1. Salvatore Parrino
Curriculum Vitae
821 Woodmere Court APT 2A,
Woodmere, NY 11598, 516-708-5360
salparrino@gmail.com
Education
Ph.D in Molecular and Cellular Biology Stony Brook University Fall 2009 – Summer 2015
BS Biology Stony Brook University Spring 2008
Honors
Appointment to and supported by the Molecular and Cellular Biology of Infectious Fall 2011- Summer 2014
Diseases (MCBID) Training Program T32AI007539
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Graduate Teaching Fellowship Award #52005887 Fall 2008
Teaching Experience:
Graduate Laboratory TA for BIO 311: Techniques in Molecular and Cellular Biology lab Fall 2010
I supervised a lab section, taught and demonstrated techniques, ensured the students were able to perform the
experimental manipulations, gave quizzes, graded reports, held office hours, and wrote letters of recommendation.
Instructor for CESAME Biology Learning Laboratories (BLL) Fall 2008 – Spring 2009
Taught groups of high school students general molecular biology lab techniques such as Restriction analysis of
DNA, DNA Gel Electrophoresis, and PCR.
Assistant Lecturer for BIO 311: Techniques in Molecular and Cellular Biology Lab Fall 2008
I wrote and delivered original lectures on PCR, Eukaryotic gene regulation, and various laboratory techniques
for the lecture component of this course. Additionally, I prepared both quiz and exam questions, and held office hours
to aid the students in their understanding. The HHMI fellowship listed above was for the teaching performed in this
course.
Undergraduate TA for BIO 362: Biochemistry I Fall 2007
I taught groups of students at office hours, answered email questions, and held pre-test review sessions.
Undergraduate TA for CHE 321 and 322: Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 Fall 2006-Spring 2007
I answered questions during lectures, assisted at the weekly student workshops, spent much of my free time
teaching groups of students at the chemistry help room, and led a review session with over 100 people. I was voted
“Best Undergraduate Organic TA” both semesters.
Research Experience
PhD Research Fall 2009 – Summer 2015
Advisor: James B. Konopka
Thesis Project: Determining the molecular pathways which control Candida albicans morphological switching.
Undergraduate Research Spring 2007 – Spring 2008
Advisor: Sanford R. Simon
Project: consisted of screening inhibitors of Human Neutrophil Elastase (HNE), an enzyme whose dysregulation
can cause a multitude of pathologies.

2. Undergraduate Research Mentoring:
Kevin Groudan Spring 2013 – Spring 2014
Kevin’s project was to determine what change the “pseudorevertants” (see Research Background for details)
underwent that restored their cellular health and hyphal inducibility. He demonstrated that they appeared to switch to
the “Opaque” morphology; a stress response tactic in C. albicans. He presented his findings at the Stony Brook
URECA Undergraduate poster session in April 2014 and has authorship on our latest manuscript (Parrino et al.).
Tracillia Quynh Nhu Le Spring 2014 - Fall 2014
Tracillia’s project was to determine if the aminosugar GlcNAc activates the hyphal-promoting cell surface
receptor Hgt4. She has preliminary data suggesting that GlcNAc does activate this receptor, and that GlcNAc induction
of hyphal growth is partially impaired if Hgt4 is not present. This would be the first demonstration of GlcNAc
activating any receptor in C. albicans, and the first demonstration of it acting through a known pro-hyphal pathway.
Publications
Parrino SM, Naseem S, Groudan K, and Konopka JB cAMP-independent signal pathways promote hyphal
induction of Candida albicans - Submitted
Naseem S, Parrino SM, Buenten DM, and Konopka JB Novel roles for GlcNAc in cell signaling
Commun Integr. Biol. 2012 March 1; 5(2): 156–159., doi: 10.4161/cib.19034, PMCID: PMC3376051
Presentations
Attended and presented a poster at the Genetics Society of America’s Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting
Princeton University, July 2012 http://www.yeast-meet.org/2012/
Attended and presented a poster at the 12th
ASM Conference on Candida and Candidiasis
New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2014 http://conferences.asm.org/index.php/2012-02-09-21-04-52/past-conferences/1-
12th-asm-conference-on-candida-and-candidiasis
Research Summary, Laboratory Techniques and Fluency
My thesis studies are on the molecular pathways by which Candida albicans, the most common human fungal
pathogen, switches from budding growth to tissue penetrating hyphal growth: a key virulence function in this organism.
In C. albicans it was thought that signaling through adenylyl cyclase is critical for cells to switch to hyphal growth.
However, adenylyl cyclase deletion mutants have low levels of many normal metabolic genes, which causes them to
function abnormally. I found that these cells give rise to spontaneous pseudorevertants at a high rate. These
pseudorevertants show increased cellular health respond well to most hyphal inducers and conditions. Thus adenylyl
cyclase is not required for hyphal growth and adenylyl cyclase-independent pathways are likely to exist.
Additionally I explored the mechanism of hyphal induction by the aminosugar N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc).
GlcNAc is found in all animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. It can reach concentrations of 1 millimolar in certain bodily
secretions and acts as a hyphal inducer in concentrations as low as 10 micromolar. However, it was not known how
GlcNAc induces hyphal growth. I have evidence that suggests GlcNAc activates a pro-hyphal cell surface receptor.
This receptor does not require cyclic-AMP to relay its signal to the cell so this signaling scheme is an example of how
an inducer can cause hyphal growth even in the absence of cyclic-AMP.
I have extensive knowledge of and the ability to mentor others in the following techniques:
Candida albicans routine culture, hyphal induction, transformation, protein extraction and analysis, cAMP extraction.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae routine culture, transformation, protein extraction and analysis, Recombinant DNA
production using gap repair. Other techniques: Fluorescence microscopy of yeast strains with GFP-tagged proteins or
fluorescent dyes. Standard Molecular Biology Techniques (PCR, DNA and Protein gel electrophoresis, recombinant
DNA production and protein expression using E. coli etc.)