Entered Combined-Degree Program: Fall 2017 as second-year DMD student.
Thesis Advisor: Bernadett Papp, Ph.D.
Graduated Program: Spring 2023 with a PhD
Biography
Natalie graduated from Duke University with a BA in Spanish. While at Duke, Natalie conducted research in the business school, analyzing treatment decision making in intermediate stage prostate cancer. She also received a grant to travel to Guatemala to conduct interviews and collect data on the breastfeeding practices and child nutritional intake among the Mayan populations.
Natalie participated in the UFCD Summer Research Program before D1 year where she worked in the Chan Lab analyzing the TLR-dependence of microRNA expression in chronic periodontitis. She then joined the Papp Lab in August 2019 as a graduate student in the Immunology and Microbiology concentration of the UF College of Medicine Biomedical Sciences program. Her project focuses on the dysregulation of host factors in lytic KSHV infection of the oral cavity. Natalie was supported by the T90 Comprehensive Training Program in Oral Biology training grant before being receiving an NIH/NIDCR F30 Fellowship for her PhD work. Natalie has also been the recipient of two AADOCR Student Research Fellowships, a UF Health Cancer Center (UFHCC) Pre-Doctoral Award, and a travel award from the American Society of Virology. Natalie has presented her work at conferences including the AADOCR Annual Meeting, American Society for Virology Annual Meeting, SE Regional Virology Conference, International Herpesvirus Workshop, UFHCC Research Symposium and UF College of Dentistry Spring Synergy Conference and has won several awards for her research including first place in the International Association for Dental Research Hatton Competition in the Junior Category.
Natalie is involved in the AADOCR National Student Research Group (NSRG) as past President of the organization and also serves as the UF SRG Advocacy Representative. She is also a past Advocacy Representative of the American Student Dental Association, Dean’s Dental Ambassador, Admissions Outreach Ambassador, academic tutor and past participant in the Dominican Republic Mission Trip. She is anticipated to graduate from the DMD and PhD portions of the dual-degree program in Spring 2023.
In her free time, Natalie likes to run, explore Gainesville restaurants, and serve as an alumni interviewer for Duke University Admissions.
Grants
| 2022 – 2023; American Association of Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Research Fellowship Award |
| 2021 – 2023; NIH NIDCR F30 Individual Fellowship: Ruth L. Kirschstein Interdisciplinary Research Training Award (F30DE030666) |
| 2021 – 2022; American Association of Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Research Research Fellowship Award |
| 2018 – 2021; NIH NIDCR T90 Institutional Fellowship: Ruth L. Kirschstein Interdisciplinary Research Training Award (T90DE021990) |
Publications
| Atyeo N, Frank TD, Vail EF, Sperduto WAL, Boyd DL. Early Initiation of Breastfeeding Among Maya Mothers in the Western Highlands of Guatemala: Practices and Beliefs. J Hum Lact. 2017. 33(4):781–789. PMID: 28107098 |
| Scherr KA, Fagerlin A, Williamson LD, et al. The Physician Recommendation Coding System (PhyReCS): A Reliable and Valid Method to Quantify the Strength of Physician Recommendations During Clinical Encounters. Med Decis Making. 2017. 37(1):46–55. PMID: 27343015 |
| Atyeo N, Park YP, Wang D, Chan E. Overexpression of tumor antigen neurotrimin (NTM) in oral cancer. J Dent Res 97: Spec Iss A: Abstract 0428, 2018. |
