CUIMC Update - April 3, 2024

CUIMC Update is a weekly e-newsletter featuring medical center news and the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and trainees. Please send your news, honors, and awards to cuimc_update@cumc.columbia.edu. Grants are provided by the Sponsored Projects Administration office.

News

Construction Begins Soon on New York City’s First All-Electric Biomedical Research Building
VP&S will begin construction on New York City’s first all-electric university research building in May. The building, projected to be completed by Fall 2026, will have eight floors of laboratory space for 32 principal investigators and their teams. 

Arts for Well Being: Building Community through Music, April 15
CUIMC faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend a musical performance by the Sabor de Florida ensemble from the Juilliard School on April 15 at 5 p.m. in Alumni Auditorium. A reception will follow in the Schaefer Awards Gallery.

Volunteer for CUIMC Commencement 2024
Join your colleagues as a commencement volunteer and help spread the exciting energy of the day. Volunteers welcome and direct guests, escort those who need extra care, guide graduates, and assist with program distribution.

Using AI for Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer
A study shows potential for expediting the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer with AI-based screening of medical records. VP&S surgeon John A. Chabot, MD, who specializes in pancreatic cancer prevention and treatment, discusses the findings and the potential applications of AI in other medical fields.

Laws Punishing Drug Use During Pregnancy Likely Worsen Health Outcomes
Punitive prenatal drug laws are more likely to worsen rather than improve health outcomes for babies and pregnant people, according to research from the Mailman School of Public Health.

New Treatment Offers Hope for People with IBD
Inflammatory bowel disease causes inflammation in the intestines, leading to stomach pain, diarrhea, anemia, malnutrition, anxiety, and more. Columbia’s Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center is testing a treatment that has the potential to change the lives of people with this condition.


Events


Grants

College of Dental Medicine

  • Fatemeh Momen-Heravi, DDS, PhD
    $2,056,250 over five years from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences for "Role of long non-coding RNAs in exosome biogenesis."

Mailman School of Public Health

  • Bereket Hailegiorgis, MD, ICAP
    $3,100,084 over five years from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for "Strengthening Laboratory Systems that Support Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention, and Management of HIV/AIDS and Related Public Health Diseases in the Republic of South Sudan CDC-RFA-GH23-0035."
  • Lauren Houghton, PhD, Epidemiology
    $3,722,081 over five years from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities for "Free Time 4 Wellness."
  • Martina Pavlicova, PhD, Biostatistics
    $702,355 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute of Mental Health for "HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies."

Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

  • Corinne Abate-Shen, PhD, and Alexandros Papachristodoulou, PhD, Molecular Pharmacology & Therapeutics
    $272,484 over two years from the National Cancer Institute for "Investigating mitochondrial dysfunction in high-risk prostate cancer."
  • Jeanine Marie D'Armiento, MD, PhD, Anesthesiology
    $2,663,027 over four years from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for "Molecular Biomarkers in pathogenesis of Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)."
  • Claudia Doege, MD, Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center
    $678,312 over four years for a subaward from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for "Virtual systemic identification of drug targets of obesity candidate genes."
  • Ryan Gaudet, PhD, Microbiology & Immunology
    $2,426,034 over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Decoding the Interferome by Mapping Genetic Interactions in Human Tissue."
  • Frances Levin, MD, Psychiatry
    $321,261 over three years for a subaward from the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration for "Provider's Clinical Support System—Medications for Opioid Use Disorders."
  • Filippo Mancia, PhD, Physiology & Cellular Biophysics
    $3,084,194 over five years from the National Eye Institute for "Structural basis of receptor mediated cellular vitamin A uptake."
  • Anuraag Parikh, MD, Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
    $827,280 over five years from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research for "Culture Models of Partial-EMT and its Regulation in Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma."
  • Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, MD, and Magdalena Sobieszczyk, MD, Medicine
    $976,796 over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for "Columbia Integrated Training Program in Infectious Diseases Research."
  • Xuebing Wu, PhD, Medicine
    $523,000 over three years for a subaward from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research for "Aging as a self-reinforcing feedback loop: investigate the role of noncoding translation."
  • Michael Yin, MD, Medicine
    $641,465 over five years for a subaward from the National Institute of Mental Health for "HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies."

Honors


Social Media Snapshot

#ColumbiaMed is proud to honor the relentless dedication of our physicians this #NationalDoctorsDay! Their unwavering commitment to provi... | Instagram


In the News Highlights

  • Trying to Decipher a Man’s Mind? Now There’s a Name for That.
    Mar 27, 2024
    The Washington Post
    Amir Levine, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Columbia University, has a rule for couples that come to his practice: Only one person is allowed to be upset at a time. Levine, who also co-wrote the popular book “Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You Find—and Keep—Love,” says that in relationships, one person’s mood—whether it’s miserable or happy—affects the mood of the partner.
  • How Animal Brains Tell Friends from Strangers
    Mar 27, 2024
    Scientific American
    The findings, which appeared on February 20 in Neuron, showcase the use of advanced computer algorithms to understand how the brain encodes concepts such as social novelty and individual identity, says study co-author Steven Siegelbaum, a neuroscientist at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University.
  • Weight-Loss Drugs Are Leading to 'Ozempic Babies': Doctors Explain Surprise Pregnancies
    Mar 27, 2024
    TODAY Online
    It’s possible that using medications like Ozempic or Wegovy may improve a woman’s chances of conceiving if she has insulin resistance or obesity, says Dr. Alex Robles, a reproductive endocrinologist at Columbia University Fertility Center in New York. The drugs themselves don’t boost fertility, but could put a woman’s body into a more optimal state for conception before she tries to get pregnant, he adds.