Department announces grants, publications

Department researchers have been awarded two grants. In addition, our researchers’ work has generated nearly 30 manuscript publications.

New grants:

PI: Scott A. Koepsell
Funder: Biokit Research and Development, SLU
Title: Multi-Site Management study for collection of samples from subjects suspected of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) for a D-dimer clinical study: B0082-H2025
Amount: $132,374 (direct)

PI: Peyton Vanwinkle
Funder: Instrumentation Laboratory
Title: Coxiella burnetii Modulates Host Signaling and Metabolism Through Lipid Droplet Remodeling
American Heart Association – National Post-doctoral training award, 1/1/26 – 12/31/27
Amount: $159,160 (direct)

New publications (December 2025-current):

Whole blood becomes increasingly susceptible to tPA-mediated fibrinolysis with storage.

Maginot ER, Barmettler NK, Moore EE, Moore HB, Gawargi FI, White CM, Hiser DC, Sextro KS, Clegg AA, Moody TB, Volk GE, Goodman N, Bobr A, Henry R, Barrett CD. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 Dec 17. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004870. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41405435

High reliability Ag/Ni/NiO nanowire-based SERS for cancer detection: a study on breast cancer.

Hernandez Cedillo A, Mendez-Lozoya J, Hernandez Cedillo C, Bothwell ALM, Yacaman MJ. Nanoscale Adv. 2026 Jan 28. doi: 10.1039/d5na00890e. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41614090

Genomic characterization of a severe West Nile Virus transmission season using a single reaction amplicon sequencing approach.

Freed S Jr, Chandler S, Uhm S, Pella Z, Gurung D, Smith H, Dowdy T, Bartling AM, Butz A, Wiley MR, Broadhurst MJ, Stein S, McCutchen EL, Hamik J, Iwen PC, Downey N, Herzog KS, Fauver JR. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2026 Jan 21;20(1):e0013931. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0013931. eCollection 2026 Jan. PMID: 41564144

Malignant craniopharyngiomas: Institutional experience and literature review.

Auen TJ, Zhang IW, Zhang W, Burr JM, Carda ML, Wisecarver JL, Shonka N, Cox JL, Cathcart SJ, Cushman-Vokoun A, Chen J. Brain Pathol. 2026 Jan 5:e70068. doi: 10.1111/bpa.70068. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41491589

Intracranial mesenchymal tumor, FET::CREB fusion-positive: an integrative analysis of 81 cases.

Rajan S, Chung HJ, Wu Z, Singh O, Dazelle K, Abdullaev Z, Tyagi M, Ferrone CK, Raffeld M, Lee I, Gagan J, Chen J, Cathcart S, Giannini C, Nguyen A, Gokden M, Perry A, Fernandes IL, Putnam AR, Kurek K, Green RM, Eberhart C, Lucas CH, Gonzalez-Gomez I, Lopez GY, Jones K, Prayson R, Yeaney G, Dermawan JKT, Chkheidze R, Appin C, Uhlmann EJ, Taliansky A, Blessing M, Mohila C, Cotter J, Deisch J, Andreiuolo F, Crawford JR, Mount C, Stemmer-Rachamimov AO, Lakis NS, Schmidt R, Chacko G, Newbury R, Neill S, Morales B, Fecher R, Sloan EA, Solomon DA, Nasrallah M, Quezado M, Fonseca A, Aldape K. Neuro Oncol. 2026 Jan 22:noag001. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noag001. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41569358

Disseminated Coccidiomycosis and Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia Coinfection: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Turner SN, Auen TJ, Yuil-Valdes AG, Iwen PC, Vogel DC, Cohen SM. Am J Forensic Med Pathol. 2025 Dec 10. doi: 10.1097/PAF.0000000000001109. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41366842

FEMA GRAS assessment of natural flavor complexes: Pepper, ginger, coniferous-derived and related flavoring ingredients.

Hecht SS, Cohen SM, Eisenbrand G, Fukushima S, Gooderham NJ, Guengerich FP, Rietjens IMCM, Rosol TJ, Davidsen JM, Harman CL, Taylor SV. Food Chem Toxicol. 2025 Dec 11:115849. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2025.115849. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41390051

Comprehensive review of octocrylene toxicology data and human exposure assessment for personal care products.

Norman KG, Kaufman LE, Griem P, D’Ruiz C, Loretz L, Kowcz A, Cohen SM, Scialli AR, Boobis AR, Jacobson-Kram D, Schoeny R, Rosol TJ, Williams GM, Kaminski NE, Guengerich FP, Nash JF. Crit Rev Toxicol. 2025;55(9):890-915. doi: 10.1080/10408444.2025.2593603. Epub 2026 Jan 5. PMID: 41489640

Response to the Letter from Professor C. R. Wolf and colleagues concerning CRT, 55: 549-586, 2025: The modes of action for rodent liver tumor formation by activators of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and the peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα) are not relevant to human cancer risk: an updated critical evaluation.

