Dozing Off With Drosophila: The Effect of Disrupted Circadian Rhythms and Sleep Disturbance on Mortality, Mood, and Addiction.

Many environmental factors can disrupt sleep and circadian rhythms, yet the consequences of such disruptions are poorly understood. The main goals of this project were to study the effects of disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep disturbance on : (1) lifespan, (2) depression-like behaviors, and (3) propensity to consume caffeine-containing media. Three experimental groups were used: controls, Circadian Dysfunction (CD), and Sleep Disturbance (SD).

Decoding the Impact of Tumor Microenvironment in Osteosarcoma Progression and Metastasis.

Osteosarcoma (OS) is a heterogeneous, highly metastatic bone malignancy in children and adolescents. Despite advancements in multimodal treatment strategies, the prognosis for patients with metastatic or recurrent disease has not improved significantly in the last four decades. OS is a highly heterogeneous tumor; its genetic background and the mechanism of oncogenesis are not well defined.

Characterization of the ventricular-subventricular stem cell niche during human brain development.

Human brain development proceeds via a sequentially transforming stem cell population in the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ). An essential, but understudied, contributor to V-SVZ stem cell niche health is the multi-ciliated ependymal epithelium, which replaces stem cells at the ventricular surface during development. However, reorganization of the V-SVZ stem cell niche and its relationship to ependymogenesis has not been characterized in the human brain.