Accolades: Awards, honors and appointments September

Marissa Co named Simons Foundation Fellow

Marissa Co, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in Brian O’Roak’s lab within the OHSU School of Medicine, has acquired a Simons Foundation fellowship. She is certainly one of 9 recipients within the 2025 Fellows-to-Faculty class, supported by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative and the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain.

The Simons Foundation is highlighting Co’s undertaking, which focuses on resolving autism heterogeneity from transcription issue exercise to behavioral outcomes.

“This award will be vital to the launch of my independent research career studying the molecular mechanisms of heterogeneity in autism,” Co stated. “As future faculty, I am eager to pursue important questions in autism research and help train the next generation of scientists. I’m incredibly grateful to all my mentors, mentees, and the Simons Foundation for their trust and support.”

The Fellows-to-Faculty program helps early-career scientists as they start tenure-track or equal school roles in areas backed by the Simons Foundation’s Autism and Neuroscience division. It goals to nurture expertise and broaden the analysis neighborhood by supporting a various vary of scientists. The program was beforehand known as the Independence Awards.

Fellows obtain funding towards the tip of their postdoctoral careers and a $600,000 school analysis grant dedication over three years.

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OHSU consultants to assist lead analysis in NIH stillbirth initiative

The National Institutes of Health is taking a brand new step in addressing the essential challenge of stillbirth within the United States by launching the Stillbirth Research Consortium. This initiative goals to cut back the practically 24,000 stillbirth instances reported yearly, over 60% of which stay unexplained regardless of thorough investigations.

Karen Gibbins, M.D., M.S.C.I., an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology within the OHSU School of Medicine, and Leslie Myatt, Ph.D., a professor and the director of perinatal analysis on the NOURISH Research Center at OHSU, are main a major initiative geared toward stopping stillbirth. Their heart is certainly one of 4 analysis amenities concerned within the undertaking, which is able to examine the impacts of diet, power stress, cardiometabolic well being, and placental dysfunction to develop modern interventions.

“We are grateful that the NIH has determined to fund this essential consortium which addresses an oft-ignored public well being disaster,” Gibbins stated.

“Stillbirth is a devastating, typically life altering loss, and we’re honored to be a part of stopping it,” Myatt stated.

With funding exceeding $37 million over 5 years—pending availability of funds—the initiative additionally features a knowledge coordinating heart and has secured an extra $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NIH says the necessity for such analysis is urgent, as people who’ve skilled a stillbirth are practically 5 instances extra more likely to face one other stillbirth or being pregnant problems. Disparities additionally exist, with considerably greater stillbirth charges amongst Black, American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Alarmingly, roughly 40% of stillbirths that happen throughout labor and delivery are deemed probably preventable.

With the assist of the NIH, the NOURISH Research Center at OHSU is poised to make substantial contributions within the struggle in opposition to stillbirth, in the end fostering hope for affected households throughout the nation.

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James Frank lab publishes paper in Journal of American Chemical Society

The lab of James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical physiology and biochemistry within the OHSU School of Medicine and the Vollum Institute, had its newest work printed within the July challenge of the Journal of the American Chemical Society—a high journal of their area. The publication, “Real-Time Optical Control of CB1 Receptor Signaling In Vitro with Tethered Photoswitchable (−)-trans-Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Derivatives,” introduces the primary photoswitchable, orthogonal, remotely tethered THC ligand (PORTL-THC) that allows reversible, light-controlled activation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors with excessive spatial and temporal precision. The PORTL-THC anchors onto genetically encoded SNAP-tags on the cell floor, which permits real-time, absolutely reversible optical management of CB1 receptor signaling on cell surfaces.

This software opens the door to dissecting CB1 perform with unprecedented precision throughout numerous neural circuits and illness fashions. The examine leveraged a longtime collaboration between Frank’s lab and the lab of Erick Carreira, Ph.D., at ETH Zurich, a college in Switzerland.

Study lead creator and Frank lab graduate scholar Sarahi Garza helped get the publication throughout the end line.

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OHSU receives Murdock Trust Award

OHSU has received a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to purchase a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer, the Thermo Fisher Orbitrap Astral. The new technology, led by Andrew Emili, Ph.D., professor in oncological sciences within the OHSU School of Medicine, with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry, and a pacesetter in most cancers programs biology on the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, will increase OHSU’s capability to review proteins for early illness detection and precision drugs.

“This award from the Murdock Trust enables us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in proteomics,” Emili stated. “By integrating the Astral with our emerging spatial and single-cell pipelines, we can chart the molecular circuits that drive cancer and other diseases at unprecedented resolution. These new platform capabilities will transform how we intercept disease earlier, personalize patient care, and translate discoveries into new treatments.”

