JCI Editor’s update: Plan S, JCI Scholars, recent reviews, and more

Dear Colleague,

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of the JCI’s longstanding commitment to making all research articles available free of charge. The ASCI adopted this model in 1996 when the journal first went online, and all of our research content, from 1924 to the present, is publicly available. As ever more journals have created open access options, both researchers and funders have become involved in the conversation about publishing models and disseminating journal content. A coalition of European funders recently proposed requirements that research articles funded by their organizations be published in open access publications (see Free access to scientific publications: contrasting the JCI approach to Plan S). While details of Plan S are still emerging, I want to reaffirm the JCI’s continued support for free access for all to scientific research, a tradition that is also carried on in JCI Insight.

I would also like to highlight the JCI Scholars program, an initiative started by the current editorial board when our tenure began in 2017. The program provides physician-scientist trainees a unique opportunity to participate in manuscript evaluation and better understand the peer review and publishing process. We’ve recently expanded the program to include medical fellows as well as MD/PhD students from Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland, and we have 8 new trainees participating in 2019. A Viewpoint article written by JCI Scholars who recently completed the program shares insights gained during their time shadowing the Editorial Board. I hope that their perspective might be useful to other young scientists in your lab as well. Read their article, as well as others in our Viewpoint series.

Sincerely,

Rexford S. Ahima, MD, PhD
Editor, The Journal of Clinical Investigation


Features for authors

Recent Review Series

ASCI members are indicated in bold.

Biology of familial cancer predisposition syndromes

Series edited by Mary Armanios and Agata Smogorzewska

Hypoxia, angiogenesis, and metabolism in the hereditary kidney cancers
John C. Chappell, Laura Beth Payne, and W. Kimryn Rathmell

PTEN-opathies: from biological insights to evidence-based precision medicine
Lamis Yehia, Joanne Ngeow, and Charis Eng

Misactivation of Hedgehog signaling causes inherited and sporadic cancers
David R. Raleigh and Jeremy F. Reiter

Transcription factor mutations as a cause of familial myeloid neoplasms
Jane E. Churpek and Emery H. Bresnick

Recently published Reviews

Corresponding authors who are ASCI members are indicated in bold.

Mitochondria, OxPhos, and neurodegeneration: cells are not just running out of gas
Estela Area-Gomez, Cristina Guardia-Laguarta, Eric A. Schon, and Serge Przedborski

Molecular imaging of fibrosis: recent advances and future directions
Sydney B. Montesi, Pauline Désogère, Bryan C. Fuchs, and Peter Caravan

Mixing old and young: enhancing rejuvenation and accelerating aging
Ashley Lau, Brian K. Kennedy, James L. Kirkland, and Stefan G. Tullius

Functional significance of the platelet immune receptors GPVI and CLEC-2
Julie Rayes, Steve P. Watson, and Bernhard Nieswandt

Selective tissue targeting of synthetic nucleic acid drugs
Punit P. Seth, Michael Tanowitz, and C. Frank Bennett

Autoimmune seizures and epilepsy
Christian Geis, Jesus Planagumà, Mar Carreño, Francesc Graus, and Josep Dalmau

Environmental exposures and mechanisms in allergy and asthma development
Liza Bronner Murrison, Eric B. Brandt, Jocelyn Biagini Myers, and Gurjit K. Khurana Hershey

Epithelial barrier repair and prevention of allergy
Elena Goleva, Evgeny Berdyshev, and Donald Y.M. Leung

Top-cited JCI research articles

Data from Scopus, February 25, 2019. Corresponding authors who are ASCI members are indicated in bold.

Host expression of PD-L1 determines efficacy of PD-L1 pathway blockade–mediated tumor regression
Heng Lin, Shuang Wei, Elaine M. Hurt, Michael D. Green, Lili Zhao, Linda Vatan, Wojciech Szeliga, Ronald Herbst, Paul W. Harms, Leslie A. Fecher, Pankaj Vats, Arul M. Chinnaiyan, Christopher D. Lao, Theodore S. Lawrence, Max Wicha, Junzo Hamanishi, Masaki Mandai, Ilona Kryczek, and Weiping Zou
Times cited: 28

