From the Department Head Our first Alumni Directory has been completed. It isn't very large, containing the entries of 138 alumni, out of about 4000 living alumni, but we hope it will prove to be useful. The Directory has the entries sorted according to date of graduation, major or present location. We will be mailing the Directory to those of you who provided us with information on yourself, or to any of you who let us know you'd like to have a copy. For those of you who have chosen not to receive a hardcopy of the Newsletter, but rather access it on our departmental homepage, if you'd like a copy of the Directory, please let Nancy Johnson know (nxj1@psu.edu), and she will send you a file of the Directory. We will not, however, be posting the Directory on our homepage, in order to keep the names of those in the Directory from appearing on all kinds of mailing lists. If you would like to be listed in the Directory next time it is compiled, or if you are currently listed but have changes in your entry, fill out the form in this issue, making sure you sign it, and return to us.

As I've indicated in previous issues of the Newsletter, the space the department occupies in North and South Frear and in Althouse is almost completely occupied, limiting our ability to hire new faculty in the absence of retirements. I've also told you that help is on the way. Groundbreaking for the new Life Sciences Building took place on October 5, 2001, and for the new Chemistry Building to which the Life Sciences Building is linked, on October 19, 2001. Both buildings are scheduled for completion in the Fall of 2003. The newer news is that we recently learned that some other space will also become available to us. With the completion of the new Chemistry Building, the chemists will vacate their current home in Chandlee Laboratory. Roughly half of the building is scheduled to be occupied by life scientists in the Eberly College of Science, and the other half by the College of Health and Human Development. After the building has been vacated by Chemistry, it will be extensively renovated and occupancy by its new tenants is scheduled for the Fall of 2004.

Personnel

It is my sad duty to inform you that two of our Emeritus Professors and one of our graduate students passed away this year.

Jim Shigley, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry, passed away on February 1, 2001. Although he retired in 1987 after 38 years of service to our department, he kept in contact with faculty and staff throughout the college. He received a B.S. in biochemistry in 1940 from Penn State, a M.S. in 1949 from the University of Maine and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Penn State in 1949. In his memory, The James W. Shigley Memorial Scholarship in Biochemistry was established. Contributions should be sent to 430 Thomas Building, University Park, PA 16802.

Leonard Zimmerman, Professor Emeritus of Bacteriology, passed away on January 13, 2002. Len wore many hats during his 38 years of service. After receiving his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University, he joined the University in 1951 as an assistant professor. He was appointed acting head of the bacteriology department in 1973, and served as head of a new department of microbiology and cell biology from 1975 to 1978. In 1969, he launched one of the university's first programs for disadvantaged students, with support from the Sloan Foundation. In 1978 he was appointed associate dean for research in the College of Science, became acting dean of the College of Science in 1987, and was named dean of the College of Science in 1988. He was proud that under his leadership, the college appointed two women to head major departments, and also recruited scientists of distinction to fill three of the college's Eberly Chairs.

Malabika Chakravarti, a student in the BMMB graduate program, was killed in a tragic car accident on August 31, 2001. Malabika was raised and educated in Calcutta, India. She completed her B.SC. in Chemistry and M.SC in Biochemistry. In 1996, she entered the BMMB graduate program, joining the laboratory of Dr. Susan M. Abmayr to study embryonic muscle development in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. She was a major contributor to the identification of SNS, a protein that is essential for the formation of muscle fibers. She also developed a tissue culture system in which the mechanism of action of SNS could be examined in greater detail. She will be remembered for the pride she took in her work and her generosity in helping others. Her positive outlook will be greatly missed.

Her family, close friends and lab colleagues joined in a private religious ceremony held in Boston Massachusetts on September 5. She is survived by her husband, brother and parents. The Malabika Chakravarti Graduate Student Travel Fund has been established in her memory, and will support the travel of one graduate student each year to a scientific conference. Contributions can be directed to 430 Thomas Building, University Park, PA 16802.

Alan Phillips, Professor of Biochemistry, retired after 34 years of service to our department. Al taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in biochemistry and microbiology. He was associate department head for the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from 1984 to 1987 and was acting head in 1986. He served as a member of the University Isotopes Committee and had been the group's chair since 1989. He also served on Graduate Council, the University Faculty Senate and on the University Promotion and Tenure Committee. He served as faculty adviser to the Biochemistry Society from 1982 to this year and has trained numerous doctoral candidates, master's candidates and post-doctoral scholars. Al was a contributor to NASA Space Shuttle Mission STS-60 in 1994 with an experiment to evaluate the impact of a zero-gravity environment on induced gene expression. We wish Al the best in his retirement.

Ann Marie Daniel, who taught our biochemistry labs for the last 6 years, has resigned to become Associate Director of Graduate Fellowships and Internships for the Life Sciences Consortium (LSC) Integrative Biosciences (IBIOS) Graduate Degree Program at Penn State. She is involved with IBIOS graduate student recruitment, advising, teaching assistant training, and professional development. Ann Marie also directs the LSC Summer Undergraduate Research Program "A Slice of Science".

