Congratulations to Dr. Scott Wood on receiving the 2024 ASME Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineering at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Portland, Oregon in November.
Congratulations to Dr. Scott Wood on receiving a one-year CCSR (COBRE) Pilot Project titled: “Establishing a novel in vitro disease model of aging cartilage”
Congratulations to Dr. Tyler Redway on a successful start to his Anatomy Outreach for Research and Teaching Advancement (AORTA) Program (for more information see the BMS Department Newsletter Vol 5; Issue 3 Spring 2024 (link here)).
Well done and congratulations to Dr. Geoffrey McCullen who visited Panama with UNE COM students to conduct a medical mission (for more information and pictures see the BMS Department Newsletter Vol 5; Issue 3 Spring 2024 (link here)).
Congratulations to Dr. Kin Ly on being selected as CAIEP’s inaugural “Distinction in Interprofessional Faculty Leader”.
Congratulations to Dr. Russ Ferland on receiving a 4-year NIH R16 award (R16NS140309) titled “The Role of the Ventromedial Nucleus of the Hypothalamus in Epileptogenesis.”
Mark Scheunke, PhD was a guest on the “Pod of Inquiry” podcast discussing Radiculopathy versus Peripheral Nerve Entrapment. Season 4, Episode 13. May 2024. Run time: 1 hr, 12 min.
Congratulations to Emerita Professor, Dr. Barbara Winterson, on being awarded the UNE COM Pioneer of Osteopathic Medicine Award at the 2024 UNE COM Graduation Ceremony. Well done and thank you for all you have done for UNE COM!
Congratulations to Dr. Harry Filippakis on receiving a one-year Department of Defense, U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, Kidney Cancer Research Program Concept Award titled “Spatial CRISPR: A Novel Approach to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets for TFE3-RCC”.
Congratulations to Drs.D Molliver (PI), L Cao (Core Director), K Becker (Research Project Leader), H Filippakis (Research Project Leader), and L Queme Cobar (Research Project Leader) on the awarding of the new COBRE: Center for Cell Signaling.
Congratulations to Dr. Kin Ly as the 2024 recipient of the Center to Advance Interprofessional Education and Practice’s (CAIEP) Pagnucco Interprofessional Service Award. This award recognizes a faculty member for their outstanding commitment to interprofessional education, training, mentorship, and practice.
Professor Ben Harrison and his laboratory were featured in the most recent UNE Magazine with an article titled ”One slide at a time: UNE undergrad joins the enduring quest to cure Alzheimer’s”. LINK
Professor Ling Cao was highlighted in the Portland Press Herald with an article titled “University of New England biomedical professor awarded $1.7 million grant”. LINK
Professor Talsma and his research teamwere featured in Medical Pressfor the work in their recent publication. The title of the press release was ”Study improves outcomes for patients undergoing chest wall surgery”. LINK
Congratulations to Dr. Harry Filippakis on receiving a one-year Biosample Seed Grant titled “Identifying the tryptophan/kynurenine metabolic landscape in TSC” from the NationalTuberousSclerosisAssociation.
Congratulations to Dr. Doug Spicer on the publishing of the first edition of his new textbook titled “Biochemistry Behind the Symptoms.”
SEPTEMBER 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Ling Cao on being awarded an NIH R01 award, titled “HIV Tat-associated Sensory Neuropathy and the Contribution of Toll-like Receptor Pathway.”
AUGUST 2023:Dr. Ian Meng (and his lab) were featured on News Center Maine, Morning Report, on August 9, 2023 discussing his research program seeking to find a cause and treatment for ocular pain. LINK
JULY 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Ling Cao on being awarded an NIH NNE-CTR UVM Subaward titled “Identification of gaps in care for patients with chronic pain through the establishment of a state-wide pain registry in Maine.” VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING IN THIS STUDY, PLEASE CLICK HEREFOR MORE INFORMATION.
JUNE 1, 2023: Welcome to Dr. Tyler Redway as a new faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Redway is a triple graduate of The Ohio State University, where he focused on teaching human anatomy to all levels of students and expanding the Division of Anatomy’s Anatomy Outreach Program. This program’s primary objective was to reach high school-level students in anatomy and physiology classrooms and provide them with a hands-on learning experience in the donor lab. These outreach sessions provide students with opportunities to learn about human anatomy outside of the textbook, interact with content experts, and learn about related education and career opportunities. Through this work, he found a passion for teaching and creating a safe space for more people to learn about the wonders of the human body. His research has focused on the presence and methods of existing Anatomy Educational Outreach Programs (AEOPs) in the United States and some of the impacts of the OSU AEOP on students’ interests and attitudes toward human anatomy. At UNE, he hopes to continue this work with the community so that he may expand our understanding of AEOPs, how they operate and impact our participants, and build resources for new and existing programs.
