The Department of Biological Sciences is very excited to welcome our four new assistant professors: Drs. Tara LeGates, Achuth Padmanabhan, Laurie Sutton, and Fernando Vonhoff.
Dr. Tara LeGates
Tara is no stranger to the Baltimore area. After receiving her undergraduate degree from Rider University (Lawerenceville, NJ), she attended Johns Hopkins University for her Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular, and Developmental Biology and Biophysics ,and has spent the last couple years as a post-doc at the University of Maryland, School of Medicine. Her research is interested in the neuronal circuits that regulate behavior and how this circuitry changes in disorders like depression.
Dr. Achuth Padmanabhan ’12
An alumni of UMBC’s graduate program, Achuth returns to UMBC after two post-docs at Yale University and Baylor College of Medicine. His lab will focus on understanding how ovarian cancer develops and progresses to a lethal metastatic disease, and work on understanding factors that contribute in this process. Another area of focus in the lab will be to identify new therapeutic targets and develop novel strategies to treat this deadly disease.
Achuth just received a two-year grant from the Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer, a private foundation that supports ovarian cancer research, and was named their 2019-2021 Skacel Family Scholar.
Dr. Laurie Sutton
Laurie obtained her Ph.D. in Anatomy and Cell Biology from the University of Western Ontario. She traded the cold of Canada for the Florida sun during her postdoctoral studies in the Dr. Kirill Martemyanov Lab at The Scripps Research Institute. There, she continued her interest in cell signaling by identifying those events responsible for shaping mood and stress responses by tapping into the uncharted biology of orphan receptors. With over 100 orphan receptors whose cognate ligands are unknown and their physiological function remaining largely a mystery, there is a lot of discovery still to be made. Her lab will continue to study orphan receptors that are highly expressed in the brain to determine their physiological function, which may hold promise of therapeutic targets.
Dr. Fernando Vonhoff
Fernando has been with the Department of Biological Sciences since December 2017 as part of UMBC’s pre-professoriate fellowship program. He is now an assistant professor!
Fernando received his undergraduate degree from the Free University of Berlin (Germany) and Ph.D. from Arizona State University. His research is interested in brain development and function, using fruit flies as a model to study human neurological diseases. Since arriving at UMBC, Fernando has mentored several graduate students and more than 15 undergraduate students.
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Hi!
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Contact 443-847-4833 if interested. Thanks!
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While it’s not the same as attending in person, if you enjoy watching UMBC basketball or Commencement live online, soon you might also be able to watch other major campus events in the same way. In addition, like many of UMBC’s ESPN+ broadcasts now, most of the production crews will likely be staffed by UMBC students and young alums.
Through a competitive procurement process facilitated by UMBC Procurement & Strategic Sourcing over the summer, the University recently selected VPC, Inc. of Reisterstown, Maryland, to provide high definition (HD), live stream broadcast capabilities across campus. Over the past three years, the firm had partnered with UMBC Athletics, DoIT and Media & Communications Studies (MCS) to provide video production services, primarily for the broadcast of basketball games on ESPN+. UMBC Athletics and DoIT collaborated to solicit a partner with a shared strategic vision to expand live streaming beyond athletics, and continue the strong participation of UMBC students and young alums as production crew staff. The initial contract term with VPC, Inc. -- to be coordinated through DoIT’s New Media Studio -- is for three years, with optional renewals for up to an additional five years.
“VPC has been a strong campus partner for many years, having produced numerous commencements, alumni awards, anniversary celebrations and athletics events,” says Jack Suess, Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer (CIO). “We’re especially pleased to work with a partner so committed to higher education and training our students to work alongside industry professionals in live stream broadcasting.”
In addition to producing UMBC’s ESPN3 broadcasts, VPC, Inc. has provided production services for marquee events such as the AFL Arena Bowl, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby. VPC provides scoreboard production and engineering services for the United States Naval Academy and 3 NFL teams including the Ravens. In recent years, the firm has also “crossed over” into college and university commencements, capital campaign launches and alumni awards including involvement for the UMBC50 Celebration. Today, the firm routinely produces more than 250 events a year, with over 100 of them in live sports production. The University’s new contractual agreement with VPC also complements DoIT’s 2017 upgrade of the New Media Studio to HD.
“We couldn’t be happier to continue the campus partnership with UMBC,” says Eli Eisenberg, CEO of VPC, and a 1986 UMBC alum. “We’ve enjoyed working with Athletics and look forward to continue doing so under the relationship with DoIT for other major campus events. Regardless of the event or venue, our professional staff really enjoys working with students, and helping them grow their skillsets."
To learn more about the new HD live stream capabilities or to discuss a potential project, contact Dustin Roddy, manager of the New Media Studio, at 410.455.3214 or drod2@umbc.edu. ]]>