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To showcase research by the Richard King Mellon Institute for Pediatric Research at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Mellon Scholars have an opportunity to present at the program’s monthly seminar series.
Held on the third Wednesday of the month, the seminars feature two 30-minute lectures spotlighting research by Mellon Scholars and guest speakers. Presenters are asked to focus on their hypotheses, general concepts, and technologies used. Divisional and hospital leadership are invited to attend the presentations, which are done virtually, in the Rangos Conference Center, or both.
Mellon Scholar Seminar
June 18, 2025
“Effects of Antenatal and Postnatal Antibiotics on Hematopoiesis in Newborns” by Michael Morowitz
Professor of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh
“Investigating Microbiota Assembly, One Cell at a Time” by Tim Hand
Director, Gnotobiotic Animal Core Laboratory
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics & Immunology
Mellon Scholar Seminars Archive
May 21, 2025
“Reproductive Geroscience: Fertility & the Pursuit of Longevity” by Arjuman Ghazi, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology & Physiology
Director, MGDB Graduate Program
Co-Director, Genetics, Genomics & Growth Center (G3C)
“Physiological State and the Body-Brain Axis” by Todd Lamitina, PhD
Senior Associate Vice-Chair for Basic Research, Department of Pediatrics
Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics
April 16, 2025
“Interplay Between an Innate Immune Effector and The Nuclear Pore Complex” by Melissa Kane, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology
“Rift Valley Fever Virus Hepatitis: Determinants of Clinical Disease” by Anita K. McElroy, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases
March 19, 2025
“Factors Influencing Neurobehavioral Recovery After Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury” by Amery Treble-Barna, PhD
Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and Clinical & Translational Science
Director, Mothers Leading Science, Associate Director, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research
“The Microbiome in Trauma – A Clinical and Pre-Clinical Perspective” by Dennis Simon, MD
Assistant Professor, Critical Care Medicine and Pediatrics
Director, Pediatric Neurocritical Care, Site Director, Pediatric Neurocritical Care Fellowship
February 19, 2025
“The origins of asthma: early life viral infections and immunity” by Taylor Eddens, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Allergy/Immunology
“Pediatric asthma: from exposure to violence to nasal transcriptomic endotypes” by Kristina Gaietto, MD, MPH
Instructor, Department of Pediatrics, Pulmonology
January 15, 2025
“Distant guardians of the reserve: A role for microbial metabolites in reproductive longevity” by Eldin Jašarević, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
“Cardiovascular Health Before, During and After Pregnancy: 1000 Days of Maternal Health” by Janet M Catov, PhD, MS
Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and the Department of Epidemiology
December 18, 2024
“Family Check-Up-Prenatal: Impetus and adaptations for a prenatal parenting intervention for parents in recovery” by Katherine Guyon-Harris, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
“Maternal-Fetal Immune Crosstalk: Identifying mechanisms of defense” by Christina Megli, MD, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
November 20, 2024
“Adolescent Reproductive Health and Epilepsy” by Laura Kirkpatrick, MD
Assistant Professor, Director, Epilepsy Transition Clinic
Associate Director, Child Neurology Clinical Research
“Advances in understanding how ocular bacteria may keep your eyes healthy” by Anthony St.Leger, PhD
Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology and Immunology
October 16, 2024
“EV-D68 and the Central Nervous System” by Megan Culler Freeman, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases
“New Approaches to Address Anemia in Sickle Cell Disease” by Julia Z. Xu, MD, MScGH
Assistant Professor of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology, Section of Benign Hematology
September 18, 2024
“Leveraging Behavioral Insights and Digital Health Technologies to Improve Outcomes for Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes” by Mary Ellen Vajravelu, MD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology
“Opportunities to improve Adolescent Mental Health Services using Technology-based Interventions” by Ana Radovic, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor, Adolescent Medicine
July 17, 2024
“Diet and Microbiome Control of Cancer Immunotherapy” by Abigail E. Overacre-Delgoffe, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology
