BLaST highlights Scientists of the Month for March, April, May 2024
By Amy Topkok
Since 2016, the Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program at University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has highlighted scientists from all biomedical fields through its Scientist of the Month articles. Gabriel Miller, a second-year BLaST Scholar, was selected for March 2024, Robin Masterman, a fourth-year BLaST Scholar, was selected for April 2024, and Kaia Victorino, a second-year BLaST Scholar was selected for May 2024. Read more about BLaST's Scientist of the Month series on their website.
Gabriel Miller, March 2024 BLaST Scientist of the Month
BLaST Scholar Gabriel Miller in the Weltzin Lab, March 2024. PC: Amy Topkok.
Gabriel Miller is a second-year BLaST Scholar who plans to graduate in May 2024 with a bachelor of science in biological sciences with a concentration in cell and molecular biology.
He is from the small village of Ninilchik, Alaska where he has lived all his life. His hobbies include drawing, hiking, insect collecting, and any other activities outside in nature.
He recently was accepted to the University of Virginia’s Neuroscience PhD program where he plans to focus in neuroimmunology. Miller’s career goal is to enter the biomedical research field after graduate school.
Miller’s current research project, “Effects of Rabies Viral Glycoprotein Binding on Human and Dog α7 Nicotinic Receptors," assesses whether the glycoprotein is selective for a specific host, human or canine, nicotinic receptor. The rabies virus enters the nervous system by interacting with molecular targets on host cells to modify behavior, and trigger virion receptor-mediated endocytosis by poorly understood mechanisms. This study examines the activity of the rabies virus glycoprotein on nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes that are expressed on the plasma membrane of neurons in brain regions involved in rabid animal behavior.
Miller’s previous project focused on the "Effects of siRNA silencing on VDR expression and Oxidative Stress Tolerance in Microglia,“ where he assessed the targeted silencing of hydrogen sulfide which produced metabolic pathways that would impact microglial cells’ ability to tolerate oxidative stress.
Miller’s work is related to a larger, NIH-funded project under UAF assistant professor Maegan Weltzin which examines a modified rabies glycoprotein that facilitates the virus’ interaction with the nicotinic receptor on neurons to improve drug delivery.
“My interest in neuroimmunology comes from being exposed to a medical environment at an early age and seeing firsthand the shortcomings in current treatments in neurological conditions,” Miller said. “My mom works as a medical coder, and we often traveled to the Alaska Native Medical Center, the statewide Native Health hospital in Anchorage, for treatment of several chronic medical conditions in our family. Further understanding how the nervous system reacts to damage, affecting the immune pathways, and why it can lead to worsened recovery in disease and traumatic injury is key to developing better treatments to meaningfully improve the living conditions of patients.”
Miller presented initial findings at the September 2023 Alaska IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) Retreat in Talkeetna, AK and at the Alaska Interior Medical Education Summit in February 2024.
Miller thanks Emily Sousa, his former BLaST RAMP, who helped him in his first year as a BLaST Scholar and assisted him applying to graduate school.
Nikola Nikolic, his current BLaST RAMP, has been supportive in navigating challenges, especially moving from the Badiei lab to the Weltzin lab.
“[Nikola] has been a great resource for advice about graduate school,” Miller said.
He thanked Alireza Badiei, PhD and graduate student Alex Cornwell in his initial training of molecular techniques and processing and analyzing western blots.
Miller also thanked Maegan Weltzin, PhD, especially for “being the single most influential person” in his development as a researcher who helped him gain a stronger basis and appreciation for neuroscience.
Miller with his faculty mentor Dr. Maegan Weltzin in March 2024. Right: Miller sharing one of his samples.
“I was able to gain a thorough understanding of the skills needed to go further in this area,” Miller said, “She encouraged me to apply for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program, and helped me make the most out of attending the 2023 Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Conference in Washington D.C. These experiences allowed me to be a competitive and well-prepared applicant for graduate school and is the reason why I was accepted into my top school.”
Miller also thanked the graduate students of the Weltzin lab for their support in training him in other research techniques, especially to UAF graduate student Brittany O’Brien as the primary lead in his research journey.
Robin Masterman, April 2024 BLaST Scientist of the Month
BLaST Scholar Robin Masterman in the BLaST Student Engagement Center, April 2024. PC: Amy Topkok.
Robin Masterman is a fourth-year BLaST Scholar and a senior in UAF’s Biological Sciences BS program. Her mother is from Togiak, Alaska and her father is from Maine. Masterman plans to apply to medical school and return to Alaska to practice as a family physician in rural communities.
She holds leadership positions in Inu-Yupiaq, a student-led Alaska Native dance group, the UAF Beading club, and in the Pre-Medical Society (AMSA) club. Her hobbies are beading, fur skin-sewing, traditional dancing, speaking Yup’ik, and cooking.
Masterman is currently engaged in three research projects. In the NIH-funded Center for Transformative Research in Metabolism (TRiM) project she assisted in the rat instrumentation surgery to help translate hibernation for space torpor and remote emergency medicine. Her second project looks at the benefits and drawbacks to using traditional healing in the treatment of behavioral health issues. This opportunity allows Masterman to work with a predominantly Alaska Native team, where the results will inform White House decisions related to Indian Health Services.
