UCLA PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINEpathology.ucla.edu/.../Publications/Department_Newsletter_Spring2015.pdf · UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 1

Spring Newsletter—2015

Congratulations— Anatomic Pathology Staff

Congratulations to Pathology AP staff members for winning the CICARE Team award!

This award is given to teams of employees who are recognized by patients and peers for

their extra effort to fulfill our vision of healing humankind, one patient at a time, by im-

proving health, alleviating suffering, and delivering acts of kindness. Only 6 team awards

have been given in the last 4 years, so this is a true accomplishment for our staff and our

Department.

Thanks also to Dr. Sarah Dry for nominating our staff for this award. A few months ago, Dr. Dry received a thank you note from a

patient’s family and a letter from Dr. Eddie Garon, one of our Oncology colleagues, expressing thanks to Pathology staff for all

their hard work. The notes formed the basis for the nomination.

On behalf of the Department, I want to express my utmost thanks to all the AP Pathology Staff members, for your professional-

ism, hard work and dedication. We are proud to have you in our Department, and your recognition is well-deserved.

From Dr. Edward Garon: ―My staff and I would like to thank the Pathology Staff for their hard work, professionalism and great

clinical care that they provide to our Oncology patients. I realize that the Pathology staff is less visible to patients than the physi-

cians, nurses and clinical trial coordinators with whom they interact personally. For this reason, I am sending this note, and hope

that you can convey my thanks to these members of the Pathology staff.‖

From Patient: ―My son has been to other institutions, and it is rare for the Pathology team to be so accommodating and demon-

strates compassion. The pathology team at UCLA provided the original diag-

nosis for my son’s rare tumor, and you and your team

have been very supportive to our family behind the

scenes. With new methods for tumor testing we are

searching for a treatment to stop his tumor progres-

sion, and your team has been critical to our hope.

Thank you.‖

Inside this issue:

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS,

2

EVENTS AND DEPARTMENT

NEWS

3

NEW EMPLOYEES 4

PUBLICATIONS 5/6

U C L A P A T H O L O G Y A N D L A B O R A T O R Y M E D I C I N E

Q U A R T E R L Y N E W S L E T T E R

2015 Pathology Farewell Celebration

The 2014-2015 Pathology Farewell Reception and Dinner took place on June 3rd at the UCLA Faculty Center. Graduates were

honored on a beautiful Southern California evening which began with hors d’oeuvres and an art exhibit featuring faculty, graduate

and staff talent. Dinner and presentations followed, hosted by Department Chair, Dr. Jonathan Braun. | More information

Now up on the Department Website:

The 2015 UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Annual Report | Click Here

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 2

Awards and Recognitions

International Partnerships

The UCLA Health Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medi-

cine continues to make strides in its international collaborative lab

in China. With assistance from members of the Chemistry and Out-

reach laboratory services divisions, including Dr. Lu Song and Ofe-

lia ―Pia‖ Berina, staff in the Shanghai-based laboratory were metic-

ulously trained on instrument and assay validation. Recently, the

first set of live chemistry services for patient care was launched.

To date, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine has

spearheaded multiple successful onsite initiatives/visits through the

Shanghai lab including process improvement audits by Arnold

Scheer and Chris Khacherian, quality management system training

by Ann Shadler and local and regional partnerships leveraging ser-

vice agreements with UCLA by Drs. Scott Binder, Serge Alexanian,

Haodong Xu, and Jianyu Rao. This includes hospital systems in

Yancheng and Zhengzhou.

Earlier in the year, staff

members from Shanghai

underwent extensive training

in section-specific quality

management and technical

operations on-site at UCLA.

Read More

Team Spirit Award

Congratulations to the Santa Monica Lab on receiving a Team

Spirit Award! This award recognizes employees who work

seamlessly and enthusiastically together to inspire and provide

exceptional service in their area of specialty in the hospital

UCLA Excellence in Education Award

Congratulations to Dr. Elena Stark, recipient of the 2015 David

Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA Excel-

lence in Education Award. This peer-reviewed

award recognizes outstanding dedication, inno-

vation, and sustained excellence in clinical and

classroom teaching. The recipients have distin-

guished themselves as exceptional educators.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at

UCLA is particularly pleased and grateful for

their contributions. Photos of Event

Congratulations to our CLS, Janet Hindler

who received an award from the Clinical

and Laboratory Standards Institute for her

work on developing the M45 document for

antibiotic resistance testing of fastidious

bacteria. | Read More

Congratulations Paula Mendoza on com-

pleting the Medical Interpreter Program

Qualification Course! This is an important

first step toward her experience as a Quali-

fied Interpreter.

