UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 1

The Community-Partnered Competition

Inside this issue:

Summer Newsletter—September 2014

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS,

URBAN HEALTH

SCHOLARS

2

DEPARTMENT NEWS 3

NEW EMPLOYEES 4

PUBLICATIONS 5

The David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health System invite you to enter an online competi-

tion to find five academic community-partnered research or service-learning projects that can have a

significant impact on community health outcomes.

Called "Helping U Help Your Community," the contest provides early support to community-partnered

academic research and service-learning projects that address the most critical health needs of Los Ange-

les residents in innovative and effective ways. The contest also aims to showcase UCLA faculty and

community partners who devote their careers to identifying creative solutions to some of the most chal-

lenging barriers to good health in the community.

For more information: Click Here

The 2013-2014 Pathology Farewell Reception and Dinner took place on June 11th at the UCLA Faculty Center. Once again,

graduates were honored on a beautiful Southern California evening which began with hors d’oeuvres and an art exhibit featur-

ing faculty, graduate and staff talent. Dinner and presentations followed, hosted by Department Chair, Dr. Jonathan Braun.

More Information.

2014 Pathology Farewell Celebration

U C L A P A T H O L O G Y A N D L A B O R A T O R Y M E D I C I N E

Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E R

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 2

Awards and Recognitions

Michael Fishbein, MD, is the recipient of the

2015 Society for Cardiovascular Pathology

Distinguished Achievement Award for his

work advancing understanding of cardiovas-

cular disorders.

Pathology Resident and Fellow Alumna, Judy

Melinek, MD, is author of the newly released

book titled ―Working Stiff Two Years, 262 Bod-

ies and the Making of a medical Examiner‖.

Read More

Dr. Romney Humphries is featured in the

August 2014 CAP Today, article, “Too Few

Studies to Steer Test Protocols for Pediatrics”

Read More

Urban Health Scholars

In July, UCLA hosted students in the Urban Health Scholars Program, a summer program for high school students sponsored by

the California Wellness Foundation and organized by the Social Justice Learning Institute (www.sjli.org). During the 5 week pro-

gram, 15 high school students came to UCLA over 6 days, hosted by Dr. Linda Baum and Dr. Omai Garner. One group of students

spent time with Dr. Garner in the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory, learning the basics of microbial pathogenesis and touring the

Brentwood lab. Another group of students spent time with Dr. Dawn Ward and Dr. Alyssa Ziman in the Ackerman Donor Center,

Component Processing and Blood Bank areas of Transfusion Medicine, where they met donors, followed a unit from donation

through processing, and learned the steps involved in blood typing and cross-matching. All students participated in a Career Day,

where representatives of various allied health fields spoke with them about the training required for various types of careers and the

types of jobs available in their fields. Elsa Tsukuhara from Pathology and Laboratory Medicine presented career paths for phlebot-

omists, Medical Laboratory Technologists and Clinical Laboratory Scientists. Jeff Davis from Respiratory Therapy described the

clinical settings in which Respiratory Therapists work and also gave the students an opportunity to perform intubation on a manne-

quin (see photos). Sergio Godinez and Patrick Hale from Radiology discussed the use of radiographic imaging in patient care, the

types of imaging modalities and the training required to work in the field. The students also spent a day with the Emergency Medi-

cal Technicians team at the UC Police Dept., where they received training in CPR. The students were excited to learn about the

different opportunities for a career in health care – as one student said ―I didn’t even know these careers existed!‖

US News and World Report features the UCLA

Clinical Genomics Center in their ―Best Hospi-

tals‖ 2015 Edition. The article includes inter-

views with Drs. Wayne Grody and Stanley

Nelson, and highlights the center’s remarkable

progress finding life-saving answers in pa-

tients’ genes. | Read More

Congratulations to our CLS, Robyn Shimizu

who will be awarded the 2015 American Soci-

ety of Microbiology, Scherago-Rubin Award!

Read More

Visit the UCLA Clinical Genomics Center

exhibit booth at these conferences.

www.nsgc.org/2014aec

www.amp.org/meetings/2014/

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 3

New Chemistry Instrument Implemented in the Laboratory

The Clinical Laboratories at Ronald Reagan, Santa Monica, and BURL implemented new

chemistry analyzers on July 16, 2014. These analyzers will run gen-

eral chemistry, immunoassays, and therapeutic drug monitoring tests

depending upon the test menu of each laboratory. Complete validation

of the analyzers took almost two years. This involved laboratory staff

working diligently to confirm the accuracy and precision of the ana-

lyzer results. Staff continue to maximize their proficiency with the

new instrumentation and workflow.

