Accolades: Awards, honors and appointments September
Marissa Co named Simons Foundation Fellow
Marissa Co, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in Brian O’Roak’s lab in the OHSU School of Medicine, has received a Simons Foundation fellowship. She is one of nine recipients in the 2025 Fellows-to-Faculty class, supported by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative and the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain.
The Simons Foundation is highlighting Co’s project, which focuses on resolving autism heterogeneity from transcription factor activity to behavioral outcomes.
“This award will be vital to the launch of my independent research career studying the molecular mechanisms of heterogeneity in autism,” Co said. “As future faculty, I am eager to pursue important questions in autism research and help train the next generation of scientists. I'm incredibly grateful to all my mentors, mentees, and the Simons Foundation for their trust and support.”
The Fellows-to-Faculty program supports early-career scientists as they begin tenure-track or equivalent faculty roles in areas backed by the Simons Foundation’s Autism and Neuroscience division. It aims to nurture talent and broaden the research community by supporting a diverse range of scientists. The program was previously called the Independence Awards.
Fellows receive funding toward the end of their postdoctoral careers and a $600,000 faculty research grant commitment over three years.
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OHSU experts to help lead research in NIH stillbirth initiative
The National Institutes of Health is taking a new step in addressing the critical issue of stillbirth in the United States by launching the Stillbirth Research Consortium. This initiative aims to reduce the nearly 24,000 stillbirth cases reported annually, over 60% of which remain unexplained despite thorough investigations.
Karen Gibbins, M.D., M.S.C.I., an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine, and Leslie Myatt, Ph.D., a professor and the director of perinatal research at the NOURISH Research Center at OHSU, are leading a significant initiative aimed at preventing stillbirth. Their center is one of four research facilities involved in the project, which will investigate the impacts of nutrition, chronic stress, cardiometabolic health, and placental dysfunction to develop innovative interventions.
"We are grateful that the NIH has decided to fund this important consortium which addresses an oft-ignored public health crisis,” Gibbins said.
“Stillbirth is a devastating, often life changing loss, and we are honored to be part of preventing it," Myatt said.
With funding exceeding $37 million over five years—pending availability of funds—the initiative also includes a data coordinating center and has secured an additional $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
NIH says the need for such research is pressing, as individuals who have experienced a stillbirth are nearly five times more likely to face another stillbirth or pregnancy complications. Disparities also exist, with significantly higher stillbirth rates among Black, American Indian and Alaska Native populations. Alarmingly, approximately 40% of stillbirths that occur during labor and birth are deemed potentially preventable.
With the support of the NIH, the NOURISH Research Center at OHSU is poised to make substantial contributions in the fight against stillbirth, ultimately fostering hope for affected families across the nation.
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James Frank lab publishes paper in Journal of American Chemical Society
The lab of James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical physiology and biochemistry in the OHSU School of Medicine and the Vollum Institute, had its latest work published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society—a top journal in their field. The publication, “Real-Time Optical Control of CB1 Receptor Signaling In Vitro with Tethered Photoswitchable (−)-trans-Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Derivatives,” introduces the first photoswitchable, orthogonal, remotely tethered THC ligand (PORTL-THC) that enables reversible, light-controlled activation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors with high spatial and temporal precision. The PORTL-THC anchors onto genetically encoded SNAP-tags on the cell surface, which enables real-time, fully reversible optical control of CB1 receptor signaling on cell surfaces.
This tool opens the door to dissecting CB1 function with unprecedented precision across diverse neural circuits and disease models. The study leveraged a longtime collaboration between Frank’s lab and the lab of Erick Carreira, Ph.D., at ETH Zurich, a university in Switzerland.
Study lead author and Frank lab graduate student Sarahi Garza helped get the publication across the finish line.
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OHSU receives Murdock Trust Award
OHSU has received a grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to purchase a state-of-the-art mass spectrometer, the Thermo Fisher Orbitrap Astral. The new technology, led by Andrew Emili, Ph.D., professor in oncological sciences in the OHSU School of Medicine, with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry, and a leader in cancer systems biology at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, will boost OHSU’s ability to study proteins for early disease detection and precision medicine.
“This award from the Murdock Trust enables us to push the boundaries of what’s possible in proteomics,” Emili said. “By integrating the Astral with our emerging spatial and single-cell pipelines, we can chart the molecular circuits that drive cancer and other diseases at unprecedented resolution. These new platform capabilities will transform how we intercept disease earlier, personalize patient care, and translate discoveries into new treatments.”
