Here you will find (somewhat current) news on the whereabouts and activities of those who have spent time in the Plopper lab. Please feel free to email me with news, pictures, or information that you'd like to have posted here. If you want more press, send it in! And, most importantly, thank you all for your hard work and dedication. I'm tremendously proud of you. This is what makes science fun and rewarding.

So, here's the latest news:

Not that I'm counting or anything, but I think the current tally for Lab Alumni is 7 grad students, 40 undergrads, and three high school students (plus those that didn't stay long enough)! Not bad for 10 years.

Dr. Roman Salasznyk, who led the Plopper Lab's charge into the stem cell field way back in 2002 and finished his Ph.D. in August 2005, just wrapped up his postdoctoral work at Albany Medical College and took a very exciting position at Osiris, Inc., the exact same company that sold us our first vial of stem cells! He and his fiance, Julie Backiel, headed south to Baltimore in July 2007. Reports from the field (meaning, what Rob and Amanda tell me from their emails with Roman) are very encouaging. Given his boundless energy, I'm sure we'll be hearing great things from him soon. In case you can't wait, contact him here.

Don Ward sucessfully completed his Ph.D. experience in July, 2007, and is currently taking a well-deserved break to spend some time with his family, who probably didn't recognize him those last few days before the defense. Pre-exam stress can do powerful things! But it paid off handsomely: his defense was outstanding, and he has launched us into the world of strain-induced differentiation. He'll be looking to merge his background in freshwater ecology with his lab skills picked up during his Ph.D. in his next career move.

Kilpatrick Carroll, who graduated from UNLV in 2001, headed to New York the same time I did, but he was headed for NYC, specifically the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University. He successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis on July 20, 2007, at about 2:30 in the afternoon (less than a day after Don's defense- it was quite a week). How do I know this? I had the pleasure of serving on his examining committee! Talk about closing the loop! I've known him for 10 years now, and he's doing wonderfully. Let's not forget that it was Kil who inspired me to start running undergrad recitation sections in Intro to Cell, and I'm still doing it. After polishing up his written thesis, he starts a position with a venture capital firm in Manhattan in September. He told me that he is now "100% New Yorker" and doesn't see himself living anywhere else. It's been quite a journey from his home town of Las Vegas. Next time he sends me an email, I'll let you know how to reach him post-Columbia.

Speaking of Las Vegas, I recently heard from two more desertfolk: Maraya Morse (Lotrakul), UNLV '01, wrote recently to announce: "That’s right, I’m headed back to UNLV. Geographically speaking, I’m stuck in Vegas for now, that’s what happens when you get married. Although my brain has shriveled somewhat (from disuse or athletic abuse?) I’m gearing up for the GRE and looking to earn my M.S. in Biochem concurrently with my CLS (clinical laboratory science) credentials. This should serve as an adequate refresher/precursor to a more sadistic/advanced degree program." And as proof that music can define a moment, "Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony' is the first song on one of my road trip compilations, and like you said, it takes me instantly back to PlopCo Inc.... well, that and any Stevie Nicks song (Karl) and the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (Will)!" Drop her a line here.

Charmaine Lastimoso, who worked with us when she was a high school student in Las Vegas way back when, recently wrote to check in: "I'm still in New England but am now living in Boston and working on the Harvard School of Public Health Campus - Harvard...haha. I graduated from BU with my MPH (concentration in Epidemiology) and decided to work for a while before (finally) applying to Med School. My job's a strange set up since I'm technically a research assistant at Brigham and Women's Hospital working on HIV/TB studies in resource-limited settings, particularly interventions provided by Partners In Health, a non-profit that provides HIV/TB care in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Lesotho, Rwanda, and Malawi. I love what I'm doing and a great perk is that it's given me some opps to travel…for instance, they're sending me to Siberia to oversee the beginnings of a study of TB patients with alcoholism in September for a week or so. Should be pretty wild! I'm also working on getting my name on some papers this year…I've already done a poster presentation (as first author…whoohoo) at a TB conference in Paris and been on a few abstracts for other conferences." She is now officially the First Person I've Ever Known That Was Sent To Siberia! You can reach her here.

