Chen Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Louisiana State University

The main goal of her laboratory is to understand how S. aureus seamlessly transitions between infection and colonization.   Although S. aureus colonization (30% of humans) is strongly associated with higher risks for clinical infections, most colonized individuals will not experience S. aureus infections, suggesting that S. aureus maintains a dedicated balance with the host. 

There are three areas of focus in the laboratory:

1)      To understand the molecular and cellular interactions between bacterial pathogens and hosts innate immune system, especially bacterial toxins and secreted proteins and their neutrophil manipulation activities.

2)      To understand the contribution of glycans for bacterial pathogenesis.

3)      To develop therapeutic and diagnostic platforms, using bacterial toxins and secreted proteins against human diseases.

Kazuhiro Aoki, PhD

“Mass spectrometry-based glycomics: Finding a needle in a haystack”

Dr. Kazuhiro Aoki, PhD is a Senior Research Scientist at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center at the University of Georgia. He has more than 15 years of experience in glycometabolomics using a wide variety of analytical techniques to investigate structures and functions of complex glycans. He has been at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center (CCRC) at the University of Georgia as a principal scientist since 2004, where he developed and implemented mass spectrometry based methods for comprehensive “Omics” studies of glycomics, lipidomics, glycolipidomics proteomics and glycoproteomics in a broad range of biological samples, including human and mouse embryonic stem cells, cancer biopsy tissues, model organisms, and human biofluids in order to identify stage- and tissue- specific biomarkers associated with disease progression and cell differentiation. These methods have been employed to characterize a wide variety of complex glycan structures such as N-glycan, O-glycan, glycosphingolipid (GSL), free oligosaccharide (FOS), lipid-linked oligosaccharide (LLO), GPI-anchored glycoprotein and nucleotide sugars, resulting in the identification of novel glycan functions as described in his published work. In addition, he has been developing glycobioinformatics tools for glycan database and glycan annotation software with a bioinformatics team in the CCRC. He has extensive experience in pharmaceutical assessment, evaluating the drug metabolism in aspect of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in Phase I study at biotechnology company (Bayer HealthCare, Japan). His research experience at the company formed a strong motivation for his career development, which continues to focus on studies for human disorders associated with aberrant glycosylation on lipids and proteins.

“The Role of O-GlcNAcylation in Abscission Regulation”

Dawn Wenzel, PhD is a current K12 Scholar working under Dr. Nancy Dahms. Dr. Wenzel is an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at MCW. She received her PhD from the University of Washington-Seattle where she used structure-function studies to understand specificity within the ubiquitination system.

Dr. Wenzel then trained as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Utah where she studied how proteins from the ESCRT (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) pathway sever membranes to complete cell division. In particular, she focused on a cell division checkpoint known as the abscission checkpoint that synchronizes the completion of mitotic events with ESCRT-mediated membrane severing. In her studies, she identified several proteins that function with ESCRT proteins to reversibly inhibit abscission. Dr. Wenzel’s research was supported in part by an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship.

Email Renee Hill with any questions.

“The influence of ST6GAL1 on hematopoietic stem cell biology”

Join the Translational Glycomics Center’s newest K12 Scholar, Ogechi Ogoke, PhD as he discusses his work under Dr. Joe Lau at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

https://versiti.zoom.us/j/93029455193#success