To fill the void left by Al and Ann Marie, we have hired two new faculty, who began their tenure in January 2002, and two new instructors who began teaching for us last Fall.

Carsten Krebs received his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from the Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Germany, his Ph.D. from the Max Plank Institute fur Stahlenchemie, Muheim, Germany and is completing his postdoctoral studies at Emory University in Atlanta. Carsten's research efforts lie in the area of bioinorganic chemistry. His lab utilizes a dual approach encompassing (1) kinetic and spectroscopic studies of metalloenzymes in order to determine their reaction mechanism and (2) the synthesis of functional models of metalloenzymes with the ultimate goal of designing bioinspired catalysts.

Michael Teng received his B. A. in Life Sciences from MIT, his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Chicago, and held a postdoctoral position at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, before becoming a Research Fellow and then a Senior Staff Fellow in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at NIH. His main research interest concerns host-virus interactions and how they relate to viral pathogenesis. In particular, he is investigating the biology of human respiratory syncytial virus using a "reverse genetics" system to create viruses with defined mutations Mike's research will focus on the nonstructural NS1 and NS2 proteins, which have no assigned function, and the attachment G glycoprotein. By evaluating these mutant viruses, we can elucidate the functions of these proteins, and their effects on the host, in the context of a productive viral infection. Understanding how viral factors affect pathogenesis as well as their modes of action will allow intervention in particular viral diseases and can provide greater insight into basic aspects of the cellular machinery.

Elizabeth Pease received her Ph.D. in Ming Tien's lab in 1992. She conducted postdoctoral research at Dartmouth, then at Ecogen and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine where she was an Assistant Professor/Adjunct Faculty member and taught a variety of courses. She has just recently moved to Huntingdon with her husband, a physician, and their two children. Liz will be teaching the biochemistry laboratory courses BMB 212 and BMB 342 for us.

V. Reddy Padala received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. His postdoctoral training was at the University of Michigan and the Hormel Institute in Minnesota. He was an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, and a Senior Scientist as Ciba-Corning Diagnostics in Ohio. Since 1994, Reddy has been a Senior Research Associate in the laboratory of Dr. Channa Reddy, and resides in State College with his wife and two children. His specialty is phospholipid metabolism, and he will be teaching the biochemistry laboratory courses BMB 443W and BMB 444, as well as the biochemistry lecture courses BMB 401 and 437.

Paul Babitzke received tenure and was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor effective July 1, 2000. Paul joined our department as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in August, 1994.

Honors and Awards

Song Tan, assistant professor of biochemistry at Penn State, has been selected as a 2001 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences. He was one of just 20 scientists, selected from nominations from more than 120 institutions in the United States, to earn the award and is the first Penn State professor to be so honored. The awards, provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts, a national philanthropy based in Philadelphia, are granted to "young investigators who show outstanding promise in the basic and clinical sciences." The awards are intended to encourage scholarly innovation and to help scientists advance the state of knowledge in biomedical fields. A member of the Penn State faculty since 1998, Tan uses X-ray crystallography to visualize proteins involved in gene regulation. Prior to his arrival at Penn State, Song earned his doctoral degree in molecular biology at the University of Cambridge, England, in 1989, and pursued postdoctoral work at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland. He earned his bachelor's degree in physics at Cornell University in 1985.

Greg Ferry, Stanley Person Professor of Molecular Biology and Professor of Anaerobic Microbiology, received the American Society for Microbiology's 2001 Graduate Microbiology Teaching Award. The award recognizes distinguished teaching and mentoring of students at the graduate and postgraduate level. Named a Fellow by the American Academy of Microbiology in 1992, Greg joined our faculty in 1995.

Ross Hardison was one of five faculty members who received the 1999/2000 Faculty Scholar Medals for Outstanding Achievement. Ross and Webb Miller (Computer Science and Engineering) share their prize for their collaborative work in developing new computational methods for the analysis of gene structure and function. Their work is embodied in a Web-based computer server, the Globin Gene Server, that has become an international resource for DNA comparisons, hemoglobin mutations and other computer tools and information. Ross's research focuses on the molecular basis of gene regulation and evolution. He received a National Institutes of Health Research Career Development Award in 1987-1992 and shared an Award in the Special Recognition Program for Collaborative Instructional and Curricular Innovation for the course "Genetic Analysis" in 1998-99. He is an associate editor of Genomics.

Squire Booker was one of only fifteen recipients nationwide to receive a Searle Scholar Award. He becomes the fourth member of our faculty to receive this award in the last ten years, joining Marty Bollinger, Greg Farber and Frank Pugh. The award, established at the Chicago Community Trust, are granted to support the independent research (in medicine, chemistry, and the biological sciences) of outstanding individuals who are in the first or second year of their first appointment at the assistant professor level. Squire joined our faculty in August, 1999.

