Cerione Lab Participated in Departmental Kickball Tournament

On July 22, the Cornell University Department of Molecular Medicine held its first annual Kickball tournament. The Cerione 968ers showed up in full force to participate in this event, and in fact had so many players available they lent some of their talent out to other teams who had a few no-shows and couldn’t field a full roster! At the end of the day, the 968ers scored an honorable third place, and retired with the other teams to enjoy a nice potluck BBQ. We hope to see everyone again next year!

Farewell to Jenny Guo

It is always with  bitter sweet emotions that we say goodbye to a member of our lab family. That time has now come for us to say farewell to Jenny Guo, who has served as our laboratory manager for over 35 years. As one of our longest-serving lab members, Jenny has been responsible for a number of duties within the lab, including maintaining our laboratory budgets and our supplies stocked. Nearly every vendor to the College of Veterinary Medicine knows Jenny's name, and her tireless efforts to keep their prices reasonable and fair. In fact, Jenny has been referred to as the 'lab mom', simply because every Cerione lab researcher in the last three decades has come to depend upon her so tremendously. At her going away party on June 17th, members of the lab past and present gathered to share fond stories, and to enjoy the first sunny day Ithaca had seen in over a week. As we face the challenges of running our laboratory without Jenny’s guiding hand, we wish her and her beloved husband Mason the best of luck and happiness in their retirement.

Welcome to Rebecca R Schmitt!

The Cerione laboratory would like to welcome our newest Postdoctoral scholar, Rebecca Schmitt. Rebecca received their PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University at Buffalo in 2022, where they studied under the advisement of Dr. Paras N. Prasad. Their graduate research largely consisted of the design and development of polymeric nanoparticles for the treatment of central nervous system diseases, with additional work including the investigation of the pathogenesis of traumatic brain injuries. Now, in our laboratory, Rebecca will be stepping into the field of cellular signaling to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying the development and function of the mammalian nervous system.

New Undergratate Awardee

The Cerione laboratory would like to congratulate our undergraduate researcher, Joely Ventura Reyes, on her recent acceptance into the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. The McNair program is designed to help increase the number of students, historically underrepresented in academia, applying to graduate programs and earning PhDs. McNair scholars must undergo a highly competitive selection process, as only a dozen or so Cornell students each year are awarded the title of NcNair Scholar. More information can be found here.

Fangyu Wang awarded F99/K00 fellowship award

It is with great pleasure that we are able to report that one of our talented graduate students, Fangu Wang, has been awarded an F99/K00 predoctoral to postdoctoral fellow transition award through the National Cancer Institute. The F-portion of this award will enable Ms. Wang to continue her research examining how the enzyme Sirtuin 1 regulates the stability of RNA in breast cancers. She will also use this opportunity to examine the role of aging in cancers. Upon successful completion of the F-portion, and graduation, she will be able to enter a new laboratory to conduct postdoctoral studies while funded by the K-portion of the award.

New Research Opportunity for Undergraduate Students in Animal Health

Dr. Katt, in collaboration with Dr. Santiago Peralta of the Cornell Veterinary College, has begun a new project examining oral cancers in canine patients seen at Cornell. Oral cancer is a challenging target with high unmet need, and need is especially high in companion animals, where treatment options are very limited. This project, supported by the Cornell Canine Health Center, focuses on generating model systems of canine oral cancers, and using these models to test potential therapeutic approaches to the disease.

As part of this project, we are looking to recruit one or two motivated undergraduate students. The ideal candidate will have completed at least some basic laboratory coursework, enjoy working on a multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary project, and have at least two days per week in which they could spend 2-3 hours conducting laboratory work. Please contact either Dr. Katt or Dr. Cerione if interested.

Cerione laboratory welcomes Cody Aplin

Cody Aplin received his BA (2018) and MS (2020) in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he used time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy to study biosensors designed to respond to environmental conditions such as ionic strength and macromolecular crowding. His research interests in the Cerione laboratory include the dynamics of protein complex formation in the visual phototransduction cascade, and developing new approaches for structurally characterizing membrane proteins in their native lipid environments.

Yangyang Liu Begins Graduate Career

We are happy to welcome Yangyang Liu to the Cerione research group. Liu received her B.S. degree in Chemistry and Astrophysics at University of Wisconsin - Madison in 2019 and is now a graduate student with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell. Her main research interests are in studying how extracellular vesicles (EVs) contribute to cancer progression and understanding the mechanism driving the formation and transport of EVs. 

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