Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program

The Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Program (MDB) is an interdepartmental program within the University of Cincinnati that offers the PhD degree. It has been based in the Department of Pediatrics for nearly 50 years. Ertuğrul Özbudak, PhD, serves as director, Brian Gebelein, PhD, serves as co-director of the program, with Joshua Waxman, PhD, associate director of curriculum, Douglas Millay, PhD, associate director of admissions and recruiting, Yi Zheng, PhD, associate director of faculty membership, and Samantha Brugmann, PhD, associate director of graduate studies.

There are 84 faculty members in the program. During the past year, there were 52 pre-doctoral students in the program, 13 of whom are pursuing MD / PhD degrees. Students and faculty continue to be productive as measured by their numbers of publications, presentations at meetings, honors and awards received. Grant support to faculty remains high.

During the past year, the University of Cincinnati continued to support the program by providing university graduate assistantships and funds appropriated from the dean's office to support four first year students as well as match funds from the College of Medicine to support one first year student. In addition, six students were supported by a fellowship awarded by the Albert J. Ryan Foundation. The remaining students are supported through a variety of sources including Ruth L. Kirchstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Awards (six), American Heart Association Fellowships (two), NIH training grants (two), external grants to their advisors (17) and funds from the Children's Hospital Research Foundation to the Graduate Program (five).

The MDB Program provides an excellent research and educational experience for students and has an excellent record in the placement of its graduates in scientific careers.

Students Who Completed PhD Work

• Angela White: “Shared PI3K signaling abnormalities in brain tumors and epilepsy: PI3K inhibition in PTEN-deficient disorders of the brain,” September 30, 2020.
• Jennifer Courtney: “The Role of Abnormal Placentation in Congenital Heart Defects,” October 6, 2020.
• Oriana Zinani: “Transcriptional regulatory mechanisms for robust somite segmentation,” February 1, 2021.
• Valeriia Rudomanova: “Unraveling the Secrets of Kidney Disease: Novel Molecular Mechanisms of Acute and Chronic Kidney Injury,” March 29, 2021.
• Brian Upton: “Hypothalamic Opsins: Evolution and Functions,” May 20, 2021.
• Rohit Rao: “The microenvironment as a regulator of nervous system development, brain tumor growth and treatment resistance,” June 7, 2021.

Students Who Completed MS Work

• Ellen Javier: “An amino acid changing variant in Irf7 protects against SLE risk,” December 21, 2020.

Student Honors

• Evan Brooks: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F31 DE030664, Role of the Ciliary Protein C2CD3 in Mandibular Skelotogenesis; Supported by the Albert C. Yates Fellowship Program at the University of Cincinnati; Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati
• Shane D’Souza: Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati
• Jacqueline Ehrman: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F30 MH123056, Contributions of the Striatal Direct Pathway to the Formation of Corticofugal Axon Trajectories
• Alexandra Eicher: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F31 DK118823, Development and Disease of the Human Proximal Enteric Nervous System
• Jacob Enriquez: Supported by the Albert C. Yates Fellowship Program at the University of Cincinnati
• Lauren Falkenberg: Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati
• Jacob Gafranek: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F31 HL147399, NR2F1A Suppresses Bulbous Arteriosus Identity in the Zebrafish Atrium
• Andrea Holderbaum: Supported by NIH Training Grant T32 HL007752, Lung and Cardiovascular Development and Disease Pathogenesis Training Program
• Alison Jarmas: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F30 DK123841, Identification of the Genetic Mechanisms Governing Mammalian Nephron Endowment
• Anna O’Donnell: Supported by NIH Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award F31 HL150935, Prox1 and Oscillatory Shear Stress in Aortic Valve Development and Homeostasis; Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati
• Eliyahu Perl: Supported by NIH Training Grant T32 HL125204, Understanding Cardiovascular Disease Mechanisms; Supported by American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, An Embryonic Role for Stx4 in Regulating Cardiac Conduction; Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati; Member, US Delegation to the 70th Lindau Nobel Laureate Interdisciplinary Meeting, June 2021
• Rohit Rao: Supported by the Albert J. Ryan Fellowship at the University of Cincinnati
• Jose “Guillermo” Sanchez Arriola: Poster Award, FASEB Gastrointestinal Tract Conference, 2021; Outstanding Poster Award, EMBO Organoids Conference, 2020; Presentation Award, Digestive Health Center Symposium, 2021
• Nivedhitha Velayutham: Supported by American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship, Role of Btg1/2 anti-proliferative genes in postnatal cardiomyocyte cell cycle arrest

Richard A. Akeson Fellowship Fund

The Richard A. Akeson Fellowship and Memorial Lectureship Fund continues to support the Annual Richard Akeson Memorial Lectureship and travel by students in our graduate program to relevant courses and meetings in which they are presenting results of their research. Ken Poss, PhD, presented the Twenty Third Annual Richard Akeson Memorial Lectureship in conjunction with the annual Molecular and Developmental Biology Graduate Student Symposium in 2020.

Akaljot “AJ” Singh and Hasan Al Reza received funding from the Richard A. Akeson Fellowship and Memorial Fund for virtual presentations in FY2021. Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, no travel has been funded since March 2020.