From the Department Head Each Newsletter I have a section on personnel to let you know who has departed and who is newly arrived in the department; this Newsletter is no exception. However, I also want to provide you with advanced warning that in the future the list of new arrivals will not be as large as in the recent past. The reason is that the department is very close to capacity with regard to occupying all space assigned to the department. With the wave of faculty hired in the 1960's mostly now retired, we cannot expect space to be freed up by retirements.

Therefore, although the Life Sciences Consortium (described in the Fall 1996 Newsletter) provides matching funds for new faculty hires in the life sciences, unfortunately, at the present time we are not able to avail ourselves of these funds due to lack of space; new hiring will be largely curtailed until such time as additional space may be made available to the department.

In each Newsletter I have explained the difference between endowed and non-endowed funds. Endowed funds are those which require a certain amount to establish them, are invested, and from which the interest is available for awards. These can take the form of an endowed faculty position, a scholarship, a lectureship or an award. Occasionally, enough new funds are contributed to a designated non-endowed fund to bring it up to the level necessary for it to become endowed. I am very pleased to say that such a situation has occurred, and the Frederick C. Wedler Memorial Fund, established in 1994 at Fred's death (see related story below), has become endowed. I am also pleased to inform you that the name of the fund has become the Frederick C. Wedler Memorial Fund for Outstanding Dissertations. Each year one undergraduate student receiving an honors degree in our department will be awarded a prize for the best honors thesis and one graduate student in our departmental graduate program will be awarded a prize for the best Ph.D. thesis.

We are fortunate that the past year has seen the creation of several other endowed funds as well. Virginia Althouse, the widow of Paul M. Althouse after whom one of the buildings our department occupies is named, and Richard Althouse, Paul's son, have created the Paul M. Althouse Outstanding Teaching Awards. You may recall that several years back the Daniel Tershak Teaching Award was created to recognize each year the outstanding teaching performance of a faculty member in our department. The Althouse Award extends this recognition to one instructor and one teaching assistant. The recipients of these three awards this year, to be recognized at a reception this Fall, are Dr. Teh-hui Kao (faculty), Dr. Chris Tachibana (instructor) and David Gohara (graduate assistant). We are most pleased to be able to honor teachers at all levels for the outstanding instruction they provide to our students.

Walter H. and Maxine P. Ott have established the Ruth Ott Lewman Endowed Scholarship in honor of their daughter. This scholarship provides recognition to outstanding female undergraduates enrolled in the Clinical Laboratory Science option of the Biotechnology major and who plan on pursuing health careers.

Having a summer to devote entirely to independent research is extremely advantageous in the development and preparation of undergraduates for a career in research. Unfortunately, however, very few students have the financial means to remain in State College over the summer. Therefore, it is our good fortune that Charles and Carolyn Whitfield have endowed the Jacqueline Hemming Whitfield Student Research Endowment Fund, in honor of his mother, to "provide support to a female undergraduate student enrolled during the summer semester following her sophomore or junior year in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology." As with any endowed fund, additional contributions can be added to the principal of the endowment at any time, which may eventually allow us to support additional students.

Personnel

Four new faculty will be joining us this year, three of them from Switzerland! Song Tan received his bachelors degree in physics, magna cum laude, from Cornell University and was a Marshall Scholar to Cambridge University from which he received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology. Song has just completed his postdoctoral studies with Tim Richmond at the Institute for Molecular Biology and Biophysics in Zurich where he solved the crystal structure of the yeast TFIIA/TBP/DNA transcription complex and the yeast MAT/MCM1/DNA transcription complex.

Pamela Mitchell received her bachelors degree in Biology from Rhode Island College, and her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Columbia University. Pam's post-doctoral studies were with Bob Tjian at the Univ- ersity of California, Berkeley. She has run her own independent research program since 1990 at the University of Zurich, studying the role of the AP-2 transcription factor in craniofacial and nervous system development of the mouse. She joins us as an associate professor.

Bernhard Luscher received his diploma in Biochemistry from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Zurich. Beni's postdoctoral studies were with Bob Tjian at the University of California, Berkeley. He has run his own independent research program since 1990 at the University of Zurich, studying molecular neurobiology of GABA receptors and neuron-specific gene expression. His primary appointment is in the department of Biology, with a secondary joint appointment in our department, and he joins us as an associate professor.