Traditionally, prostates are sectioned into many levels and quadrants to fit the tissue

into the commonly used cassettes. The submission of representative sections of

these quadrants results in the loss of much information and makes it impossible to

determine the number of tumors in the patient. With whole mount prostate sec-

tions, the number of tumors can be accurately and conveniently determined. As a

result, each tumor can be accurately graded and staged, and its localization within

the prostate can be accurately reported. This information is then used by radiolo-

gists to apply new modalities that improve radiologic diagnostic accuracy. The

poster presents a convenient method of whole prostate processing which has signifi-

cantly improved radiologic diagnosis of prostate cancer at UCLA.

A Method for Processing Whole Prostate

2014 NSH Annual Symposium/Convention in Austin, Texas

Saeedeh Shapourifar-Tehrani and Jill Squires

Seismic Celebration –THANK YOU!

Many of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine’s administrative, clinical, out-

reach, and some school functions are housed in the Center for Health Scienc-

es’ (CHS) South Tower A-Level. Built in 1951, the building was due for an

upgrade to reinforce the building's structure, enabling it to be resistant to seis-

mic activity. In July 2012, the CHS South Tower Seismic Renovation project

began with the construction of new concrete wall panels or ―shear walls‖,

which were designed to stiffen the original building and make it earthquake

resistant. As a result, there have been a multitude of interior improvements

while the building preserved its architectural integrity.

During this Seismic Renovation Project, Pathology CHS A-Level staff, faculty, and residents had to endure many challenges:

corridor and stairwell closures, relocation dominoes, noise and vibration issues, ventilation and utility outages (both planned and

unplanned), and even flooding. Everyone worked together daily to prevent this extreme turmoil from impacting on patient care. In

recognition of everyone’s supreme patience, collegiality, and teamwork during this long and challenging Seismic Project, Pathol-

ogy & Lab Medicine Leadership and Operations Management hosted a Seismic Celebration pizza party to celebrate that ―the

worst is over‖ and that the seismic work on the A Level South Tower is nearing the end. Also, the party served as the grand open-

ing of the new Pathology A Level lounge/break room in CHS AS-316.

A huge Thank You goes out to everyone for a job well done, and a special Thank You goes out to Steve Fulton and my very dedi-

cated Operations Management Team who worked continuously and

tirelessly, on a daily basis, to help mitigate all the challenging issues.

Written by: Sharon Higgins and Florgin Dela Luna.

Operations Management Team members (left to right): Maggie Griffin, Steve Fulton, Brad

Sollenberger, Sharon Higgins, Flo Dela Luna, Eric DeLeon, Andrea Ragoza, & Andrea Moore.

Department News

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 4

Welcome New Employees

August 2014

Klaris Avanessian – CPT II, Support Services

Pablo Gonzalez – HLT, Brentwood

Eunice M Kim – CLS, Brentwood

Cara Kulbacki – HLT II, Cytology

Jennifer Leung – Admin Spec., Finance

Samuel Rosenthal – CLS, Brentwood

Jay Jay San Miguel – HLT, Brentwood

Steve Smith – HLT, Brentwood

July 2014

German Ayala – Programmer Analyst II, IT

Christie Brown – CLS Apprentice, Molecular

Kazel Campbell – CPT II, Support Services

Valentina Christian – CPT II, Support Services

Carmen Curi Rios – CPT II, Support Services

Trung H Luu – CLS Apprentice, Molecular Pathology

Jammy Mata – CPT III, Support Services

Jason Murphy – Lab Aide II, Histology

Matthew Perera – CPT II, Support Services

Crystal Rodriguez – CPT II, Support Services

Noy Senevilay – CLS, Core Lab

Leimon Torres – CPT II, Support Services

Robin Vonderhaar – HLT III, Outreach

June 2014

Tyler Burdick – PA Student, Surgical Pathology

Colleen Harris – Admin Analyst, Clin Lab Business Office

Scarlett Guzman – HLT III, Path. Outreach

Phylis Lebourgeois – CLS, Microbiology

Gerard Medina – CPT, Support Services

Katherine White – PA. Student Surgical Pathology

Andrea Miller x71701

Role:

Handle Department Facilities Service Requests

(FSR’s), Telephone/Data Service Requests (TSR’s)

Back-up for Department keyed and non-keyed access

Laboratory and office moves and planning, Equipment

moves, space and utility planning for new equipment

Special projects support for Director of Operations

Brad Sollenberger x50349

Role:

Equipment Inventory Management and Recycling

Pathology Microscope Maintenance and Service Equipment moves, space and utility planning for

new equipment Special projects support for Director of Operations

New Staff Members within Operations Management

Ebenezer Abdella – HLT, Brentwood

Dylan Acogny – EHS Specialist, Ops. Mgmt.

Elton Hom – Manager, Student Aff.