| Atyeo N. Chae M. Sharma A. Glickman K. Nguyen TH. Papp B. Characterizing Mechanisms Regulating Oncogenic Forkhead Factors in the Oral Cavity. J. Dent Res: Spec. Iss A: Abstract 2529, 2020. |
| Atyeo N. Toth Z. Chae M. Sharma A. Jang J. Papp B. KSHV ORF45 triggers FOXQ1 expression in oral epithelial cells to sustain the lytic cycle. Oral presentation at the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting; Madison, WI; 2022 July 16-20. |
| Atyeo N, Rodriguez MD, Papp B, Toth Z. Clinical Manifestations and Epigenetic Regulation of Oral Herpesvirus Infections. Viruses. 2021 Apr 15;13(4). PMID: 33920978 |
| Scherr, K.A., Fagerlin, A., Williamson, L.D., Davis, J.K., Freidman, I., Atyeo, N. and Ubel, P.A. (2017). The Physician Recommendation Coding System (PhyReCS) a reliable and valid method to quantify the strength of physician recommendations during clinical encounters. Medical Decision Making 37(1): 46-55. PMID: 27343015 |
| Atyeo, N, Vail, E. Frank, T., Sperduto, W. and Boyd, D.L. (2017). Early initiation of breastfeeding in the Western Highlands of Guatemala: Practices and Beliefs. Journal of Human Lactation 33(4): 781-789. PMID: 28107098. |
Abstracts
| Atyeo N, Chukkapalli S, Lakshmyya K, Chan, E. TLR2/4 dependency of associated microRNA expression in murine polymicrobial infection-induced periodontitis. J Dent Res 96: Spec Iss A: Abstract 2233, 2017, (www.iadr.org). |
| Atyeo N. Toth Z. Chae M. Sharma A. Jang J. Papp B. KSHV ORF45 triggers FOXQ1 expression to sustain the viral life cycle in oral epithelial cells. Oral presentation at the Southeastern Regional Virology Conference; Atlanta, GA; 2022 September 23-25. |
| Atyeo N. Toth Z. Chae M. Sharma A. Jang J. Papp B. KSHV ORF45 triggers FOXQ1 expression in oral epithelial cells to sustain the lytic cycle. Oral presentation at the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting; Madison, WI; 2022 July 16-20. |
| Atyeo N. Toth Z. Chae M. Sharma A. Jang J. Papp B. Herpesvirus infection of oral epithelial cells induces the transcription factor FOXQ1 to sustain the lytic cycle. Poster presentation at the UF College of Dentistry Spring Synergy Research Symposium; Gainesville, FL; 2022 April 8. |
| Atyeo N. Papp B. Epigenetic control of FOXQ1 expression during oral viral infection. Interactive oral presentation at the AADOCR/CADR Annual Meeting; Atlanta, GA; 2022 March 21-26. |
| Atyeo N. Toth Z. Chae M. Papp B. Immediate-early viral factors activate host factor FOXQ1 during KSHV infection of oral epithelial cells, promoting the viral lytic cycle. Poster at the UF Health Cancer Center Research Symposium; Virtual Conference; 2021 December 7. |
| Atyeo N. Chae M. Toth Z. Papp B. KSHV Immediate-Early Proteins Trigger FOXQ1 Expression in Oral Epithelial Cells, Engaging in a Novel Lytic Infection-Promoting Positive Feedback Loop. Oral Presentation at the International Herpesvirus Workshop; Virtual; 2021 August 2-6. |
| Atyeo N. Chae M. Toth Z. Papp B. Oral viral infection induces FOXQ1, a novel lytic cycle promoter. J Dent Res 101: Spec Iss A: Abstract 0460, 2021. |
| Atyeo N. Chae M. Sharma A. Glickman K. Nguyen TH. Papp B. Characterizing Mechanisms Regulating Oncogenic Forkhead Factors in the Oral Cavity. J Dent Res 100: Spec. Iss B: Abstract 2529, 2020. |
| Atyeo N, Park YP, Wang D, Chan E. Overexpression of tumor antigen neurotrimin (NTM) in oral cancer. J Dent Res 97: Spec Iss A: Abstract 0428, 2018. |
| Atyeo, N, Chukkapalli, S., Kesavalu, L. Chan E. TLR2/4 dependency of associated microRNA expression in murine polymicrobial infection-induced periodontal disease. J Dent Res 96: Spec Iss A: Abstract 2233, 2017. |