Michael Berberoglu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
The Ohio State University

Michael, born and raised in Reno, Nevada, received his BS in Biology from the University of Nevada, Reno. Inspired by his neurobiology research as an undergraduate, he pursued his PhD in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he studied the role of the Fezf2 transcription factor in adult zebrafish neural stem cells and neurogenesis under an F31 NRSA predoctoral fellowship. Michael recently joined the Amacher lab for postdoctoral research and was awarded a 1-year T32 award through the Center for Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Disorders upon arriving at The Ohio State University. During the course of his postdoctoral work, Michael aims to determine whether zebrafish possess satellite muscle stem cells, as in mammals, and to understand mechanisms of muscle injury and repair in the zebrafish, which possess a remarkable capability to regenerate tissues from a variety of organ systems including the brain and the heart. Insights gained from the zebrafish may allow for the development of therapies aimed at the treatment of muscle degenerative diseases in mammals. During his time away from the lab, Michael is an accomplished clarinetist and has played in a number of musical ensembles over the years.

Jinmo Gu, MS
Graduate Fellow
The Ohio State University Medical Center

Jinmo received a B.S. in Life Science from University of Seoul in 2005 and a M.S. from Seoul National University in 2008. She then came to the United States in 2009 to obtain her Ph.D. in the Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB) program at The Ohio State University. Jinmo joined Dr. Denis Guttridge's Laboratory in 2010, and was recently awarded a predoctoral fellowship from the Center for Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Disorders at Ohio State. Her doctoral research focuses on understanding how NF-κB signaling from stromal cell populations regulates myoblast migration during the neonatal muscle growth, and in a Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD) model, and how this function of NF-κB might translate to pathological symptoms associated with inflammation and fibrosis. As a long term goal, Jinmo hopes to continue and expand this microenvironment study and apply it to a therapeutic approach in tissue engineering research.

Heather Manring, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
The Ohio State University Medical Center

Heather received her bachelor of science degree from Otterbein University in 2008 and majored in Molecular Biology. In 2012, she received her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from The Wake Forest University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Heather is currently starting her second year as a T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Pediatric and Adult Congenital Heart Disease training program at The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on the possible therapeutic effects of TRIM family proteins in muscular dystrophy as well as in heart failure. In her spare time, Heather enjoys volunteering with 4-H and backpacking with her family.

Jennifer M. Peterson (Chair), PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
The Ohio State University Medical Center

Jennifer earned her PhD at The University of Toledo where she studied the role of inflammation in exercise induced muscle damage under the direction of Francis Pizza, Ph.D. During her graduate studies she was awarded a Predoctoral Fellowship from the American Heart Association, and Foundation Research Grants from the American College of Sports Medicine. Jennifer then joined the lab of Denis Guttridge, Ph.D. as a postdoctoral fellow to focus on researching Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Her primary project is focused on elucidating the role of NF-κB in the cardiomyopathy caused by DMD. She has received a Muscular Dystrophy Association career award and an NIH/NHLBI F32 Postdoctoral Fellowship to support her postdoctoral training. Jennifer plans to seek an academic position when she transitions out of her postdoc position. Her long term goal is to develop a productive lab where she can continue working to unravel the pathways involved in muscular dystrophies and have the opportunity to teach and train students. When Jennifer is not in the lab she spends her time planning and going on adventures. Her goal is to hike across every corner of the planet and see all that nature has created.

Jonathan Shintaku
Graduate Fellow
The Ohio State University Medical Center

After earning his B.S. in biochemistry and microbiology from UCLA, Jonathan was a research associate at the City of Hope Beckman Research Institute. Under the guidance of Dr. Yoko Mullen, he investigated how the metabolic health of pancreatic islets could be measured and utilized to assess islet function. His work led to the development of an assay to predict islet transplantation success in Type I diabetes patients. Jonathan then decided to pursue graduate studies and is currently a Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Dr. Denis Guttridge at The Ohio State University. His research is focused on understanding how NF-κB regulates muscle metabolism, with a particular interest in how this regulation affects diseases such as sarcopenia and obesity. Looking back, his interest in metabolism began in his scientific infancy when, as a high school freshman, his favorite project was a report on mitochondria which included making mitochondrial membranes out of gummy worms. When he's not in the lab Jonathan loves traveling the world and tasting new foods.

Nicolas Wein, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Nationwide Children's Hospital

Nicolas received his PhD in Molecular Biology in the laboratory of Pr. Nicolas Levy at the Marseille Medical School, France where he worked on the development of new diagnosis tools for neuromuscular diseases, the discovery of the Minidysferline and its use for gene transfer, and investigated the use of exon-skipping for dysferlinopathies. In 2011, he joined the team of Pr. Kevin Flanigan at Nationwidechildrens Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA as a postdoctoral scientist. Nicolas is currently working on the identification of a novel IRES in the dystrophin gene and on an out-of-frame exon-skipping approach that can benefit to patient with 5' mutation in DMD gene.

Fundings: 2014-2015: CMHND fellowship; 2013-2014: Muscle Group Fellowship; 2012-2013: Phillipe Foundation fellowship; 2007-2010: AFM Fellowship; 2006-2007: Jain Foundation Fellowship.

Awards: 2013: WMS XVIII Duchenne Research Fund Prize; 2013: MDA award; 2012: WMS XVII Elsevier Prize; 2012: OSU International Scholars; 2011: Science and Technology Thesis award; 2010: WMS XV Elsevier Prize; 2009: IFR award.

Denis C. Guttridge, PhD
Professor
The Ohio State University Medical Center

Dr. Guttridge is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology, and Medical Genetics at Ohio State University Medical Center. He currently serves as director of the Center for Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Disease and the working group for Cancer Cachexia at Ohio State. His areas of expertise are in NF-κB signaling and the regulation of skeletal myogenesis and muscle disorders with an emphasis on cancer cachexia and muscular dystrophy. He planned, organized and funded a muscle symposium on “Understanding Muscle: From Development to Disease”, in Columbus, Ohio in 2009. He was a co-organizer for the “Molecular Mechanisms of Muscle Growth and Wasting in Health and Disease” meeting in Ascona, Switzerland in 2011, was a lead organizer for the 1st Cancer Cachexia meeting in Boston, MA, in 2012, and is chair of the 2nd Cancer Cachexia meeting in Montreal, Canada, in 2014.