Aug 6, 2026 – Program Director Dr. Bryan Mackenzie and Program Manager Tracy Yarchi led orientation for new students in the Special Master's Program in Physiology.

Aug 7, 2026 – Congratulations to new graduates from the Pharmacology Master's Program!

Aug 19, 2026 – Program Director Dr. Jo El Schultz and Program Manager Tracy Yarchi led orientation for new students in the Pharmacology Master's Program.

Aug 21, 2026 – PPN pulled off another great annual picnic at Mt. Airy Forest, featuring grilled foods, cookies, deviled eggs, samosas, chicken fried rice, cornbread, pasta salad, mini cupcakes, fried onion rings, fruit, chips, and more.  Over 6o people attended. Special thanks go to grillmaster Bill Grau (shown) and our administrative staff.

Aug 2026 – In "Cell Reports Medicine", the group of Dr. Konstantinos Drosatos and their collaborators report that Hepato-cardiac interorgan communication controls cardiac hypertrophy via combined endocrine-autocrine FGF21 signaling. To make this research more accessible to a broad audience, the authors have also posted a video, The FGF21 paradox, on YouTube.

Aug 2026 – Congratulations to Dr. Guo-Chang Fan! NHLBI/NHI has given Dr. Fan  an R01 research award for his work on CPNE5 in Cardiovascular Barrier Dysfunction and Septic Cardiomyopathy.

Aug 2026 – Congratulations to Dr. Bryan Mackenzie! This year the Medical Sciences Baccalaureate students honored Dr. Mackenzie with the Golden Apple award as the best teacher in MEDS2130, First Experience in Biomedical Research.

Aug 2026 – Congratulations also to Dr. Terry Kirley! The Medical Sciences Baccalaureate students honored Dr. Kirley with a Silver Apple award for his teaching in MEDS1010, History of Medicine & Technology Innovation.

Aug 2026 – In "Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience", Dr. Renu Sah and colleagues describe Sex differences in responses to panicogen CO2 inhalation and the role of microglial acid-sensor TDAG8 in female mice.

Aug 2026 – In "Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience", the group of Dr. James Herman and a colleague describe Adolescent stress exposure: behavioral consequences and molecular mechanisms in corticolimbic networks.

Aug 2026 – In "Neuropharmacology", Dr. Jayme McReynolds' group reports on Sex-specific differences in endocannabinoid regulation of cocaine-evoked dopamine in the medial nucleus accumbens shell.

Aug 2026 – In "Basic Research in Cardiology", Dr. John Lorenz, Michelle Nieman, and their collaborators report that Fast skeletal myosin binding protein-C expression exacerbates dysfunction in heart failure.

Aug 2026 – Dr. Litsa Kranias joins a team reviewing Cardiac AAV gene therapy: Translational lessons from intracoronary cardiomyocyte-targeted delivery in "Molecular Therapy".

Aug 2026 – In "Frontiers in Oncology", a paper by Dr. Katherine Hobbing and her colleagues reports that Dual loss of VHL and RASSF1A enhances tumorigenicity in clear cell renal cancer. The paper was dedicated to "the memories of Dr. Katie Hobbing, who had to leave the party way too soon".