It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Dr. Sem Phan, professor of pathology and renowned pulmonary pathology researcher, following a protracted illness.

Although Sem was a gifted researcher, he was also a kind and generous person.  He was a devoted husband to his wife, Katherine, and their two children, Nicholas and Louis.  He provided faithful and loving care for his wife during her illness.  His colleagues knew him as a gifted investigator but, more importantly, one who was always willing to share his expertise and (graciously) provide help whenever called upon.   He was a gourmet cook and a wine aficionado and eagerly shared these talents with his friends.  He loved music, especially his son Nick’s opera career, and delighted in the joys of grandparenthood. His love of travel took him to many countries around the world.  Dr. Phan was a gifted pathologist, an accomplished scientist, a consummate teacher, and a strong role model for all he encountered. He is leaving a hole in our hearts and department and will be deeply missed.

The family has announced  the following plans for memorial services.  There will be a viewing at 10:00 and a service at 11:00 on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 3109 Scio Church Rd, Ann Arbor.

An article recently published by the Nuñez lab provides an exciting discovery for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and certain other autoimmune diseases caused by aberrant NLRP3. The research, led by Dr. Jie Xu with Drs. Joseph Pickard and Gabriel Nuñez, discovered that a common, safe, FDA-approved drug used to treat alcoholism and cocaine addictions, disulfiram, inhibits the production of NLRP3 inflammasomes. When NLRP3 is activated, it can cause inflammation leading to multiple health issues.

With 20 subtypes of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) listed by the World Health Organization in 2022, determining the specific type of RCC and the correct treatment protocol for patients can be daunting. Only seven of the 20 subtypes had been defined by specific molecular changes and the 20% of RCCs that are classified as non-clear cell RCCs (non-ccRCC), were primarily identified only by histopathologic features. The driving genetic changes had not been identified. A large multi-institutional team making up the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium, including several researchers from Michigan Medicine’s Department of Pathology, performed multi-omics data analysis on 48 non-ccRCC and 103 ccRCC tumors as well as 101 normal adjacent tissues to study the genetic aberrations found in these tumor types. The findings of this research were recently published in Cell Reports Medicine, with Pathology’s Drs. Alexey Nesvizhskii and Saravana Mohan Dhanasekaran as senior authors and Dr. Ginny Xiaohe Li as first author.

In a manuscript published this week in JAMA Oncology, senior author Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan and members of the EDRN-PCA3 Study Group reported on their development and validation of a new 18-gene urine-based test for diagnosis of high-grade prostate cancer, MPS2. This test was initially developed in the Department of Pathology. 

Dr. Asma Nusrat, F. Peyton Rous Professor and Director of Experimental Pathology, was awarded the 2024 Rous-Whipple award at the American Society for Investigative Pathology Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 20, 2024 in Baltimore, MD.

The ASIP Rous-Whipple Award is presented to a senior scientist with a distinguished career in research who has advanced the understanding of disease and has continued productivity at the time of the award, including impactful science [...]

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from across Michigan Medicine are focused on cutting-edge research to understand and address food allergies as members of the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center. Nicholas Lukacs, PhD, the Godfrey Dorr Stobbe Professor of Pathology and Scientific Director of the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center, and James R. Baker Jr., Ruth Dow Doan Professor of Biologic Nanotechnology and Director of the MHWFAC, were instrumental in founding the food allergy center in 2015 and in recruiting an exceptional team of researchers to the Center. One of their goals since the inception of the MHWFAC was to see it become recognized as one of the world’s elite research centers in its field. Recently, this goal was achieved when the National Institutes of Health awarded them one of just 10 seven-year CoFAR Cooperative Agreement Grants, recognizing the center’s exceptional ground-breaking research.

Congratulations to Celina Kleer, MD, the Harold A. Oberman Collegiate Professor of Pathology and Director of Breast Pathology Research, on her election to the prestigious Association of American Physicians (AAP). The AAP is an honorary society dedicated to the advancement of scientific and practical medicine and admits only 70 new members to its rank each year. Election is highly selective and as described on their website, is “an honor extended to physicians with outstanding credentials in basic or translational biomedical research.” Kleer will be formally inducted into the AAP at their Annual Meeting in Chicago next month.

In the world of research and grant funding, it is easy to lose sight of the effort required for foundations to provide funding to researchers and the underlying motivation for that funding. This is not the case, however, for Molecular and Cellular Pathology Graduate Student Joanna Lum. Lum was recently awarded the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation Fellowship Award, providing her with $200,000 over 3 years to study Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, the deadliest form of pediatric brain cancer. DIPG is a brainstem glioma most commonly affecting children ages 5-9 years old. More than 90% of these children will die within 1.5 years. The DIPG foundation was created by two families who lost their sons to DIPG.

