09/08/25 Rafael Pena’s publication “Cryoelectrospun elastin-alginate scaffolds as potential cell delivery vehicles for mesenchymal stromal cell therapy” was accepted for publication in Scientific Reports.
Ramesh P, Pena R, Morrissey JM, Moskwa N, Tubbesing K, Zhang X, Nelson D, Castracane J, Khmaladze A, Sharfstein ST, Larsen M, Xie Y. Cryoelectrospun elastin-alginate scaffolds as potential cell delivery vehicles for mesenchymal stromal cell therapy. Sci Rep. 2025 Jun 5;15(1):19847. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-03822-x. PMID: 40473688; PMCID: PMC12141519.
05/01/25 Joey Tavarez’s publication: “Temporal evolution of fibroblast responses following salivary gland ductal ligation injury” was accepted for publication in Frontiers in Dental Medicine.
Tavarez JR, Kenney J, Gabunia S, Nelson DA, Larsen M. Temporal evolution of fibroblast responses following salivary gland ductal ligation injury. Front Dent Med. 2025 May 1;6:1581376. doi: 10.3389/fdmed.2025.1581376. PMID: 40375832; PMCID: PMC12078207
02/04/25 Congrats to Joey Tavarez and Kennedi Weston for winning awards at the 2025 Gordon Research Conference. https://www.albany.edu/biology/news/2025-ualbany-biology-students-win-best-poster-awards-2025-gordon-research-conference
10/16/24 The Larsen Lab and several other labs participated in the 2024 Sjogren’s Walk. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
10/15/24 Congrats to Joey Tavarez for winning a best talk award at the CERTT conference in Canandaigua!
08/01/24 Congrats to REU summer student Karolina Cardenas for presenting her poster “Defining Changes in Mouse Salivary Gland Epithelial Cells Post Radiation Treatment” at the RNA Day symposium!
07/31/24 Congrats to Jen Morrissey, Ph.D. for successfully defending her thesis!
07/17/24 Congrats to graduate student Renae Williams Atkinson for earning her M.S. degree in Biomedical Sciences!
05/29/24 Welcome to REU summer student Karolina Cardenas from SDCCD!
05/09/24 Congrats to undergraduate student Emily Suarez for earning her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences!
09/01/23 Congrats to M.S. student Farishta Hamdard for her new job at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals!
09/01/23 Congrats to Melinda Larsen for being named the Williams-Raycheff Endowed Professor of Biological Sciences! Thanks to the Williams-Raycheff family for their support of the laboratory’s research efforts!
08/17/23 Welcome to first year M.S. student, Cam Ferri!
08/01/23 Congrats to Ph.D. student Joey Tavarez for being named an RNA Fellow by the RNA Institute!
08/01/23 Welcome to second year Ph.D. student, Renae Williams Atkinson, Biomedical Sciences Graduate program
06/15/23 Welcome to first year MCDN Ph.D. graduate student, Annabele Ogunyale!
05/10/23 Welcome to first year MCDN Ph.D. graduate student, Ifunanya Ikwukwa Godslove!
04/25/23 Congrats to Amber Altrieth, Ph.D. for a wildly successful defense of her thesis: “Endothelial and Stromal Cell Contributions to Salivary Gland Injury and Repair“
04/20/2023 Welcome to Dr. Sergo Gabunia, M.D. Senior Research Support Specialist!
03/01/23 Congrats to former MS student Gaietchyne Chery for her new job at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals!
11/08/22 Congrats to MS student Gaietchyne Chery for earning her MS degree in Biological Sciences!
09/01/22 Welcome to new Postdoctoral Fellow, James Kenney, Ph.D.!
08/12/22 Congrats to Ph.D. student Joey Tavarez for winning a best poster award at the 2022 RNA Institute Summer bioinformatics program symposium!
05/02/22 Amber Altrieth completed the Future Faculty and Teaching Development Program (FFTDP) offered by the University at Albany Institute for Teaching, Learning and Academic Leadership (ITLAL). Congrats, Amber!