PD-L1 on host cells is essential for PD-L1 blockade–mediated tumor regression
Haidong Tang, Yong Liang, Robert A. Anders, Janis M. Taube, Xiangyan Qiu, Aditi Mulgaonkar, Xin Liu, Susan M. Harrington, Jingya Guo, Yangchun Xin, Yahong Xiong, Kien Nham, William Silvers, Guiyang Hao, Xiankai Sun, Mingyi Chen, Raquibul Hannan, Jian Qiao, Haidong Dong, Hua Peng, and Yang-Xin Fu
Times cited: 25

Mucus plugs in patients with asthma linked to eosinophilia and airflow obstruction
Eleanor M. Dunican, Brett M. Elicker, David S. Gierada, Scott K. Nagle, Mark L. Schiebler, John D. Newell, Wilfred W. Raymond, Marrah E. Lachowicz-Scroggins, Selena Di Maio, Eric A. Hoffman, Mario Castro, Sean B. Fain, Nizar N. Jarjour, Elliot Israel, Bruce D. Levy, Serpil C. Erzurum, Sally E. Wenzel, Deborah A. Meyers, Eugene R. Bleecker, Brenda R. Phillips, David T. Mauger, Erin D. Gordon, Prescott G. Woodruff, Michael C. Peters, John V. Fahy, and The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP)
Times cited: 22

Early B cell changes predict autoimmunity following combination immune checkpoint blockade
Rituparna Das, Noffar Bar, Michelle Ferreira, Aaron M. Newman, Lin Zhang, Jithendra Kini Bailur, Antonella Bacchiocchi, Harriet Kluger, Wei Wei, Ruth Halaban, Mario Sznol, Madhav V. Dhodapkar, and Kavita M. Dhodapkar
Times cited: 19

Latent HIV reservoirs exhibit inherent resistance to elimination by CD8+ T cells
Szu-Han Huang, Yanqin Ren, Allison S. Thomas, Dora Chan, Stefanie Mueller, Adam R. Ward, Shabnum Patel, Catherine M. Bollard, Conrad Russell Cruz, Sara Karandish, Ronald Truong, Amanda B. Macedo, Alberto Bosque, Colin Kovacs, Erika Benko, Alicja Piechocka-Trocha, Hing Wong, Emily Jeng, Douglas F. Nixon, Ya-Chi Ho, Robert F. Siliciano, Bruce D. Walker, and R. Brad Jones
Times cited: 18

Hepatitis B virus–specific T cells associate with viral control upon nucleos(t)ide-analogue therapy discontinuation
Laura Rivino, Nina Le Bert, Upkar S. Gill, Kamini Kunasegaran, Yang Cheng, Damien Z.M. Tan, Etienne Becht, Navjyot K. Hansi, Graham R. Foster, Tung-Hung Su, Tai-Chung Tseng, Seng Gee Lim, Jia-Horng Kao, Evan W. Newell, Patrick T.F. Kennedy, and Antonio Bertoletti
Times cited: 17

JAK1/2 inhibition with baricitinib in the treatment of autoinflammatory interferonopathies
Gina A. Montealegre Sanchez, Adam Reinhardt, Suzanne Ramsey, Helmut Wittkowski, Philip J. Hashkes, Yackov Berkun, Susanne Schalm, Sara Murias, Jason A. Dare, Diane Brown, Deborah L. Stone, Ling Gao, Thomas Klausmeier, Dirk Foell, Adriana A. de Jesus, Dawn C. Chapelle, Hanna Kim, Samantha Dill, Robert A. Colbert, Laura Failla, Bahar Kost, Michelle O’Brien, James C. Reynolds, Les R. Folio, Katherine R. Calvo, Scott M. Paul, Nargues Weir, Alessandra Brofferio, Ariane Soldatos, Angelique Biancotto, Edward W. Cowen, John J. Digiovanna, Massimo Gadina, Andrew J. Lipton, Colleen Hadigan, Steven M. Holland, Joseph Fontana, Ahmad S. Alawad, Rebecca J. Brown, Kristina I. Rother, Theo Heller, Kristina M. Brooks, Parag Kumar, Stephen R. Brooks, Meryl Waldman, Harsharan K. Singh, Volker Nickeleit, Maria Silk, Apurva Prakash, Jonathan M. Janes, Seza Ozen, Paul G. Wakim, Paul A. Brogan, William L. Macias, and Raphaela Goldbach-Mansky
Times cited: 15

Influenza-specific lung-resident memory T cells are proliferative and polyfunctional and maintain diverse TCR profiles
Angela Pizzolla, Thi H.O. Nguyen, Sneha Sant, Jade Jaffar, Tom Loudovaris, Stuart I. Mannering, Paul G. Thomas, Glen P. Westall, Katherine Kedzierska, and Linda M. Wakim
Times cited: 15

