The University of Toledo

News & Events

Faculty News

Recent Publications from the Department of Biological Sciences

Grant Awards in the Department of Biological Sciences

Recent External Grant Awards in Biological Sciences:

• Dr. Maria Diakonova recently received an NIH R01 award ($1,250,000 over 5 years) to study the role of JAK2- PAK1 interaction in prolactin-dependent signaling.  R01 grants are considered the “pinnacle” of individual grants in science, and Dr. Diakonova is to be commended.
  • The R01 grant is added to an existing NIH R15 grant awarded to Dr. Diakonova in 2008   to study the role of JAK2-PAK1 interaction in human breast cancer.  This R15 award   runs through 2011.  Congratulations Dr. Diakonova!      (posted 21 July 2010)
• Dr. Malathi Krishnamurthy was awarded a NIH R15 grant ($462,000 over 3 years) to study the role of small cellular RNAs in amplifying the cellular responses to virus infections.  This grant will allow Dr. Krishnamurthy, who just joined us in January, to establish her new laboratory with a strong financial footing.  Congratulations Dr. Krishnamurthy! (posted 21 July 2010)

 These grants are in addition to other recent awards to faculty in our department, including:

• An ACS Research Scholar Grant awarded to Dr. Fan Dong entitled, “Gfi-1 in the regulation of cell proliferation and survival”.  2009-2012.
• An NIH R21 Grant awarded to Dr. Douglas Leaman entitled “Role of ISG12 in innate immune responses.” 2009-2011.
• An NIH R15 Grant awarded to Dr. John Plenefisch entitled “ A Genetic Analysis of Intermediate Filament Domain Functions in C. elegans” 2009-2011.
• An NIH R15 Grant awarded to Dr. Bruce Bamber entitled “Homeostatic regulation of GABA synapses” 2009-2011. (posted 21 July 2010)

In addition to these external awards, several of our faculty received competitive internal funding in 2010, including D’Arce (Drs. S-T. Liu, G. Liu, M. Krishnamurthy) and Interdisciplinary Research (Dr. G. Liu) awards. (posted 21 July 2010)

 

Recent Accolades for Department Faculty

• Apaper published by Dr. Deborah Vestal and former graduate student Angella Messmer-Blust received additional attention, including highlighting in the journal itself and a blurb in the society's newletter (http://www.molbiolcell.org/current.dtl), and it was also highlighted in “Science Signaling” (http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/current/).
•  Dr. Bruce Bamber organized the “Neuronal Development, Synaptic Function & Behavior C. elegans Topic Meeting Conference” June 27-30 at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin (http://www.union.wisc.edu/ceneuro/orgs_topics.html).  A number of presentations were made by departmental faculty and students at this conference.  By all accounts it was a successful meeting and Bruce did a great job.  Congratulations! 
•  Dr. Sally Harmych received the University of Toledo’s “Outstanding Teaching Award” for 2009.  Dr. Harmych received her award at a banquet
  • In receiving this award, she joins other past departmental winners including Dr. Brian Ashburner (Outstanding Teacher, 2008), Dr. Douglas Leaman (Outstanding Researcher, 2007), Dr. Patricia Komuniecki (Outstanding Advisor, 2006), Dr. Keith Johnson (Outstanding Researcher, 1998), Dr. Margaret Wheelock (Outstanding Researcher, 1997) and Dr. Richard Komuniecki (Outstanding Researcher, 1990).

Recent Status Updates for Department Faculty

• Dr. Charles Creutz and Dr. Ernest DuBrul are now Biological Sciences Emeritus Faculty. (posted 12 July 2010)
  • For more information visit the Biological Sciences Emeritus Faculty web page.
• Please join us in welcoming our newest faculty member Dr. Malathi Krishnamurthy.  Her area of research is innate immunity.  More information can be found on Dr. Krishnamuthy's research page (posted February 2010)

• She joins other recent hires including...
  Fall 2008 - Dr. Guofa Liu
  Fall 2007- Dr. Song-Tao Liu
  Fall 2006 - Dr. Bruce Bamber, Dr. Maria Diakonova, and Dr. Robert Steven
  Fall 2005- Dr. Deborah Chadee
  Fall 2004- Dr. Emilio Duran
  Fall 2003- Dr. William Taylor
  Fall 2002 - Dr. Fan Dong and Dr. Deborah Vestal
  Fall 2001- Dr. Brian Ashburner, Dr. Douglas Leaman and Dr. Anthony Quinn

•  Please see the news archive page for older events.