Lab Updates
2024
- January: Dinesh Rao is appointed Chair of the Scientific Committee on Epigenetics and Genomics of the American Society of Hematology.
- January: Congratulations to Dr. Tasha Lin on her publication in Blood Advances!
2023
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September: Congratulations to Dr. Sharma on the publication of her thesis work in JECCR!
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September: The UCLA DGSOM published a research spotlight featuring Dinesh Rao and the Rao lab. View the spotlight.
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September: The Rao lab participated on a collaborative project with sarcoma researchers, Drs. Kyle Klingbeil, Anusha Kalbasi and Brian Kadera, on their recent publication in Cancers. IGF2BP3 is a prognostic marker in certain subtypes of liposarcoma, a type of cancer that affects soft tissues.
- May 2023: Congratulations to Dr. Jayanth Palanichamy and other members of the Rao lab for their publication on phenotypes in Trp53 mouse.
2022
- October 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Tiffany Tran for her review article, now available online!
- September 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer King for her publication in Frontiers in Immunology!
- July 2022: Dinesh Rao is promoted to Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UCLA
- July 2022: Congratulations to Dr. Tasha Lin on a successful thesis Defense!
- July 2022: Welcome to Michelle Thaxton, who joins the group as an SRA!
- June 2022: The Rao Lab receives news of a major award from the California institute of regenerative medicine.
- April 2022: Dinesh Rao receives one of three awards from the UCLA Innovation Fund in the therapeutics track.
2020
- October 2020: Dinesh Rao presents a lecture at the 5th Annual UCHMC Research Symposium
- June 2020: Dinesh Rao presents a talk at the SVIB meeting, which is virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- March 2020: Dinesh Rao presents work at the Experimental Hematopathology Committee's workshop at USCAP in Los Angeles, shortly before the start of shutdowns at UCLA and around the country due to COVOD-19
- February 2020: Dinesh Rao receives the ASH Bridge Grant award
- January 2020: Dinesh Rao presents an invited seminar at UC Irvine in the Department of Developmental and Cell Biology
2019
- Fall 2019: Welcome to Dr. Jayanth Palanichamy and Gunjan Sharma, graduate student, who are working on the IGF2BP1 protein in acute leukemia.
- Fall 2019: Dinesh Rao is cited as one of the "World's most cited researchers" by Web of Science
- Summer 2019: The Committee on Experimental Hematopathology is founded within the Society for Hematopathology; Dinesh Rao is a founding member
- July 2019: Dinesh Rao is appointed to the ASH Scientific Committee on Epigenetics and Genomics.
- June 2019: Dinesh Rao is appointed to NCI-I Study Section
- January 2019: Welcome to Dr. Tasha Lin, Hem/Onc fellow and STAR program fellow, who is working on a Ph.D.
2018
- June: Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer King on her thesis defense!
- June: Welcome (back) to Dr. Jayanth Palanichamy as a Visiting Assistant Professor at UCLA!
- April: Dinesh Rao is the Grand Rounds Speaker at the New York University Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
- April: Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer King on her receipt of a K08 career development award from the NIH/ NIAMS.
2017
- July: Dinesh Rao is promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.
- July: Congratulations to Thilini Fernando and the Rao lab for publication of a new paper on the role of lncRNA CASC15 in B-lymphoblastic leukemia.
- July: The Rao lab receives a seed grant from Immunology, Inflammation, Infection and Transplantation (I3T) Research Theme at DGSOM.
- June: The Rao lab receives an R21 grant from the National Institutes of Health/ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIH/NIAID).
- May: Dinesh Rao presents for Grand Rounds at the Department of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine at Washington University.
- April: Blood publishes an article by the O’Connell lab at the University of Utah , where Dinesh Rao was a collaborating author.
- January: A chapter authored by Dinesh Rao and Jonathan Said, “Pathology and Molecular Pathology of Hematologic Malignancies”, appears in: Loda M, Mucci LA, Mittelstadt ML, Van Hemelrijck M, Cotter MB, editors. Pathology and Epidemiology of Cancer.
- January: Dinesh Rao is appointed Director of Translational Research for the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
- January: Congratulations to Dr. Jennifer King, first author on a paper published in Frontiers in Immunology!
- January: The Rao lab receives a research grant from STOPCancer and the Gary and Barbara Luboff Mitzvah Fund. Dinesh Rao is honored at a reception for the STOPCancer Foundation at UCLA on January 12.
- January: The Rao lab receives a research grant from the Margaret E. Early Foundation.
2016
- December: Jennifer King presents her research at the 2016 Annual American Society of Hematology meeting.
- December: Welcome to May Paing, our new lab manager.
- August: Welcome to Dr. Amit Kumar, who has joined the Rao lab as a post-doctoral scholar.
- July: Congratulations to Tiffany Tran, who received a T32 training grant from the Tumor Cell Biology Training Program.
- July: Congratulations to Jorge Contreras, who received a T32 training grant from the Tumor Immunology Training Program.
- June: Congratulations to Jorge Contreras (pictured), who successfully defended his Ph.D. Thesis. Dr. Contreras plans to spend another year in the Rao lab completing some additional research.
- May: The Rao Lab receives a R21 grant from the NIH/NCI.
