News
The Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (MMT) receives two new research awards, highlighting the multi-disciplinary research of Drs. Benej and Zhu.
MMT Faculty continue to push boundaries in basic science, moving the science of foundational therapeutics and regenerative and molecular medicine forward.
Martin Benej, PhD awarded a K22 from the National Cancer Institute
The Benej lab will study biological causes of resistance to immunotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), which is a leading cause of cancer death around the world. In partnership with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-James, Dr. Benej seeks to understand the mechanisms of treatment resistance to address the dire need for novel therapies in NSCLC. Learn more about this cutting-edge research.
Wandi Zhu, PhD awarded the American Heart Association Innovative Project Award
“Spatiotemporal mapping of single-cell electro-genetic interactions across the heart”
The Zhu Lab aims to develop an innovative framework to study the interplays between genetic regulations and electrical traits at the single-cell level. They will integrate spatial transcriptomics, single-cell-resolution optical electrophysiology recordings, cell morphology characterization, and machine learning-based analyses. This novel method will enable us to dissect the interactions between gene transcriptional and electro-morphological traits in each cardiomyocyte of the developing heart. Subsequently, we will apply this method to study genetic models for various arrhythmogenic diseases. We anticipate that this multimodal approach will reveal novel mechanisms and therapeutic targets for treating cardiac arrhythmias and delaying disease progression.
The Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (MMT) welcomes two new faculty!
Dr. Benej is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics. He is a member of the Cancer Biology Program at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James (OSUCCC) and a member of the American Association for Cancer Research. Dr. Benej is a co-holder of two U.S. patents related to biomedical research; one is for pharmacological reoxygenation of tumor microenvironment to achieve radiosensitization and the other one for development of novel derivatives of papaverine to sensitize hypoxic tumors to immunotherapy. He published 13 research papers and received numerous awards.
Dr. Benej specializes in investigating the effects of hypoxic tumor microenvironment on anti-cancer treatment resistance. The mission of Benej Lab is to study the role of tumor microenvironment, especially tumor hypoxia, in modulating the response to conventional anti-cancer treatment strategies. The metabolic cross-talk between tumor, stromal and immune cells undergoing oxygen and metabolite stress has a major role in facilitating treatment resistance by dictating the gene expression and chromatin modification patterns. Dr. Benej’s group is developing pharmacological and genetic strategies to modulate tumor oxygenation levels in mouse models to discover novel synergistic therapies to address anti-cancer treatment resistance.
Dr. Zhu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics. Her research group studies electrical and mechanoelectrical signaling in both excitable and non-excitable cell types to uncover their impact on health and disease. Before joining OSU, Wandi was an Instructor at Harvard Medical School and an Investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, where her thesis, mentored by Dr. Jonathan Silva, examined the impact of genetic variants and NaV channel accessory subunits on Class-Ib drug interactions with the cardiac NaV channel. After a brief work experience at Genentech, Inc., where she worked in Dr. Jun Chen’s group on high-throughput electrophysiology, Dr. Zhu pursued postdoctoral training in Dr. Calum MacRae’s lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. There, she developed human blood phenotyping platforms to identify genetically determined latent blood traits, which can be used to stratify risks for various common complex diseases. With expertise in bioengineering, cardiovascular medicine, hematology, and genetics, Wandi continues to apply interdisciplinary approaches to investigate the intricate interplay between mechanoelectrical signaling and other cellular processes, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutic targets for treating cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases.
Michael Tranter, PhD Awarded American Heart Association Transformational Project Award
The Department of Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics and the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute (DHLRI) are excited to announce that Dr. Michael Tranter has been awarded the prestigious Transformational Project Award from the American Heart Association!
This award supports cutting-edge, high-impact research with the potential to drive significant breakthroughs in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular science. The project will focus on exploring therapeutic strategies targeting the RNA-binding protein HuR, with the goal of accelerating the resolution of active fibroblasts in the injured heart. By targeting HuR, this research could pave the way for novel treatments for heart injuries, addressing critical challenges in cardiac repair.
A key feature of this project is the strong collaboration between Dr. Tranter, Dr. Jonathan Song (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), and Dr. Onur Kanisicak (Department of Emergency Medicine), highlighting the importance of team science in advancing medical research. This multidisciplinary partnership integrates expertise from engineering, emergency medicine, and cardiovascular research to push the boundaries of current knowledge and offer new perspectives on heart disease treatment.
The American Heart Association has generously awarded $100,000 per year over the next three years to the Tranter Lab. This financial support will fuel paradigm-shifting research with the potential to make significant contributions to heart disease treatment and recovery.
Michael Tranter, PhD, MMT Associate Professor, awarded the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) - Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology Mid-Career Achievement Award!
Dr. Michael Tranter traveled to Arlington, Virginia in early summer to accept the Mid-Career Achievement Award from the Division for Cardiovascular Pharmacology. He was honored for his groundbreaking research that has revealed key molecular mechanisms in posttranscriptional gene regulation, which are instrumental in driving cardiometabolic diseases.
His commitment to scientific discovery and his passion for guiding the next generation of researchers made him a standout candidate for the award. In alignment with ASPET’s mission, Dr. Tranter has successfully mentored four graduate students, each of whom earned prestigious predoctoral fellowships from AHA or NIH. Since joining ASPET in 2007, Dr. Tranter has contributed to the organization by serving on various committees, including those for Graduate Recruitment and Education, Science Policy, and the CVP Division Competitions.