Insulin resistance causes inflammation in adipose tissue
Mitsugu Shimobayashi, Verena Albert, Bettina Woelnerhanssen, Irina C. Frei, Diana Weissenberger, Anne Christin Meyer-Gerspach, Nicolas Clement, Suzette Moes, Marco Colombi, Jerome A. Meier, Marta M. Swierczynska, Paul Jenö, Christoph Beglinger, Ralph Peterli, and Michael N. Hall
Times cited: 14

Specialized fibroblast differentiated states underlie scar formation in the infarcted mouse heart
Xing Fu, Hadi Khalil, Onur Kanisicak, Justin G. Boyer, Ronald J. Vagnozzi, Bryan D. Maliken, Michelle A. Sargent, Vikram Prasad, Iñigo Valiente-Alandi, Burns C. Blaxall, and Jeffery D. Molkentin
Times cited: 13

CD163+ macrophages promote angiogenesis and vascular permeability accompanied by inflammation in atherosclerosis
Liang Guo, Hirokuni Akahori, Emanuel Harari, Samantha L. Smith, Rohini Polavarapu, Vinit Karmali, Fumiyuki Otsuka, Rachel L. Gannon, Ryan E. Braumann, Megan H. Dickinson, Anuj Gupta, Audrey L. Jenkins, Michael J. Lipinski, Johoon Kim, Peter Chhour, Paul S. de Vries, Hiroyuki Jinnouchi, Robert Kutys, Hiroyoshi Mori, Matthew D. Kutyna, Sho Torii, Atsushi Sakamoto, Cheol Ung Choi, Qi Cheng, Megan L. Grove, Mariem A. Sawan, Yin Zhang, Yihai Cao, Frank D. Kolodgie, David P. Cormode, Dan E. Arking, Eric Boerwinkle, Alanna C. Morrison, Jeanette Erdmann, Nona Sotoodehnia, Renu Virmani, and Aloke V. Finn
Times cited: 13

Recent articles with ASCI members as corresponding authors

Neutrophil extracellular trap production contributes to pathogenesis in SIV-infected nonhuman primates
Ranjit Sivanandham, Egidio Brocca-Cofano, Noah Krampe, Elizabeth Falwell, Sindhuja Murali Kilapandal Venkatraman, Ruy M. Ribeiro, Cristian Apetrei, and Ivona Pandrea

Kidney-infiltrating T cells in murine lupus nephritis are metabolically and functionally exhausted
Jeremy S. Tilstra, Lyndsay Avery, Ashley V. Menk, Rachael A. Gordon, Shuchi Smita, Lawrence P. Kane, Maria Chikina, Greg M. Delgoffe, and Mark J. Shlomchik

The two-pore domain potassium channel TREK-1 mediates cardiac fibrosis and diastolic dysfunction
Dennis M. Abraham, Teresa E. Lee, Lewis J. Watson, Lan Mao, Gurangad Chandok, Hong-Gang Wang, Stephan Frangakis, Geoffrey S. Pitt, Svati H. Shah, Matthew J. Wolf, and Howard A. Rockman

Super-enhancers maintain renin-expressing cell identity and memory to preserve multi-system homeostasis
Maria Florencia Martinez, Silvia Medrano, Evan A. Brown, Turan Tufan, Stephen Shang, Nadia Bertoncello, Omar Guessoum, Mazhar Adli, Brian C. Belyea, Maria Luisa S. Sequeira-Lopez, and R. Ariel Gomez

Interaction between smoking and ATG16L1T300A triggers Paneth cell defects in Crohn’s disease
Ta-Chiang Liu, Justin T. Kern, Kelli L. VanDussen, Shanshan Xiong, Gerard E. Kaiko, Craig B. Wilen, Michael W. Rajala, Roberta Caruso, Michael J. Holtzman, Feng Gao, Dermot P.B. McGovern, Gabriel Nunez, Richard D. Head, and Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck

SMAD4 promotes TGF-β–independent NK cell homeostasis and maturation and antitumor immunity
Youwei Wang, Jianhong Chu, Ping Yi, Wejuan Dong, Jennifer Saultz, Yufeng Wang, Hongwei Wang, Steven Scoville, Jianying Zhang, Lai-Chu Wu, Youcai Deng, Xiaoming He, Bethany Mundy-Bosse, Aharon G. Freud, Li-Shu Wang, Michael A. Caligiuri, and Jianhua Yu