Squire Booker received his bachelors degree in Chemistry from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, and his Ph.D. inChemistry from MIT. Squire's post-doctoral studies were with Daniel Mansuy at the Universite Rene Descartes in Paris, then with Perry Frey at the University of Wisconsin. Squire will study atalytic mechanisms of redox enzymes with emphasis on those that use selenium or S-adenosylmethionine as co-factors.

Two faculty members have recently departed from our department. Last year Reg Deering retired as Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology after 34 years of service. After graduating as valedictorian of his class with a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics and chemistry from the University of Maine in 1954, then receiving a doctoral degree in biophysics from Yale University in 1957, Reg joined the department in 1964 as associate professor of biophysics. He became professor of biophysics in 1969, then professor of molecular and cell biology in 1974. Reg's research concerned how cells repair the damaging effects of ultraviolet light, charged-particle radiation, and chemicals on the structure and function of DNA. Reg mentored 21 graduate students and taught a wide range of courses on both the undergraduate and the graduate level. He served as chair or a member of many college or University committees, including the Faculty Senate and the Graduate Council. He also served as Acting Head of our department from 1988-1989. Among his many awards, Reg received a Fulbright Fellowship for research at the University of Oslo, Norway, from 1958 to 1959; two National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health from 1974 to 1975 and from 1983 to 1984; and the Penn State Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award in 1994. We thank Reg for his many years of dedicated service to our department.

Just recently, Ken Johnson, Paul Berg Professor of Biochemistry, who joined our department as an assistant professor in 1979, accepted an endowed position in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas, Austin. We wish him well in his new position.

I am pleased to report that Susan Abmayr and Frank Pugh were tenured this year and promoted to Associate Professor, and that Phil Mohr was promoted from Affiliate Associate Professor to Affiliate Professor.

This Newsletter brings the sad news that Ernest Ludwig, Professor Emeritus of Microbiology, passed away in Texas on April 17, 1998, at the age of 82. Ernie joined the Department on September 1, 1956 and retired on January 1, 1982. During his tenure at Penn State, Ernie also served as Associate Dean in the Graduate School.

Honors and Awards

Jerry Workman has been selected as a Stohlman Scholar by the Leukemia Society of America based on his contributions to understanding the "function of oncogenic and regulatory factors in chromatin." An article describing Jerry's research appears below.

As announced in a newsletter of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, Joseph Molete, currently a graduate student in our department working in Ross Hardison's lab, "is the first Black recipient to receive the prestigious Aaron Klug Scholarship for outstanding doctoral studies in Chemistry. The Foundation for Research Development (FRD) announced that the 27-year-old research scientist will receive $10,000 annually for the duration of his doctoral studies in America. The Sowetan-born researcher graduated from the University of Witwatersrand in 1993 with a BScHons in Biochemistry and is presently working towards his doctorate in Biochemistry at The Pennsylvania State University. While studying towards his Honours at Witwatersrand, he also worked as a teaching assistant. Born in Soweto, Joseph's family later moved to Seshego, then Bochum in the Northern Province; Joseph went to numerous primary and secondary schools. Nevertheless he matriculated with a B average, including an A in Biology, from Phiri-Kolobe High School in Sovenga. Joseph came to Witwatersrand to study biochemistry and won both the Kagiso Trust scholarship and the German DAAD. After graduating with an Honours degree he was awarded a scholarship by the Institute of International Education to study towards his masters in Biology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. There he worked with his supervisor to characterize a gene responsible for 'complementing the mitochondrial mutation.' He obtained his masters degree with distinction. Now in the Ph.D. program in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Pennsylvania State University, Joseph's doctoral research is focused on understanding the mechanism of gene regulation. The FRD instituted the Aaron Klug Scholarship to honor Klug, the winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize for Chemistry and who grew up in South Africa. He obtained his Bsc degree from Witwatersrand. The award goes only to outstanding doctoral students in Biochemistry."

Once again, two students in our department have each received one of the 250 prestigious Goldwater Fellowships awarded nationwide each year to outstanding undergraduates majoring in math, science and engineering. This year's recipients are Wei (Denise) Duan doing research in Zhi-chun Lai's lab and Deborah Kubisiak who is performing research for her honors thesis summers at the University of Pittsburgh.

