Ninth Annual Neurology Trainee Research Celebration
Guest Registration
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Online registration link: on: Wednesday, May 15, from 5-8 p.m. hors d'oeuvres will be provided |
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Event Schedule
| 5:00 to 5:10 p.m. | Welcome Message, A.M. Barrett, MD |
| 5:10 to 5:40 p.m. | Honorary Speaker, Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, MD, PhD, introduced by: Daryl Bosco, PhD |
| 5:40 to 5:55 p.m. | Basic Science Platform Presentation, presented by: Nathaniel Barton, BS, introduced by: Daryl Bosco, PhD, and Rigel Chan, PhD |
| 5:55 to 6:10 p.m. | Clinical Research Platform Presentation, presented by Bianca Trombetta, introduced by: Chris Hemond MD, and Kara Smith, MD |
| 6:10 to 7:30 p.m. | Poster Session |
| 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. |
Closing Remarks and Activities: |
Honorary Guest Speaker
Disruption of RNA metabolism in neurodegenerative diseases and emerging therapeutic strategies
Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She is a member of the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General and an associate member at the Broad Institute. She has served on the NEALS Scientific Advisory Board since 2016. She trained as a medical geneticist in France and at Columbia University. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Don Cleveland, she became Assistant Professor at UCSD in 2013 and moved to the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2015. She received the Alphonse Laveran Prize, the Milton-Safenowitz Fellowship, the MDA Career Development and Frick Foundation Awards, the 6th International Paulo Gontijo Award in Medicine, the 4th annual Jenny S. Henkel Lectureship, the 2019 Lisa S. Krivickas Lectureship, and the 2017 Grass Foundation – American Neurological Association Award in Neuroscience. She is the recipient of the Healey Family ALS Endowed Chair for Research.
Basic Science Platform
Unbiased multiplex antigen screening of Cerebrospinal Fluid detects microbial and autoantigenic epitopes associated with Multiple Sclerosis
co-authors: Nathaniel Barton, BS, Khanh Tran, BS, Meagan Olson, BS, Mugdha Deshpande, Adrian Orszulak, BS, Samantha Chigas, BS, Jonathan Sundstrom, BS, Pepper Dawes, BS, Liam Murray, BS, Carolina Ionete, MD, Elaine Lim, PhD, Christopher C Hemond, MD, Rigel Chan, PhD
Presented by: Nathaniel Barton, BS, Research Associate in Chan/Lim Lab (Rigel Chan Lab and Elaine Lim Lab) provides bioinformatic support and analysis for data generated by wet lab experiments. Nathaniel joined the lab in November 2022 making contributions to the development of a machine-learning pipeline for analyzing flow cytometry data, developing a computational method to identify disease-enriched antibody binding epitopes and the analysis of single-cell spatial sequencing data.
Nathaniel came to UMass Chan Medical School with a double major in genetics, genomics and Biotechnology, and Bioinformatics from Brigham Young University (BYU) with minors in computer science and molecular biology.
Nathaniel's research interests center around utilizing multi-omic data to uncover mechanisms of disease in humans. He plans to apply for PhD programs this upcoming fall.
Clinical Platform
CSF perturbation of human primary astrocytes to model the link between CSF pathogenicity and neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis
co-authors: Bianca A Trombetta, BA, Tiago da Silva, MS, Laura de Faria, MS, Elisa Bello, BS, Mugdha Deshpande, MS, Ranjan Dutta, PhD, Jillian M Richmond, PhD, Jean Pierre Schatzmann Peron, PhD, Christopher Hemond, MD, Carolina Ionete, MD, PhD
Presented by: Bianca A Trombetta, BA, second-year medical student, Clinical and Translational Research Program (CTRP) scholar, and neurology research assistant. Bianca graduated with a B.A. in Linguistics from Harvard University (’15) and completed the post-baccalaureate premedical program at HES before starting medical school at UMass Chan in the fall of 2022. After joining UMass Chan, Bianca began working with Mehdi Ghasemi, MD, until April 2023 contributing to a chart review study on the diagnostic timeline of ALS and genetic testing. Currently, she is a research assistant in the Neuroimmune Interactions Lab working with Jean Pierre Schatzmann Peron, PhD, Carolina Ionete, MD, PhD, and Christopher Hemond, MD, investigating the link between neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in multiple sclerosis through primary cell culture, and working with patient samples from individuals with different subtypes of MS.
Bianca previously worked as a research technologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in the Alzheimer's Clinical and Translational Research Unit under Dr. Steven Arnold from 2015-2022. Her research included investigating novel biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and assisting with clinical trials focused on understanding diverse pathophysiological pathways that may contribute to disease heterogeneity. As a lead technician of the biomarker core, she worked closely with academic and pharmaceutical collaborators to develop new assays for AD biomarkers. In 2019, due to the COVID pandemic, Bianca led research efforts at the Mass General Brigham Center for Covid Innovation, to evaluate at-home rapid antigen tests.
Bianca is interested in a career as a physician-scientist for neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's Disease in the context of other chronic comorbidities, through investigating ways to improve clinical care, accessibility of diagnostic tools, and a patient's quality of life. In the lab, her interests lie in neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation translational research; in particular, the molecular mechanisms of chronic disease and how that contributes to a constellation of clinical symptoms. She hopes to investigate novel therapeutic interventions and improvements in the clinical characterization of complex diagnoses, and to identify unmet patient needs towards developing more effective and supportive avenues of care.
Clinical Neurology Committee Members
Kara Smith
Chris Hemond
Raphael Carandang
Basic Neuroscience Committee Members
Rigel Chan
Daryl Bosco
Administrative Support Committee Members
Sharon Velazquez
Sue Jacobs
Beth LaPerle