Loss of placental growth factor ameliorates maternal hypertension and preeclampsia in mice
Jacqueline G. Parchem, Keizo Kanasaki, Megumi Kanasaki, Hikaru Sugimoto, Liang Xie, Yuki Hamano, Soo Bong Lee, Vincent H. Gattone, Samuel Parry, Jerome F. Strauss, Vesna D. Garovic, Thomas F. McElrath, Karen H. Lu, Baha M. Sibai, Valerie S. LeBleu, Peter Carmeliet, and Raghu Kalluri

Survival signal REG3α prevents crypt apoptosis to control acute gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease
Dongchang Zhao, Yeung-Hyen Kim, Seihwan Jeong, Joel K. Greenson, Mohammed S. Chaudhry, Matthias Hoepting, Erik R. Anderson, Marcel R.M. van den Brink, Jonathan U. Peled, Antonio L.C. Gomes, Ann E. Slingerland, Michael J. Donovan, Andrew C. Harris, John E. Levine, Umut Ozbek, Lora V. Hooper, Thaddeus S. Stappenbeck, Aaron Ver Heul, Ta-Chiang Liu, Pavan Reddy, and James L.M. Ferrara

Antisense STAT3 inhibitor decreases viability of myelodysplastic and leukemic stem cells
Aditi Shastri, Gaurav Choudhary, Margarida Teixeira, Shanisha Gordon-Mitchell, Nandini Ramachandra, Lumie Bernard, Sanchari Bhattacharyya, Robert Lopez, Kith Pradhan, Orsolya Giricz, Goutham Ravipati, Li-Fan Wong, Sally Cole, Tushar D. Bhagat, Jonathan Feld, Yosman Dhar, Matthias Bartenstein, Victor J. Thiruthuvanathan, Amittha Wickrema, B. Hilda Ye, David A. Frank, Andrea Pellagatti, Jacqueline Boultwood, Tianyuan Zhou, Youngsoo Kim, A. Robert MacLeod, P.K. Epling-Burnette, Minwei Ye, Patricia McCoon, Richard Woessner, Ulrich Steidl, Britta Will, and Amit Verma

Temporal dynamics of Wnt-dependent transcriptome reveal an oncogenic Wnt/MYC/ribosome axis
Babita Madan, Nathan Harmston, Gahyathiri Nallan, Alex Montoya, Peter Faull, Enrico Petretto, and David M. Virshup

PI3K p110δ inactivation antagonizes chronic lymphocytic leukemia and reverses T cell immune suppression
Shuai Dong, Bonnie K. Harrington, Eileen Y. Hu, Joseph T. Greene, Amy M. Lehman, Minh Tran, Ronni L. Wasmuth, Meixiao Long, Natarajan Muthusamy, Jennifer R. Brown, Amy J. Johnson, and John C. Byrd

An airway epithelial IL-17A response signature identifies a steroid-unresponsive COPD patient subgroup
Stephanie A. Christenson, Maarten van den Berge, Alen Faiz, Kai Inkamp, Nirav Bhakta, Luke R. Bonser, Lorna T. Zlock, Igor Z. Barjaktarevic, R. Graham Barr, Eugene R. Bleecker, Richard C. Boucher, Russell P. Bowler, Alejandro P. Comellas, Jeffrey L. Curtis, MeiLan K. Han, Nadia N. Hansel, Pieter S. Hiemstra, Robert J. Kaner, Jerry A. Krishnanm, Fernando J. Martinez, Wanda K. O’Neal, Robert Paine III, Wim Timens, J. Michael Wells, Avrum Spira, David J. Erle, and Prescott G. Woodruff

Type 2 deiodinase polymorphism causes ER stress and hypothyroidism in the brain
Sungro Jo, Tatiana L. Fonseca, Barbara M.L.C. Bocco, Gustavo W. Fernandes, Elizabeth A. McAninch, Anaysa P. Bolin, Rodrigo R. Da Conceição, Joao Pedro Werneck-de-Castro, Daniele L. Ignacio, Péter Egri, Dorottya Németh, Csaba Fekete,Maria Martha Bernardi, Victoria D. Leitch, Naila S. Mannan, Katharine F. Curry, Natalie C. Butterfield, J.H. Duncan Bassett, Graham R. Williams, Balázs Gereben, Miriam O. Ribeiro, and Antonio C. Bianco

