Amanda J. Lessard, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Portland, Me, Us

Portland, Maine, United States

Working as a Research Navigator within the Community Engagement, Bioethics and Outreach Core for the Acute Care Research and Rural Health Disparities Center for Biomedical Research Excellence grant. This role will mainly assist with all human subjects' research proposals involved in this grant to maintain regulatory compliance. Additionally, this role includes the initiation of multiple research and community engagement/outreach programs that focus on acute care in the rural setting for our Maine communities.

Scarborough, Me

Postdoctoral research fellow in the Myocardial Biology and Heart Failure Laboratory at MMCRI. Mentored by Dr. Douglas Sawyer (Cardiologist and Chief Academic Officer at Maine Medical Center), Dr. Ilka Pinz (Principal Investigator at MMCRI), and Dr. Sergey Ryzhov (Principal Investigator at MMCRI). Research is focused on the hepatic-cardiac axis during heart failure, specifically aimed to understand the role of retinoic acid metabolism and signaling in two disease model systems; following a myocardial infarction and following exposure to an anthracycline-chemotherapy regimen.Skilled in: - Mouse models, handling, experiments and functional analysis such as cardiac ultrasound - Molecular and cellular biology techniques including but not limited to flow cytometry, primary cell culture, quantitative PCR, enzymatic assays, Western blot protein analysis- Training, teaching, and mentoring students or new lab members - Organization management (i.e. managing lab meeting schedule, ordering laboratory supplies, working with sales reps and the necessary departments who manages these tasks)- Presentation skills to include oral presentations both formal and informal as well as designing scientific and lay person research posters- Scientific writing to include manuscripts, editorials, encyclopedia and book chapters

Southern Maine

Year 1 Rotations:1. Dr. Sathyanarayana's laboratory at Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI) investigating dysregulated microRNA in acute myeloid leukemia.2. Dr. Calvin Vary’s laboratory at MMCRI examining the functional role of BMP9 with endothelial cells in relation to various extracellular matrix components, and its relevance to vascular disease, including hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). 3. Dr. Olgun Guvench’s at the University of New England School of Pharmacy learning biomolecular simulation and computer-aided drug design; specifically, investigating the interactions between hyaluronan and CD44. This resulted in a first author publication. My thesis dissertation research was performed within Dr. Sathyanarayana's laboratory at MMCRI understanding cytokine and epigenetic regulation of microRNA in acute myeloid leukemia. My thesis work encompassed various molecular biology techniques and technologies with immortalized and primary cell lines, multiple knockout mouse models, and human tissue samples. This research can be noted below in my publications section.

Scarborough, Me

The goal of my project was to define the roles of Podocalyxin (PODXL) in onset and progression of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In recent parallel studies, several reports have associated increased PODXL expression with the advancement of several aggressive cancers including acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemias; as well as certain breast, liver and pancreatic tumors. Via employing cell line models, mouse models and clinical AML samples, investigations were performed to define PODXL’s role in development and progression of AML. In addition, my projects evolved into also addressing the role of miRNAs in AML due to several recent investigations having linked aberrant miRNA expression with AML.

Rocky Mountain Laboratories, Hamilton, Mt

My role was as a member within the Genomics Unit of the Research Technologies Section in Hamilton, Montana run by Dr. Steve Porcella. I performed capillary/Sanger DNA sequencing for all intramural NIAID researchers at both the Rocky Mountain Laboratories campus and the main campus in Bethesda, Maryland. My collaborative work was recognized in multiple peer-reviewed journals noted below in the publication section but most notably was the New England Journal of Medicine publication with Dr. Helen Su and her colleagues. This research was recognized with all members receiving the NIH Directors Award for "identifying the genetic cause of a previously undefined primary immune deficiency disease".

Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences (Cell And Molecular Biology)

Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences (Concentration in Cell and Molecular Biology) from the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering

B.S., Biochemistry

Activities and Societies: Women's DII/DIII Soccer