Congratulations Ann on your 35 years of

Service at UCLA! This year's National

Hospital Week was celebrated during the

week of May 10 – 16, 2015.

Congratulations to Dr. Omai Garner who

was interviewed in CAP Today. Dr. Gar-

ner’s interview starts on page 63 of the May

2015 Edition. | Read More

Congratulations to our Clinical Microbiology

Fellow, Lieutenant Colonel Max Wu, who

will be continuing his duty as Chief, Infec-

tious Disease Labs at the Landstuhl Regional

Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany.

Congratulations to Dr. Elaine Reed and

her team, for being featured as the cover

article in Trends in Molecular Medicine. |

Read More

NGS Workshops

Congratulations to Dr. Xinmin Li and Clinical Microarray Core

(CMC) in finishing the 10th NGS workshop and special thanks to

our outstanding panel of lecturers/instructors lead by Drs. Wayne

Grody, Josh Deignan, Samuel Strom, Samuel, Ling Dong, Janice

Yoshizawa, Vanina Tomasian, Xiangming Ding, Fake (Frank) Li,

and Jamie Zhou! The workshop has triggered an extensive interest

in both UCLA and non-UCLA research/clinical communities and

received a large number of applicants. Due to space constrain, only

24 early registrants were accommodated, representing 11 different

Universities/Hospitals/Companies. The NGS workshop is consisted

of a combination of lectures, wetlabs, and data analysis/

interpretation. Due to the high demand, CMC has started hosting

genomics workshop at least once a year since 2008 and it has been

a huge success every

year. 100% of the par-

ticipants in our post-

workshop survey

ranked our workshop as

Outstanding/Excellent!

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 3

Department News

Continued...

Thank you to all Blood Bank bakers and the Blood Bank and Core Lab tasters/judges for making the 2015 Lab Week Blood Bank

Bakeoff Contest a smashing success! We had 9 delectable entries, ranging from homemade chocolate chip cookies to cheese rolls

to cake pops, red velvet cookies to peach upside down cake, and all the way to baked tilapia!

Here are the winners:

1st Place—Adolf M.

(Winner of a $25 California Pizza Kitchen card) Baked Tilapia

(Entry #9)

2nd Place—Janet B.

(Winner of a $15 Safeway/Vons gift card) Banana Pudding

(Entry #3)

3rd Place—Crystal D.

(Winner of a $10 Barnes and noble card)

Banana Cream Cupcakes

(Entry #5)

Like all superheroes, our physicians and clinical medical professionals, owe much of their effectiveness to

experts behind the scenes, who help them render the best diagnoses for their patients. We want to thank all

of our lab professionals, seen and unseen, during lab week and beyond, who take pride in their major role

in the healing of our patients, and the comfort of their families and friends. More Pictures

Lab Week Festivities

The Chase Child Life Program at Mattel Children’s Hospital, UCLA

Pathology employees participated in the 2015 Bruin Run/Walk benefitting the Mattel Children’s Hospital. Team Riley, was led

by Captains Leslie Chew and Tami Langevin (pictured on the Left). This program provides emotional support to patients and

their families to help them cope with the stresses of their illnesses and hospitalizations. Many staff and faculty who could not

participate in the 5k run/walk lent their support with generous donations. Baskets of gifts as well as monetary donations for the

hospitalized children were also presented by the Pathology Department staff (pictured on the Right).

We hope more will join us next year!