Osteopontin mediates glioblastoma-associated macrophage infiltration and is a potential therapeutic target
Jun Wei, Anantha Marisetty, Brett Schrand, Konrad Gabrusiewicz, Yuuri Hashimoto, Martina Ott, Zacharia Grami, Ling-Yuan Kong, Xiaoyang Ling, Hillary Caruso, Shouhao Zhou, Y. Alan Wang, Gregory N. Fuller, Jason Huse, Eli Gilboa, Nannan Kang, Xingxu Huang, Roel Verhaak, Shulin Li, and Amy B. Heimberger

Tumor-conditional anti-CTLA4 uncouples antitumor efficacy from immunotherapy-related toxicity
Chien-Chun Steven Pai, Donald M. Simons, Xiaoqing Lu, Michael Evans, Junnian Wei, Yung-hua Wang, Mingyi Chen, John Huang, Chanhyuk Park, Anthony Chang, Jiaxi Wang, Susan Westmoreland, Christine Beam, Dave Banach, Diana Bowley, Feng Dong, Jane Seagal, Wendy Ritacco, Paul L. Richardson, Soumya Mitra, Grace Lynch, Pete Bousquet, John Mankovich, Gillian Kingsbury, and Lawrence Fong

Compound haploinsufficiency of Dok2 and Dusp4 promotes lung tumorigenesis
Ming Chen, Jiangwen Zhang, Alice H. Berger, Moussa S. Diolombi, Christopher Ng, Jacqueline Fung, Roderick T. Bronson, Mireia Castillo-Martin, Tin Htwe Thin, Carlos Cordon-Cardo, Robin Plevin, and Pier Paolo Pandolfi

ʟ-Carnitine in omnivorous diets induces an atherogenic gut microbial pathway in humans
Robert A. Koeth, Betzabe Rachel Lam-Galvez, Jennifer Kirsop, Zeneng Wang, Bruce S. Levison, Xiaodong Gu, Matthew F. Copeland, David Bartlett, David B. Cody, Hong J. Dai, Miranda K. Culley, Xinmin S. Li, Xiaoming Fu, Yuping Wu, Lin Li, Joseph A. DiDonato, W.H. Wilson Tang, Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia, and Stanley L. Hazen

An alternative mitophagy pathway mediated by Rab9 protects the heart against ischemia
Toshiro Saito, Jihoon Nah, Shin-ichi Oka, Risa Mukai, Yoshiya Monden, Yasuhiro Maejima, Yoshiyuki Ikeda, Sebastiano Sciarretta, Tong Liu, Hong Li, Erdene Baljinnyam, Diego Fraidenraich, Luke Fritzky, Peiyong Zhai, Shizuko Ichinose, Mitsuaki Isobe, Chiao-Po Hsu, Mondira Kundu, and Junichi Sadoshima

Cardiac CaV1.2 channels require β subunits for β-adrenergic–mediated modulation but not trafficking
Lin Yang, Alexander Katchman, Jared Kushner, Alexander Kushnir, Sergey I. Zakharov, Bi-xing Chen, Zunaira Shuja, Prakash Subramanyam, Guoxia Liu, Arianne Papa, Daniel Roybal, Geoffrey S. Pitt, Henry M. Colecraft, and Steven O. Marx

Rescue of recurrent deep intronic mutation underlying cell type–dependent quantitative NEMO deficiency
Bertrand Boisson, Yoshitaka Honda, Masahiko Ajiro, Jacinta Bustamante, Matthieu Bendavid, Andrew R. Gennery, Yuri Kawasaki, Jose Ichishima, Mitsujiro Osawa, Hiroshi Nihira, Takeshi Shiba, Takayuki Tanaka, Maya Chrabieh, Benedetta Bigio, Hong Hur, Yuval Itan, Yupu Liang, Satoshi Okada, Kazushi Izawa, Ryuta Nishikomori, Osamu Ohara, Toshio Heike, Laurent Abel, Anne Puel, Megumu K. Saito, Jean-Laurent Casanova, Masatoshi Hagiwara, and Takahiro Yasumi

