Student Directory

Hometown: Colombia, SA

Undergraduate Education:  BS/03 Biomedical Sciences/Texas A&M

Research Interest:  Protein Kinase C Regulation of Rod Photoreceptor Differentiation Through Modulation of STAT3 Signaling

Advisor: Colin Barnstable, PhD
Graduate Program: Neuroscience

Thesis: "Protein kinase C (PKC) β1 and g isoforms are essential for rod photoreceptor differentiation"

Description:   Visual impairment is a major health care problem that has a direct impact on functional status and quality of life. Retinal photoreceptor degeneration is a major cause of blindness and may result from a variety of common retinal diseases including diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and hereditary retinal degeneration. Our overall goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms of photoreceptor differentiation during retinal development as it holds fundamental knowledge necessary for future clinical management concerning regeneration of lost photoreceptors in blind patients.
Development and maintenance of photoreceptors requires precise regulation of gene expression mediated by specific transcription regulators that control photoreceptor differentiation from a common pool of retinal stem cells. We are interested in understanding the underlying mechanisms by which STAT3 signaling controls photoreceptor development as it could provide important information regarding control of neural stem cell differentiation

Meeting Presentations

• 2004
  Genome Integrity, San Diego, CA
• 2007
  Society for Neuroscience meeting, San Diego, CA
• 2008
  Society for Neuroscience meeting, Washington, D.C.
  ASNTR, Clearwater, FL
  Ophthalmology Research Day, PSHMC, Hershey, PA (oral)
• 2009
  Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL (poster)
  ARVO (Assn. for Res. in Vision & Ophthalmology) annual convention, Fort Lauderdale, FL (poster)
  Ophthalmology Research Day, PSHMC, Hershey, PA (oral)
• 2010
  Penn State College of Medicine Graduate Research Forum, Hershey, PA
  ARVO (Assn. for Res. in Vision & Ophthalmology) annual convention, Fort Lauderdale, FL (poster)
  Ophthalmology Research Day, PSHMC, Hershey, PA (oral)
  Gordon Research Conference (Neural Dvt.), New Port, RI
• 2011
  Penn State College of Medicine Graduate Research Forum, Hershey, PA
  Chromatin & Epigenetic Regulation of Transcription, 30th Summer Symposium, Penn State
  ARVO, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• 2012
  National MD/PhD Student Conference, Keystone, CO (poster)
  Annual Jackson Lab Experimental & Medical Mammalian Genetics Symposium, Bar Harbor, ME
   

Ruzankina Y, Pinzon-Guzman C, Asare A, Ong T, Pontano L, Cotsarelis G, Zediak VP, Velez M, Bhandoola A, Brown EJ (2007) Deletion of the Developmentally Essential Gene ATR in Adult Mice Leads to Age-Related Phenotypes and Stem Cell Loss Cell Stem Cell 1:113-126

Pinzon-Guzman C, Shaomin Zhang S, Barnstable CJ (2010) Protein Kinase C Regulates Rod Photoreceptor Differentiation Through Modulation of STAT3 signaling Adv Exp Med Biol 664:21-8 PMID: 20237998

Schmitt HF, Huang LZ, Son JH, Pinzon-Guzman C, Slaton GS, Winzer-Serha UH (2010) Acute nicotine activates c-fos and activity-regulated cytoskeletal associated protein mRNA expression in limbic brain areas involved in the central stress-response in rat pups during a period of hypo-responsiveness to stress Neuroscience 157(2): 349-59 PMID: 18848603

Pinzon-Guzman C, Zhang S S-M, and Barnstable CJ (2011) Specific Protein Kinase C Isoforms Are Required for Rod Photoreceptor Differentiation J Neurosci 31:18606-18617

Pinzon-Guzman C, Johnson TS (2012) Burdock leaf treatment of open fracture N Engl J Med (submitted)

Pinzon-Guzman C, Johnson TS (2012) Tiger bite N Engl J Med (submitted)