Other News

A previous Newsletter announced that Dr. Kamal Rashid, Director of Biotechnology Short Courses offered through our department, and Director of our Penn State Summer Symposium, received a Faculty Service Award from the National University Continuing Education Association. Kamal's activities are described in the following article, written by Deborah A. Benedetti, which appeared in The Catalyst, a Penn State Continuing Education publication.

Many science graduates enter the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical job market without enough hands-on laboratory experience, according to Dr. Kamal Rashid. A Penn State Eberly College of Science program helps companies get new employees up-to-speed. The Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Short Courses provide employees with the laboratory skills and the latest knowledge they need in today's highly competitive biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, Rashid, director of the short courses, noted. "Education and training are very important issues to these industries, because the number of people in the field is rapidly growing, and the technology is swiftly advancing," he said. "A company's success may well depend on employees' technical training and experience."

The series of short courses annually attract 150 to 200 students. Nearly 1,200 have enrolled in the courses since 1989, Rashid said. Most participants are from the United States, but the courses also attract participants from Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. About 80 percent are from the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries; the rest are from academic and government laboratories. The courses emphasize hands-on practical experience for the participants and training in advanced manufacturing and research methods. Companies adopting the procedures taught in the courses will be more productive and more competitive in biotechnology and bioprocessing, he said. "In many cases, we have included leading-edge equipment manufacturers among course instructors to ensure that participants learn the latest techniques and train on the most modern equipment."

An additional strategic benefit to course participants is that course topics mesh closely with the capabilities of the Bioprocessing Resource Center's Pilot Plant. "We established the short courses to introduce the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries to Penn State's faculty experts and the capabilities of the Bioprocessing Resource Center's Pilot Plant," Rashid said. "Pilot plant capabilities include all phases of bioprocessing, from laboratory experimentation to scale-up commercialization. In general, the visibility and relatedness of the courses are very synergistic with the activities of the pilot plant."

The short courses have earned a national and international reputation for quality. One reason for this is the partnerships Rashid has established with biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies. A partnership with New Brunswick Scientific Co. Inc. has resulted in the acquisition of $130,000 worth of fermentors and bioreactors fully equipped with computer control, which are used for the short courses. The company services and upgrades the equipment as part of its agreement with the program. According to Jerry Gerber, manager of technical training development for New Brunswick Scientific, "The program has gained a reputation as effective training by corporate, governmental and academic participants worldwide. As workshop director, Professor Kamal Rashid has ushered the program through its infancy to its current status as one of a handful of successful ongoing biotechnology workshop programs in the country." Similar relationships with other industries, such as Pharmacia Biotech, BioWittakers and Baxter Healthcare, have been established for the benefit of short course participants, as well as Penn State students and faculty members, Rashid said.

Penn State students can benefit from the short courses as well. The Eberly College of Science now offers an undergraduate biotechnology major with extensive hands-on laboratory training using the same equipment. "In developing the short courses, we realized that we could also provide Penn State students with the same kind of training, which would give them an edge in the biotech job market," he noted.

Created in 1982, the annual Penn State Summer Symposium is a faculty-run program. During the past 15 years, the symposia have served as a valuable educational resource for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and faculty not only at Penn State, but for participants from throughout the United States and abroad. Both the Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Short Courses and the Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology are self-supporting outreach programs of the Eberly College of Science. Since 1989, Rashid has raised more than $1.5 million to support both programs. "These programs have helped to put Penn State on the map both nationally and internationally," he said.

Fred Wedler, who died of cancer in December of 1994 while a faculty member in the department, was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society, Centre County Unit, and at one time served as its president. In 1980 Fred received a Faculty Research Award from the American Cancer Society, one of only six awarded nationally that year. When the Centre County Unit decided to organize a nationally-sponsored Relay for Life, it was only fitting that the local relay was named after Fred. This year staff, graduate students and faculty in the department raised over $3,000 for the Fred Wedler Relay for Life, with proceeds going directly to the Centre County Unit. This is the 4th year our team, named We're Wedler Walkers @ BMB.PSU.EDU, has participated in the event. Congratulations to all the members of the team.

