LAB NEWS

The Roper Lab welcomes Ansha Gupta and Rayhan Pathan as our high school student interns for the summer!

Congratulations to Afreen Ashraf for successfully presenting her honors thesis research, with Postdoc mentor Venkat.

Congratulations Joe Frank for passing his PhD preliminary Exam!!

The Roper Lab welcomes Ahmed Bauomy as a Research Scholar!

Jatin publishes a review paper on: Cause, Epidemiology, and Histology of Polyps and Pathways to Colorectal Cancer with Drs. Brian Sullivan and Michael Noujaim.

The Roper Lab welcomes Ghada Mohammed as a Research Scholar !

Jatin is a co-investigator on an NCI R01 award with Dr. Jun Lu (Yale University) that will examine the role of immune regulation in colorectal cancer chemotherapeutic response

Roper Lab cookie break! A thank you to lab members for a great year.

Jatin is awarded an NIH STTR grant, together with Dr. Adam Wax (Duke Biomedical Engineering) and Lumedica, Inc., to  develop a spectral optical coherence tomography (SOCT) device to improve diagnosis of colon adenomas during colonoscopy. If effective, this technology will help prevent colorectal cancer.

Jatin has received an NIDDK R21 award to study fluorescent nanoparticles for the detection of colon adenomas. This project is a collaboration with Igor Sokolov (Tufts University).

The Roper Lab welcomes Navneet Kaur as a Research Scholar!

Roper Lab outing 2021, Eno River State Park, NC

The Roper Lab welcomes Aneeq M. Yousuf as a Research Scholar !

The Roper Lab is excited to welcome new Duke undergraduate students for independent study projects: Catherine Yao, Alice Zhao, and Olya Kislovskiy!

Congratulations to Breanna Sheahan (postdoctoral fellow) for publishing her graduate school thesis research in CMGH: “Epithelial regeneration after doxorubicin arises primarily from the early progeny of active intestinal stem cells”. The identity of intestinal epithelial cells that repopulate intestinal stem cells in the context of injury is controversial; some papers have identified regeneration from less sensitive “reserve” stem cell populations while others have reported that stem cell progeny can undergo “reverse” differentiation to repopulate the stem cell pool. Breanna’s research demonstrates that epithelial regeneration after doxirubicin-induced depletion of intestinal stem cells is dependent on non-quiescent early progeny cells.

Jatin Roper and Chang-Lung Lee (Radiation Oncology, Duke University) receive an R21 award from the National Cancer Institute: “Inhibition of CaMKK2 sensitizes rectal cancers to radiation therapy”.

Jatin Roper, Jiangbo Wang, and Bob Mook win the Fall 2020 Duke Incubation Fund Award! The goal of the project is to develop a novel compound to treat inflammatory bowel disease.

Postdoctoral fellow Venkat Thiriveedi publishes his PhD thesis research about the mitochondrial electron transport chain in Redox Biology. Congratulations Venkat!

We are excited to welcome Caroline Hughes, a Duke University junior, for an Independent Study project!

The Roper Lab welcomes Breanna Sheahan as a new postdoctoral fellow!

Jatin presents Duke Division of Gastroenterology Grand Rounds

Roper Lab celebrates the accomplishments of three research scholars who are moving on to Internal Medicine residencies: Abel Joseph, Rishanki Jha, and Kamil Sardarli. Congratulations!

Jatin publishes a paper in Scientific Reports with Elmar Nurmemmedov about a novel Beta-catenin inhibitor to treat colon cancer.

Happy hour zoom party to welcome new incoming postdocs, Breanna Sheahan and Elle Glenny!

Congratulations to Abel Joseph, Rishanki Jha, and Kamil Sardarli – visiting research scholars in the Roper Lab who matched today for internal medicine residency!

Diana is recognized by Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute with a Borden Scholars Award!

Roper Lab visits Morrisville to celebrate MLK Day. “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” – MLK Jr.

Jatin wins a grant from the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation to study mechanisms of immunotherapy in colorectal cancer.

Nobel Laureate and Duke University Professor Robert Lefkowitz presents his reflections on failure and success in science:

The Roper Lab visits the Duke Lemur Center together! Did you know that the Duke Lemur Center is a world leader in the study, care, and protection of lemurs?

The Roper and Garman Labs hold their first joint journal club. Abel presented “Single-cell transcriptomes of the regenerating intestine reveal a revival stem cell”.

Jatin delivers a presentation at the Woo Center Symposium on Big Data and Precision Health at Duke University. Hans Clevers gave the keynote address:

Jatin and Brian Sullivan publish a Selected Summary editorial in Gastroenterology about a recent paper that reported lack of efficacy of aspirin for increasing the sensitivity of fecal immunochemical testing for advanced colorectal neoplasia

A paper co-authored by Jatin and led by Owen Sansom is published in Cancer Cell. This paper reports that epithelial NOTCH signaling promotes metastasis in colorectal cancer.

Rishanki Jha joins the Roper Lab as a research scholar!

Jatin is appointed to the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University.

Jatin and colleagues publish a scientific review in the American Journal of Physiology – Cell Physiology about intestinal organoid technology.

Jatin and Xiling Shen publish a Selected Summary editorial in Gastroenterology about a recent paper from Calvin Kuo’s lab demonstrating in vitro modeling of the tumor immune microenvironment from patient-derived tissues.

Jatin and Omer Yilmaz publish an editorial in Cell Stem Cell about the lasting impact of this seminal publication about CRISPR/Cas9 repair of cystic fibrosis organoids.

Jatin speaks at the AGA Research Foundation Benefactor’s Dinner in San Diego, CA.

A paper co-authored by Jatin and led by Adam Bass is published in Nature. This work shows that the WRN helicase is a synthetic lethal vulnerability in cancers with microsattelite instability (MSI). 

Jatin joins the Duke Microbiome Center as a faculty member.

A paper co-authored by Jatin and led by Jihye Yun and Lew Cantley is published in Science. This paper demonstrates that high fructose corn syrup, a common sweetener found in soft drinks, promotes the growth of intestinal cancers.

Jatin joins the Regeneration Next Initiative at Duke University.

Jatin begins an independent faculty position as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Duke University and Member of the Duke Cancer Institute.