In vivo hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy ameliorates murine thalassemia intermedia
Hongjie Wang, Aphrodite Georgakopoulou, Nikoletta Psatha, Chang Li, Chrysi Capsali, Himanshu Bhusan Samal, Achilles Anagnostopoulos, Anja Ehrhardt, Zsuzsanna Izsvák, Thalia Papayannopoulou, Evangelia Yannaki, and André Lieber

Gene fitness landscape of group A streptococcus during necrotizing myositis
Luchang Zhu, Randall J. Olsen, Stephen B. Beres, Jesus M. Eraso, Matthew Ojeda Saavedra, Samantha L. Kubiak, Concepcion C. Cantu, Leslie Jenkins, Amelia R. L. Charbonneau, Andrew S. Waller, and James M. Musser

HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin reverts IL-13– and IL-17–induced airway goblet cell metaplasia
Alejandro A. Pezzulo, Rosarie A. Tudas, Carley G. Stewart, Luis G. Vargas Buonfiglio, Brian D. Lindsay, Peter J. Taft, Nicholas D. Gansemer, and Joseph Zabner

Single-dose radiotherapy disables tumor cell homologous recombination via ischemia/reperfusion injury
Sahra Bodo, Cécile Campagne, Tin Htwe Thin, Daniel S. Higginson, H. Alberto Vargas, Guoqiang Hua, John D. Fuller, Ellen Ackerstaff, James Russell, Zhigang Zhang, Stefan Klingler, HyungJoon Cho, Matthew G. Kaag, Yousef Mazaheri, Andreas Rimner, Katia Manova-Todorova, Boris Epel, Joan Zatcky, Cristian R. Cleary, Shyam S. Rao, Yoshiya Yamada, Michael J. Zelefsky, Howard J. Halpern, Jason A. Koutcher, Carlos Cordon-Cardo, Carlo Greco, Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman, Evis Sala, Simon N. Powell, Richard Kolesnick, and Zvi Fuks

Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue–resident Foxp3+ T lymphocytes prevent antibody-mediated lung rejection
Wenjun Li, Jason M. Gauthier, Ryuji Higashikubo, Hsi-Min Hsiao, Satona Tanaka, Linh Vuong, Jon H. Ritter, Alice Y. Tong, Brian W. Wong, Ramsey R. Hachem, Varun Puri, Ankit Bharat, Alexander S. Krupnick, Chyi S. Hsieh, William M. Baldwin III, Francine L. Kelly, Scott M. Palmer, Andrew E. Gelman, and Daniel Kreisel

Graft-versus-host disease propagation depends on increased intestinal epithelial tight junction permeability
Sam C. Nalle, Li Zuo, Ma. Lora Drizella M. Ong, Gurminder Singh, Alicia M. Worthylake, Wangsun Choi, Mario Cabrero Manresa, Anna P. Southworth, Karen L. Edelblum, Gregory J. Baker, Nora E. Joseph, Peter A. Savage, and Jerrold R. Turner

Lineage-specific events underlie aortic root aneurysm pathogenesis in Loeys-Dietz syndrome
Elena Gallo MacFarlane, Sarah J. Parker, Joseph Y. Shin, Benjamin E. Kang, Shira G. Ziegler, Tyler J. Creamer, Rustam Bagirzadeh, Djahida Bedja, Yichun Chen, Juan F. Calderon, Katherine Weissler, Pamela A. Frischmeyer-Guerrerio, Mark E. Lindsay, Jennifer P. Habashi, and Harry C. Dietz

Recipient of the 2019 Seldin~Smith Award for Pioneering Research: Vijay G. Sankaran, MD, PhD

Dr. Sankaran

The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) is pleased to announce Vijay G. Sankaran, MD, PhD, as the recipient of the 2019 Donald Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research. Dr. Sankaran will receive an unrestricted award of $30,000 to advance his academic efforts, and he will be recognized on April 6, 2019, as part of the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting (April 5-7). Dr. Sankaran will deliver a scientific talk at the 2020 Joint Meeting.

Dr. Sankaran’s research aims to understand blood cell production in health and disease. His work is focused on genetic variation that impacts this process of blood cell production. Of particular interest is how stem cells produce blood cells, how the hemoglobin genes are regulated during red blood cell production, and how disease alters these processes. From these insights, Dr. Sankaran hopes to develop improved therapies for blood disorders such as sickle cell disease, thalassemia, Diamond-Blackfan anemia, aplastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative disorders, and childhood leukemia.