Theses

The following students received MS or Ph.D. degrees in 1997/98:

Christie Blackman, BMMB, M.S., Dr. Schlegel
"Isolation, Sequencing and Characterization of cDNAs Encoding Mammalian Members of a Novel Subfamily of P-type ATPases"

Barbara Ann Bour, BMMB, Ph.D., Dr. Abmayr
"Characterization of MEF2 and Sticks and Stones, Two Genes Involved in Drosophila Muscle Development"

Kristen D. Brubaker, MCB, Ph.D., Dr. Gay
"Characterization of Rapid Signaling Mechanisms in Estrogen-Stimulated Osteoclasts: Evidence for a Plasma Membrane Receptor"

John Chicca, BMMB, Ph.D., Dr. Pugh
"Cloning and Biochemical Characterization of the TATA Binding Protein Associated Factor-172 (TAF-172), an ATP Dependent Regulator of the TATA Binding Protein"

Steven Graves, BMMB, Ph.D., Dr. Johnson
"The Cloning, Expression, Purification and Initial Kinetic Characterization of the Large Subunit of the Human Mitochondrial DNA Polymerase"

Tanja Gruber, BMMB, Ph.D., Dr. Bryant
"Sigma Factors of Phototrophs: Functional and Evolutionary Studies"

Coleen (Basile) Hacker, M.S., BMMB, Dr. Wojchowski
"C-MYC May Activate Apoptosis Through A Cytoplasmic Signal Generated from Engaged Cytokine Receptors"

Amy Jackson-Fisher, Ph.D., BMMB, Dr. Pugh
"Physiological Relevance of TATA-Binding Protein Dimerization"

Hin-Cheung Lee, Ph.D., BMMB, Dr. Tu
"Growth Inhibition in Escherichia Coli Mediated by Glutathione S-Transferase and 1-Chloro-2,4-Dinitrobenzene"

Angela Ling, Ph.D., BMMB, Dr. Deering
"The Upstream Sequence of Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease of Dictyostelium Discoideium and Its Use in the Establishment of a Conditional Gene Expression System"

Sara Parkin, M.S., BMMB, Dr. Bollinger and Dr. Bryant
"Physiological and Mechanistic Studies of Cysteine Desulfurases from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803"

Constance Sedon, BMMB, M.S., Dr. Bollinger
"Electron Transfer in Ribonucleotide Reductase R2 and Searching for CDs in Synechocystis SP.PCC 6803"

Rhea Utley, Ph.D., BMMB, Dr. Workman
"Function of Yeast Chromatin Modifying Machines: SWI/SNF and Histone Acetyltransferase Complexes"

Kerstin Weiss, Ph.D., BMMB, Dr. Simpson
"Chromatin Domains Involved in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Mating Type Regulation"

Ross Whitwam, BMMB, Ph.D., Dr. Tien
"Site-Directed Mutagenesis On Mn Peroxidase, A Lignin-Degrading Enzyme from Phanerochaete Chrysosporium"

Congratulations!

Scientists Discover New Players on the Gene-Activation Team
by Barbara Kennedy

A series of discoveries that dramatically alter the understanding of how cells turn genes on are announced in July issues of the international science journals Nature and Cell. The research, which reviewers at Cell have described as "provocative and highly significant," reveals molecules previously unknown to be involved in gene expression plus unexpected dynamics among these molecules, which work together as a team to activate genes.

"Gene-activation is a factor in diseases involving cancers, viruses, and hormones, and we now are starting to get a much more detailed understanding of how this important process works," says Jerry L. Workman, associate professor of molecular and cell biology at Penn State and the leader of the research group that made the discoveries. Workman's research reveals new players on the team of molecules that turns on a gene --a precise section of DNA containing one of the cell's operating instructions --by making a copy of its code, which the cell then uses as a template for making whatever protein the gene is designed to produce. "Each cell turns on only the particular genes it needs for whatever function it needs to perform," Workman explains.