Rob Klees wrapped up his Ph.D. with a bang in April 2007: 10 publications, with one more submitted as he walked out the door. His defense was a marvel to behold. He's still holding out for the perfect position, and resting his tired typing fingers.

2006 was capped off by Sarah Earley's completion of her Ph.D. in December. She has moved on to take a postdoctoral postion at Albany Medical College and is now knee-deep in immunology. A braver soul than I! You can reach her here.

Spring 2005 saw the addition of Sam Cristy, Brielle Spataro, Mariah Hughlock, Genevieve Weber and Julie Backiel to the growing list of Lab Alumni. Sam is working as a lab technician at Harvard Medical School, Brielle is off to medical school, Maraiah hit the work force as a technician at Dartmouth, Gen entered grad school at Johns Hopkins (following in the shoes of another Lab Alum, Megan Keefe), and Julie stayed on at RPI to earn her Masters in Biology before moving down to Washington DC with her fiancee, fellow RPI alum Roman Salaznyk!

Paul DeMarco, Dan Aruch, Audra Baroni, Michael St. Andre, Wazim Buksh, Marilyn Chengot, and Anna Batorsky joined the ranks of Plopper Lab Alumni in Spring 2004 when they graduated from RPI moved on to the next stage of their amazing careers. Once I hear from them I can give a better update as to their activities. Briefly, Paul is applying to med school, Dan is off to Albany Medical College to complete his M.D., Audra is enrolled in a Public Health graduate program at U. Mass Amherst, Mike is working as a lab technician in Boston, Wazim and Marilyn are off to med school in the Bahamas, and Anna is attending grad school at UC San Diego, my old Alma Mater. It was indeed a BANNER year for the Plopper Lab!

Vanessa Small graduated from RPI with a B.S. in Biology in the Spring of 2003 and is currently in grad school at the University of California, Riverside. Haven't heard from her in a while... grad school can do that! Her email is: vanessa.small*at*email.ucr.edu.

Rachel Bailey graduated from RPI in Spring 2003 and moved to Charleston SC with her boyfriend. Last I heard she was looking for a job in Biotech there. Email: bailer2*at*hotmail.com.

Megan Jean Keefe left RPI in June 2003 with B.S. in hand to start graduate school in the Cellular and Molecular Medicine Program at Johns Hopkins. She'll be staying in sunny Baltimore getting her Ph.D. for as short of a time as she can manage, then moving on to something else! She has selected her thesis advisor, Dr. Rhoda Alani, and is working on (what else) tumor cell migration! Megan recently made the local newpaper! Check out: Johns Hopkins Gazette. She can be reached at keefe1*at*jhmi.edu.

Rebecca Cebula was the first graduate of RPI to join the ranks of the Plopper Lab Alumni. She also has the unusual distinction of being the only lab member to never have actually set foot in the lab- not even once. She initiated our collaboration with Applied Biophysics, Inc., and worked exclusively in George Edick's lab as well as the ABI labs during the 2001-2002 academic year. Becky is completing her Ph.D. studies at UCSF, in the Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics program. You can reach her at: rcebula*at*itsa.ucsf.edu

Dr. Will Rust is living in Singapore, and working on human embryonic stem cells at ES Cells International. Karl also supplied me with his latest email address: wrust*at*escellinternational.com.

Johanna (Jody) DeKay (Wagner) wrote to tell me that she has completed medical school in Reno, and she and her husband Pete will be staying in the Reno are to raise their family. They now have two children and are doing very well!

Dr. Karl Kingsley finished his Ph.D. with Dr. Plopper at UNLV in Las Vegas, NV in August of 2001. Karl subsequently accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in the School of Medicine at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA and was also a part-time faculty at San Jose State University. More recently, Karl accepted a tenure-track position at the School of Dental Medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He dropped a postcard in the mail in the summer of 2002, from Paris (see below): "Spent the day in Paris with Will. Good food!!!" Apparently he liked it so much he and Mark headed back for a second trip in the summer of 2003: "I did see Will (and his wonderful, beautiful and lovely girlfriend/fiance Carole) in Basel, Switzerland. Actually, Will picked us up and took us over to his place in St. Louis, France where we enjoyed a nice Thai meal since they are moving to Singapore next month. She just got her Ph.D. in molecular biology and they've accepted some contracts for Biotech start-ups starting mid-September. You probably already know all of this, but just in case you don't - I'll try to keep you in the loop." That's Karl, always keeping me in the loop! You can contact him at Karl.Kingsley*at*ccmail.nevada.edu.