“Harnessing B Cells and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures for Improved Therapeutics” by Tullia C. Bruno, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology
June 19, 2024
“It’s a two-way street: how the lung and blood communicate during infection and injury” by William G. Bain, M
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
“The potential mechanism and socioeconomic effect of Long COVID” by Lianghui (Lucy) Zhang, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine
May 15, 2024
“Strengthening Connections for Change: A Community-Based Violence Prevention Pilot Trial” by Alison J. Culyba, MD, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Public Health, and Clinical and Translational Science, Division Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
“Pediatric critical care across the continuum: Fostering functional recovery for children and their families” by Jessica M. Jarvis, PhD, MT-BC
Assistant Professor of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
April 16, 2024
“It takes a village: Leaning on schools to support youth with type 1 diabetes” by Christine March, MD, MS
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and Attending Physician in the Division of Endocrinology
“Fat malabsorption and metabolism in Cystic Fibrosis” by Alison B. Kohan, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
March 20, 2024
“Immune Mechanisms of Influenza-Induced Exacerbation of Atherosclerosis”by Radha Gopal, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonology, Senior Research Scientist
“Macrophage signaling-to-transcription networks” by Rachel A. Gottschalk, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Immunology
February 21, 2024
“Functional Genomics Informed Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Pediatric Brain Tumor” by Antony Michealraj, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Functional Genomics, and Metabolism of Pediatric and adolescent central nervous system tumors; ependymoma, medulloblastoma and DIPGs
“Healing-centered care to supporting parent and caregiver survivors of intimate partner violence” by Maya Indira Ragavan, MD, MPH, MS, Associate Vice Chair of Diversity Equity and Inclusion Research, Department of Pediatrics, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
January 17, 2024
“Prevention of Influenza in Infants through Maternal Vaccination During Pregnancy” by Anne-Marie Rick, MD, MPH, PhD, Instructor of Pediatrics and Clinical and Translational Science, Director, Newborn Research Support Services, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Mechanistic Modeling and Big Data Approaches to Understanding and Treating Immunopathology During Respiratory Infection” by Jason E. Shoemaker, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, at the University of Pittsburgh, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Computational & Systems Biology
November 15, 2023
“Profiling immune responses with phosphoproteomics” by William F. Hawse, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
“Blocking the BCL10-MALT1 Interaction in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma” by Lisa Maurer, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Oncology, UPMC Children’s Hospital
October 18, 2023
“Pancreatic intraductal Pdx1 and MafA AAV gene therapy as a potential treatment for prediabetes and type 2 diabetes” by Mohamed Saleh, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric, Division of Endocrinology, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Holistic approaches to tuberculosis: The sum of its parts”, by Philana L. Lin, MD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Director, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Fellowship, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
September 20, 2023
“Genetic therapy for congenital muscular dystrophy: The future is now (or at least near)” by Dwi Utami Kemaladewi, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Division of Genetic and Genomic Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“The Forest and the Seedling: an Immunologic Story” by Brian Campfield, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
August 16, 2023
“Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Metabolic Flux in the Intestinal Epithelium During Inflammatory Bowel Disease” by Kevin Mollen, MD, Assistant Surgeon in Chief UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Samuel P. Harbison Associate Professor University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Pathogenic Mechanisms Contributing to Adverse Neurodevelopmental Outcome in Congenital Heart Disease” by Cecilia W. Lo, PhD, FAHA, Professor and F. Sargent Cheever Chair of Developmental Biology University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
July 19, 2023
