Antiviral immunity, obesity and pulmonary fibrosis will be discussed by three Vanderbilt University researchers during a Cutting-Edge Discovery Lecture on Nov. 21. The lecture will begin at 4 p.m. in 208 Light Hall.
The speakers and their topics include:
- John Karijolich, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, “RNA Processing in Antiviral Immunity;”
- Ashley Shoemaker, MD, MSCI, assistant professor of Pediatrics, “Insights from Rare Obesity Disorders;” and
- Jonathan Kropski, MD, assistant professor of Medicine and Cell and Developmental Biology, “Single-cell Insights into Lung Epithelial Remodeling in Pulmonary Fibrosis.”
Karijolich was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at both Rutgers University and the University of California, Berkeley.
He was selected as a 2018 Pew Biomedical Scholar and a 2019 American Cancer Society Research Scholar. Karijolich studies the molecular biology of virus-induced cancers and RNA-based mechanisms of antiviral and antitumor immunity.
Shoemaker completed a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University and a fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at Vanderbilt.
An internationally recognized expert in hypothalamic and genetic obesity, she directs a clinical program in pediatric prediabetes/Type 2 diabetes and sees patients in a multi-specialty Prader-Willi syndrome clinic. Shoemaker conducts translational research on the pathophysiology and treatment of obesity disorders.
Kropski completed his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in pulmonary/critical care medicine at Vanderbilt. He directs the Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic at the Nashville VA Medical Center.
Kropski uses genetic, genomic and single-cell based technologies, as well as innovative primary cell and animal models, to investigate the molecular mechanisms driving the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis.
Part of the Flexner Discovery Lecture series, their talks are sponsored by the Offices of the Executive Vice President for Research and the Dean of Basic Sciences in the School of Medicine.
For a complete schedule of the Flexner Discovery Lecture series and archived video of previous lectures, go to www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/discoveryseries.