Name:

Elizabeth (Beth) Richter

Mentor:

Dr. Sally S. Atherton

Year of Entry:

3^rd year MD/PhD 

Education:

Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA

B.S. in Biology and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Paragraph Describing Interests:

 Research Description:   Prevalence of human herpesvirus in autonomic and sensory ganglia of the head and neck

 Progress toward graduation:   I am in the process of generating the preliminary results for my research proposal by recovering ganglia from human cadavers, extracting DNA from the ganglia, and amplifying the extracted material for the human herpesviruses, HSV-1, HSV-2, and VZV.  By the end of the Fall 2005 semester, I will prepare the first draft of my proposal and choose my advisory committee.  I am auditing all of the required course work this year and expect to take the first exam in May 2006.

 Research Project Description:   The overall goal of my project is to identify non-trigeminal sites in the head and neck that are sites of latency of the neurotropic human herpesviruses.  Reactivation and spread of virus from these sites may contribute to the pathogenesis of unusual herpesvirus infections, such as acute retinal necrosis.

Publications:

Singh N. Amin S. Richter E. Rashid S. Scoglietti V. Jani PD. Wang J. Kaur R. Ambati J. Dong Z. Ambati BK. Flt-1 intraceptors inhibit hypoxia-induced VEGF expression in vitro and corneal neovascularization in vivo. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. 46(5):1647-52, 2005.

 Conklin BS. Richter ER. Kreutziger KL. Zhong DS. and Chen C. Development and evaluation of a novel decellularized vascular xenograft. Medical Engineering and Physics. 24:173-83, 2002.