“Vijay has a profound fund of scientific knowledge, is very facile in the laboratory and unafraid to adopt novel technology. Of greatest relevance is his insatiable curiosity,” David G. Nathan, MD, wrote in support of Dr. Sankaran’s application. “I might add that Vijay regularly supervises clinics, attends on the service and teaches genetics and hematology to Harvard’s Health Sciences and Technology students. That complex life is what Don Seldin and Holly Smith were all about.”

Dr. Sankaran earned his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard Medical School. He subsequently did a residency in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has been an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School since 2014 and an Attending Physician in Hematology/Oncology since 2015 at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. His research has been supported in part by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He was elected to the ASCI in 2018.

Dr. Sankaran was selected from a group of exceptional applicants evaluated by the Seldin~Smith Award Selection Committee: Mukesh K. Jain (Chair), Vivian G. Cheung, Charles L. Sawyers, Elizabeth M. McNally, and Stuart H. Orkin. Finalists were evaluated by an Advisory Committee comprising five physician-scientist luminaries: Joseph L. Goldstein (Chair), Michael S. Brown, Robert J. Lefkowitz, Christine Seidman, and Arthur Weiss.

The Seldin~Smith Award complements two prestigious ASCI awards (the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award and the Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine) that recognize senior physician-scientists who have made major contributions to science, mentorship, and translation of discovery to clinical impact.

The goal of the Seldin~Smith Award is to connect exceptionally creative early-career physician-scientists with the legacies of two iconic figures in medicine: Donald Seldin and Lloyd “Holly” Smith Jr. Drs. Seldin and Smith, who both passed away in 2018, provided the inspiration for this Award through their storied careers of developing generations of outstanding physician-scientists.

New Council members elected, 2019

The ASCI is pleased to announce the results of a recent ballot to fill pending Council vacancies. Dr. Benjamin Humphreys, Secretary-Treasurer Elect, oversaw the ballot; Drs. Chirag R. Parikh and Wanda Phipatanakul volunteered as auditors.

The following members will join the Council at the conclusion of the upcoming AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 5-7.

Vice President: Hossein Ardehali, MD, PhD


Dr. Ardehali

Dr. Ardehali is Professor of Medicine–Cardiology and of Pharmacology at Northwestern University, and is Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program and the Center for Molecular Cardiology. He received his MD and PhD from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and he completed his medicine residency and cardiology fellowship training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Elected to the ASCI in 2012, he currently serves on the Council as Secretary-Treasurer.

Read more about Dr. Ardehali

Councilor: Anna Greka, MD, PhD


Dr. Greka

Dr. Greka is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS); an Associate Physician in the Renal Division in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH); and Founding Director of the Center for Kidney Disease and Novel Experimental Therapeutics (Kidney-NExT) at BWH. Dr. Greka is also a Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. She received an MD and PhD in neurobiology from HMS and received her medical and scientific training in the Harvard-MIT program in Health Sciences and Technology (HST). Dr. Greka was elected to the ASCI in 2017.

Read more about Dr. Greka

Councilor: Sophie Paczesny, MD, PhD


Dr. Paczesny

Dr. Paczesny is Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She received her MD and PhD from the University of Paris, where she completed her residency and fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation. Prior to her appointment at Indiana University, she was a faculty member in the Blood and Marrow Transplantation Program at the University of Michigan. Dr. Paczesny was elected to the ASCI in 2014.

Read more about Dr. Paczesny

The ASCI’s 2019 Young Physician-Scientist Awards

The ASCI is pleased to recognize the 35 recipients of its 2019 Young Physician-Scientist Awards. The Awardees will present their work at the ASCI’s Food & Science Evening, on April 6, 2019, as part of the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting, April 5-7, 2019.