05/02/22 Former Larsen Lab undergraduate, Gabriella Majka, was awarded the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Award for 2021-2022 school year. She graduated early in Dec. 2021. Congrats, Bella!
04/29/22 Congrats to Owen Zon on his awesome talk on endothelial cell isolation at the 39th Annual Department of Biological Science Research Symposium!
04/28/22 Collaborator Pujhitha Ramesh’s paper on cryoelectrospun scaffolds was published today in Biofabrication! Pujhitha Ramesh, Nicholas Moskwa, Zachary Hanchon, Adam Koplas, Deirdre A. Nelson, Kristen Mills, James Castracane, Melinda Larsen, Susan T. Sharfstein, Yubing Xie. 2022. Engineering cryoelectrospun elastin-alginate cryoelectrospun scaffolds to serve as stromal extracellular matrices. Biofabrication 10.1088/1758-5090/ac6b34. Advance online publication. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35481854/
04/01/22 Nikhita Kumar is the recipeint of an award from The Center for Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement!
2/28/22 Nicholas Moskwa’s publication: “Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals PDGFRalpha Stromal Cell Subpopulations that Promote Proacinr Differentiation in Embryonic Organoids” was accepted for publication in Development. https://journals.biologists.com/dev/article-abstract/doi/10.1242/dev.200167/274560/Single-cell-sequencing-reveals-PDFGR-stromal-cell?redirectedFrom=fulltext
1/1/22 Matt Jorgensen’s manuscript (graduate student in collaborator Yubing Xie’s laboratory) was accepted for publication in Bioengineering! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8773299/
2/3/22 Amber Altrieth was awarded a SUNY GREAT award for her NIH F31 project identifying endothelial cell produced factors that may aid in salivary gland regeneration. These funds will allow Amber to participate in several upcoming conferences including AADOCR, Experimental Biology, and IADR, as well as the RNA symposium. It will also allow her to participate in professional development workshops and purchase necessary reagents to continue with her work. SUNY GREAT press release
2/7/22 Former graduate student, Nicholas Moskwa, Ph.D. started at the Jackson Laboratory as a Research Scientist.
1/10/22 Former postdoctoral fellow, Kate Tubbesing, started a position as a Research Fellow at the Neural Stem Cell Institute. https://www.neuralsci.org/
12/15/21 Nicholas Moskwa successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis! Congratulations, Dr. Moskwa!
12/17/21 Undergraduate Gabriella Majka graduated with an Honor’s Degree from the University at Albany Honors college. Congratulations, Bella!
12/17/21 Undergraduate Samantha Bostic graduated from the University at Albany! Congratulations, Sam!
11/20/21 Nicholas Moskwa’s paper, “PDFGRα+ Stromal Cells Promote Salivary Gland Proacinar Differentiation Through FGF2-dependent BMP7 Signaling” was publisehd on BioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.11.19.469144v1
8/20/21 The University at Albany was awarded an NSF Advance grant: Project SAGES (Striving to Acheive Gender Equity in STEM) PI: President Havidan Rodriguez, CoI’s Edelgard Wulfert, Christine Wagner, Marlene Belfort, and Melinda Larsen. Read more: https://www.albany.edu/news-center/news/2021-1-million-nsf-grant-will-boost-gender-equity-among-stem-faculty
Project SAGES webpage: https://www.albany.edu/sages#tab-project-sages
6/01/21 Welcome to new Ph.D. student Victoria Gellatly!
5/17/21 Undergraduate student Luke McGrath graduated from the University at Albany! Congratulations, Luke!
1/1/21 Former undergraduate student, Ayma Mahmood, joined the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences as a pharmD student.
12/17/2020 Undergraduate student, Sage Feminella, graduated from the University at Albany! Congratulations, Sage!
University at Albany, SUNY Department of Biological Sciences 