Yamada T, Cohen SM, Lake BG. Crit Rev Toxicol. 2026 Jan 19:1-6. doi: 10.1080/10408444.2025.2601198. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41552913

An ultra-long-acting dimeric bictegravir prodrug defined by a short pharmacokinetic tail.

Nayan MU, Sillman B, Das S, Hanson BW, Sultana A, Le NTH, Deodhar S, Gowda B, Dash PK, Agrawal S, Dash AK, Cohen SM, Zhang C, Gendelman HE, Edagwa B. Nat Commun. 2026 Jan 21. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-68501-5. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41565650

NR4A2 induces perineural invasion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma via CXCL5/CXCR2 signaling axis.

Chaudhary S, Appadurai MI, Ganguly K, Pothuraju R, Wang HJ, Cox JL, Lele SM, Nasser MW, Lakshmanan I, Macha MA, Batra SK, Ganti AK. Cancer Lett. 2026 Jan 22;641:218269. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2026.218269. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41580014

Dideoxy Sequencing Enhances Detection of KIT Mutations in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Initially Evaluated by Next-Generation Sequencing Hotspot Panels.

Robinson L, Rapp S, Zhang W, Pope J, Cushman-Vokoun AM. J Mol Diagn. 2025 Dec 18:S1525-1578(25)00294-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jmoldx.2025.11.005. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41421496

Key regulatory roles of PRDM1 in human NK-cell differentiation and activation.

Liu X, Shi Y, Zhang J, Shetty K, Chew K, Küçük C, Gong Q, Esmeray E, Li H, Chen R, Pan S, Dąbrowska K, Moore RE, Garcia-Mansfield K, Pirrotte P, Wang J, Li Y, Dong G, Lee L, McKeithan TW, Iqbal J, Chan WC. Leukemia. 2026 Jan;40(1):199-210. doi: 10.1038/s41375-025-02815-z. Epub 2025 Dec 9. PMID: 41366532

Gene expression profiling reveals two overarching types of ALCL with distinct targetable biology: an LLMPP study.

Feldman AL, Dasari S, Rimsza LM, Scott DW, Oishi N, Hu G, Farinha P, Amador C, Campo E, Chan WC, Cook JR, Delabie J, Fu K, Greiner TC, Hilton LK, Inghirami GG, Iqbal J, Jaffe ES, Morin R, Ondrejka SL, Ott G, Pittaluga S, Raess PW, Rosenwald A, Savage KJ, Slack GW, Slager SL, Song JY, Wright G, Wang HW, Zeng Y, Yoshino T, Wu X, Wilcox RA, Wang X, Shi M, Satou A, Perry AM, Miranda RN, Medeiros LJJ, Maurer MJ, Mou E, Ko YH, Karube K, Kahl BS, Jiang L, Jaye DL, Gru A, de Leval LL, Chen W, Chapman JR, Cerhan JR, Barrionuevo C, Ansell SM, Aljudi A. Blood. 2025 Nov 21:blood.2024027700. doi: 10.1182/blood.2024027700. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41329859

Advancing the Classification of Hematolymphoid Neoplasms Together: For Patients, Medicine, and Science.

Hasserjian RP, Khoury JD, Bueso-Ramos CE, Dirnhofer S, Lokuhetty D, Ponzoni M. Blood. 2026 Jan 2:blood.2025030689. doi: 10.1182/blood.2025030689. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41481391

Corrigendum to “Aleukemic Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Without Neutrophilia and Thrombocytosis: A Report From the BCR::ABL1 Pathology Group” [Modern Pathology. 2024;37(2):100406].

Rivera D, Cui W, Gao J, Peker D, Zhang QY, Dewar R, Qiu L, Konoplev S, Hu Z, Sasaki K, Hu AY, Shuyu E, Liu M, Fang H, Wang W, Tang G, Apperley JF, Hochhaus A, Cortes JE, Khoury JD, Medeiros LJ, Jabbour E, Hu S. Mod Pathol. 2026 Jan 9;39(2):100952. doi: 10.1016/j.modpat.2025.100952. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41518888

Methicillin-resistant and susceptible Staphylococcus aureus: tolerance, immune evasion and treatment.

Parsons JB, Mourad A, Conlon BP, Kielian T, Fowler VG Jr. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2026 Feb;24(2):127-145. doi: 10.1038/s41579-025-01226-2. Epub 2025 Aug 20. PMID: 40835978

Differential sensitivity of leukocyte populations to Staphylococcus aureus biofilm.

Brandquist ND, Kielian T. Infect Immun. 2026 Jan 29:e0065425. doi: 10.1128/iai.00654-25. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41609497

Targeting the DDX3/PAF1 Axis Enhances Chemotherapy Efficacy in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.