Scientists already knew some of the players on the gene-copying team, which Workman's research has now shown to be much larger and more complicated. They knew that inactive genes are locked inside densely knotted structures called nucleosomes. They also knew that the nucleosome knots are held together by powerful histone proteins, whose grip has to be broken before a gene can loosen up enough to be turned on by another kind of molecule, the transcription enzyme RNA polymerase. "RNA polymerase turns a gene on by attaching to it and moving along its length, making an RNA copy of its DNA code," Workman explains. Recently Workman's lab also characterized a powerful enzyme called SWI/SNF that overpowers the histone proteins, untangling the gene and making it accessible to the RNA polymerase enzyme. Plus, they showed recently that another molecule, a transcription activator, helps RNA polymerase attach exactly at the right spot on the DNA to start copying a specific gene.

Now, Workman's lab has identified even more molecular players plus the roles they play and some of the complex interactions among them. "Rhea Utley, a graduate student in our group, discovered that the transcription activators directly link to a very large protein group called a histone acetyltransferase complex (HAT), which contains an enzyme called Gcn5 that remodels nucleosomes by attaching a chemical group called an acetate," Workman says. "Dave Steger, a postdoc in the group, found that this acetylation reaction is involved very intimately in the regulation of gene transcription," explains Workman, who speculates that it somehow helps the RNA polymerase enzyme to copy the gene.

Workman's group also discovered two large HAT complexes containing between ten and twenty proteins each, which they describe in the Cell and Nature papers. "Once an activator is able to bind to a gene, it can grab one of these HAT complexes and bring it to the gene so that the Gcn5 enzyme can unlock the nucleosomes by adding acetate groups onto the histones," Workman explains.

"Patrick Grant, a postdoc in our group, found that HAT complexes not only contain histone acetylation enzymes but also TAF proteins, which are known to bind to another very large system of proteins known as TFIID, which is important for telling the RNA polymerase where to start copying a gene," Workman says. "We've also shown that this binding process requires a molecule called Acetyl CoA, which is a little protein that has an acetate group attached to it," he says, explaining that the Gcn5 enzyme takes the acetate group off the Acetyl CoA molecule and adds it to the histones.

One reason the Workman group was able to make so many discoveries at once is that it is the first lab to isolate and purify the individual HAT complexes, and then the individual proteins within each complex, and to make enough of the purified proteins to do experiments designed to find out how each one works. The purifications were done by current and former postdocs in the Workman lab, including Patrick Grant, Jacques Cote, Anton Eberharter, and Sam John. "Some of the experiments we've done show that transcription activators and HAT complexes bind to each other," Workman explains. Some of his other experiments showed that this binding causes the HAT complexes to acetylate only those nucleosomes that are bound by the transcription activator.

"This research changes and complicates quite a bit our picture of how gene regulation at the level of transcription actually is orchestrated," Workman comments. "It demonstrates that the process controlling gene expression is very dynamic, very interactive, and very complicated."

Supporters of this research include the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, United States National Institutes of Health, National Center for Research Resources, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, American Cancer Society, National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center, Leukemia Society, Austrian Science Foundation, Cancer Research Institute, and Canadian Medical Research Council. In addition to Workman, researchers at Penn State include Assistant Professor Joseph C. Reese; graduate student Rhea T. Utley, postdoctoral fellows Anton Eberharter, Patrick A. Grant, Keiko Ikeda, Sam John, and David J. Steger; and research associate Marilyn G. Pray-Grant. Researchers at the University of Washington include research associate David Schieltz and professor John R. Yates, III, and at Laval University include professor Jacques Cote. Workman is a former Leukemia Society Scholar and is currently a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT

Below is a listing of funds within our department. We would of course be very pleased to receive donations toward any of them you may choose to support. Following the list of funds are those of you who contributed to any of them in 1997; we greatly appreciate your support.

Alumni News

'60

Harold M. Farrell (Ph.D., Bioch., '68) is Lead Scientist for the study of the chemistry and biochemistry of milk proteins at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Eastern Regional Research Center (ERRC) in Philadelphia.

Fred E. Hossler (M.S., Micrb., Dr. Robert Stone, '65) received his Ph.D. in Pathobiology in 1971 at the University of Colorado Medical Center and is a Professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at East Tennessee State University in the Quillen College of Medicine. He has received numerous teaching awards including a teaching award for "Cell and Tissue Biology" and "Professor of the Year" in 1981, 1986, 1991, 1993, and 1995. Dr. Hossler was also elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.