Recipient Institution Abstract title
Kristopher R. Bosse, MD University of Pennsylvania The antibody-drug conjugate D3-GPC2-PBD potently eradicates neuroblastoma patient-derived xenografts
Lindsay C. Burrage, MD, PhD Baylor College of Medicine Biallelic variants in TONSL cause SPONASTRIME dysplasia and varied skeletal dysplasia phenotypes
James E. Cassat, MD, PhD Vanderbilt University Medical Center Integrated molecular imaging reveals tissue heterogeneity driving host-pathogen interactions
Tara I. Chang, MD, MS Stanford University School of Medicine Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke and death: a reanalysis of ALLHAT
Scott M. Damrauer, MD University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Genetics of peripheral artery disease in the Million Veteran Program
Maneesh Dave, MBBS, MPH Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Intestinal stem cell niche-derived 3D organoids recapitulate features of Crohn’s disease
Matthew J. Feinstein, MD, MSc Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Phenotypes and characteristics of incident heart failure in human immunodeficiency virus
Marcus D. Goncalves, MD, PhD Weill Cornell College of Medicine High-fructose corn syrup enhances intestinal tumor growth
Gentzon Hall, MD, PhD Duke University The LMX1βR246Q mutation induces podocyte injury through dysregulation of cholesterol transport gene expression
Arnold Han, MD, PhD Columbia University Tracking individual T cell clones in response to immunotherapy
Brent A. Hanks, MD, PhD Duke University A novel inflammasome-Wnt signaling axis drives adaptive resistance to anti-PD-1 antibody immunotherapy in cancer
Cheng-Ying Ho, MD, PhD University of Maryland The role of keratinocyte-derived SIRT1 and BDNF in alleviating diabetic neuropathy
Ali Javaheri, MD, PhD Washington University School of Medicine Macrophage transcription factor EB attenuates myocardial dysfunction and inflammation after ischemia-reperfusion injury
Douglas B. Johnson, MD, MSCI Vanderbilt University Medical Center Clinical and molecular profiling of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) induced neurotoxicity
Judith R. Kelsen, MD, MS The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia A predictive signature of immune-mediated monogenic defects in children with very early-onset inflammatory bowel disease
Rami Khoriaty, MD University of Michigan SEC23A and SEC23B have overlapping functions in mice
Corrine R. Kliment, MD, PhD University of Pittsburgh Mitochondrial adenine nucleotide translocase influences ciliary function and airway homeostasis
Jonathan A. Kropski, MD Vanderbilt University Medical Center Single-cell genomic analysis of pulmonary fibrosis phenotypes
Alisa B. Lee-Sherick, MD University of Colorado School of Medicine MerTK is a potential immunotherapeutic target in acute leukemia
Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS Columbia University The role of tidal volume and respiratory rate in the relationship between pollutant exposure and airway inflammation
Jonathan M. Nizar, MD University of Iowa Dietary potassium regulates Thiazide diuretic sensitivity and is necessary for obesity-induced Thiazide sensitivity
Michael L. O’Byrne, MD, MSCE The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Practice variation in transcatheter and operative closure of patent ductus arteriosus in United States neonatal intensive care units
Ross A. Okimoto, MD University of California, San Francisco The CIC-DUX4 fusion oncoprotein drives metastasis and tumor growth via distinct downstream regulatory programs and therapeutic targets in sarcoma
Mitesh S. Patel, MD, MBA, MS University of Pennsylvania Effect of an automated patient dashboard using active choice and peer comparison performance feedback to physicians on statin prescribing: the PRESCRIBE Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial
Jennifer E. Posey, MD, PhD Baylor College of Medicine Rare variant family-based genomics reveals impact of population substructure on rate of multiple molecular diagnoses
Kurt Prins, MD, PhD University of Minnesota Increased protein O-GlcNAcylation is associated with right ventricular dysfunction in pulmonary arterial hypertension
Sunad Rangarajan, MD University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Mitochondrial uncoupling protein-2 and fibroblast senescence in age-related lung fibrosis
Jeffery D. Roizen, MD, PhD The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Differential prevalence of CYP2R1 mutations across populations reveals an adaptive mechanism and pathway selection for maintaining serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D
Jason J. Rose, MD, MBA University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Recombinant neuroglobin reverses the molecular mitochondrial effects of CO poisoning through CO scavenging
Benjamin D. Singer, MD Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine The epigenetic regulator Uhrf1 is essential for regulatory T cell development and maintenance
Benjamin H. Singer, MD, PhD University of Michigan Sepsis drives both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory transcriptional responses in the human brain
Elizabeth A. Stewart, MD St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Preclinical modeling of targeted therapeutics in pediatric solid tumors
Junko Takeshita, MD, PhD, MSCE University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine Racial disparities in use of ambulatory and emergency care among children with atopic dermatitis in the Pediatric Eczema Elective Registry
Zuzana Tothova, MD, PhD Dana-Farber Cancer Institute STAG2 mutations in leukemia alter cohesin complex function, DNA damage repair, and splicing
David Wu, MD, PhD University of Chicago Single cell metabolism reveals that a RhoA-mediated glycolytic burst drives endothelial cell contractions