"Brain Tumor Theranostics for Improving Immunotherapy" by Gary Kohanbash, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, secondary faculty in the Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
"Medulloblastoma Metastasis in Childhood" by Baoli Hu, PhD, assistant professor of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, director, Brain Tumor Evolution and Therapy Lab
June 21, 2023
"Genetics of Takayasu Arteritis: An Update and Future Plans" by Amr Sawalha, MD, chief, Pediatric Rheumatology and director, Lupus Center of Excellence, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and professor of pediatrics and medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
May 17, 2023
“Small Kidneys and Small RNAs” by Jacqueline Ho, MD, Chief, Division of Pediatric Nephrology, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“The Plain People Translational Medicine Program” by Lina Ghaloul Gonzalez, MD, Mellon Scholar and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Genetic and Genomic Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
April 19, 2023
“Failed DNA Repair as a Mechanism of Chronic Kidney Disease” by Mellon Scholar Rannar Airik, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Asthma Omics in Hispanics” by Juan C. Celedón, MD, DrPH, Niels K. Jerne Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Human Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Chief, Division of Pulmonary Medicine, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
March 15, 2023
“Pediatric Scleroderma: Single-Cell RNA-Seq Skin Profiling” by Kathryn Torok, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director, Pediatric Scleroderma Center, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Immunogenomic Determinants of Tumor Microenvironment in Pediatric Cancers” by Riyue Bao, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Co-Director of Cancer Bioinformatics Services and the Translational Immuno-Informatics Laboratory, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
February 15, 2023
“Ovarian Cancer: Targeting the Soil to Destroy the Seed” by Lan G. Coffman, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Hematology/Oncology and Gynecologic Oncology, Hillman Cancer Center, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Novel Medium-chain Fatty Acid Therapies” by Eric S. Goetzman, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
January 18, 2023
“Pulmonary Thrombo-Inflammation in Sickle Cell Disease” by Prithu Sundd, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine and Associate Professor of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“What is a UTI?” by Catherine Forster, MD, Mellon Scholar; Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine and Nephrology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
December 21, 2022
“Intrinsic Defenses Against Retroviral Infection” by Melissa Kane, PhD, Mellon Scholar; Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; Researcher, Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Using Machine Learning and Network Approaches to Uncover Mechanisms Underlying Pathophysiology of Immunological Disorders” by Jishnu Das, PhD, Assistant Professor, departments of Immunology and Computational & Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh; Director, Computational Immunogenomics Core, Center for Systems Immunology
November 16
“Neural Coding of Voice in Human Auditory Cortex” by Mellon Scholar Taylor J. Abel, MD, FAANS, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery and Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Surgical Director, Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Understanding In Vivo Hip Biomechanics Through Biplane Radiography” by Michael P. McClincy, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
October 19
“Tumor Microenvironmental Signals Reshape Chromatin Landscapes to Limit the Function Potential of Exhausted T Cells” by Mellon Scholar Amanda C. Poholek, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
“Outdoor Air Pollution and Childhood Asthma: Clinical Intervention?” by Franziska J. Rosser, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
September 21
“Effects of Positive Allosteric Modulation of Alpha-7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors on Sustained Attention and Cholinergic Neurotransmission After Experimental Traumatic Brain Injury,” by Corina O. Bondi, PhD, Mellon Scholar, Assistant Professor, Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Neurobiology, Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh, and Associate Director, Executive Function and Neuropharmacology, Safar Center for Resuscitation Research
“Mechanisms of T-Cell Tolerance After HLA-Mismatched Transplantation,” Paul Szabolcs, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Chief, Division of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapies, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh