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 4

Welcome New Employees and Students

June 2015

Back Row

Alton Martin – CPT, SMH

Sabrina Jones – CLS, Brentwood

Annex

Eric Dee – CPT, RRH

Roshni Morar – HLT II, Cytolo-

gy

Sabrina Smulders – Adm. Nurse

II, Blood & Platelet Center

Jesse Lester De Guzman – CPT,

SMH

Sidney Wormsley – CPT, SMH

Kum Lam Chan – CLS, Molecu-

lar Diagnostics

Front Row

Melissa Lyon – Cytogenetic

Technologist, Cytogenetics

Sonia Valadez - CLS, SMH

May 2015

Back Row (L to R): Tan Nguyen, Mario Hakim, Andrew

Cottrell

Front Row (L to R): Tiffany Pham, Nichole Drew, Brian

Song, Grace Shin, Jason Gonzalez

July 2015 BACK ROW

Elizabeth Ejindu: Registry CLS, Blood Bank

Chulkyu Kim: Adm Spec, Brentwood Annex

Jose Solis: CLS Apprentice, Molecular Pa-

thology

Wael Boktor: CPT II, Support Services

Namesha Cavitt: CPT II, Santa Monica

Victoria Anikst: CLS Apprentice, Micro bio

Mikkiel Cheng: CLS Apprentice, Micro bio

Mike Esters: CPT II, Support Services

MIDDLE ROW

Laura Drzich: CLS Apprentice, Molecular

Pathology

Nicole Roberts: HLT, AP Santa Monica

Jewell Yap: CLS, Microbiology

Enedina Maliksi: CLS, Microbiology

FRONT ROW

Ollie Winn: SAO II, Clinical PhD Fellowship

Coordinator

Left to Right

Minhui Wang – Cytotechnologist, Cytology

Katherine Favela – CPT, Support Services

Imelda Giron – CPT, Support Services

Karine Gasparian – CPT, Support Services

Morgana Langston – Pathology Assistant Student

Amanda Elliott – Pathology Assistant Student

UCLA Class of 2015-2016: New Clinical

Laboratory Scientist Students

Watch their video:

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 5

One of the goals of the Pathology Research Alumni Committee is to highlight publications from our current and

recently former graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and residents in the departmental newsletter. If anyone

has additional publications (newly published, first-author only) that should be highlighted, please contact Doug

Smoot ([email protected]).

PATHOLOGY RESEARCH ALUMNI COMMITTEE & PUBLICATIONS

-- Joshua Deignan, PhD, FACMG, Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory

Medicine, Chair, Pathology Research Alumni Committee

January—July 2015

GSRs:

Tara Teslaa – GSR (Michael Teitell lab)

Pluripotent stem cell energy metabolism: an update.

Teslaa T, Teitell MA.

EMBO J. 2015 Jan 13;34(2):138-53. doi: 10.15252/

embj.201490446. Epub 2014 Dec 4. Review.

Xin Rong – CMP Graduate (Peter Tontonoz lab)

Lpcat3-dependent production of arachidonoyl phospholipids is a key

determinant of triglyceride secretion.

Rong X, Wang B, Dunham MM, Hedde PN, Wong JS, Gratton E,

Young SG, Ford DA, Tontonoz P.

Elife. 2015 Mar 25;4. doi: 10.7554/eLife.06557.

Lynnea Waters – GSR (Michael Teitell lab)

LKB1 regulates germinal center formation and termination.

Waters LR, Walsh NC, Teitell MA.

Cell Cycle. 2015 Jun 1:1-2. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract

available.

Jennifer King – CMP Student (Dinesh Rao lab)

Langerhans Cells Maintain Local Tissue Tolerance in a Model of

Systemic Autoimmune Disease.

King JK, Philips RL, Eriksson AU, Kim PJ, Halder RC, Lee DJ,

Singh RR.

J Immunol. 2015 Jul 15;195(2):464-76. doi: 10.4049/

jimmunol.1402735. Epub 2015 Jun 12.

Jorge Contreras – CMP Student (Dinesh Rao lab)

MicroRNA-146a modulates B-cell oncogenesis by regulating Egr1.

Contreras JR, Palanichamy JK, Tran TM, Fernando TR, Rodriguez-

Malave NI, Goswami N, Arboleda VA, Casero D, Rao DS.

Oncotarget. 2015 May 10;6(13):11023-37.

Nicole Walsh – CMP Graduate (Michael Teitell lab)

LKB1 inhibition of NF-κB in B cells prevents T follicular helper

cell differentiation and germinal center formation.

Walsh NC, Waters LR, Fowler JA, Lin M, Cunningham CR, Brooks

DG, Rehg JE, Morse HC 3rd, Teitell MA.

EMBO Rep. 2015 Jun;16(6):753-68. doi: 10.15252/

embr.201439505. Epub 2015 Apr 26

Post Docs:

Ronik Khachatoorian - Postdoc (Samuel French lab)

Structural characterization of the HSP70 interaction domain of the

hepatitis C viral protein NS5A.

