CNRCS 2013 Graduates


2013graduates

We congratulate the UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling (CNRCS) doctoral class of 2013. Five center members successfully defended their theses in the UH Department of Biology and Biochemistry PhD this academic year (left to right): Jayantha Tennakoon, Anne Katchy, Ryan Butler, Ruixin Hao, Prasenjit Dey. Including last year’s inaugural PhD, six Center members have completed doctoral degrees since the Center’s founding in 2009.  Details for 2013’s graduates are below.

Ryan Butler
Thesis: Physiological and Pathological Aspects of the Ligand-activated Transcription Factors: AhR and ERβ
Advisor: Dr. Margaret Warner
PhD: Cell and Molecular Biology
Previous Studies: Bachelor of Science in Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Future Plans: Ryan has accepted a postdoctoral fellow position in the lab of Dr. Vincent Giguère at McGill University in Montréal, Quebec, Canada.

Prasenjit Dey
Thesis: Anti-Proliferative and Pro-apoptotic Actions of Estrogen Receptor Beta in Prostate Cancer
Advisor: Dr. Jan-Åke Gustafsson
PhD: Biochemistry
Previous Studies: Master of Science in Clinical Biochemistry at Manipal University, India
Future Plans: Prasenjit has accepted a postdoctoral fellow position in the lab of Dr. Ronald A. DePinho, President of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.

Ruixin Hao
Thesis: Zebrafish as a Model for Studying Estrogen Signaling and Estrogenic Endocrine Disruption
Advisors: Dr. Maria Bondesson and Dr. Jan-Åke Gustafsson
PhD: Cell and Molecular Biology
Previous Studies: Master of Science in Biochemistry, Fudan University, China;
Bachelor of Engineering, Food Science and Engineering, Shanghai Ocean University, China
Future Plans: Ruixin has accepted a postdoctoral fellow position with DuPont on site at Pennsylvania State University.

Anne Katchy
Thesis: Exploring estrogen receptor gene regulatory mechanism in breast cancer
Advisor: Dr. Cecilia Williams
PhD: Biochemistry
Previous Studies: Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry at the University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Future Plans: Anne will be at CNRCS through the summer to complete several projects, and after which she plans to obtain a postdoctoral position at the Texas Medical Center (TMC) in Houston.

Jayantha Tennakoon
Thesis: Impact of Dicer on the Embryonic Stem Cell Epigenome and Androgen Mediated AMPK-PGC-1α Signaling in Prostate Cancer
Advisors: Dr. Daniel Frigo and Dr. Preethi Gunaratne
PhD: Cell and Molecular Biology
Previous Studies: Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Science in Biotechnology from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Future Plans: Jay is exploring his options for a postdoctoral fellowship or position in the pharmaceutical or biotech industry.

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