Dr. Gabriel Nunez 's Lab Makes Breakthrough Discovery in Colitis

From Italy to Ann Arbor

Crohn’s disease (CD), one of the major forms of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is a chronic relapsing intestinal disorder that affects millions of people globally. The cause of CD is unknown, but it is thought to result from a dysregulated immune response against environmental factors, including intestinal microbes, in genetically susceptible hosts.

The critical role that the intestinal microorganisms, collectively known as the gut microbiota, plays in the pathogenesis of CD has been investigated over the past two decades. Given the importance of the gut microbiota in triggering CD, the development of therapeutic approaches that target disease-causing intestinal microbes may provide a unique approach to the treatment of this disease [...]

Physician Scientist Dr. Aaron Udager shares his journey.

A study from clinicians and researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, U-M Department of Pathology and the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology reveals findings from over 800 clinical assays performed for kidney patients with MiTF family gene mutations.

Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan, S. P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology and Professor of Urology at Michigan Medicine Department of Pathology and Director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, was recently recognized for his outstanding achievements by the American Association of Cancer Research. He was presented with the AACR James S. Ewing-Thelma B. Dunn Award for Outstanding Achievement in Pathology in Cancer Research award at the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Arul Chinnaiyan for this well-deserved prestigious honor!

Dr. Xinna Li's story.

Congratulations are due to Dr. Asma Nusrat, F. Peyton Rous Professor of Experimental Pathology and Director of Experimental Pathology, and Dr. Charles Parkos, Carl V. Weller Professor and Chair of Pathology, on being named 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows. The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals. The 2022 class was comprised of 505 scientists, engineers and innovators from around the world and across all disciplines.  Being selected as an AAAS Fellow is one of the most distinguished honors within the scientific community. The newly elected Fellows are being recognized for their scientific and socially notable achievements spanning their careers.

One of the most fascinating aspects of a career in cancer research is that one never knows when or where the next great discovery will occur. This was true of a recent breakthrough discovery made by the Dr. Russell Ryan laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical School. They were shocked to find that active regulatory elements in B-ALL contained not only typical protein binding sequences but also simple repeats of the sequence “GGAA”, usually considered a form of “junk DNA” with no regulatory function [...]

Members of the University of Michigan Department of Pathology and Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, in collaboration with the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium, recently published a large study on clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCCs), which represent about 75% of the RCC cases and account for the most RCC-associated deaths. This study set out to create a comprehensive profile of ccRCC, combining histologic and molecular profiles. By analyzing both the microscopic cell structures and the genetic makeup of the cells, these researchers discovered significant intratumoral heterogeneity in 90% of ccRCCs. This indicates that ccRCCs originate from multiple tumor cell lines, called tumor subclones, that may become metastatic and could independently influence response to therapies. Through this study, the team was able to molecularly stratify aggressive histopathic subtypes, which may lead to more effective treatment strategies for patients and improved survival.

Walk through a 30-year career with Dr. Gabriel Nunez--highlighting his key discoveries, perspectives on work/life balance, and those he mentored.

A research team from the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology undertook a study to illustrate how careful assessment of cytologic and biomarker features may provide physicians with information on Metastatic Prostatic Cancer (MCP) patients’ prognosis and the best therapies to consider [...]

We are pleased to share that the Board of Regents today (Oct. 20) approved the appointment of Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska, M.S., Ph.D., as associate dean for graduate and postdoctoral studies in the Medical School, effective Oct. 1, 2022. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Nikolovska-Coleska on her associate dean role.

The Celina Kleer lab at the University of Michigan Department of Pathology and Rogel Cancer Center has found a new mechanism that fuels metastasis in triple negative breast cancers. In their new study they show that EZH2, a master regulator of cell type identity, known to function through methylation of histones, has a new, unexpected function in aggressive breast cancers [...]

The Research Scientist Track

...and what do they do?

The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare continues to expand. In a recent issue of BMC Cancer, Dr. Vipulkumar Dadhania (first author) and colleagues published a result of their study Leveraging artificial intelligence to predict ERG gene fusion status in prostate cancer. The expert team from the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology developed a deep-learning-based model to predict ERG genomic rearrangements in prostatic adenocarcinomas using only H&E-stained digital slides [...]