JUNE 1, 2023: Welcome to Dr. Geoffrey McCullen as a new faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Dr. McCullen is a fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon and a clinical anatomist. He is certified by the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery and is a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Educated at Williams College (BA, Chemistry), he received a United States Navy Health Professions Scholarship to attend the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, graduating with distinction. Dr. McCullen completed a surgical internship/residency (University of Texas Southwestern), an orthopedic residency (Dartmouth), and a spine fellowship (State University of New York). He then served on active duty as the chief of spine surgery, director of research and orthopedic faculty member at the Naval Medical San Diego and the University of California San Diego before establishing a multidisciplinary spine private practice in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1999. In 2013, Dr. McCullen earned a Master of Healthcare Delivery Science at Dartmouth College, Tuck School of Business. In 2014, he founded OneHealth Nebraska, an independent physician association with more than 300 members. In 2017, Dr. McCullen moved to Maine and joined the VA serving veterans with orthopedic and spine problems. He has served as the Surgical Preceptor for medical students and the Chief of Orthopedics at VA Maine.
MARCH 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Katie Becker on being selected as the Biomedical Science Faculty Designated Hooder at COM’s graduation ceremony in May.
JANUARY 26, 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Ian Meng on being a featured speaker on Maine Science Festival’s “Maine Science” podcast (link here).
FEBRUARY 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Derek Molliver on being awarded an NIH R01 award, titled “Mitochondrial regulation of nociceptor function.”
DECEMBER 19, 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Ling Cao on being a featured speaker on NPR’s “Academic Minute” podcast (link here).
DECEMBER 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Luis Queme on being awarded an NIH R21 award, titled “Chronic stress induces neuroimmune modulated primary muscle afferent sensitization.”
NOVEMBER 2022: Welcome to Dr. Luis Queme as a new faculty member in the Department of Biomedical Sciences. He received his MD from Francisco Marroquin University, School of Medicine (Guatemala City, Guatemala) and his PhD from the Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine (Nagoya, Japan). He comes to us from the Pain Management Lab, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH).
OCTOBER2022: IN THE NEWS – Dr. Ian Meng – Dr. Meng was featured on CBS13 WGME (link here) and in the Portland Press Herald (link here).
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: IN THE NEWS – Dr. Diana Goode – Dr. Goode was featured on a number of Maine news outlets such as News Center Maine (link here), CBS13 WGME (link here), FOX23 News (link here), and the Portland Press Herald (link here) regarding her new R01 award.
SEPTEMBER 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Ian Meng on being awarded an NIH U01 award titled “Central and peripheral mechanisms of corneal pain.”
SEPTEMBER 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Kerry Tucker on being awarded an NIH R21 award titled “Role of nociceptor primary cilia in inflammatory and neuropathic pain.”
AUGUST 12, 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Diana Goode for being awarded a 5-year NIH R01 grant titled “Novel expression of MHC class II on DRG neurons and its role in promoting antinociceptive CD4+ T cells in females during chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.”
JULY 1, 2022: Welcome to new faculty member, Dr. Harry Filippakis, to the Department of Biomedical Sciences. He received his PhD in Cellular and Genetic Etiology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Human Disease, from the University of Crete Medical School (Heraklion, Crete, Greece). He comes to us from the Pulmonary & Critical Care Unit in the Department of Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Boston, MA).
June 2, 2022: Dr. David Mokler gave the plenary lecture at the Psychedelic Summit at O’Cannabiz in Toronto, Canada on June 2, 2022. The lecture was titled “Psychedelic Medicine: What we know, What we don’t know, What we need to know.”
NOVEMBER 24, 2021: IN THE NEWS – The work of Joel Talsma, MS (and others) on the fascia plastination project was unveiled in Germany with Body Worlds – https://bodyworlds.com/exhibitions/events/
JULY 1, 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Karen Houseknecht for being awarded a 5-year NIH R01 grant, as a Co-I, for work titled “Development of Hsp90 Isoform-Selective Inhibitors as a Novel Opioid Dose-Reduction Therapy” with the University of Arizona (PI: J Streicher).
JUNE 1, 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Karen Houseknecht for being awarded a 5-year NIH R01 grant, as a Co-I, for work titled “A novel cell-autonomous role for beta-adrenergic receptor signaling in osteoclasts” with MMCRI (PI: KL Motyl).
FEBRUARY 10, 2021: Congratulations to Dr. Meghan May for being awarded a 3-year NIH P20 grant, as a Co-I, for work titled “COBRE in Acute Care Research and Rural Disparities” with MMCRI (PI: D Sawyer).
OCTOBER 2, 2020: The Department of Biomedical Sciences has been continuing its mission of educating medical students and continuing to perform research and scholarship during the current COVID-19 pandemic. The departmental faculty have pivoted to provide our students with their curriculum through both synchronous and asynchronous learning opportunities. While the pandemic has hit all facets of our lives, the faculty truly miss the in-person interactions with students that have been a cornerstone of our educational mission in the department and in the COM. Departmental faculty also continue to pursue research, albeit in a limited and physically-distanced capacity, with even some laboratories (including Drs. Houseknecht, May, Tucker, Vaughn) shifting part of their research focus towards understanding SARS-CoV-2. As a whole, the faculty are anxiously waiting for the return of “normalcy” to the campus, so as to reignite our community once again. Lastly, in an effort to extend our departmental reach across the campus and the world, we have launched a new Departmental website (still in part under construction).