Nallasamy P, Seshacharyulu P, Rauth S, Shah A, Marimuthu S, Varadharaj V, Bommideni M, Mallya K, Alsafwani ZW, Lele SM, Raman V, Batra SK, Ponnusamy MP. Cancer Lett. 2026 Jan 23:218276. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2026.218276. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41581643

Microsurgical Trapping, Flow Diversion and Early Chemotherapy for a Ruptured Neoplastic Middle Cerebral Artery Aneurysm Secondary to Choriocarcinoma.

Patel KR, Sattur MG, Surdell DL, Thorell WE, Alvarez CM, Rodabaugh KJ, Lele SM, Borg N. Neurosurg Pract. 2026 Feb 2;7(1):e000198. doi: 10.1227/neuprac.0000000000000198. eCollection 2026 Mar. PMID: 41630888

Dr. Sara E. Monaco: A Mentor Extraordinaire Who Changed Cytopathology in Rural Pennsylvania by “Making It the Best”.

Lynn TJ. Diagn Cytopathol. 2025 Dec 4. doi: 10.1002/dc.70066. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41340516

The Need for Standardization of PRAME Immunohistochemistry in Melanocytic Neoplasms.

Sullivan CM, DiMaio D, Lauer S, Pradhan D, Youngs J, Samson K, Georgesen CJ. Dermatopathology (Basel). 2025 Dec 31;13(1):5. doi: 10.3390/dermatopathology13010005. PMID: 41562714

Primary Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Genitourinary System: Two Rare Examples of Testicular and Renal Neuroendocrine Tumors with Clinicopathologic and Molecular Findings.

Manzo R, Renavikar PS, Cushman-Vokoun A, Wagner DG, Lele SM. Int J Surg Pathol. 2026 Feb;34(1):162-168. doi: 10.1177/10668969251350265. Epub 2025 Jul 7. PMID: 40620063

Inhalable perfluorocarbon RNA nanocapsules overcome biological barriers to treat lung metastases.

Siddhanta K, Kumari N, Sundar A, Monirvaghefi A, Pinkerton BR, Ding L, Woslager CJ, Kalpana MA, Jogdeo CM, Ravnholdt AR, Poole JA, Santarpia JL, Talmadge JE, Oupický D. J Control Release. 2025 Dec 23;391:114570. doi: 10.1016/j.jconrel.2025.114570. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41448440

Unlocking the Power of CXCR2 Inhibition to Overcome Gemcitabine Resistance in Pancreatic Cancer.

Molczyk C, Sturgeon R, Saxena S, Johnson E, Bhatia R, Bhyravbhatla N, Kumar S, Batra SK, Singh RK. FASEB Bioadv. 2026 Jan 11;8(1):e70086. doi: 10.1096/fba.2025-00265. eCollection 2026 Jan. PMID: 41531487

Longitudinal human transcriptomic and spatial gene profiling at the incisional edge during long surgical procedures.

Sapio MR, Li E, Domenichiello AF, Goto T, Maric D, Manalo AP, Williams TS, Tadros S, Hernandez JM, Schrump DS, Davis JL, Blakely AM, Iadarola MJ, Mannes AJ. Commun Biol. 2025 Dec 22. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-09366-0. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41430435

Challenges and approaches in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of atypical CLL: A response to ‘Defining atypical CLL for reproducible diagnosis: Implications of the work by Wang et al.’.

Wang WJ, Wang SA, Fang H, Wei Q, Jorgensen JL, Hu S, Xu J, Li S, Tang G, Tang Z, Medeiros LJ, Wang W. Cytometry B Clin Cytom. 2025 Dec 17. doi: 10.1002/cytob.70003. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41406113

One-Step Design of Potent and Nonhemolytic Antimicrobial Peptides by Using a Database-Guided, Nonmachine Learning Approach.

Mechesso AF, Nair AR, Wang G. ACS Infect Dis. 2026 Jan 20. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.5c01022. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41558672

Improving Diagnostic Precision in Thyroid Pathology by Synergistic Use of AI and Molecular Markers.

Azad S, Turangi SA, Patel A, Fingeret A, Yuil-Valdes A, Thomas J, Kotwal A. Endocr Pract. 2026 Feb 3:S1530-891X(26)00774-3. doi: 10.1016/j.eprac.2026.01.750. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41643814

Proinflammatory GSDMD activation in live macrophages and DLBCL cells marks cognate interactions and better prognosis.

Kong X, Xu-Monette ZY, Xu Z, Hsi E, Zhao X, Yan H, Nunns H, Au K, Visco C, Tzankov A, Dybkaer K, Yao S, Wu D, Wang C, Xu AM, Pan Z, Parsons BM, Chiu A, Tam W, Montes-Moreno S, Zhan F, Bernal-Mizrachi L, Zu Y, Zhang S, Møller MB, Chen W, Au Q, Merchant AA, Bhagat G, Li Y, Young KH. Blood Adv. 2025 Dec 4:bloodadvances.2025017643. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2025017643. Online ahead of print. PMID: 41346287