Professors of Biology Maria Cuevas and Maria Todd published a paper titled “Microarray Analysis Reveals Overexpression of both Integral Membrane and Cytosolic Tight Junction Genes in Endometrial Cancer Cell Lines” in the Journal of Cancer. The study reports for the first time a comprehensive analysis of 84 tight junction network genes in a panel of endometrial cancer cell lines. The authors identified three genes that were consistently deregulated in endometrial cancer, thus providing potential candidates for the development of both diagnostic markers and novel therapeutic approaches for endometrial cancer.

—November 2022

Professors of Biology Maria Cuevas and Maria Todd received a $12,000 grant from the Joe and Jessie Crump Foundation for Medical Research. The funds will support their current research project titled “Simultaneous Analysis of 84 Tight Junction Genes Involved in Uterine Cancer Progression.” This grant will enable them to expand the scope of their studies and increase the clinical relevance of their research endeavors.

—October 2018

Retired Associate Professor Rebecca Sheller and Professors of Biology Maria Cuevas and Maria Todd published an article in Biological Proceedings Online titled “Comparison of transepithelial resistance measurement techniques: Chopsticks vs. Endohm.” Measurement of transepithelial resistance (TER) is frequently used to determine the strength of tight junctions between epithelial cells in culture. However, the use of different technical approaches to measure TER sometimes results in inconsistent reports for TER readings within the same cell lines. To address this discrepancy, they compared two frequently used approaches (Chopsticks and Endhohm) and two types of polymer inserts (polycarbonate vs. polyester) to measure the TER values of three mammalian cell lines. Their study demonstrated the importance of using a single approach when seeking to measure and compare the TER values of cultured cell lines.

—May 2017

Professors of Biology Maria Todd and Maria Cuevas received a $15,000 grant from the Joe and Jessie Crump Foundation for Medical Research. The funds will support their research aimed at elucidating the role of tight junction destabilization in the development and progression of endometrial cancer. This project will offer research opportunities for undergraduate students majoring in Biology.

—November 2016

Professor of Biology Maria Todd and her co-authors, Dr. Thomas Langan and Dr. Robert Sclafani (both of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center), published an article in The Journal of Cancer titled “Doxycycline-Regulated p16MTS1 Expression Suppresses the Anchorage-Independence and Tumorigenicity of Breast Cancer Cell Lines that Lack Endogenous p16.” Their study demonstrated the mechanisms by which the p16 gene is inactivated in breast cancer and how replacement of the functional gene results in the suppression of breast tumor growth.

—September 2016

The Board of Trustees approved the following recommendations regarding promotion of faculty:

Associate Professors promoted to the rank of Professor:

—April 2016

Associate Professors of Biology Maria Cuevas, Maria Todd and Rebecca Sheller have an article in press in the International Journal of Oncology titled “Estrogen-dependent expression and subcellular localization of the tight junction protein claudin-4 in HEC-1A endometrial cancer cells.” This work was done in collaboration with Jonathan King, associate professor of biology at Trinity University, and two former SU biology students: Jenna Gaska ’13, currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Princeton, and Dr. Andrea Holland Gist ’11, currently doing her residency in family medicine.

—May 2015

Associate Professors of Biology Maria Cuevas, Maria Todd and Rebecca Sheller published a paper in Oncology Letters titled “Overexpression and delocalization of claudin-3 protein in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-415 breast cancer cell lines.”

—May 2015

Associate Professors of Biology Maria Todd and Maria Cuevas were awarded $10,000 from the JP Morgan Crump Foundation to support their collaborative cancer research project with Associate Professor of Biology Rebecca Sheller. The aim of the project is to study the deregulation of tight junction proteins in female reproductive cancers. 

—October 2014