Dr. Richard Miller candidly describes his career progression in aging research.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Abhijit Parolia on being selected for the 2022 Harold Weintraub Graduate Student Award. The award, established by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, is given yearly and recognizes outstanding achievement during graduate studies in the biological sciences [...]

Last year was an eventful time within the Department of Pathology at Michigan Medicine. As we reminisce about 2021, let's revisit some of the greatest memories [...]

Dr. Anuska Andjelkovic-Zochowski's story

As COVID closed down research labs, researchers shifted focus.

A study related to the maternal gut microbiome and how it regulates immunity to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in offspring was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. Clinical experts from the Department of Pathology including Drs. Wendy Fonseca, Nicholas Lukacs, and Catherine Ptaschinski were responsible for carrying out this study [...]

Dr. Peter Ward, Active Emeritus Professor and former Chair of Pathology, was named “World Expert in Sepsis” by Expertscape on World Sepsis Day, September 13, 2021. To be named a World Expert, one must be in the top 0.1% of scholars writing about Sepsis over the past ten years. Ward came in among the top .006% of scholars in the world and the number 1 scholar on sepsis at the University of Michigan [...]

The Department of Pathology's 2020 Annual Report is now available online. In the report, you will read about the department’s tripartite mission of research, education, and patient care, and learn about the goals of the department’s Strategic Council [...]

Research team discovered that proteins with the capacity to multimerize quickly responded to osmotic changes (dehydration) caused by high saline or sugar concentrations, condensing into aggregates resembling processing bodies (P-bodies). The reaction, known as hyperosmotic phase separation, or HOPS, takes only a few seconds and is reversible within less than 2 minutes [...]

A new study by the University of Michigan's Rogel Cancer Center analyzed patients with cancer and the factors that cause the cancer to spread to the liver, leading to worse outcomes. 

Congratulations to Dr. Thomas Giordano and the entire Cancer Genome Atlas Project team for winning the American Association of Cancer Research's 2020 Team Science Award [...]

Congratulations to Dr. Celina Kleer who was awarded the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP)'s 2020 Outstanding Investigator Award. Dr. Kleer receives the award for her demonstrated excellence in research in experimental pathology [...]

Research from Dr. Analisa Difeo was just published in Nature Communications. The study focuses on miR-181a and how it initiates and perpetuates oncogenic transformation through the regulation of innate immune signaling [...]

The research was just published in Modern Pathology and highlights the importance of next-generation sequencing within oncogenic roles for P53 and JAK/STAT signaling in microcystic adnexal carcinomas.

The protein Argonaute 2 was found to be critical to the progression from benign lesions into pancreatic cancer, suggesting a therapeutic opportunity.

The research was just published in Histopathology and features prominent contributions from our faculty.

The Department of Pathology 2019 Annual Report is now available online. Our department continues to show outstanding performance and growth and the past year was another example of why our department is one of the best in the world.

In the report, you will read about [...]

The study sheds light on alternative methods used for measuring size and depth of vulvar squamous cell carcinoma.

Congratulations to Arul M. Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD, on his election to the National Academy of Science!  Chinnaiyan is an investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and S.P. Hicks Endowed Professor of Pathology, American Cancer Society Research Professor, and director, Michigan Center for Translational Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor [...]

A new study from the Andrew Lieberman Laboratory’s Samir Nath, et al, has discovered that MEF2 impairment underlies skeletal muscle atrophy in polyglutamine disease.

Kennedy’s Disease, also known as Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (SBMA), is a disease caused by an inherited gene mutation that results in muscle and brain cell dysfunction. Patients progressively lose muscle mass until they are unable to walk without assistance. Ultimately [...]

Researchers have uncovered the gene signature for ChRCC.

The study details research surrounding Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) among infants.

Resolvin E1 (RvE1), a lipid derived from Omega-3 fatty acids, is a pro-repair molecule that promotes healing of intestinal wounds according to a recent study published in PNAS as a collaborative project between The Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan Medical School and [...]

The event showcased experiemental pathology research.

Event showcases clinical and translational research.

PTM Therapeutics, Inc. celebrated on February 6th the signing of an exclusive license for an antibody (PTM-001) jointly from the University of Michigan and Emory University during a bell-ringing ceremony at University of Michigan Tech Transfer. The startup is [...]

A recent report based on a phase I clinical trial by Dr. Aslam, et al, in the Varani Laboratory shows that a multi-mineral supplement, Aquamin^®, modulates the colonic microbial community in human subjects.  This study is part of an ongoing effort to determine if multi-mineral intervention [...]