The instrument is predicted to be operational by spring 2026 and can assist cutting-edge analysis throughout most cancers and different disciplines at OHSU.

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The Gerontological Society of America awards Fellow standing to OHSU researchers

Ana R. Quiñones, Ph.D., professor of household drugs within the OHSU School of Medicine, and Allison Lindauer, PH.D., APRN, FGSA, affiliate professor of neurology within the OHSU School of Medicine, have been awarded GSA Fellow status by the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).

Fellow standing is peer recognition for excellent contributions to the sector of gerontology and represents the best class of GSA membership.

Lindauer and Quiñones shall be honored on the GSA’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, which shall be held Nov. 12 to fifteen in Boston.

GSA is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary scientific group devoted to analysis, schooling and follow within the area of getting older. It serves greater than 6,000 members in over 50 international locations.

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James Frank earns award from National Institute on Drug Abuse

James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical physiology and biochemistry within the OHSU School of Medicine and the Vollum Institute, in July was awarded $429,000 from the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse for the undertaking, “Illuminating tetrahydrocannabinol signaling in the brain’s reward circuitry with in vivo photopharmacology.”

The undertaking builds on the Frank lab’s ongoing work, validating the flexibility of photoswitchable THC analogs (azo-THC) and derivatives, which will be localized in cells or tissue by utilizing protein tags (PORTL-THC) to reversibly manipulate CBR signaling in cultured neurons and in vivo.

Frank beforehand developed an azo-THC that may be isomerized between lively and inactive configurations utilizing two completely different coloured lights. This permits THC exercise to be turned on and off in a reversible method. To improve azo-THC’s spatial precision, additionally they developed a THC photoswitch that may be focused to particular cells or membranes utilizing genetically encoded PORTL-THC.

While preliminary outcomes reveal the feasibility of those instruments to reversibly management THC exercise with gentle, their software has to this point been restricted to CBR-overexpressing cell strains. This undertaking will validate the utility of those optical instruments to modulate THC exercise in neurons after which map the native results of THC within the mesolimbic circuit throughout habits.

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Rosemary Falama named 2025 – 26 Copello Health Advocacy Fellow

Rosemary Falama, a graduate student in the OHSU School of Medicine, was selected by Doctors for America for this opportunity to build leadership and advocacy skills to improve the health of patients and communities. As a Copello Health Advocacy Fellow, she will join a national cohort of 16 physicians and physicians-in-training to learn and apply skills in advocacy, action planning, community engagement, legislative engagement, and media relations.

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James Frank speaks at CPDA conference

James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry in the OHSU School of Medicine, in August was a speaker at the Chemistry and Pharmacology of Drug Abuse Conference in Boston, which brings together top medicinal chemists and pharmacologists to present their recent findings. Dr. Frank was invited to give 20-minute talk about his lab’s work developing light-activatable cannabinoid ligands. The endocannabinoid system plays a central role in mood, cognition, motor function, and beyond—but studying it has long been limited by the inability to target specific CB1 receptor pools in live cells and tissues. Dr. Frank’s talk, “Chemical Biology Tools to Control Cannabinoid Signaling Pathways with Light,” discussed his lab’s work developing the first photoswitchable, orthogonal, remotely tethered THC ligand (PORTL-THC) that enables reversible, light-controlled activation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors with high spatial and temporal precision.

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Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Earns 2025 Gold Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support

Doernbecher Children’s Hospital has earned the 2025 Gold Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support, recognizing it as a Designated Gold Level Center of Excellence. It has received this distinction consecutively since 2013.

This award honors life support programs around the world that stand out for having strong systems that help provide excellent care for patients who need life support. At Doernbecher, this includes using ECMO and ECLS, which are treatments for patients whose heart or lungs are not working well, including babies, children and adults. ECMO and ECLS use a special machine that takes over the work of the heart and lungs to add oxygen to the blood and help the organs recover when they suddenly stop working. This gives the patient’s heart or lungs time to heal by moving and adding oxygen to the blood outside the body. Doernbecher’s ECMO program is a team effort, with many different specialists, nurses, therapists, coordinators, assistants, the rehab team, advanced care providers and doctors all working together to care for ECMO patients.

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Recognize team or individual achievements with OHSU Accolades

Every day, OHSU members do amazing things. We want to celebrate the significant achievements of OHSU members, units and programs, such as awards, grants, appointments, publications and public recognitions. We publish these announcements regularly on OHSU Now and OHSU News: Awards and Accomplishments to celebrate with all 27,000 of our members and our community. Nominate yourself, a colleague or any OHSU member using this Accolades Smartsheet form. Submissions shall be edited for size and readability.