- April: Congratulations to Dr. Nolan Ung, who received a T32 training grant in Developmental Hematology.
- March: Congratulations to co-first authors Jayanth K Palanichamy, Tiffany Tran, and Jonathan Howard from UCSC! See our newest publication at the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Also, see the UCLA website press release.
2015
- January: We bid farewell to Norma, who is on to a post-doctoral fellowship at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center!
- December: Congrats to Norma on her paper being accepted to Molecular Cancer!
- November: Congrats to Norma Rodriguez-Malave (pictured), who graduated with her Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Pathology. Well done, Dr. Rodriguez-Malave!
- November: We bid farewell to Dr. Thilini Fernando (pictured), the first post-doc in the lab! Thilini did an amazing job working on lincRNAs, and is moving on to a project scientist position at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Congrats Thilini!
- April: Welcome to Dr. Nolan Ung, who is our fourth post-doctoral fellow and an expert in image analysis!
- April: Tiffany Tran (pictured) was accepted into the Ph.D. program in Molecular Cellular and Integrative Physiology at UCLA. Congrats Tiffany!
- April: The Rao lab's second publication is now published online. Congrats to Jorge Contreras
- February: We welcome our third post-doctoral fellow to the lab, Dr. Jaime Angiuano. Welcome to the Rao lab!
- February: The Rao Lab's first publication with regards to long non-coding RNA is accepted for publication. Congrats to Thilini, Norma and Ella!
2014
- November: We bid farewell to Dr. Jayanth Palanichamy (pictured), who was appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the most prestigious medical school in India. Congratulations, Professor!
- September: The Rao Lab receives a supplement from the NIH Single Cell Analysis program to study single cell-level effects of microRNA function in B-cells. This was in collaboration with Dr. Alex Hoffmann.
- June: We bid farewell to Jasmine Gajeton (pictured), undergraduate student in the lab, who is off to graduate school at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Congrats, Jasmine!
- March: A review in Frontiers in Genetics, authored by Jayanth Palanichamy and Dinesh Rao, is published.
2013
- December: Congratulations to Norma Iris Rodriguez-Malave, who was awarded the 2013 ASH Minority Graduate Student Achievement Award!
The Rao lab presents four abstracts at the annual ASH Meeting in New Orleans, LA. - October: Dinesh Rao becomes course director for a new course at UCLA, "Hematopoiesis: Basic Biology and Clinical Implications", which runs through the Fall Quarter. The speakers include numerous basic scientific and clinical researchers at UCLA, Cedars-Sinai, and Caltech.
- June: The Rao lab receives funding from the University of California Cancer Research Coordinating Committee.
- May: We bid farewell to Ella Waters (pictured), who is off to graduate school at UC Berkeley. Congratulations, Ella!
- April: Congratulations to Dr. Thilini Fernando, who received a training grant in Cancer Biology!
- January: The Rao lab receives a R01 award from the NIH/NCI!
2012
- November: We bid farewell to Neha Goswami, our first technician and thank her for all her work in the lab.
- October: Jorge Contreras receives a training grant award from the UCLA tumor immunology program.
- June: We bid farewell to Dr. Young A Kim (pictured), who spent a year with us as a visiting scholar. To celebrate, the lab travels to LA's Koreatown for some excellent Korean BBQ!
- May: Welcome to Dr. Jayanth Palanichamy, a new post-doctoral fellow in the lab.
- March: Congratulations to Dr. Thilini Fernando, who received a training grant award in Developmental Hematology
- February: A review in the Journal of Hematology and Oncology, authored by Thilini Fernando, Norma Iris Rodriguez-Malave and Dinesh Rao is published.
2011
- December: A review in the journal Leukemia, authored by Jorge Contreras and Dinesh Rao is published.
- December: Congratulations to Norma, who received a prestigious graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
- November: Welcome to Dr. Thilini Fernando, a post-doctoral fellow in the lab.
- September: Welcome to Dr. Young A Kim, a visiting scholar from Seoul, Korea, and Abinav Baweja, a medical student, who are now part of the lab.
2011
- December: A review in the journal Leukemia, authored by Jorge Contreras and Dinesh Rao is published.
- December: Congratulations to Norma, who received a prestigious graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
- November: Welcome to Dr. Thilini Fernando, a post-doctoral fellow in the lab.
- September: Welcome to Dr. Young A Kim, a visiting scholar from Seoul, Korea, and Abinav Baweja, a medical student, who are now part of the lab.
- August: The lab celebrates one year in existence! (Pictured.)
- July 1: An invited review on microRNAs in myeloid development by Dinesh Rao and others appears in the journalBlood.
- June 15: Two graduate students, Norma and Jorge, join the lab.
- May 22: Dinesh Rao receives a research grant from the Tower Cancer Foundation at the Foundation's 2011 Tower of Hope Gala in Beverly Hills, CA.
- May 15: Two papers regarding the dramatic inflammatory/cancer phenotype in miR-146a knockout mice, on which Dinesh is a co-author, are published in J. Exp Med and PNAS.
- May: Dinesh Rao receives a Kimmel Scholar Award for Cancer Research, funded by the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research.
- April: Dinesh Rao receives the Stein-Oppenheimer Endowment Award at UCLA.