Student Research

Nicholas J. Gutierrez

Acoustic mating signals play an important role in sexual selection both for identifying species and assessing potential mates. These same signals can vary due to environment or genetics, but how might they vary across a group of related organisms? Using three sister/related species of Gryllus crickets (Gryllus lineaticeps, G. personatus, and G. sp15/‘G. staccato’), I compared male calling song (a sexually selected signal) across all three species in response to environmental (diet) and genetic (family) sources of variation. While environmental factors did have an effect on some body measurements, it did not have an effect on song traits in any of the three species. However, genetic factors did have an effect on song traits vital to identifying and choosing a mate in a consistent pattern of response across all three species, a comparative first for crickets with the potential for other groups of related organisms.

Archives of Spotlights on Student Research

Nicholas J. Gutierrez



Cathy Soliva

Cathy Soliva recently earned her Master’s Degree in Biology under the guidance of Dr. Cindy Malone, performing her graduate research in the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. Cathy studied endometrial regeneration in the laboratory of Dr. Sanaz Memarzadeh at UCLA. Her hypothesis was that there was one cell type rather than two cell types that were the dual progenitor stem cell for the epithelium and stroma in the endometrium. Her study focused on determining whether a specific subset of human endometrial cells that co-expressed several markers for epithelia and stroma were in fact the stem cells responsible for regenerating the endometrium each month in women. These cells are rare, found in the eutopic endometrium and pelvic washings of women with and without endometriosis. Cathy showed that the cells she isolated produced epithelia and stroma when plated as 10,000 cells and as single cells in in vitro cell culture. She showed that these cells regenerated the correct type of epithelial tissue in an in vivo model. Future aims include isolating progenitors from women with and without endometriosis to see if there is a difference between progenitor cells that cause endometriosis and progenitor cells that do not. Cathy began her doctorate program in Physical Therapy here at CSUN last fall. 

Michelle Mojadidi

Michelle Mojadidi

Michelle Mojadidi defended her Master’s Degree Thesis under the guidance of Dr. Cindy Malone, performing her Graduate research in the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program in the laboratory of Dr. Don Kohn, MD. Michelle studied Sickle Cell Disease (SCD), a blood disorder characterized by defective hemoglobin (HbS) due to a point mutation in the β-globin chain. This mutation causes the red blood cells to sickle under low oxygen conditions and these misshapen blood cells present a danger because they have a tendency to clump together and block small vessels. The β-like chain (Hb) is expressed throughout ontogeny from different genes, with the switching from fetal hemoglobin (HbF) to adult hemoglobin (HbA) during the first 6 months after birth. If this switch is incomplete, high levels of HbF in adults causes a milder clinical manifestation of SCD than adult SCD. If the fetal HB in SCD patients can be increased, their symptoms of SCD can be decreased for a better quality of life. Michelle’s project centers around the proof of principle of manipulating stem cells to persist in expressing HbF by disrupting a known transcriptional repressor, BCL11A. Knockdown of BCL11A using precise artificially engineered nucleases, for example, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator like nucleases (TALENs) and clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) is an attractive strategy to reactivate HbF and restore mostly functional erythrocytes in patients suffering from SCD. Michelle’s results indicate that ZFN are efficient in human stem cells for genome engineering to knockdown BCL11A and increase persistence of HbF in stem cells compared to TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9.  Michelle is currently employed as a Lab Manager/Research Technician at UCLA, awaiting news from Medical school waitlists.


Armen Gharibi

Armen Gharibi’s thesis research is aimed at identifying novel biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets in pancreatic cancer. Because pancreatic cancer progresses in a symptom-free manner, nearly all patients are diagnosed after the tumor has metastasized to other regions in the body. Therefore, discovering and characterizing new regulators of metastasis holds promise for increasing overall patient survival. Prior to Armen’s arrival in Dr. Kelber’s research group, previous trainees had discovered that integrin alpha 1 (ITGA1) is upregulated in pancreatic cancer. Armen has since made the seminal discovery that ITGA1 is required for a complete TGFb-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) – a reprogramming of cancer cells that is a prerequisite for metastasis. To identify potential mechanisms of ITGA1 action during EMT, Armen scoured online databases of cancer patient gene expression signatures. Notably, he discovered that ITGA1 expression was closely tied to specific TGFb response genes that Dr. Kelber’s group has previously studied. Armen is currently preparing a manuscript on his findings with co-first author Sa La Kim (Kelber lab undergraduate) and they will present a poster of their work at the upcoming 2016 AACR conference in New Orleans – their work will likely be published later this year. Armen’s success is rooted in his extensive understanding of the driving mechanisms behind pancreatic cancer, which is highlighted by his first-author review, Cellular and Molecular Aspects of Pancreatic Cancer, that was published in Acta Histochemica earlier this year.