Lisa Reynolds – AA Reporting Office

Lisa Rimlinger – PA, Northridge Hosp

September 2014

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 5

One of the goals of the Pathology Research Alumni Committee is to highlight publications from our current and

recently former graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents in the departmental newsletter. If anyone

has additional publications (newly published, first-author only) that should be highlighted, please contact Doug

Smoot (dsmoot@mednet.ucla.edu).

PATHOLOGY RESEARCH ALUMNI COMMITTEE & PUBLICATIONS

-- Joshua Deignan, PhD, FACMG, Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory

Medicine, Chair, Pathology Research Alumni Committee

February—May 2014

GSRs:

Maomeng Tong – GSR (Jonathan Braun lab)

Reprograming of gut microbiome energy metabolism by the FUT2

Crohn's disease risk polymorphism.

Tong M, McHardy I, Ruegger P, Goudarzi M, Kashyap PC, Harituni-

ans T, Li X, Graeber TG, Schwager E, Huttenhower C, Fornace AJ Jr,

Sonnenburg JL, McGovern DP, Borneman J, Braun J.

ISME J. 2014 Apr 29. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2014.64. [Epub ahead of

print]

Jonathan Jacobs – GSR (Jonathan Braun lab)

Immune and genetic gardening of the intestinal microbiome.

Jacobs JP, Braun J.

FEBS Lett. 2014 Mar 5. pii: S0014-5793(14)00181-1. doi: 10.1016/

j.febslet.2014.02.052. [Epub ahead of print] Review.

Lisa Kohn – CMP Graduate (Gay Crooks lab)

Human Lymphoid Development in the Absence of Common γ-Chain

Receptor Signaling.

Kohn LA, Seet CS, Scholes J, Codrea F, Chan R, Zaidi-Merchant S,

Zhu Y, De Oliveira S, Kapoor N, Shah A, Abdel-Azim H, Kohn DB,

Crooks GM.

J Immunol. 2014 Jun 1;192(11):5050-8. doi: 10.4049/

jimmunol.1303496. Epub 2014 Apr 25.

Airie Kim – CMP Graduate (Tomas Ganz lab)

Mouse models of anemia of cancer.

Kim A, Rivera S, Shprung D, Limbrick D, Gabayan V, Nemeth E,

Ganz T.

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 28;9(3):e93283. doi: 10.1371/

journal.pone.0093283. eCollection 2014.

Airie Kim – CMP Graduate (Tomas Ganz lab)

A mouse model of anemia of inflammation: complex pathogenesis

with partial dependence on hepcidin.

Kim A, Fung E, Parikh SG, Valore EV, Gabayan V, Nemeth E, Ganz

T.

Blood. 2014 Feb 20;123(8):1129-36. doi: 10.1182/blood-2013-08-

521419. Epub 2013 Dec 19.

Post Docs:

Ronik Khachatoorian - Postdoc (Samuel French lab)

The NS5A-binding heat shock proteins HSC70 and HSP70 play dis-

tinct roles in the hepatitis C viral life cycle.

Khachatoorian R, Ganapathy E, Ahmadieh Y, Wheatley N, Sundberg

C, Jung CL, Arumugaswami V, Raychaudhuri S, Dasgupta A, French

SW.

Virology. 2014 Apr;454-455:118-27. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2014.02.016.

Epub 2014 Feb 28.

Minh Thai - Postdoc (Heather Christofk lab)

Adenovirus E4ORF1-induced MYC activation promotes host cell ana-

bolic glucose metabolism and virus replication.

Thai M, Graham NA, Braas D, Nehil M, Komisopoulou E, Kurdistani

SK, McCormick F, Graeber TG, Christofk HR.

Cell Metab. 2014 Apr 1;19(4):694-701. doi: 10.1016/

j.cmet.2014.03.009.

Jayanth Kumar Palanichamy - Postdoc (Dinesh Rao lab)

miRNA dysregulation in cancer: towards a mechanistic understanding.

Palanichamy JK, Rao DS.

Front Genet. 2014 Mar 18;5:54. eCollection 2014. Review.

Residents/Fellows:

Aaron James – Resident

Clavicular and meningeal alveolar soft part sarcoma: An unusual case

and literature review.

James AW, Chang L, Levine B, Dry SM.

J Orthop. 2014 Jan 10;11(1):48-53. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2013.12.014.

eCollection 2014 Mar.

Aaron James – Resident Coincident liposarcoma, carcinoid and gastrointestinal stromal tumor

complicating type 1 neurofibromatosis: case report and literature re-

view.

James AW, Chang L, Genshaft S, Dry SM. J Orthop, Aug 2014, Ac-

cepted for publication.

