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January 2019
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MCB Alumni Spotlight
“Focus on the goal of learning, and not the grade. If you focus on learning, the rest will fall in place.”

Dr. Oscar Peña, (MCB 1995, UCLA School of Dentistry School, 1999) enjoys his work as an endodontist; he enjoys the satisfaction of helping people who are in pain and getting his patients back to better oral health. He appreciates living in Tucson and owning his own business, OMP Endodontics. There were a few years, however, when Peña’s career aspirations would have had him playing drums in a rock band and be on MTV.

Read more about Dr. Peña on the MCB website!

Other Alumni News

Lauren Sontag, MD, Keynote Speaker at Flinn Mentor Dinner
MCB Alumni Lauren Sontag, MD, (MCB & Spanish ’05, MD Mayo Medical School ‘11) was the speaker at the annual Flinn Mentor Dinner at the UA Student Union. MCB currently has four Flinn Scholars that attended the dinner, along with MCB Department Head Dr. Joyce Schroeder.

Sontag is a family care physician in Carbondale CO. She is grateful for the Flinn Scholarship that allowed her to graduate with her BS with no debt. Dr. Tomas Lindell, Professor Emeritus, and former acting head of MCB was her mentor all four years of her undergraduate program. “He changed my life!” Sontag recommends that every student find a dedicated mentor that cares about you and is honest with you. “Dr. Lindell supported me in what I wanted to do.”

In her talk to the Flinn scholars and mentors, Sontag shared how her medical practice cultivates the “Joy of Practice” to help practitioners avoid burnout. Twice a week, all the staff gathers for 10 minutes to talk about finding joy and practicing gratitude in their workday. She talked to the students about how they can cultivate their own “joy of practice” and gratitude practice to avoid student burnout.

When asked what advice she would give to current students, Sontag said “take time to be honest with yourself when considering your career. Is the career you are considering what you are called to do? Know why you are choosing the career you are choosing.” She went on to say that while she loves her job and feels that is what she was called to do, it is challenging. She wants students to know that any career they choose will have its challenges, so be sure your career choice brings you joy. “Be passionate about what you do. The more passionate you are about your career, the more you will contribute.” We’re certain that Dr. Sontag’s patients appreciate all she does for them and the passion that she brings to her practice every day!

Faculty News

Grants Awarded


Dr. Andrew Paek, MCB Assistant Professor, was awarded a NIH Research Project Grant (RO1) for his project “Dynamics of the FOXO transcription factor network”  

Dr. Ross Buchan, MCB Assistant Professor, received a grant from the Frick Foundation for ALS Research. The goal of the foundation is to provide research grants for the study of the understanding of the basic causes of the disease.

Dr. Nancy Horton, MCB Associate Professor, receiving funding for the purchase lab equipment to be used for purification of proteins and subcellular structures (stress granules, P-bodies, mitochondria). This equipment will be shared across labs in MCB and CBC.


Publications


Dr. Nancy Horton’s lab had a paper published in The Journal of Virology – “The Need for Speed: Run-On Oligomer Filament Formation Provides Maximum Speed with Maximum Sequestration of Activity.” Contributing to this paper were UA MCB students Claudia Barahona, Emilia Basantes, Niloofar Ghadirian, and Jonathan Sanchez. One of the photos from Horton's lab will be on the cover of the March issue of the Journal of Virology!
 

 
In collaboration with KCMC professor Jianming Qiu, Dr. Nancy Horton’s paper “Endonuclease Activity Inhibition of the NS1 Protein of Parvovirus B19 as a Novel Target for Antiviral Drug Development” was published in the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (AAC). You can find the article on PubMed here. 


Dr. Andrew Paek and graduate student Kathleen Lasick, contributed to a paper published in Nature Communications, titled "“Hidden heterogeneity and circadian-controlled cell fate inferred from single cell lineages.”

Student News
Danny Brower Scholarship Winners!

Hiromi Fukuzaki and Bennet Van Camp were awarded the Danny Brower scholarship. 
Read more about these two outstanding students on our MCB website!

MCB Happenings
Visit out MCB Calendar on our MCB website here for the latest event information. We have several seminars and speaker series that are free and open to the public!
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