Research Experience

Postdoctoral Fellow, Neurological Surgery February 2016 - Current

Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Process development of intracranial and intranasal delivery of human cells into mouse brainstem resulting in an accurate model for the study of pediatric brainstem glioma

Project management of of pre-clinical trials for treating DIPG with intranasal delivery of therapeutic stem cells, resulting in multi-week survival improvement in animal models

Information management of protein signaling/interaction networks using immunoassays and literature analysis leading to publications in peer-reviewed journals

Collaboration and communication at international conferences resulting in published results and presentations

Strategic planning of in vitro cell culture, flow cytometry, and qPCR experiments resulting in a mechanistic model of stem cell migration to human glioma

Postdoctoral Scholar, Immunology 2015 2015

University of Chicago Medicine, Chicago, IL

Project management of animal infection experiments, resulting improved efficiency of influenza vaccinations

Information management of cell culture and ELISA experiments, which generated antibodies to identify viral escape mutations

Regulatory management of animal protocol development with IACUC, IBC and other regulatory agencies, resulting in novel models for animal experimentation

Written and oral presentation of acquired data using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) to communicate and influence current trends in medicine

Graduate Research Associate, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2010 – 2015

University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL

Process development of animal models to perform survival and histological analysis, resulting clinically relevant medical data for publication.

Project management using immunoassays to investigate in vitro and in vivo signaling pathways in mouse and human tissues resulting in publications in peer-reviewed journals

Strategic planning to generate in vitro cell culture models which generated cell signaling data for publication.

Statistical information management of genetic regulation across cancer models resulting in publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Written and oral presentation of acquired data using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and Graphpad Prism in symposiums and weekly meeting to collaborate with other research teams

Clinical Laboratory Associate 2009

Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago, IL

Process development for high-throughput viral RNA analysis to characterize the epidemiology of infectious diseases

Information management of swine flu epidemiology, resulting in more rapid processing of test results.

Regulatory oversight of private patient information leading to secure and accurate reporting in accordance with HIPAA and other confidentiality laws.

Research Specialist, Pharmaceutical Biotechnology 2007 - 2008

University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL

Financial management and regulatory oversight of a pharmaceutical biotechnology lab

Process development using PCR and chromatography (FPLC) to clone and purify Anthrax proteins, resulting in novel drug development against anthrax poisoning

Organization of laboratory personnel and conflict resolution, resulting in greater collaboration and communication

Research Associate 2007

Integrated DNA Technologies, Skokie, IL

Information management of nucleic acid kinetics to improve product quality

Development of posters and multimedia containing scientific information, resulting in increased public education of scientific trends

Graduate Research Associate 2003 – 2006

University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Process development of chromatographic and immunological purification of intact organelles from blood-born parasite Trypanosoma brucei, resulting in identification of potential therapeutics to treat African Sleeping Sickness

Project management of mouse and rat colonies as vectors for BSL2 blood-born pathogens

Utilized creative problem solving to generate transgenic proteins with molecular cloning methods to track intracellular trafficking with metabolic radiolabeling and immunofluorescence

Information management and presentation using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) to update collaborators on novel methodologies in studying African Sleeping Sickness

Research Assistant 2003

Ovarian Cancer Institute, Athens, GA

Process development of for ribonucleic identification using radioactive tracers, yielding a novel protocol for scientific inquiry

Information analysis of RNA/protein complexes using Immunoprecipitation and Immunoblotting, resulting in novel scientific data regarding ribonucleoprotein complexes

Undergraduate Research Assistant 2002 – 2003

University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Database information management of genomic targets, resulting in protocol design, development, and validation

Process development for utilizing PCR and column chromatography to generate transgenic proteins

Presentation of acquired data using Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) to collaborate with scientists and improve research methodology

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Oral Science; GPA: 3.84; University of Illinois-Chicago, Chicago, IL; 2010 – 2015

Masters of Science, Biomolecular Chemistry; GPA: 3.52; University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI; 2003 – 2006

Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; GPA: 3.67; University of Georgia, Athens, GA; 1999 – 2003

Skills

Nucleic Acids: PCR, RT-PCR Restriction Digestion, Cellular and Viral Transformation, Cloning

Gel Electrophoresis: Agarose (DNA) and PAGE gels, Western Blotting

Cell Culture: Bacterial cultures, bloodstream parasites (Trypanosoma brucei), and mammalian cell culture (HeLa, HEK, SW620, C2C12, HaCaT, melanoma cells), gene silencing (siRNA)

Purification: Differential centrifugation, density gradients, column chromatography, FPLC, genomic/DNA/RNA extraction and ethanol precipitation

Immunological Techniques: Immunoprecipitation, Immunoblotting, Immunohistochemistry, Immunofluorescence, Flow Cytometry, ELISA

Microscopy: Laser Confocal, Apotome, hemocytometer, Cytation 5

Animal Use: Mouse colony care, intraperitoneal injection, survival surgery, tissue processing & sectioning

Data/Presentation skills: Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), Graphpad Prism, ImageJ

Publications and Abstracts

Mathur PS, Gierut JJ, Guzman G, Xie H, Xicola RM, Llor X, Chastkofsky MI, Perekatt AO, Tyner AL. Kinase-Dependent and -Independent Roles for PTK6 in Colon Cancer Mol Cancer Res. 2016 Jun;14(6):563-73. doi: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-15-0450. 2016 Mar 16.

Chastkofsky M, Bie W, Ball-Kell S, He Y-Y, Tyner AL. Protein Tyrosine Kinase 6 Regulates UVB Induced Signaling and Tumorigenesis in Mouse Skin. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. June 2015; 136.

Baker DL, Youssef OA, Chastkofsky MI, Dy DA, Terns RM, Terns MP. RNA-guided RNA modification: functional organization of the archaeal H/ACA RNP. Genes and Development. 2005 May 15;19(10):1238-48.

Chastkofsky MI, Procissi D, Yang C, Goldman S, Lesniak MS, Hashizume R, et al. Intranasal Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Targets Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma in Mouse Model. Neuro-Oncology. 2017;19:91

Chastkofsky M, Procissi D, Yang C, Goldman S, Lesniak M, Hashizume R, et al. Mesenchymal Stem Cells Target Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma in Mice after Intranasal Delivery. Neuro-Oncology. 2017;19:8

Chastkofsky M, Tyner AL. 2014. The Role of PTK6 in UV-B Induced Skin Cancer. Poster presented at the Cancer Center Research Forum and Clinic and Research Day. Chicago, IL.

Chastkofsky M, Tyner AL. 2013. The Role of PTK6 in Epithelial Homeostasis and Carcinogenesis. Poster presented at the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Symposium and Clinic and Research Day. Chicago, IL – Awarded First Place at Clinic and Research Day.

Chastkofsky M, Tyner AL. 2012. The Role of PTK6 in Skin Injury. Poster presented at the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Symposium, Cancer Center Research Forum, and Clinic and Research Day. Chicago, IL

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