Armin Hojjat

Armin Hojjat is currently earning his Master’s Degree under the guidance of Dr. Cindy Malone, performing his Graduate research in the CSUN-UCLA Bridges to Stem Cell Research Program. Armin is performing gene expression profiling of cardiac cell types during cardiovascular development in Dr. Ardahali at UCLA. Cardiomyocytes are the major cardiac cell type that make up the adult heart. How cardiac stem cells differentiate and proliferate to from an functional heart during embryonic development is largely unknown. To understand the changes that occur at different stages of cardiac development, transcriptional profiling of cells during their progression from an immature progenitor state to terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes was performed. Using transgenic mice, populations of cardiovascular cells at different stages of development are identified by fluorescent markers and isolated. These double transgenic mice were generated by crossing a floxed reporter with cardiac specific-Cre mice (i.e. where Cre recombinase is under the transcriptional control of the promoter of Mesp1, Nkx2.5, or α-MHC; markers that are predominantly expressed during the development of the cardiovascular system). The fluorescent-marked cells were then isolated at respective embryonic time points that correlate with the expression of Mesp1, Nkx2.5, or α-MHC. Gene expression analyses were performed using RNA-seq to identify candidate genes potentially important in mediating differentiation and development of cardiomyocytes. Armin is currently employed by Dr. Ardahali while he finishes up his Master’s degree at CSUN. 


Brian (J.R.) Clark

JR Clark and giant sea bassJ.R. is studying the mating behaviors of giant sea bass (Stereolepis gigas). The giant sea bass is the largest bony fish to inhabit the California kelp forest community. Giants have been targeted for both recreational and commercial fishing since the late 1800s, causing numbers to dwindle to the point that they are now on the IUCN Red List as a critically endangered species. Gill nets near shore have been banned, and line fishing for giants has been limited, so giants are now returning to Southern California waters. Remarkably little is known about the life history and behavior of giant sea bass. J.R.’s research on courtship is revealing when, where, and how mating occurs. At the Wrigley Marine Science Center, J.R. made daily SCUBA observations at the historical spawning aggregation site off Goat Harbor. He conducted surveys of giant density morning, afternoon, and evening, recording behaviors on HD video. Giant sea basswere most abundant at Goat Harbor during the afternoon. J.R. learned to sex the species and observed how courting proceeds when fish are in pairs. Soon, J.R. will be describe spawning both visually and acoustically. A thorough understanding of giant sea bass reproductive behavior is essential for the future management of this recovering endangered species. (Advisor Dr. Larry G. Allen

Malachia Hoover

Malachia Hoover

Malachia Hoover has been working on a project relevant to pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer patients on average survive less than a year. Notably, there are virtually no biomarkers to aid in early detection of this disease or in predicting its therapy responsiveness. Identifying and validating such biomarkers is hampered by the fact that researchers have limited access to fresh tumor tissue for screening RNA. Banking fresh-frozen tumor samples has proven very challenging. In contrast, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples are routinely collected by pathologists, and substantial archives of FFPE tissues are linked to clinical data. It would, therefore, be great to develop a method for harvesting high-quality RNA from FFPE samples. To this end we have established a collaboration with Claremont BioSolutions, a company that has recently pioneered nucleic acid extraction. We are testing their new micro-homogenizer on FFPE samples.  Malachia has demonstrated that the addition of micro-homogenization upstream of FFPE RNA extraction significantly improved total RNA yield, purity, and the length of recovered sequences. Our long-term goal is to optimize these methods to gain critical insights into gene signatures that govern pancreatic cancer progression, metastasis, therapy responsiveness, and disease outcome. (Advisor: J. Kelber).

Anasheh Ghazarian


Megan Agajanian


Jason Warner


Sabrina Uppal


Chris Nosala


Alissa Luken


Lynnea Waters


Angelica Zavala Lopez


Tannaz Faal


Roo Wisidagama


Kristina Stott


Brooke Van Kummer


Lena Ayala Coleman


Anya Brown


Denita Weeks


Joshua Shipp


Maggie Johnson


Estenia Haley


Jocelyn Holt


Carly Ryan


Nicholas Colvard


Chris Bowman-Prideaux


Stella Swanson


Wyndee Haley


Dawn Bailey


Ann Dorsey


Chris Chabot


Lut Hang (Alex) Li


Tarja Sagar


Hollie Putnam


Jolene Pucci


Stephanie Talmage


Joanne Moriarty
