U-Rise Mentors

Dr. Beljanski works in the Cell Therapy Institute working on developing research projects aimed at using stem cells for tissue repair, examining the role of autophagy in stem cell maintenance and rejection, and examining the role of autophagy in secretion of exosomes.

Dr. Cheema's experience and research interest lies in finding multi-mechanistic outcomes-oriented treatments rooted in supplements/natural bioactive products and functional foods for complex multi-symptom illnesses.

Dr. Dawson-Scully is also affiliated faculty in the NSU Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. Previously, he served for (3) years as the head of institutional partnerships at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience with a joint appointment as associate Vice President for STEM partnerships at FAU.

Dr. Richard Deth's research interests are focused on the role of oxidative stress and impaired methylation reactions in neurodevelopmental, neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders, including the important role of epigenetic regulation. In recent years his work has focused understanding the factors contributing to the autism epidemic. This ongoing work includes investigations of the status of the antioxidant glutathione and vitamin B12, the influence of gluten and casein-derived opioid peptides on redox and methylation status, and the role of neuroinflammation.

Dr. Kawai's research is involved at the molecular and cellular levels, with a focus on immunology, microbiology, and bone biology, to understand the pathogenesis of bone destructive oral diseases, including periodontitis and osteonecrosis of jaw, and related other inflammatory bone lytic diseases. A strong body of evidence supports the idea that periodontitis is a risk factor for a variety of systemic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Rheumatoid arthritis and cancer. This can be attributed to the pathogenic property of periodontitis that permits bacteria to penetrate into the circulation and deliver bacterial virulent factors to remote organs. His group, for the first time, discovered that over-activation of bacteria-reactive lymphocytes leads to pathogenic bone destruction by the production of RANKL, a pivotal factor that activates osteoclasts (cells destroy bone), opening a new paradigm of osteoimmunology in periodontitis research.

Dr. Latimer's group works on DNA repair as an etiological factor in sporadic breast cancer and also as a part of treatment resistance in advanced stage breast cancer.  At the AutoNation Institute for Breast Cancer Research and Care, she and Dr. Stephen Grant work on projects that involve somatic mutation in cancer and on environmental causes of cancer.

Dr. Minond's research focuses on drug discovery for cancer and other diseases. His research group has expertise in molecular biology, enzymology, biochemistry, high-throughput screening assay development and implementation, medicinal chemistry support, and in vivo studies. Their current research efforts focus on melanoma, breast, and prostate cancer drug discovery where they are using multiple approaches and techniques to achieve their objectives. He has successfully mentored students and junior faculty. He has also supervised and mentored the research for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students (e.g., DO, MD, PharmD). Several of Dr. Minond's publications are co-authored by undergraduate students.

Dr. Nathanson's research focuses on translational genomics. Her combined expertise in bioinformatics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and systems biology allows her to evaluate complex disease states that impact multiple organ systems and have complicated mechanisms of disease onset, activity, and progression. Her current research efforts focus on gaining insight into the epigenomic and transcriptional changes involved in multi-symptom disorders including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Gulf War illness (GWI). Specifically, her ongoing research involves identifying biomarkers and mechanisms of ME/CFS and GWI using approaches such as RNA-seq, DNA methylation and single-cell transcriptomics to identify transcriptional regulators that result in characteristic symptomatology associated with ME/CFS and GWI. Dr. Nathanson has successful experience mentoring students and guiding them onto the next stage of their research career, including undergraduate and medical students. She is teaching three courses in the Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, namely Genetics, Cell Molecular Biology and Cancer Biology. She also has several publications that are co-authored by undergraduate students.

Dr. Ownby's current research focuses on digital therapeutics for cognition and chronic disease self-management in older persons. His team is also recently working on creating innovative methods to evaluate patients' health literacy. His research and clinical interests include examination of the ways in which stress, mood, and inflammation interact in older adults.

Dr. Perez conducts medication use trends to evaluate health disparities in disadvantaged populations with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She uses large, existing or secondary databases as a source for her research.

Dr. Robison's current research investigates the influence of environmental factors, such as diet, exercise, and brain injury, on the risk and progression of dementia. Additionally, she is working towards identifying novel pharmacological interventions for dementia and is particularly interested in repurposing medications that are currently used for treating cardiometabolic diseases.

Dr. Manuel Salinas specializes in cardiovascular mechanics, thermal systems, and engineering education. He regularly attends national and international research conferences and publishes in biomedical related journals. He manages the biomedical engineering concentration program at the college of Computing and Engineering.

Dr. Smith uses a combination of experimentation and mathematical modeling to understand how bacteria cooperate to resist antibiotics. In the short term, we are trying to understand how bacteria can work together to resist antibiotics as a collective. In the long term, we hope to develop novel treatments to increase the efficacy of existing antibiotics.

Dr. Speth's research focus is primarily on how angiotensin acts in the brain to regulate the cardiovascular system. Some of his other research activities include the first report of the benzodiazepine binding site in the human brain, the first report of the distribution of angiotensin receptor substypes in the rodent brain, the discovery of receptors for angiotensins in the ovary and epididymis, the identification of the mas oncogene protein as a receptor for a truncated angiotensin analog, and the discovery of a novel angiotensin binding protein.

Dr. Suzuki completed DDS and PhD at Tohoku University in Japan. She has broad research experience in her field of expertise, including oral cancer, periodontitis, and tooth malformation caused by environmental pollutants. Dr. Suzuki’s current research projects are supported by NIH/NIDCR, 1) titled “'Epigenetic and non-epigenetic role of SIRT1 in fluoride-induced cell stress (R01)”, and 2) titled “Health Effects of the Fluorinated Pollutants; PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) on Enamel Development (K02)”.

Dr. Tartar earned her Ph.D. in the Behavioral Neuroscience program at the University of Florida where the focus of her research involved discovering long-term changes that occur in neurobiological pathways involved in stress responses and developing animal models of stress. During graduate school she also served for 6 years in the U.S. Army Reserves. Dr. Tartar completed Postdoctoral Training at Harvard Medical School where she studied neurological consequences of sleep perturbations using in vitro electrophysiological recording techniques. She also received training in Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.