FDA/NCTR Newsletter: Science Insights

October 26, 2018

Welcome to the inaugural NCTR newsletter called Science Insights that replaces theNCTR Quarter Page. Your subscription has already been transferred so there is no action required by you to continue receiving our newsletter.

Neuroscience News at NCTR

Annual “Brain Awareness Week” Campaign The annual “Brain Awareness Week” event in central Arkansas, sponsored by NCTR’s Division of Neurotoxicology and Arkansas Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (ACSfN), was held in March 2018 at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. The event serves to increase public awareness — especially to children — about the progress and benefits of brain research, particularly that in Central Arkansas. As expected, the event was successful with seven demonstrations and hands-on activities with volunteers from NCTR, Hendrix College, the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), FDA’s Arkansas Laboratory, and the Episcopal Collegiate School. Pencils, erasers shaped like the human brain, and activity booklets for the attendees were donated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. Attendees enjoyed 400 tamales and 200 neuron-shaped cookies generously donated by Dr. Elvis Cuevas, the current president of ACSfN.

How the Arkansas Brain Bee Started with NCTR The Central Arkansas Brain Bee began in 2001 due to the creative efforts of Andrew Scallet, Ph.D. — who at that time was a scientist in NCTR’s Division of Neurotoxicology. Since then, this Bee has continued annually. According to the Society for Neuroscience web site, “The Brain Bee, a neuroscience competition for secondary students, begins with local competitions that feed into the national and world competitions. The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) hosts the D.C. Chapter Brain Bee, supports U.S. National and World Brain Bees, and arranges scientific lab internships for the U.S. national and world winners.” Dr. Scallet enlisted other NCTR scientists in the Division of Neurotoxicology (Tucker Patterson, Ph.D. in 2002 and John Bowyer, Ph.D. in 2006) to assist with organizing and conducting the annual Central Arkansas Brain Bee, which is open to eligible high school students in Arkansas. In 2016, Dr. Andrew James at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences assumed leadership of the Central Arkansas Brain Bee.  The local winners travel to Baltimore, Maryland to compete in the U.S. National Brain Bee. Both the 2016 and 2017 National Brain Bee champions hail from Arkansas and represented the U.S. at the World Brain Bee Championships — with the 2017 National Champion, Sojas Wagle, winning the 18th World Brain Bee Championship. For more information on how to get involved in U.S. Regional and World Brain Bees, visit the SfN website.

Former NCTR Postdoctoral Fellow Promoting Brain Awareness Week in Nigeria Chinna Orish, MBBS, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of Port-Harcourt, Nigeria, coordinated and organized a two-day event to promote the 2018 Brain Awareness Week at the University of Port-Harcourt. Brain Awareness Week — as described the Dana Foundation — is a worldwide event that brings together scientists, families, schools, and communities to increase public awareness of brain research. The theme of the University’s program was “Brain and Nutrition” with a focus on nutrigenomics. Dr. Orish was the featured speaker who presented a lecture titled “Nutrigenomics in Brain Health.” Participation was strong with more than 300 attendees at the program that included university staff and students from the Faculties of Basic Medical Sciences, Clinical Sciences, and Pharmacy and Sciences. Dr. Orish was introduced to the area of epigenetics during her 18-month postdoctoral training at NCTR in 2016 and 2017.

Inspiring Women To Seek Neuroscience Careers More than 50 women comprising faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the College of Health Sciences and the College of Pharmacy at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria participated in the first event for women in neuroscience in 2018 at the University. The coordinator and founder of the event, Dr. Chinna Orish, credits her experiences at NCTR as a postdoctoral fellow with the inspiration to arrange the conference. Her experience at NCTR afforded her the opportunity to attend the American Society of Neurochemistry Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas in March 2017. Dr. Orish reflected on her experience at NCTR saying, “It has really added a lot to my knowledge and impetus to my career. The knowledge I gained cannot be quantified. I have continued to relish the all-round mentoring NCTR offered me.”