Masterman also recently joined a five year project titled Neqkiuryaraq (or The Art of Preparing Food), a NIH ComPASS initiative led by the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation (YKHC) in collaboration with UAF’s Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR), Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), and the Bethel Community Services Foundation. This community- and elder-driven project will implement and evaluate structural interventions that support food sovereignty and security in the YK-Delta where she will serve as the project manager.
Masterman’s research journey includes attending conferences and training as part of her professional development. She attended the 2022 Experimental Biology Conference to learn how others presented their research and expand her network of fellow scholars.
Masterman attended several workshops and programs such as Calricaraq, a YKHC Indian Health Services Healthy Families program (Feb. 2024), a Cross-Cultural Medicine Workshop held by the Association of American Indian Physicians (April 2023), the Native American Pathways Program (NAPP) Introduction to Health Careers six-week workshop hosted by the Mayo Clinic (July to August 2023), and the Alaska Indigenous Research Leadership Program run by ANTHC and Alaska Pacific University (May 2023).
Masterman also worked in the health field at the Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital in Utqiagvik, Alaska during the summers of 2022 and 2023 as a patient healthcare technician.
Masterman has been mentored by Kelly Drew, PhD, UAF Research Assistant Professor of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, under the TRiM research project, and lab technician Hoshi Sugiura.
"Robin has played an essential part of the Drew lab research and we are fortunate to have her in our team,” said Sugiura. “I cannot thank her enough for spending long hours of research with me."
Andrea Bersamin, PhD, professor of Biology and Wildlife and faculty research at CANHR, also had good things to say about Masterman.
"Robin is well-positioned to be a leader in discussions and practice related to Alaska Native health equity, and I'm so pleased to have had the opportunity to be one of her academic advisors and instructors and most recently on the Neqkiuryaraq project,” Bersamin said.
Masterman at the 2022 Experimental Biology Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Masterman was also previously mentored by Diane O’Brien, PhD, UAF full professor and now interim director of the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology.
Masterman thanked her mentors.
“I would like to thank Hoshi for being such an amazing and patient mentor in the Drew lab, Dr. Bersamin for believing in me and inspiring so much confidence, and my BLaST mentors Nikola Nikolic, Emily Sousa, and Ellen Chenoweth, my BLaST Research Advising and Mentoring Professionals (RAMPs), for helping me reach my goals not only as a student but as a person,” Masterman said.
Kaia Victorino, May 2024 BLaST Scientist of the Month
BLaST Scholar Kaia Victorino enjoying Denali Park, Alaska in 2022. PC: K. Victorino.
Kaia Victorino is a second-year BLaST scholar and a senior in UAF’s biological sciences program. She grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska and has studied at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and Montana State University in addition to her home university of UAF.
Victorino is a fourth-year UAF honors student and climate scholar who is passionate about the interconnection of human, animal, and environmental health. Her hobbies include hiking, hockey, and yoga.
Victorino’s current research is centered on the efficacy of eye lenses as a tool for aging marmot specimens in the UA Museum of the North mammal collection. Her work aims to bolster the mammalogy department’s understanding of Hoary Marmots, which are considered climate sentinels due to their dependence on winter snowpack and open alpine environments.
Victorino’s previous research measured hormone levels in the Black-Legged Kittiwake, a long-lived seabird, to investigate carry-over effects between subsequent reproductive seasons in the lab of Alexander Kitaysky, PhD.
“I am deeply interested in the physiology of reproduction, so working with hormones in the lab was truly a dream come true,” Victorino said.
She also participated in the office of Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity’s (URSA) Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program under UAF faculty Mario Muscarella, PhD, (BLaST Faculty Pilot Project awardee 2021-2023) where she examined the effects of increased forest fire and permafrost thaw on Alaska’s microbial soil communities and their methylation of mercury.
“Methylated mercury is the bioavailable form of mercury that can accumulate in food webs. Climate change’s impact on the abundance of mercury-cycling bacteria is a vivid example of the interconnectedness of environmental health,” Victorino said.
Victorino said she is deeply appreciative of the mentorship of many great researchers and teachers and thanks her UAF faculty professors Link Olson, PhD, and Alexander “Sasha” Kitaysky, PhD, as well as Mammal Collection manager Aren Gunderson, for sharing their time and knowledge with her.
She is especially grateful to her early mentors, including Muscarella and her high school biology teacher, Cyndie Beale, for getting her started with research and igniting her passion for the field of biology.
Victorino also thanked her current and past BLaST Research and Mentoring Professionals (RAMPS) Hannah Robinson, Sarah Barcalow, and Nikola Nikolic for their encouraging support.
“It was a pleasure to be Kaia's RAMP,” said Robinson. “She is such a curious and adventurous student, and I cannot wait to see where life takes her.”
Left: Victorino participating in the Fish Tissue Sampling Workshop at Whalefest 2022 in Sitka, AK (photo credit H. Robinson). Right: Victorino with her BLaST RAMP Nikola Nickolic, receiving her congratulations plaque in April 2024 (photo credit Amy Topkok).
For any questions about this or any BLaST Scientist of the Month article series, please contact Amy Topkok, BLaST Outreach Coordinator, at aktopkok@alaska.edu. More articles can be found on the BLaST Scientist of the Month website.
The Diversity Program Consortium Coordination and Evaluation Center at UCLA is supported by Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health / National Institutes of General Medical Sciences under award number U54GM119024.
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