July 20
“Inflammation and Thrombosis: The Role of HMGB1 in Purinergic Signaling” by Deirdre Nolfi-Donegan, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Role of NOTCH1 Mutations in Cardiomyocyte Cytoskeleton and Function in Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome,” by Anita Saraf, MD, PhD, Mellon Scholar, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
June 15
“Improving Accuracy in the Diagnosis and Management of Acute Otitis Media in Children,” by Alejandro Hoberman, MD, the Jack L. Paradise, MD, Endowed Professor of Pediatric Research, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Group B Streptococcus Adaptation to the Perinatal Host,” by Thomas Hooven, MD, Mellon Scholar, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
May 18
“DNA Damage Defects and Ewing Sarcoma: New Therapeutic Opportunities,” by Kelly Bailey, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Defining Chikungunya Virus Interactions with Mammalian and Mosquito Glycans,” Laurie Silva, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
April 20
“Building Bridges at Chromosome Ends in Cancer Cells,” by Roddy O’Sullivan, PhD, Associate Professor, Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Lipid Nanoparticles for mRNA Delivery: Enablers of a New Wave of Genetic Medicine,” by Katie Whitehead, PhD, Associate Professor and Dean’s Career Fellow, Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
February 16
“T Cell Antigen Discovery for Understanding and Engineering Immunity,” by Alok Joglekar, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology, Center for Systems Immunology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
“Adaptive Immune Landscape of Pediatric Brain Tumors,” by Gary Kohanbash, PhD, Mellon Scholar, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
January 19
“Studying Development Using Single-Cell Time Series Data,” presented by Ziv Bar-Joseph, PhD, FORE Systems Professor of Machine Learning and Computational Biology, Carnegie Mellon University
“Why Do Tumor Viruses Cause Cancer?,” presented by Patrick Moore, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, American Cancer Society Research Professor
December 15
“Surveying the Battlefield: How We Can Combat Infections Through Biogeographical Characterization,” presented by William DePas, PhD
November 9
"Progranulin and Vascular Homeostasis,” presented by Thiago Bruder do Nascimento, PhD
“Absent in Melanoma 2 – A Novel Link Between Innate Immunity, Metabolism, and Bone Health,” presented by Radhika Muzumdar, MD
October 12
“PET Imaging of Hyperadhesion: A Precision Medicine Approach for Sickle Cell Disease,” presented by Enrico Novelli, MD, MS
“Interplay Between Metabolism and Epigenetics in Brain Tumors,” presented by Sameer Agnihotri, PhD
September 15
“Unraveling an FSTL1 Immunomodulatory Pathway,” presented by Brian Campfield, MD
“IL‐22BP: An Immune Mediator of IL‐22 Signaling Regulates Severe Asthma,” presented by Michelle Manni, PhD
August 19
“Development of a Tumor-specific Surgical Tracer to Guide Complete Resection of Pediatric Cancers,” presented by Marcus Malek, MD
“B Cells to the Forefront of Immunotherapy: What are They Good For?,” presented by Tullia Bruno, PhD
July 14
“Stability and Heterogeneity in the Antibacterial Antibody Repertoire of Breast Milk,” presented by Timothy Hand, PhD
“Interventional Genomics in Rare Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders,” presented by Dwi Kemaladewi, PhD
June 17
“A Tale of Two Cytokines: Human Metapneumovirus and Interferon,” presented by John Williams, MD
"Crosstalk Between Macrophages and Beta-cells in Postnatal Beta-cell Growth and in Diabetes," presented by Xiangwei Xiao, MD, PhD
May 12
“BDNF and Neurobehavioral Recovery in TBI Across the Lifespan,” presented by Amery Treble-Barna, PhD
“Real World Data, Evidence, and Reality in the Development of a Learning Health System,” presented by Christopher Horvat, MD
April 13
“Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Metabolic Activation,” presented by Craig Byersdorfer, MD, PhD
“Chitinase-3-like-1 Protein Binding Complexes Regulate Immune Suppression in Glioblastoma,” presented by Baoli Hu, PhD
March 16
“Bridging the Next Generation Gap: The role of Bioinformatics Core at CHP,” presented by Dhivyaa Rajasundaram, PhD
“Developmental Pathways in Liver Development and Repair,” presented by Paul Monga, MD
February 17
“Persistent DNA Damage Links Acute Kidney Injury to Chronic Kidney Disease and Tubular Cell Senescence,” presented by Rannar Airik, PhD
“Heart Regeneration,” presented by Bernhard Kuhn, MD
January 13
“Synaptic Alterations After Traumatic Brain Injury,” presented by Shaun Carlson, PhD
“Bacterial Colonization of the Urinary Tract in Children with Neuropathic Bladders,” presented by Katie Forster, MD