'70

Fillia Makedon (M.S., Biophys.,'71) is a Professor of Computer Science at Dartmouth College. Her current research focuses on multimedia stimulus tracking for FMRI. Fillia is married and lives with her three children, Basil (24), Dana (23), and Calliope (15) in Hanover, NH.

Richard F. Mortensen (Ph.D., Micrb., '73) has been a professor in the Department of Microbiology at Ohio State University for almost 20 years. Fourteen graduate students have received their Ph.D.s under his direction. After his remaining six graduate students complete their degrees, Dr. Mortensen hopes to retire.

Commander John J. Topolosky, USN (B.S., Med. Tech., '73) transferred from duty with the Chief of Naval Operations, Pentagon (as Head of Aviation Technical Training & Resources) to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Light Wing, Naval Station, Mayport, Florida to assume duties as the wing aircraft maintenance officer. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

Michael C. Mahan (B.S., Med. Tech., '75) is currently a publicist for a record company. He lives in Philadelphia, PA, where he is learning how to be a single parent to his two daughters.

Stephen T. Matsko (B.S., Med. Tech., '76) is a regional account manager in the Ameri Source Corp., a major pharmaceutical distributor. Steve is nationally ranked in the top 10 in Family Pharmacy membership and is ranked number 2 in the northeast region in Family Pharmacy product sales and number 12 nationally. He has been married to his wife Linda for 19 years. The two reside with their three children in Clarkes Summit, PA.

Sandra J. Pozar (B.S., Med. Tech., '78) returned to the United States after working for over twelve years as a laboratory manager at American-Saudi Arabian hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Sandra is currently semi-retired and visiting friends and family throughout the USA.

Nancy Forgues Tomdale (B.S., Med. Tech., '78) is a Project Manager at Aetna U.S. Healthcare in the West Central Region in Dallas, Texas. She is married and has a daughter Kristin, age 11, and a son Christopher, age 6.

Marsha Louise Frazier (Ph.D., Bioch., '78) is an Associate Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology & Digestive Disease at the University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

'80

Beth A. (Dambeck) Jackson (B.S., Micrb., '80) is a Chemistry II and Clinical Coordinator at the Quidel Corporation. She is working on a project for rapid diagnostics for influenza A&B and HSV I & II. In August, she moved into a newly purchased home.

Donna Wolk Naumovitz (B.S., Micrb., '80) is a graduate student in Pathobiology at the University of Arizona. She is a Flinn Foundation Fellowship Recipient.

Dagmar Tichy Stein (B.S., Micrb., '82) received an M.D., Ph.D. in 1990 from Hershey Medical Center. Dagmar is the Acting Director of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the Children's Cancer Institute of Northwest, Ohio. She has three children, Andy, Sean, Cory.

Corinne Olesen (B.S., Micrb., '83) is a Senior Scientist at Tropix, Inc. and resides with her son William in Bedford, MA.

Sandra L. Rhoads (B.S., Med. Tech., '83) received a M.S. in Clinical Microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA. She was an instructor of Diagnostic Microbiology and Clinical Parasitology Laboratories in the College of Graduate Studies at Thomas Jefferson University. She is currently employed as an Infectious Disease Testing Specialist at Cooper Hospital/University Medical Center.

Renée M. Wagner (Ph.D., Bioch., Mallette, '83) is a Research Leader/Lab Director as well as an Adjunct Professor at the Univerisity of Missouri.

D. Michael Uuks (B.S., Micrb., '83) completed his cardiology fellowship at Duke University in 1993 and after completing a four year active duty armed services commitment joined Asheville Cardiology Associates. He and his wife Sue have three children.

Wendy Bollinger Bollag (B.S., Bioch., '84) is an Assistant Professor at the Medical College of Georgia. In addition to her first daughter Katherine Amanda, Wendy has a new daughter Anna Elizabeth, born on September 9, 1997.

Robert Bruce Denman (Ph.D., Bioch., '84) was recently promoted to Head of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at IBR, where he had been working as a Staff Scientist for the past 9 years. In 1995, he married Dr. Ying-Ju Sung, who received her Ph.D. in 1995 in Biology from City University of New York.

