Starting the Year Out Strong with the 2025 Integrative Symposium of NC State Training Grants!

By Ameesha Hazarika & Stefanie Chen

The Integrative Sciences Initiative and the Comparative Medicine Institute brought together trainees and mentors from six  NIH Training Programs on campus for the second annual Integrative Symposium of NC State Training Grants held at the McKimmon Center on Friday, January 31, 2025. The symposium included the Molecular Biotechnology, NC State Comparative Medicine and Translational Research, Molecular Pathways to Pathogenesis Toxicology, Chemistry of Life, and Comparative Molecular Medicine programs, as well as adding on the newly introduced Environmental Health Bioinformatics program for this year’s event.

Following a light breakfast and opening remarks, the first of the trainee oral presentations began around half past eight. Following a fifteen minute break, the second round of oral presentations commenced. Presentation topics included troubleshooting IR-MALDESI for detecting biomolecules from tissue, identification of Bartonella species endemic to various wild mammals, deconvolution of single-cell RNA sequencing data, treatments for biofilm-forming bacteria, genetics of dog behavioral problems, and the results of heavy metal exposure in mice representing labs across campus, from the Chemistry department to the College of Veterinary Medicine. 

After the two sessions of student oral presentations, the event welcomed keynote speaker Dr. Charles Gersbach, John W. Strohbehn Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. Dr. Gersbach started his lecture by polling the audience about whether they wanted to hear just science or if they wanted to also hear about his ventures in creating startup companies. With most of the audience expressing enthusiasm for the latter, Dr. Gersbach launched into his presentation on Translation of Genome Engineering. 

He began by referencing the sequencing of the human genome and noted that annotation of that genome is still ongoing, meaning that we are not yet at the point where we can use it as a toolbox for engineering – to add, exchange, or remove parts to get the result we want. His lab is one of many using the recent CRISPR technology to attempt engineering. However, unlike many groups that are using this technology to perform genome edits, Dr. Gersbach takes the view that, “I think genome engineering is the LEAST interesting thing you can do with CRISPR.” Instead, he uses inactivated Cas9 proteins as epigenetic modifiers, which can silence genes without needing to directly modify them. 

This approach, along with the help of the Duke-Coulter Translational Partnership, has led Dr. Gersbach to over 30 patents, many of which are licensed to biotechnology companies. In addition to licensing to companies like Editas Medicine and the NC State-associated startup Locus Biosciences, he also founded three startups himself: Element Genomics, Sarepta Therapeutics, and Tune Therapeutics. For all of these companies, Dr. Gersbach negotiated hard to keep them in the RTP area so that alumni of his lab and the local universities could be employed there. Dr. Gersbach’s talk inspired trainees to expand their work out into the world to further impact lives.

As noon rolled around, the first round of lunch and trainee poster sessions began, with the second round of lunch and trainee posters following an hour later. PhD students and candidates engaged their audience and the faculty judges by sharing their research findings and answering questions. Some of these poster topics included Characterizing the Metabolome of Older Females Exposed to Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): A Proposed Pilot Study and Mechanisms of Auditory Categorical Selectivity. Trainees from all six programs were represented. After wrapping up the second poster session, participants moved back to the adjacent hall to proceed with the third and fourth trainee oral presentation sessions. 

Beginning around two in the afternoon until around four, the third and fourth oral presentation sessions saw new presenters sharing and discussing their research topics. Of these presentations, topics included combating osteoarthritis in horses with the Alpha 2 Macroglobulin (A2M) protein developed through the Alpha 2EQ system which saw a greater gene expression within 48 hours as compared to treatment with triamcinolone (TA); and how environmental circadian disruption (ECD) affects the circadian rhythm in mice by altering the toxicity of PFOAs, an endocrine disruptive, in mice and causing biological changes such as enlargement of the liver in both males and females. With the end of the presentations, the time came to declare the winners of the poster and oral presentations at the Integrative Symposium of NC State Training Grants.

The Best Talk Awards were awarded to John Shamoun from the Casey Theriot Lab (CVM) and Brenna Pugliese from the Lauren Schnabel Lab (CVM). The Best Poster Awards were awarded to Catherine Odhiambo from the Gavin Williams Lab (Chemistry), Isabella Livingston from the Matthew Breen Lab (CVM), and Lucas Bauer from the Colleen Doherty Lab (Biochemistry). And with that, the 2025 Integrative Symposium of NC State Training Grants concluded in the late afternoon of Friday, January 31, 2025, with the 2026 symposium already in the works!