Dr. Janice Huff accepted a position at NASA in 2003. I haven't heard from her since she "landed" so to speak, but wish her well!

Carla DiGennaro has taken the job(s) she always wanted, teaching at Skyline College in beautiful San Bruno, CA. She was one of my most passionate and talented teaching assisants, and I recall the exact conversation when she told me she wanted to become a teacher. She's got a great web site. Check it out!

	As an added bonus, we were able to catch up with Carla and Russ Bandle at the ASCB meeting in San Francsico (2003): the first meeting of UNLV lab alumni and RPI lab members!
	And, par for the course, we all got along just fine! (Paul supplied the bunny ears)
			Clearly, I was just brimming with energy that night... zzzzzzzz

Antonette Andres, UNLV '00, completed her Physician Assistant program at Acadia University in Pennsylvania and headed back out west to start practicing. She's back in sunnier weather in southern California and seems to be really enjoying not being in school anymore! Drop her a line at tonette*at*whoever.com.

Russ Bandle lives in the Washington DC area with his wife Gina, who works at NIH. It was Kil who told me he and Gina had gotten married, but I'd love to hear all about it all from the man himself. Lo and behold, Russ won the "No WAY!" Award for 2001 when he called to tell me that he had a full-time research job in Dr. Lance Liotta's lab at NIH. Dr. Liotta is one of my all-time heroes in science, and the second thing I said (after "NO WAY!"), was "Get his autograph!" And he DID! (see below).

	Here is a paper Russ sent me, co-authored by Russ and his NIH gang. It is signed by Lance Liotta and Mary Stracke. How cool is that? Contact Russ at: rwbandle*at*yahoo.com.

Vincent (Jimmy) Cavaretta completed his fourth year of dental school at UCLA. I assume he is off to greater adventures at this point. Though I don't know for sure, I wouldn't be surprised if he still gets dropped from a helicopter onto mountain tops in Alaska where the only way down is via snowboard. He recently wrote in: "i hope research is going well and you are still eating pbj with entirely too much peanut butter. i have finally decided what i am going to do with the rest of my life, and thanks to you i am probably gonna be doing it behind a microscope (i think you made me a cell biologist haha it was contagious)...i have decided that i am going to go into oral pathology. hopefully, i'll get the residency i want up in queens." Ah, the lure of cell biology and New York! He also mentioned that he was working on "a new project on what else but cell migration, but this time it is fibroblasts and cheloid formation, and my pi is also harvard oral med alumni (i can't seem to escape you harvard people and the damn cell migration...haha)." And, yes, I still eat too much (or would that be just enough?) peanut butter on my sandwiches. Email Jimmy at: cavaret*at*ucla.edu.

Jimmy's band is also listed on the web, I don't know how current the listing is, but check it out: http://www.garageband.com/artist/maybe_tomorrow.

Christina Brown graduated in December, 2000, and I presume is now in medical school. Unfortunately I lost track of her. If anyone can find her, let me know. Hard to Google a name like that.

Maraya Lotrakul wrote in 2003 to announce: "They finally took the plunge, after seven years together Roger and Maraya were married March 21st (2003) in their first home together, a baby blue 1971 Volkswagon bus. They were spotted in the drive thru at the little white wedding chapel in downtown Las Vegas with their families piled into the back of the bus." Congrats to her and Roger! Send along your congrats at her address: navadevi*at*hotmail.com. She also sent along a pic, "a recent photo of moi communing with the offspring of a Jeffery Pine somewhere in the Sierras." Life could be worse!

Roland Oliver is a fourth year medical student at the University of Southern California. He recently wrote me to tell me that he commutes every weekend back to Las Vegas to see his family. Man, that's a serious commute, even for a Southern Californian! Though he was too humble to mention it, Maraya tells me he made the honor roll in his first year. He also told me that he's trying really hard not to be the kind of doctor that I make fun of during lab meeting. I see my tutelage pays off! Maraya sent me his email address after I lost it. It's eillo99@aol.com.

