Office of Research 21st Annual Retreat

The UMMS 21st Annual Research Retreat sponsored by the Office of Research took place on Thursday, October 27th & Friday, October 28th at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Conference Center in Amherst, MA. The retreat provides an opportunity for scientists to share their research with UMass colleagues, network and seek collaborators.

Toloo Taghian, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Alexei Bogdanov's lab presented a poster at the meeting titled Inflammation Imaging in a Chemically Induced Mouse Model of Type 1 Diabetes. Co-authors were Suresh Gupta, Adam J. Dixon, Surong Zhang and Alexei A. Bogdanov, Jr. Toloo enjoyed the retreat and thought it was very informative.

Dr. Taghian's postdoctoral research is focused on applying clinically available imaging modalities to detect and monitor molecular level changes of inflammation markers associated with diabetes in rodent models.

Toloo Taghian earned her PhD in Physics from the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH. Her undergrad degree is from Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran.

Toloo's PhD research was a collaborative interdisciplinary study that focused on improving the impaired signaling of diabetic endothelial cells using electrical stimuli with the aim to enhance the healing rate of diabetic wounds. To complete her PhD research,  she worked in "quantum electronics laboratory" (Physics Department, UC) and "vascular tissue and cellular engineering laboratory" (Biomedical Engineering, UC) , which allowed her to receive training in biomedical engineering in addition to physics.

She was honored with an award "Excellence in Translational and Regenerative Science Award", Wound Healing Society 2015. Which is a recognition of research that fosters the development of cell-based therapies in wound healing and regenerative medicine toward clinical applicability. She was also honored with a "Travel Award for Excellence in Graduate Research", by the American Physical Society 2015. This award recognizes a graduate student who has made noteworthy progress and demonstrated considerable accomplishments in the academic careers. Her results, thus far, have provided the basis for two U.S. patents.

Retreat program