UND to Host 41st Frank Low Research Day virtually at School of Medicine & Health Sciences

GRAND FORKS, N.D.—The 41st annual Frank Low Research Day will be held virtually by the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) on Thursday, April 22, 2021.

Named in honor of the former SMHS anatomy professor who came to UND in the 1960s and pioneered a series of new techniques for the electron microscope, Frank Low Research Day is the culminating event of the academic year for many area researchers working in the biomedical and health sciences.

At this year’s event, SMHS faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, residents, and graduate, medical, and health sciences students will present prerecorded presentations on a wide range of basic biomedical, health sciences, translational, and clinical topics with live question-and-answer sessions for each presenter.

“We’re excited as always about Frank Low Day,” said Jamie Foster, Ph.D., assistant professor in the SMHS Department of Biomedical Sciences. “Despite the continuing pandemic, we're happy to continue to offer an online event that not only contributes to the intellectual culture of the community but to the health and workforce needs of North Dakota.”

This year’s virtual guest speaker is Dr. Eliezer Masliah, who was named director of the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in July 2016. Before joining NIA, Dr. Masliah held joint appointments in the departments of pathology and neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). As head of UCSD’s Experimental Neuropathology Laboratory he investigated synaptic damage in neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, multiple system atrophy, and AIDS-related dementia. His laboratory developed novel models of neurodegeneration as well as new gene therapies, small molecules and experimental immunotherapies for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Four of the experimental therapeutic approaches developed at his laboratory have now passed Phase I clinical trials. As the director of autopsy services at the UCSD Medical Center, he also directed the neuropathology core of the NIA-supported Shirley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.

Dr. Masliah’s talk is entitled “Progress toward advancing the national plan to address Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.” His presentation will be streamed from the SMHS website at: med.und.edu/research/frank-low.html.

“We have been able to keep our research enterprise going despite COVID, and I’m very pleased that we are able to now showcase the outstanding work that our faculty and trainees have been doing,” added Marc Basson, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., the School’s senior associate dean for Medicine and Research. “Now, more than ever, we understand the importance of scholarship that not only advances science but also contributes to public health.”

Frank Low Research Day is free and open to the public. Interested guests can review the event’s agenda at the URL listed above.

# # #

Brian James Schill
Director | Office of Alumni and Community Relations
UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
med.UND.edu
701.777.2733