the Leukemia Society of America fellowship and the Marcus Singer Medal for furthering research in regeneration and developmental biology. He is the associate editor of Developmental Cell and serves on several advisory boards and committees, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and Sigma Scientific Advisory Board.

Charles G. Eberhart, MD, PhD

Johns Hopkins University
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Charles Eberhart is assistant professor of pathology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University. His laboratory studies the molecular genetics of medulloblastoma, glioblastoma, and other brain tumors. The focus is on the Notch and Hedgehog pathways, which play a key role in both normal brain development and neoplasia. Eberhart is currently analyzing the effects of Notch and Hedgehog pathway blockade on the growth and viability of brain tumors. He is also investigating the basis of the sometimes antagonistic effects of various Notch receptors in medulloblastoma and the way in which such effects relate to the receptors' roles in neural stem-cell proliferation and differentiation. Finally, he is examining the role of c-Myc in the anaplastic progression of medulloblastoma.

Eberhart received his doctorate as well as his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. He completed his postgraduate training as a resident in anatomic pathology and as a fellow in neuropathology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Stephen J. DeArmond, MD, PhD

University of California, San Francisco
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Stephen DeArmond earned his PhD and MD at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and completed two years of internship and residency training in anatomic pathology and three years of neuropathology fellowship training at Stanford University Medical Center. Following three years of research of glial fibrillary acidic protein in Lawrence Eng's laboratory at the Palo Alto Veteran's Administration Medical Center and a junior faculty appointment at Stanford, in 1983 he was recruited to the Pathology Department at the University of California, San Francisco.

After arriving at UCSF, DeArmond founded the Neuropathology Research Laboratory, which focuses on the cell biological and molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in prion diseases. He has studied the prion PrP^Sc extensively, showing that amyloid plaques in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are composed of PrP^Sc and that accumulation of non-amyloid PrP^Sc in the brain is the cause of early synaptic dysfunction and degeneration, and of late occurring nerve cell death. He also found a direct correlation between synaptic PrP^Sc accumulation and activation of the Notch1 intracellular domain (NICD). This discovery holds potential that prevention of Notch1 activation by pharmaceutical agents might prevent progressive cognitive decline in prion diseases and possibly even in other dementing disorders.

Barbara A. Osborne, PhD

University of Massachusetts, Amherst
email | web site | publications

Barbara Osborne is professor in the Veterinary and Animal Sciences Department at the University of Massachusetts. She is also cofounder, owner, and senior consultant of Hematech, LLC. Her laboratory studies two aspects of lymphocyte development and diversification. One area of active investigation is the elucidation of the molecular events required for the induction of apoptosis in the mouse thymus. The other project focuses on B cell development and mechanisms of generation of immunoglobulin diversity in cattle.

Osborne received her PhD in genetics from Stanford University. She worked as the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes of Health and joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts as a research associate. Osborne is a member of the Whitehead Institute board of associates and has serves as chair of the board of scientific counselors of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institutes of Health. She is also senior editor of Cell Death & Differentiation and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Immunology. In addition to these responsibilities, Osborne is a member of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology and the American Association of Immunologists finance committees.

Catherine Zandonella

Catherine Zandonella is a science writer based in New York City, covering such topics as environmental science, public health, and applied technology. She has a master's degree in public health from the University of California, Berkeley. Zandonella has written for a number of publications, including New Scientist, The Scientist, and Nature.