Autumn Villarreal (Martinez) wrote recently to let me know that she and her fiancee, Adam Villearreal, got married! (See photo, left). It's taken me so long to update the web page that they've already had their first anniversary. They are both grad students at the University of Arizona. She also wrote, " I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I am really happy in grad school so far." Amen! She has chosen her thesis advisor, Dr. Ron Heimark. Congrats all around! Email her at: Drautter*at*aol.com.

Natasa Mihic has started med school at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Yeah, we all knew that would happen eventually! Double congrats to Natasa: for almost completing med school in Yugoslavia, and then starting all over again in the US. Anyone who knows her can testify to her determination, and it has paid off handsomely! Cheer her on at: NatasaKa*at*aol.com.

		Todd Inman, the very first alumnus from the Plopper lab, wrote recently to let me know that he's graduated from the Univeristy of Nevada School of Medicine, and "I've started my 2nd year as a resident in family medicine for the University of Nevada School of Medicine. I love the residency and am grateful to work with the people that I do. I'm not sure if I've thanked you for your mentorship, but it has been valuable to my career. In fact earlier today I was reviewing journal articles about carotid artery surgery with my colleagues. Shannah has been working on her elementary education degree and is aiming to graduate next fall. As the children are getting older, she has been gradually taking more classes. Madelyn is now 4 and Naomi is 2. They are developing into bright and delightful kids."
	And here is the Inman family! Contact Todd at: __tinman*at*yahoo.com.

Sanket Patel and Kim Carpin are now medical students at The University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine. I haven't heard from them in a while... they must be too busy studying! Maybe Jody or Natasa can get me their email addresses.

Brian Earley wrote recently to let me know that he was accepted into medical school, what a relief! He took the long road there but it finally paid off. He also wrote: "My wife and I had a little girl, Madison Loren Earley, on July 11th of 2002 (see photo, left), with my wife's two kids that makes three." With Caleb, Madison and the Inman girls in the Alumni gallery, it appears we now have four contestants for Cutest Kids on Earth! Drop him a line at bvearley*at*hotmail.com.

Carlo Hojilla recently rescued himself from the "where are they now?" roster by happening to come across this web page and dropping me a line to check in. Carlo is now pursuing his Ph.D. at the Ontario Cancer Institute with Rama Khokha. He tells me he's working on "TIMPs, apoptosis, and everything to do with the mouse mammary gland." Give Carlo a shout at: chojilla*at*uhnres.utoronto.ca

I elected Jason Hoskin as an honorary member of the lab because I spent more time with him than I did some of the regular lab members. He's started his Ph.D. thesis project at the University of Southern California, working on immune response to viral infection in the brain. Fascinating stuff- he sent me an email with all the technical details, but I'll spare you. Suffice it to say he gets to use radioactive chromium in his T cell killing assays, just like the pioneers in the field. Say hi to him at: hoskin*at*usc.edu.

And speaking of honorary members, I appoint Gennadiy Plotnitskiy as one such member, based on his astounding devotion to serving as a TA for the UNLV Cell Biology class. Last I heard he was off to a D.O. school in New York, but I don't have his email. If you find him, ask him to contact me.

The former high school members of the lab are growing up and moving out: Charmaine Lastimoso wrote in to update us in 2003:

"I graduated from UNR with a Bachelor of Science degree as a dual major in Bio and Health Ecology. I moved way away from the Med School track for the time being and am getting my Master's in Public Health concentrating in Epidemiology at Boston University. BUT I'm living in Rhode Island with some family (can't beat free room and board). You once suggested to me that an East Coast experience would be invaluable and I took your words to heart...so here I am!! Anyway, I haven't ruled Med School out BUT I'm going to do a semester in the Philippines and probably a tour in the Peace Corps before I get there."

Charmaine's email is: c99goomba*at*hotmail.com.

I'm guessing Noel Green is probably a good way through Stanford by now.

And finally, those whom I have not heard from in ages: What's up with Gus Leigh, Earl Love, and Daniel Floyd? If you see/hear anything, ask them to contact me.

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Maintained by George Plopper. Please send all comments and suggestions to: ploppg*at*rpi.edu.

Last modified: Friday, August 24, 2007