Diane Hessinger Gollaher (B.S., Bioch., '85) is the Senior Clinical Research Associate at Pfizer Inc. in Groton, CT.

Nancy L. Lewis, M.D. (B.S., Micrb., '86) recently completed her residency in internal medicine at the Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. She is a fellow in Hematology/Oncology at Temple University Hospital.

Mary Kuchera (B.S., Micrb., '87) has been appointed as a Clinical Trial Project Manager and currently resides in Germantown, MD.

Garret L. Yount (B.S., Micrb., '87) has obtained a joint appointment as an Associate Scientist at California Pacific Medical Center and as an Assistant Research Molecular Biologist in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of San Francisco, CA.

Eric Arnold James (B.S., Chem. Eng., Micrb., '87) obtained a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Queensland in 1994. He has recently been appointed as Research Manager at Cadbury-Schweppes in Australia.

Michelle L. Polimader, O.D. (B.S., Biochem., '89) works as an optometrist for eye physicians and surgeons in Pittsburgh, PA.

David E. Hutchinson (B.S., Micrb., '89) is employed by Buckman Laboratories, Inc. as a Sales Representative.

Mary Brower (B.S., Micrb., '85) is employed part-time as a meat inspector since October of 1989. In the summer of 1995 Mary rode her bicycle across America with 300 Iowans to promote the Iowa Sesquicentennial. She has also been certified as an EMT since 1987.

J.D. Alvarez (B.S., Micrb., '89) finished his M.D./Ph.D. program at Washington University in St. Louis in 1979. He is currently working as a resident in Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania.

'90

Lara (Yurchak) Toerien (B.S., Micrb., '91) married Craig Toerien in October of 1996 and completed her Ph.D. in December of 1997 with Bartholomew Sefton at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, CA.

Joi M. Milsom (B.S., Micrb., '94) started working at Merck in West Point, PA immediately after graduation. Joi worked as a quality control auditor for a year and then as a microbiology laboratory supervisor for two years. She recently began a new position as a Vaccine Specialist at Merck Pharmaceuticals.

Steven J. McCullough (B.S., Micrb., '94) graduated from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine on May 31, 1998. He will marry Debbie Matulewicz, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire who received her M.A. in Physical Therapy from Hahnemann.

Jason Craig Fedon (B.S., Micrb., '95) is starting a M.A. program at Lehigh University in Spring of '98. Jason is employed by SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals as a scientist.

Phillip M. Douglass (B.S., Micrb., '95) is working towards a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmaceutics at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy.

Debra Texman (Ph.D., MCB., '95) works with Dr. Jenny Ting at Lineberger Cancer Center and holds a postdoctoral NRSA and a fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute. She has a beautiful one-year-old baby girl named Emilee. Her husband Steve works as a physician assistant at Duke in the Dept. of Nuclear Cardiology.

Ann J. (Marzen) Auman (B.S., MCB&Micrb., '96) married Jeffrey D. Auman on June 30, 1996 and is currently attending graduate school in the Dept. of Microbiology at the University of Washington.

Cynthia Barrett (B.S., Micrb., '96) is employed as a Research Associate at Arris Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco.

Michael D. Perloff (B.S., Micrb., '96) has a research assistantship at Tufts University in the Dept. of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and is working on his Ph.D. thesis, "Effect of CNS drug penetration due to p-glycoprotein (MDR-1) action." Michael enjoys living in Boston and recently purchased a '71 VW Beetle.

Andy Taggart (Ph.D., MCB, Pugh, '96) is currently working in the lab of Dr. Virginia Zakian at Princeton University, where he is studying the regulation of telomerase in yeast. He was recently awarded a 3 year fellowship from the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. His wife, Pam Goldthorp, graduated from Dr. Brenchley's lab in the spring of '96 and is an Associate Scientist at Small Molecule Therapeutics in Monmouth Junction, NJ.

William S. Coulter (B.S., Micrb., '97) is employed by Allegheny General Hospital and was married to Karen Lynn Tischler on July 4, 1998.

Scott A. Nearhoof (B.S., Micrb. '97) is a Senior Physician Assistant student at Saint Francis College and is currently on rotating internships in general medicine.

Alumni Directory Information

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