2023 Center for Bioelectrics Retreat

Participants of the 2023 Center Retreat

The Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics recently held a Retreat on March 29th, 2023. The retreat had 40 registered guests from the Center and Eastern Virginia Medical School. The event was distinguished by the presence of eminent guests, including Frank Reidy, for whose continuous support the Center is named after, and Jackie Stein, Director of Research Development at Old Dominion University.

The organizing committee included Michael Stacey (chair), Olga Pakhomova, Christiana Dimitropoulou, Giedre Silkuniene, Mantas Silkunas, Pavel Solopov, and Vitalii Kim.

The retreat began with welcome speech by Andrei Pakhomov, the Research Professor & Executive Director of the center, in which he highlighted the center's significant achievements, including grants, publications, and international awards. He also acknowledged the recent win of Professor P. Thomas Vernier of the Frank Reidy Award for Outstanding Achievements in Bioelectrics. The welcome speech provided a retrospective overview of the history of the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics.

The retreat featured four sessions with 24 presentations, all of them sparking great interest and active discussion, which continued during the lunch and coffee breaks.r

The retreat culminated with an award ceremony, in which Giedre Silkuniene, was recognized as a Best Postdoctoral Researcher for her exceptional findings suggesting that the role of ATP1A1 (alpha-1 subunit of membrane Na,K-ATPase) in YoPro-1 uptake following nanosecond electric pulse exposure may be attributed to a structural feature of the protein rather than its physiological function as an ion pump. Alexandra E. Chittams-Miles was awarded the distinction of Best Young Investigator for her presentation "Combination treatment of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus with antibiotics and nsPEF increases bacterial inactivation". Emily Gudvangen (presentation "Smooth Muscle Cell Charging With Pulsed Electric Field is Dependent on Cell Orientation") and Tierney Day (presentation "KVX-053, a PTP4A3 inhibitor, as a new therapeutic agent against LPS-induced lung injury") received the second and third place, respectively. Kamal Asadipour (Presentation "Losartan in combination with the nanosecond pulsed electric fields cleared orthotopic B16F10 melanoma and induce in situ vaccination") and Emily Gudvangen were the recipients of the Karl and Gisela Schoenbach Award.

In keeping with tradition, a group photo of all the participants was taken. The organizing committee expresses their gratitude to all attendees, looking forward to the prospect of welcoming them to the next retreat.

Frank Reidy and Olga Pakhomova

Giedre Silkuniene

Michael Kong, Kamal Asadipour and Emily Gudvangen

Olga Pakhomova and Tierney Day

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