A Phase I clinical trial, using a structurally related analog of the compound, is currently enrolling patients.

U-M researchers are shedding new light with exciting implications for research and health.

Chan Chung, PhD, received two grants in funding from the ChadTough Foundation and Defeat DIPG foundation ($150,000) and the Robert Connor Dawes CERN Pediatric Fellowship ($100,000). [...]

In 2015, Felipe da Veiga Leprevost, PhD, came to the University of Michigan as a research fellow to study computational proteomics. In June of 2019, he accepted a faculty position as a Research Investigator in Bioinformatics. He now has a Michigan-born little one and his roots are growing deeper in Ann Arbor [...]

Dr. Gabriel Nuñez, the Paul de Kruif Endowed Professor of Pathology, is one of the newest members of the National Academy of Medicine. The Nuñez laboratory has made ground-breaking discoveries in the field of [...]

Congratulations to Steven L. Kunkel, PhD, on his appointment as the executive vice dean for research and chief scientific officer of the University of Michigan Medical School, effective September 1, 2019, following a nationwide search for the best candidate.  Kunkel previously served [...]

Surinder Kumar, Ph.D., has received The Pablove Foundation Childhood Cancer Research Grant for his proposal entitled “The sirtuin SIRT5 as a novel therapeutic target for Ewing’s Sarcoma” [...]

A gift from the Silver Family Foundation is funding research at Michigan Medicine.

Every year in the United States, nearly 3 million men hear the words, “You have prostate cancer.” That is 1 in 9 men each year.  The word “cancer” triggers an immediate response in most people…fear, worry about family, denial, and often an increased awareness of one’s mortality. [...]

In November 2018, postdoctoral fellow Jay Vornhagen, PhD, was appointed as the first Department of Pathology Medical School Postdoctoral Trainee Senator.  The Medical School Postdoctoral Trainee Senate is a volunteer organization [...]

The Department of Pathology embraces the future while navigating through multiple changes as it settles into its new laboratory home.

Cancer biologists and engineers collaborated on a device that could help predict the likelihood of breast cancer metastasis.

Researchers characterize 3 ways in which the gene FOXA1 mutates to trigger prostate cancer.

Congratulations to Jolanta Gembecka, PhD, who is one of fourteen in the inaugural class of Rogel Scholars!  As part of the commitment from Richard and Susan Rogel, researchers will have the opportunity and freedom to pursue new directions in their work. Dr. Grembecka's research focus is developing [...]

A new study finds that U-M-designed compounds led to significantly smaller, slower-growing tumors.

A U-M study is the first to define how a little-known type of cell death impacts tumor cells and immune cells.

The Department of Pathology was well-represented at the American Society for Investigative Pathology’s 2019 Annual Meeting.

Dr. Charles Parkos, Carl V. Weller Professor and Chair of the Department of Pathology, has been inducted into the Association of American Physicians (AAP). Founded in 1885, the AAP is an organization of leading senior physician-scientists [...]

If a picture's worth a thousand words, a video is perhaps worth much more.

Mark Schultz, PhD strives to create therapeutics for Niemann-Pick disease.

Unique structure of circRNA makes it an ideal candidate for biomarkers – and it can be detected in blood or urine.

Dr. Kathleen Cho received a five-year R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her work in ovarian cancer research. High-grade serous carcinoma, or HGSC, is both the most common and most deadly form of “ovarian” cancer, although it is now believed that most HGSCs arise [...]

Tomasz Cierpicki, PhD, has been awarded an RO1 with five years of funding from the National Cancer Institute for his grant application, Targeting NSD1 In Leukemia, to develop inhibitors of NSD1 histone [...]

Jiaqi Shi, MD, PhD, has been awarded a KO8 (Career Development Award) from the National Cancer Institute for her grant application, Linking epigenetic regulation and TGF-β signaling in [...]

The American Society of Hematology (ASH) has chosen Dr. Russell Ryan as a recipient of its Junior Faculty Scholar Award in Basic/Translational Research. Established more than 30 years ago, the Scholar Awards program is one of [...]

Dr. Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska’s work was highlighted as part of the Featured Technology and Startup Kiosks during the University of Michigan Tech Transfer’s annual Celebrate Invention event on October 17^th at the Michigan League. Nikolovska-Coleska’s project, Discovery of Mc1-1 inhibitors from integrated [...]