Alzheimer's Disease – FDA Research on Ethnicity and Gender Differences NCTR scientists, Drs. Sherry Ferguson and Vijayalakshmi Varma, presented a webcast lecture titled “Ethnicity- and Gender-Related Differences in Alzheimer’s Disease” as part of the FDA Grand Rounds series. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has a higher incidence in women at later ages and poses a greater threat to African American and Hispanic communities. This presentation discussed NCTR’s novel research into proteins implicated in AD and their levels in post-mortem African-American and Caucasian brain tissues from both genders to explore ethnicity- and gender-related differences. Research studies such as these are crucial to a precision-medicine approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases like AD. For more information please contact Sherry Ferguson, Ph.D., Acting Director, Division of Neurotoxicology, FDA/NCTR orVijayalakshmi Varma, Ph.D., Division of Systems Biology, FDA/NCTR or watch the webcast on www.FDA.gov.   Watch the webcast on www.fda.gov

Arkansas Chapter of Society of Neuroscience The 2018 Arkansas Chapter of Society of Neuroscience (ACSfN) meeting was held at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway, Arkansas. The annual ACSfN annual meeting allows participants to share advances in neuroscience research and to foster collaborations. The event was successful for the 28 attendees, 16 of whom presented scientific posters. Poster presentations were from NCTR, Hendrix College, UCA, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The plenary speaker was Dr. Sherry Ferguson, Acting Director, NCTR Division of Neurotoxicology. Dr. Ferguson spoke on “Ethnicity Differences in Neurodegenerative Proteins in Alzheimer’s disease.” Three poster categories were awarded: Undergraduate Category: Emily Fagan, University of Central Arkansas Graduate Category: Catheryn Wilson, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Postdoc Category:  Hector Rosas-Hernandez, Ph.D., NCTR

Fluidic Biomarkers of Neurotoxicity In a consortium effort with the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), NCTR scientists collaborated with experts from other government agencies, academia, and industry to search for non-invasive biomarkers of neurotoxicity that can be evaluated in circulating biofluids, such as serum, plasma, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid. Continue Reading...

Model of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) to the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB) NCTR scientists — in collaboration with scientists from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi and Universidad Juarez Autonoma de Tabasco in Mexico — have developed an in vitro BBB model that simulates the BBB damage resulting from TBI observed in vivo. Continue Reading...

Award-Winning Publication by FDA Authors Scientists from FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have demonstrated that two commonly used chemotherapeutics (cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin), administered alone or in combination, did not induce behavioral alterations in a female-mouse model reflective of human breast-cancer patients. Continue Reading...

Multi-Electrode Array Analysis for Neurotoxicity NCTR scientists have successfully set up a high-throughput Multi-Electrode Array (MEA) system to record electrical functions of brain cells as a read-out for neurotoxicity, and have demonstrated that certain neurotoxic agents can alter electrical functions of cultured human-brain cells, such as neuronal firing rates, neuronal spikes, and electrical bursts.

Continue Reading... NCTR Personnel Highlights

Read more about Dr. Schnackenberg...   Appointment of Associate Director, Office of Scientific Coordination (OSC) NCTR is pleased to announce the appointment of Bradley Schnackenberg, Ph.D. as Associate Director, OSC. In his new position Dr. Schnackenberg provides supervision and leadership to achieve OSC’s mission to support the conduct of in vivotoxicology studies at NCTR. In 2008, he was selected into the inaugural class of the FDA Commissioner’s Fellowship Program and was hired into the NCTR Office of Research in 2010 where he worked until assuming his current position. Dr. Schnackenberg’s oversight includes four distinct groups with diverse scientific expertise and research support missions — Toxicology Program, Veterinary Services, NCTR/ORA Nanotechnology Core Facility, and CTP/NCTR Inhalation Toxicology Core Facility.

Appointment of Associate Director for Science and Policy NCTR is pleased to announce the appointment of Tucker Patterson, Ph.D., to the position of Associate Director for Science and Policy. Dr. Patterson was previously NCTR’s Associate Director, Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management. In his new position, Dr. Patterson serves as primary advisor to the NCTR Center Director about the general direction of the Center’s research programs and FDA initiatives. He also represents NCTR and FDA in extramural activities including research interactions with the State of Arkansas. Dr. Patterson brings scientific and management expertise to his new role and NCTR will benefit from Dr. Patterson’s scientific accomplishments and in-depth knowledge of NCTR and FDA research programs, policies, and procedures.