Khachatoorian R, Ruchala P, Waring A, Jung CL, Ganapathy E,

Wheatley N, Sundberg C, Arumugaswami V, Dasgupta A, French

SW.

Virology. 2015 Jan 15;475:46-55. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2014.10.011.

Epub 2014 Nov 25

Sandra Theimann – Postdoc (Linda Baum lab)

Assessing the roles of galectins in regulating dendritic cell migration

through extracellular matrix and across lymphatic endothelial cells.

Thiemann S, Man JH, Baum LG.

Methods Mol Biol. 2015;1207:215-29. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-

1396-1_14.

Beata Berent Maoz – Recent Postdoc (Kenneth Dorshkind lab)

The expansion of thymopoiesis in neonatal mice is dependent on

expression of high mobility group a 2 protein (Hmga2).

Berent-Maoz B, Montecino-Rodriguez E, Fice M, Casero D, Seet

CS, Crooks GM, Lowry W, Dorshkind K.

PLoS One. 2015 May 1;10(5):e0125414. doi: 10.1371/

journal.pone.0125414. eCollection 2015.

Thilini Fernando – Postdoc (Dinesh Rao lab)

LncRNA Expression Discriminates Karyotype and Predicts Survival

in B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

Fernando TR, Rodriguez-Malave NI, Waters EV, Yan W, Casero D,

Basso G, Pigazzi M, Rao DS.

Mol Cancer Res. 2015 May;13(5):839-51. doi: 10.1158/1541-

7786.MCR-15-0006-T. Epub 2015 Feb 13.

Kimberly Thomas – Postdoc (Elaine Reed lab)

The perfect storm: HLA antibodies, complement, FcγRs, and endo-

thelium in transplant rejection.

Thomas KA, Valenzuela NM, Reed EF.

Trends Mol Med. 2015 May;21(5):319-29. doi: 10.1016/

j.molmed.2015.02.004. Epub 2015 Mar 20. Review.

Dhong Hyun Lee – Postdoc (Jonathan Said lab)

Synergistic effect of JQ1 and rapamycin for treatment of human

osteosarcoma.

Lee DH, Qi J, Bradner JE, Said JW, Doan NB, Forscher C, Yang H,

Koeffler HP.

Int J Cancer. 2015 May 1;136(9):2055-64. doi: 10.1002/ijc.29269.

Epub 2014 Oct 30.

Zhen Li – Postdoc (Jiaoti Huang lab)

p53 Mutation Directs AURKA Overexpression via miR-25 and

FBXW7 in Prostatic Small Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma.

Li Z, Sun Y, Chen X, Squires J, Nowroozizadeh B, Liang C, Huang

J.

Mol Cancer Res. 2015 Mar;13(3):584-91. doi: 10.1158/1541-

7786.MCR-14-0277-T. Epub 2014 Dec 15.

UCLA Pathology and Laboratory Medicine—Spring Edition July 2015 | Page 6

Newsletter Committee: Arnold Scheer, Daisy Castro, Bushra Yasin, and Khanh Andrews

Send us your suggestions for future newsletters at : Email [email protected]

Publications Continued

Ting-Hsiang Wu – Recent Postdoc (Michael Teitell lab)

Direct Nuclear Delivery of DNA by Photothermal Nanoblade.

Wu TH, Wu YC, Sagullo E, Teitell MA, Chiou PY.

J Lab Autom. 2015 Apr 21. pii: 2211068215583630. [Epub ahead

of print]

Yanjing Li – Postdoc (Jiaoti Huang lab)

Serum lipid profiles and aggressive prostate cancer.

Li Y, Liang C, Huang J.

Asian J Androl. 2015 Mar-Apr;17(2):336. doi: 10.4103/1008-

682X.143308. No abstract available.

Residents/Fellows:

Aaron James – Resident

Abnormal karyotypes in osteochondroma: Case series and litera-

ture review.

James AW, Tirado CA, Levine B, Dry SM.

J Orthop. 2014 Jan 30;12(2):70-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jor.2013.12.015.

eCollection 2015 Jun.

An unusual complex karyotype in myopericytoma.

James AW, Chang L, Shrestha S, Tirado CA, Dry SM.

