The Alston Callahan, M.D. Postdoctoral Scholar Award in Basic Science

Jungyeon Won, PhD — 2010

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 00:00:48 -0600

Dr. Jungyeon Won has been named the 2010 Callahan Scholar in support of her project, The Role of Membrane Frizzled Related Protein (Mfrp) and Complement lq-and tumor necrosis factor-related protein 5 (C1 qtnf5) in the Retina. Currently working in The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, Won was nominated by Patsy M. Nishina, PhD. Dr. Won joined Dr. Nishina’s laboratory from the Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejon, South Korea, where she studied apoptotic pathways in in vitro cell culture systems.

The Callahan Award of $35,000 will allow Dr. Won to complete the studies she has initiated and will further her transition to independence.

Aslam Khan, PhD — 2009

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 12:00:05 -0600

INSTITUTE: Washington University
PROJECT TITLE: Mechanism of Resveratrol-mediated Regulation of Pathologic Ocular Angiogenesis

Dru S. Dace, PhD — 2008

Tue, 1 Jan 2008 12:00:28 -0600

INSTITUTE: Washington University
PROJECT TITLE: Interleukin-10 Regulates Pathogical Angiogenesis in the Retina

Yan Chen, PhD — 2007

Mon, 1 Jan 2007 12:00:00 -0600

Yan Chen, PhD, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, Nashville, Tennessee received the first Alston Callahan, MD Postdoctoral Scholar Award. Dr. Chen was named the Callahan Scholar for her project, Cystine regulates Akt/mTOR signaling in human RPE cells. (Read more...)
Dr. Chen received her undergraduate education at one of the top schools in china, Nanjing University, later completing her PhD studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I am thrilled by the honor of being a recipient of this grant from the prominent International Retinal Research Foundation with world prestigious ophthalmologists,” Dr. Chen recently said of being named the Foundation’s first Callahan Scholar. “The generosity will allow me to pursue the potential nutritional intervention of the disease of age-related macular degeneration, and furthermore, to build my career as an independent vision research scientist.”
In 2007, Yan Chen, PhD, Vanderbilt Eye Institute, was named the first Alston Callahan, MD Postdoctoral Scholar, for her study, Cystine regulates Akt/mTOR signaling in human RPE cells. A year later, results from this study were published in the scientific journal, Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science (IOVS). Dr. Chen, along with team members Paul Sternberg, MD and Jiyang Cai, PhD, worked to define the expression of the FKBP8 gene in cultured human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and explore its involvement in the control of apoptosis (programmed cell death).
(Photo right: Dr. Yan Chen and Sandra Blackwood, IRRF Director, while visiting Dr. Chen’s lab at the new Vanderbilt Eye Institute.)
Normally, RPE cells have a low turnover rate and survive for an individual’s lifespan. However, when there is loss of RPE cells via apoptosis, which may occur in chronic eye diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal function can be compromised. Patchy loss of RPE is one of the classic features of AMD and it has been shown that this process involves apoptosis. According to Chen’s findings, the FKBP8 gene may be a functional component of the apoptotic signaling network in the RPE cells.