The instrument is expected to be operational by spring 2026 and will support cutting-edge research across cancer and other disciplines at OHSU.
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The Gerontological Society of America awards Fellow status to OHSU researchers
Ana R. Quiñones, Ph.D., professor of family medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, and Allison Lindauer, PH.D., APRN, FGSA, associate professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine, have been awarded GSA Fellow status by the Gerontological Society of America (GSA).
Fellow status is peer recognition for outstanding contributions to the field of gerontology and represents the highest category of GSA membership.
Lindauer and Quiñones will be honored at the GSA’s 2025 Annual Scientific Meeting, which will be held Nov. 12 to 15 in Boston.
GSA is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary scientific organization dedicated to research, education and practice in the field of aging. It serves more than 6,000 members in over 50 countries.
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James Frank earns award from National Institute on Drug Abuse
James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemical physiology and biochemistry in the OHSU School of Medicine and the Vollum Institute, in July was awarded $429,000 from the NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse for the project, “Illuminating tetrahydrocannabinol signaling in the brain’s reward circuitry with in vivo photopharmacology.”
The project builds on the Frank lab’s ongoing work, validating the ability of photoswitchable THC analogs (azo-THC) and derivatives, which can be localized in cells or tissue by using protein tags (PORTL-THC) to reversibly manipulate CBR signaling in cultured neurons and in vivo.
Frank previously developed an azo-THC that can be isomerized between active and inactive configurations using two different colored lights. This allows THC activity to be turned on and off in a reversible manner. To enhance azo-THC's spatial precision, they also developed a THC photoswitch that can be targeted to specific cells or membranes using genetically encoded PORTL-THC.
While preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of these tools to reversibly control THC activity with light, their application has so far been limited to CBR-overexpressing cell lines. This project will validate the utility of these optical tools to modulate THC activity in neurons and then map the local effects of THC in the mesolimbic circuit during behavior.
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Rosemary Falama named 2025 – 26 Copello Health Advocacy Fellow
Rosemary Falama, a graduate student in the OHSU School of Medicine, was selected by Doctors for America for this opportunity to build leadership and advocacy skills to improve the health of patients and communities. As a Copello Health Advocacy Fellow, she will join a national cohort of 16 physicians and physicians-in-training to learn and apply skills in advocacy, action planning, community engagement, legislative engagement, and media relations.
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James Frank speaks at CPDA conference
James Frank, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of Chemical Physiology and Biochemistry in the OHSU School of Medicine, in August was a speaker at the Chemistry and Pharmacology of Drug Abuse Conference in Boston, which brings together top medicinal chemists and pharmacologists to present their recent findings. Dr. Frank was invited to give 20-minute talk about his lab’s work developing light-activatable cannabinoid ligands. The endocannabinoid system plays a central role in mood, cognition, motor function, and beyond—but studying it has long been limited by the inability to target specific CB1 receptor pools in live cells and tissues. Dr. Frank’s talk, “Chemical Biology Tools to Control Cannabinoid Signaling Pathways with Light,” discussed his lab’s work developing the first photoswitchable, orthogonal, remotely tethered THC ligand (PORTL-THC) that enables reversible, light-controlled activation of CB1 cannabinoid receptors with high spatial and temporal precision.
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Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Earns 2025 Gold Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support
Doernbecher Children’s Hospital has earned the 2025 Gold Level ELSO Award for Excellence in Life Support, recognizing it as a Designated Gold Level Center of Excellence. It has received this distinction consecutively since 2013.
This award honors life support programs around the world that stand out for having strong systems that help provide excellent care for patients who need life support. At Doernbecher, this includes using ECMO and ECLS, which are treatments for patients whose heart or lungs are not working well, including babies, children and adults. ECMO and ECLS use a special machine that takes over the work of the heart and lungs to add oxygen to the blood and help the organs recover when they suddenly stop working. This gives the patient’s heart or lungs time to heal by moving and adding oxygen to the blood outside the body. Doernbecher’s ECMO program is a team effort, with many different specialists, nurses, therapists, coordinators, assistants, the rehab team, advanced care providers and doctors all working together to care for ECMO patients.
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Recognize team or individual achievements with OHSU Accolades
Every day, OHSU members do amazing things. We want to celebrate the significant achievements of OHSU members, units and programs, such as awards, grants, appointments, publications and public recognitions. We publish these announcements regularly on OHSU Now and OHSU News: Awards and Accomplishments to celebrate with all 27,000 of our members and our community. Nominate yourself, a colleague or any OHSU member using this Accolades intake form. Submissions will be edited for length and clarity.