Aaron James – Resident Muscle pouch implantation: an ectopic bone formation model. Meth-

ods in Molecular Biology.

Asatrian G, Chang L, James AW. 2014;1213:185-91.

Aaron James – Resident Roles of bone morphogenetic protein signaling in osteosarcoma. Int

Ortho

Nguyen A, Scott MA, Dry SM, James AW. Aug 2014, Epub ahead of

print.

Aaron James – Resident

Novel signaling pathways in osteosarcoma.

Nguyen A, Nguyen V, Pham D, Mravic M, Scott MA, James AW. Int

J Ortho. Invited Review, Accepted for publication.

Aaron James – Resident

High resolution X-ray: A reliable approach for quantifying osteoporo-

sis in a rodent model

Velasco O, James AW, Asatrian G, Ajalat M, Pritchard T, Novshadian

S, Murthy A, Bayani G, Zhang X, Ting K, Soo C. . BioResearch Open

Access. Epub ahead of print.

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Summer Edition September 2014 | Page 6

Newsletter Committee: Arnold Scheer, Daisy Castro, Bushra Yasin, and Khanh Andrews

Send us your suggestions for future newsletters at : Email Dcastro@mednet.ucla.edu

In Memoriam

Dr. Lee Goodglick, a distinguished

translational cancer biologist, known

for his creation and leadership of the

CTSI/MED lecture series. Read More

Dr. Anthony Verity, a much admired

faculty member in neuropathology

who served as Section Head from

1982-1993. | Read More

Aaron James – Resident

Chapter 1, Safety assessments in mesenchymal stem cell implantation.

Frontiers in Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research.

Asatrian G, Pan A, Scott MA, James AW. Invited Book Chapter. Jun

2014, Epub ahead of print. Corresponding author.

Aaron James – Resident

Human perivascular stem cell-based bone graft substitute induces rat

spinal fusion. Stem Cells Translational Medicine,

Chung CG, James AW, Asatrian G, Liang P, Chang L, Le K, Bayani

G, Pan A, Stoker D, Zhang X, Ting K, Peault B, Soo C. Jun 2014, Epub

ahead of print.

Aaron James – Resident

Editorial: Bone tissue engineering and regeneration. BioMed Research

International, Bone Tissue Engineering and Regeneration Special Edi-

tion

Levi B, Peault B, James AW. Jun 2014, Epub ahead of print. Corre-

sponding author.

Gregory Fishbein – Resident

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation: status and challenges.

Fishbein GA, Schoen FJ, Fishbein MC.

Cardiovasc Pathol. 2014 Mar-Apr;23(2):65-70. doi: 10.1016/

j.carpath.2013.10.001. Epub 2013 Oct 8.

Michael Alberti – Resident

The Influence of Serum Separator Tubes on Mycophenolic Acid Con-

centrations Determined by HPLC.

Alberti MO, Fukuchi AM, Kelly KA.

Ther Drug Monit. 2014 Apr 8. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract avail-

able.

Atsuko Seki – Fellow

Sympathetic Nerve Fibers in Human Cervical and Thoracic Vagus

Nerves.

Seki A, Green HR, Lee TD, Hong L, Tan J, Vinters HV, Chen PS,

Fishbein MC.

Heart Rhythm. 2014 Apr 23. pii: S1547-5271(14)00460-3. doi:

10.1016/j.hrthm.2014.04.032. [Epub ahead of print]

Winnie Wu – Resident

Strong expression of chemokine receptor CCR9 in diffuse large B-cell

lymphoma and follicular lymphoma strongly correlates with gastroin-

testinal involvement.

Wu W, Doan N, Said J, Karunasiri D, Pullarkat ST.

Hum Pathol. 2014 Mar 13. pii: S0046-8177(14)00107-5. doi: 10.1016/

j.humpath.2014.02.021. [Epub ahead of print]

Jelena Brezo– Fellow

Phenotypic Variability in Waardenburg Syndrome Resulting from a 22

Brezo J, Lam C, Vilain E, Quintero-Rivera F. q12.3-q13.1 Microdele-

tion Involving SOX10. American Journal of Medical Genetics. 2014.

164(6):1512-1519.

Jenny Ji– Fellow

Microdeletion of 1p32-p31 involving NFIA in a Patient with Hypo-

plastic Corpus Callosum, Ventriculomegaly, Seizures and Urinary Tract

Defects

Ji J, Salamon N, Quintero-Rivera F. European Journal of Medical Ge-

netics: Eur J Med Genet. 2014 May-Jun;57(6):267-8.. PMID:24657733

Publications Continued

The 2014 Walford Lecture

Norman E. Sharpless, MD

Wellcome Distinguished Professor

Department of Medicine & Genetics

Director, The Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

10:00 AM

Room: NRB Auditorium