Precision Health at the University of Michigan has chosen Dr. Jeffrey Hodgin as one of ten recipients of its Investigators Awards. The grants, totaling nearly $3 million, are of up to $300,000 each [...]

On Sunday, October 21, Jim Harbaugh, head coach of University of Michigan football, greeted 125 surprised attendees of the Pathology Investigators, Students and Academicians (PISA) Conference being hosted by the University of Michigan at the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Building in Ann Arbor. PISA attendees [...]

A recent collaborative study out of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology (MCTP) has led to new insight into kidney cancer. The resulting paper, VSTM2A Overexpression is a Sensitive and Specific Biomarker for [...]

In this episode of Careers in Pathology, Dr. Taeko Noah talks about her work in the Hogan Lab researching food allergies. Dr. Noah is a cellular biologist working as a Research Scientist in Pathology, studying how food crosses the intestinal epithelium to trigger allergic reactions.

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The University of Michigan SPORE in Prostate Cancer has awarded Aaron Udager, MD, PhD, with a two-year Prostate SPORE Career Enhancement Program (CEP) grant of $60,00 per year. The Department of Pathology will contribute matching funds of another [...]

The laboratory of Dr. Chang Kim, along with colleagues from Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine, has published in Nature [...]

A collaboration out of the Molecular and Cellular Pathology graduate program could lead to new treatment strategies.

Simon Hogan, PhD, unlocks the Secrets of Allergic Diseases.

Funding to Chinnaiyan supports evaluating new cancer markers that could become treatment targets.

The story of how Kathleen R. Cho, MD, created a career in which she excels at diagnostics, research, and administration.

Thomas Giordano, MD, PhD, the Henry Clay Bryant Professor of Pathology, has published an invited review article in a special issue of Endocrine-Related Cancer, celebrating 65 years of the double helix. In Classification of endocrine tumors in the age of integrated genomics, Giordano shares [...]

Congratulations to Asma Nusrat, MD, the Aldred Scott Warthin Professor and director of experimental pathology in the Michigan Medicine Department of Pathology, for her election as president of the American Society for Pathology for [...]

Dr. Gabriel Nuñez, the Paul de Kruif Endowed Professor of Inflammation & Immunology and Co-Director of Immunology and Host Response Program in the Michigan Medicine Department of Pathology, has been [...]

Congratulations to Dean Steven Kunkel on his appointment as Distinguished University Professor, one of the University of Michigan's highest honors, and being recognized for his exceptional achievements and services.  He was one of five professors honored this year, effective September 1, 2018. 

A life insurance policy purchased in the seventies is being used to recognize resident achievement today.

Dr. Sameer Khatri along with the Department of Pathology's Drs. Min Wang, Paul Harms, Douglas Fullen, Aleodor Andea, and May Chan, in collaboration with other U-M [...]

Congratulations to Dr. Nick Lukacs, the Godfrey D. Stobbe Professor of Pathology, Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs and the Scientific Director of the Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center, for his nomination and selection for the 2018 MICHR Distinguished Mentorship Award!

Lukacs was nominated by his trainees and peers at the [...]

Congratulations to Dr. Celina Kleer, the Harold A. Oberman Collegiate Professor of Pathology, who has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the 7^th Annual MICHR Distinguished Clinical and Translational Research Mentor Award!

Dr. Kleer was nominated by her trainees as well as peers at U-M Medical [...]

The Department of Pathology and the American Society for Investigative Pathology (ASIP) are proud to host the interactive, abstract-driven 2018 Pathobiology for Investigators, Students and Academicians Conference (PISA), in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 20-22 [...]

Researchers identify a lncRNA that provides insight into a key driver of prostate cancer — and a potential target for future therapy.

A decade-long effort to genomically characterize multiple cancers begets a huge archive.

Arul Chinnaiyan, MD, PhD and Rohit Mehra, MD are contributing authors of a new paper, Comprehensive evaluation of PD-L1 expression in primary and metastatic prostate cancer, published in The American Journal of [...]

The desire to propel her research has brought Maria Westerhoff, MD to the University of Michigan

Highlighting one of the first female University of Michigan Department of Pathology faculty.

Pathology's involvement in tuberculosis research and diagnosis

Recent discoveries about how the immune system reacts to injury — and the dire consequences
if that response spirals out of control — could help improve trauma care

Clinical FISH Assays for TFE3 and TFEB Help Characterize Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Andrew Lieberman, MD, PhD, Gerald D. Abrams Collegiate Professor and Director of Neuropathology, has been elected to serve on the Neuropathology Core Steering Committee of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC). The goal of the [...]