Appointment of Associate Director of Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management (RCRM) NCTR is pleased to announce the appointment of Rajesh Nayak, Ph.D. as Associate Director, RCRM. In this position, Dr. Nayak serves as a biosafety specialist within the RCRM staff and provides authoritative guidance on regulatory compliance of hazardous biological agents, toxins, and biosecurity.  He is responsible for managing the areas of environmental and occupational safety and health, radiation safety, physical security, quality assurance, and records management. Dr. Nayak came to NCTR in 2001 and received specialized training in food and drug safety, microbial forensics, host-pathogen-drug resistance, and biodefense threat assessment.

NCTR Recipient of FDA Lifetime Achievement Award — Peter Fu, Ph.D. Dr. Peter P. Fu, a senior research chemist in NCTR’s Division of Biochemical Toxicology was selected for the 2018 FDA Scientific Lifetime Achievement Award for “elucidating the biological effects and mechanisms of action of carcinogens and other toxic constituents of foods, drugs, and cosmetic products regulated by the FDA.” Read more about Dr. Peter Fu...

Professional Development at NCTR

Jefferson Laboratories’ Inaugural Postdoctoral Research Day   Jefferson Laboratories celebrated NCTR and ORA/Arkansas Laboratory (ARKL) postdoctoral research in March 2018 by giving our fellows the opportunity to present and discuss their research projects to an audience of fellow Jefferson Laboratories scientists. It was an inaugural full-day event that featured 11 oral presentations and 20 poster presentations. The keynote lecture on “Radiation Toxicology Research” was delivered by Dr. Martin Hauer-Jensen, Associate Dean of Research, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The event was created, organized, and planned by the Jefferson Fellows Advisory Committee to highlight important and exciting research at the Jefferson Laboratories. Our fellows are essential to the success of Jefferson Laboratories and we enjoyed celebrating their research accomplishments.

First Annual NCTR Science Forum The highly successful First Annual NCTR Science Forum — attended by 120 NCTR staff and fellows — was designed to 1) foster interaction; 2) showcase and discuss science; 3) enhance collaboration among NCTR scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting fellows; and 4) find synergies among research groups. The Forum was held in April 2018 at the Heifer Village in Little Rock, Arkansas. Anil Patri, Ph.D., Director, NCTR/ORA Nanotechnology Core Facility delivered the welcoming remarks, followed by a brief “Historical Perspective of Toxicology and NCTR” provided by William Slikker, Jr., Ph.D., NCTR Center Director. Selected oral presentations by principal investigators from each of the research divisions and core facilities at NCTR where then presented on the following topics: predictive drug toxicology efficacy physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling modeling organoid models antimicrobial resistance neurotoxicology MALDI and MRI imaging nanotechnology  The afternoon poster session was highly interactive with 50 posters covering the breadth of state-of-the-art research at NCTR. The event adjourned with an award ceremony for oral and poster categories led by Daniel Acosta, Ph.D., NCTR Deputy Director of Research. Click here to find bio-sketches for each of the awardees listed below . Oral Presentation Awards Annie Lumen, Ph.D., Division of Biochemical Toxicology Minjun Chen, Ph.D., Division of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Barbara L. Parsons, Ph.D., Division of Genetic and Molecular Toxicology Bijay K. Khajanchi, Ph.D., Division of Microbiology Syed Z. Imam, Ph.D., Division of Neurotoxicology Laura K. Schnackenberg, Ph.D., Division of Systems Biology Nathan A. Koonce, Ph.D., Office of Scientific Coordination Invited Presenters from NCTR Core Facilities Laura K. Schnackenberg, Ph.D., Mass Spectrometry Core Facility Serguei Liachenko, Ph.D., Magnetic Resonance Imaging Core Facility Anil Patri, Ph.D., NCTR/ORA Nanotechnology Core Facility Poster Presentations Awards Zhen Ren, Ph.D., Division of Biochemical Toxicology Joshua Xu, Ph.D., Division of Bioinformatic and Biostatistics Qiang Shi, Ph.D., Division of Systems Biology