Rani Nune was awarded SURF scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her research focuses on ALCAM(CD166),a protein biomarker and the mechanism by it which promotes the development of luphus nerphitis.

Nga Thai was awarded SURF scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her research focuses on developing and optimizing a point-of-care diagnostic test:a Schimer strip-coupled vertical flow essay(VFA) that will be used to detect MMP-9 levels in tears of Dry Eye disease patients in order to diagnose and quantify disease severity.

Shanzeh Imran was awarded SURF scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her research focuses on will focus on identifying novel serum proteins and autoantibodies for blood brain barrier breach in neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus using proximity ligation assays, validating top hits using ELISA assays and researching the biology of the top hits.

Rongwei Lei, a Biomedical Engineering doctoral student at UH Cullen College of Engineering, won the Younger Investigator Award at Affinity 2021, the 24^th meeting of the International Society for Molecular Recognition. She presented a smartphone-readable lateral flow assay for POC monitoring of urine ALCAM in lupus nephritis. The goal is to develop a sensitive, quantitative, user-friendly platform for patients to self-monitor disease status at home.

Novel stool biomarker tests may one day replace endoscopy for the diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer:

• https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2021/june-2021/06292021-chandra-mohan-two-studies-colorectal-cancer-proteins.php
• www.nature.com/collections/ecgchegdhe

Rani Nune wins PURS undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her research focuses on ALCAM(CD166),a protein biomarker and the mechanism by it which promotes the development of luphus nerphitis.

Amy Bui wins PURS undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab.Her research focuses on culturing T47D and MCF7 breast cancer cells,also performs MTT colorimetric essays to determine the of reagents on cancer cell proliferation.

Nhi Nguyen wins PURS undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her research focuses on identifying new ligands for co-stimulatory molecules important in diabetes and autoimmunity.

Ashtami Jayakumar joins Mohan Lab as a Fulbright Research Scholar. Her research focuses on exploring the biomedical scope of 2D nanomaterials especially layered double hydroxides in various applications relating to immunology and cancer.

February 21st: Nephropathologist Jan Becker visits Dr. Mohan’s laboratory to discuss neural network classification of lupus nephritis, together with other Houston area nephropathologists.

Pictured left to right: Dr. Mohan, Qiang, Crosslee, Pietro, and Dr. Becker

Phuongthy T Tran wins SURF undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Her project was a literature review of the top ten themes of systemic lupus erythematosus with a focus on environmental and genetic factors. She is also working on murine models of autoimmunity to understand the pathogenic basis of autoimmunity.

Mallika Tripathy wins PURS undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. Mallika’s research focuses on manipulating the interaction between Fatty Acid Amide Hydrolase (FAAH), an integral membrane protein high in cancer cells, and naturally-produced endocannabinoids to induce apoptosis as a possible therapeutic alternative to chemotherapy.

David Wang wins SURF undergraduate scholarship to undertake research in Mohan Lab. David’s project focuses on developing a simple, qualitative point-of-care diagnostic test for detecting systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The test utilizes a vertical flow assay for analysis of anti-dsDNA, which is the hallmark feature of SLE.