2015 APA Research Colloquium
Melanie Grubisha, MD, PhD Participates in
2015 APA Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators
Dr. Melanie Grubisha, a PGY-2 resident in the Psychiatry Research Pathway program, is one of a select group of early career researchers invited by the American Psychiatry Association (APA) to participate in the organization?s 2015 Research Colloquium for Junior Investigators. Dr. Grubisha participated in the component on Molecular, Translational and Neuroscience Research, which took place on May 17, 2015 at the annual APA meeting in Toronto.
The purpose of the Research Colloquium is to provide guidance, mentorship and encouragement to young investigators in the early phases of their training. It provides junior investigators with the opportunity to present their research and obtain feedback about their past, present, and future work from mentors who are leaders in their field in a small group setting.
Dr. Grubisha is a graduate of the Medical Scientist Training Program, a joint venture of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Carnegie Mellon University. She has utilized her expertise in Molecular Pharmacology to engage in a series of experiments in the Department of Psychiatry?s Translational Neuroscience Program under the mentorship of Dr. David Lewis. Dr. Grubisha is particularly interested in the molecular underpinnings of the cognitive deficits that are a fundamental feature of schizophrenia. She is using molecular and proteomics approaches to better understand the impairments in cortical circuitry seen in disease. Her current research focus is in developing a targeted proteomics approach to quantify isoform expression levels of a protein involved in actin cytoskeleton remodeling and, ultimately, synaptic signaling. She is combining this with an investigation of the molecular mechanisms underlying alternative splicing of this protein to better understand not only its expression pattern, but also its regulating factors.