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13th Annual Merkel Cell Carcinoma Dinner

On September 10, 2018 in Seattle, over 280 patients, family members, clinicians, scientists, and trainees from across the United States gathered for the 13th annual Merkel cell carcinoma Dinner Meeting. They enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner, music, lab tours and a presentation…

12th Annual Merkel cell Carcinoma Dinner Meeting

On September 11, 2017 in Seattle, over 260 patients, family members, clinicians, scientists, and trainees from across the United States gathered for the 12th annual Merkel cell carcinoma Dinner Meeting. They enjoyed a lovely buffet dinner, music, lab tours and a presentation…

Undergraduate Research Symposium

UW’s Undergraduate Research Symposium 5/20/16. Explaining MCC research to people who have never heard of Merkel cell carcinoma was fun and challenging! Jamil and Hannah (PN Lab Members) shown above

Congratulations, Kaifeng Hung!

Kaifeng Hung (a PhD candidate in Oral Biology) successfully completed his Doctoral Dissertation Defense. "Distinct effects of the two major types of UV-induced DNA lesions on DNA damage responses"

Congratulations, Olga Afanasiev!

Olga Afanasiev defended her thesis entitled, "Merkel cell polyomavirus-specific T cell responses, immune evasion mechanisms & immune therapy in Merkel cell carcinoma" on April 5, 2013. She will have derived 8 original publications (4 first/co-first author, 4 contributing author) and…

35th Hawaii Dermatology Seminar

Paul Nghiem discusses the good and bad of UV radiation in a talk at the 35th Hawaii Dermatology Seminar put on by the Skin Disease Education Foundation . A link to a video of the presentation is available here.

Possible rationale for caffeine’s UV protective effects

Drs. Paul Nghiem, Masoki Kawasumi and Tim Heffernan publish a possible rationale for caffeine's UV protective effects: “ATR–Chk1 Pathway Inhibition Promotes Apoptosis after UV Treatment in Primary Human Keratinocytes: Potential Basis for the UV Protective Effects of Caffeine” Press coverage…

Miranda Schmidt joins the lab

Miranda Schmidt joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant.  Miranda has a Junior class standing at the University of Washington where she is majoring in Biochemistry.

Sherry Lee joins the lab

Sherry Lee joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant.  Sherry has Junior class standing at the University of Washington where she is majoring in Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Biology.   Sherry also studies traditional and modern Chinese.

Renee Thibodeau joins the lab.

Renee Thibodeau joins the lab as a research assistant.  She moved to Seattle after graduating from Whitman College in 2007 with a BA in Biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology. Renee skied NCAA for Whitman and is now enjoy volunteering for…

Ashley Warcola joins the lab

Ashley Warcola joins the lab as a research assistant. She is returning to Seattle after graduating from the University of Portland and spending a year in a physiology lab at OHSU. She has projects on both the replication checkpoint and…

Erin Higgins joins the lab.

Erin Higgins joins the lab as an undergraduate lab assistant. She is a student at the University of Washington, where she is pursuing degrees in Microbiology and Spanish.

Kelly Garneski joins the lab.

Kelly Garneski, an MSTP student, joined the lab for the summer and chose the Nghiem lab for her PhD thesis work. She has extensive research experience and will be studying the biology of Merkel Cell Carcinoma.

Bianca Lemos joins the lab

Bianca Lemos, MD, joins the lab after completing her Medicine internship at the University of Washington. She will be focusing on the effect of inhibiting the replication checkpoint on UV-induced carcinogenesis and will participate in maintaining the Merkel cell carcinoma…

The Nghiem Lab moves to Seattle

Dr. Nghiem moves his lab to the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Kawasumi will join him in Seattle in the Fall, and Dr. Heffernan will remain a part of the lab but will physically remain in Boston. New…

Merkel Cell Carcinoma website launched

This website will serve as a unique resource for Merkell cell carcinoma patients and their physicians. Written and conceived together with Sheela Gupta and Linda Wang and implemented by Digizyme, Inc. Click here to view website.

A key role for ATR in HIV biology

In an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Vicente Planelle's laboratory, ATR has been shown to play a key role in the cellular response to HIV-1 infection in two papers. [MCB 200] & [JBL 203]

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