J Orthop. 2015 Jan 29;12(1):58-62. doi: 10.1016/

j.jor.2015.01.015. eCollection 2015 Mar

Diagnostically challenging epithelioid soft tissue tumors. James

AW, Dry SM. Surgical Pathology Clinics: Soft Tissue Pathology.

May 2015; In press. Invited Book Chapter.

Pericytes in sarcomas of bone Chang L, Nguyen V, Nguyen A,

Scott MA, James AW. Med Oncol. Jun 2015; Accepted for publi-

cation. Corresponding author.

hPSCs and NELL-1 synergistically enhance spinal fusion in osteo-

porotic rats. Lee S, Zhang X, Shen J, James AW, Chung CG,

Hardy R, Li C, Girgius C, Zhang Y, Stoker D, Wu BM, Peault B,

Ting K, Soo C. Stem Cells, May 2015; Accepted for publication.

Craniomaxillofacial sources of mesenchymal stem cells: A brief

review. Nguyen A, Nguyen V, James AW, Scott MA. Int J Or-

thop. May 2015; Accepted for publication. Co-corresponding au-

thor.

Pericyte antigens in perivascular soft tissue tumors Shen J,

Shrestha S, Yen YH, Asatrian G, Mravic M, Soo C, Ting K,

Dry SM, Peault B, James AW. . Int J Surg Path, May 2015;

Accepted for publication. Corresponding author.

Review of microRNA in osteosarcoma and chondrosarcoma.

Chang L, Shrestha S, LaChaud G, Scott MA, James AW. Med

Oncol. 2015 May; 32(6): 613. Corresponding author.

Review of Pericytes in Tumor Biology. Scott MA, Shen J, Lam K,

Yen YH, Shrestha S, Mravic M, Asatrian G, Chung CG, Lugassy

C, Barnhill RL, Dry SM, Peault B, James AW. . Int J Orthop.

2015; 2(3): 155-159. Corresponding author.

Shino Magaki – Resident

Activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome by vault nanoparticles

expressing a chlamydial epitope.

Zhu Y, Jiang J, Said-Sadier N, Boxx G, Champion C, Tetlow A,

Kickhoefer VA, Rome LH, Ojcius DM, Kelly KA.

Vaccine. 2015 Jan 3;33(2):298-306. doi: 10.1016/

j.vaccine.2014.11.028. Epub 2014 Nov 24.

Valerie Arboleda – Resident

De novo nonsense mutations in KAT6A, a lysine acetyl-transferase

gene, cause a syndrome including microcephaly and global devel-

opmental delay.

Arboleda VA, Lee H, Dorrani N, Zadeh N, Willis M, Macmurdo

CF, Manning MA, Kwan A, Hudgins L, Barthelemy F, Miceli MC,

Quintero-Rivera F, Kantarci S, Strom SP, Deignan JL; UCLA

Clinical Genomics Center, Grody WW, Vilain E, Nelson SF.

Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Mar 5;96(3):498-506. doi: 10.1016/

j.ajhg.2015.01.017. Epub 2015 Feb 26.

Jianling Ji – Recent Fellow

DYRK1A haploinsufficiency causes a new recognizable syndrome

with microcephaly, intellectual disability, speech impairment, and

distinct facies.

Ji J, Lee H, Argiropoulos B, Dorrani N, Mann J, Martinez-Agosto

JA, Gomez-Ospina N, Gallant N, Bernstein JA, Hudgins L, Slat-

tery L, Isidor B, Le Caignec C, David A, Obersztyn E, Wiśnio-

wiecka-Kowalnik B, Fox M, Deignan JL, Vilain E, Hendricks E,

Horton Harr M, Noon SE, Jackson JR, Wilkens A, Mirzaa G, Sala-

mon N, Abramson J, Zackai EH, Krantz I, Innes AM, Nelson SF,

Grody WW, Quintero-Rivera F.

Eur J Hum Genet. 2015 May 6. doi: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.71. [Epub

ahead of print]

Durga Cherukuri – Recent Fellow

Instability of a dinucleotide repeat in the 3'-untranslated region

(UTR) of the microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1)

gene in microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) colorectal carcino-

ma.

Cherukuri DP, Deignan JL, Das K, Grody WW, Herschman H.

Mol Oncol. 2015 Mar 5. pii: S1574-7891(15)00029-0. doi:

10.1016/j.molonc.2015.01.009. [Epub ahead of print]