A few years ago, we began having a reception in the Spring to honor our undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs who received national recognition in the preceding year. In addition, we inscribe their names and their awards on plaques in 456 N. Frear where the receptions are held. Last year's recipients were:

Undergraduates -

• Kirstin Milks - American Society of Microbiology Summer Fellowship
• Drew Lowery - Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellowship
• Megan Bergkessel - Fulbright Fellowship - New Zealand
• Megan Bergkessel - Howard Hughes Predoctoral Fellowship
• Christopher Vakoc - Beckman Scholar

Postdoctoral Students -

• Niels Ulrick Frigaard - Danish Natural Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship

Other award recipients whose names have been inscribed on the several plaques in the Althouse lobby include:

Spring 2001 Commencement Standard Bearers

• Megan Bergkessel - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Jonathan Matta - Biotechnology
• Caryn Hampton - Microbiology

Megan Bergkessel (Reese) - The Frederick C. Wedler Outstanding Honors Dissertation Award
Marissa Vignali (Workman) - The Frederick C. Wedler Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award
Philip Mohr - The Tershak Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award
Carl Sillman - Althouse Outstanding Instructor Teaching Award
Kathryn Huisinga (Pugh) - Althouse Outstanding Teaching Assistant. Jennifer Biddle (then Jennifer Giegerich) and Decha Sermwittayawong received Honorable Mention for this award.

2000/2001 Distinguished Lectures

Dr. Norbert Krauß presented the Pollard Lecture in Biophysics or Molecular Biology, titled "X-Ray Crystallographic Structure Analysis of Cyanobacterial Photosystem I at 2.5 Å Resolution." Dr. Krauß is a research scientist at Humboldt University of Berlin.

Dr. Arnold Levine presented the 2001 Marker Lectures in Genetic Engineering, "Tumor Suppressor Genes and Cancer." Dr. Levine is president of The Rockefeller University and the university's first Robert and Harriet Heilbrun professor of cancer biology.

Dr. Graham C. Walker presented the Stone Lecture in Microbiology, titled "Cellular Responses to DNA Damage: From Molecular Structure to Subcellular Localization." Dr. Walker is Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Emerging Viral Diseases was the topic of the Twentieth Penn State Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology held June 13-16, 2001. Tom Shenk, from the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University, gave a keynote address, "Genetic and Genomic Approaches to Understanding Gene Function and Virus/Host Cell Interaction."

Cameron Discovers New Mechanism of Drug That Alters Genetic Makeup of Viruses -by Steve Sampsell, Eberly College of Science Staff Writer Researchers at Penn State have discovered a new mechanism for an existing antiviral drug that could permit the design and production of a new class of antiviral agents to treat RNA viruses. Such viruses, a family that includes poliovirus and hepatitis C, use RNA as both their core genetic material and also to direct protein synthesis.

A paper published in the December 2000 issue of Nature Medicine, by a team led by Craig Cameron, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State, reveals that ribavirin, a synthetic compound that inhibits RNA viruses by working at the cellular level, also possesses an ability to alter the structure of the viruses at the genetic level. Researchers used poliovirus as the experimental model for their work.

"Our results indicate the antiviral effects of ribavirin come from its direct incorporation into the viral RNA," Cameron said. "When that happens, it changes the behavior of the base pairs of the RNA and the virus no longer produces faithful copies of itself. In that manner, ribavirin effectively shifts the internal balance of the virus and the virus suffers from a genetic meltdown."

While most organisms use DNA as their genetic material and RNA to direct protein synthesis, RNA viruses use RNA for both functions. When an RNA virus infects a cell, it directs the synthesis of proteins used to make copies of the original RNA and then uses those copies to build the chromosomes of the virus. Many RNA viruses can be stopped by intervention from the immune system or with the help of vaccinations. Others adapt, developing their own "quasispecies" so rapidly that neither the immune system nor vaccinations provide relief.

In general, RNA's instability-when compared to DNA-means it works well as a virus because it changes form, or mutates, often enough to prevent the immune system from providing effective antiviral activity. With ribavirin acting at the genetic level, researchers have discovered a way to use the mutations against the virus. Ribavirin capitalizes on the mutations and stops the virus by altering its genome, upsetting its delicate balance, and forcing it to collapse upon itself.

Typically, an RNA molecule consists of a long chain of phosphates in which the sugar is ribose and the bases are adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and uracil (U). Those bases rest on the sugar backbone, resembling one side of a zipper. When RNA pairs, as it does when it is copied, two separate zipper halves come together as the bases connect. Using an assay developed in his laboratory, a symmetrical primer/template substrate referred to as "sym/sub," Cameron and his colleagues utilized ribavirin as a substrate for the poliovirus polymerase.

"When an RNA virus copies its RNA, it does so with an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase-and that represents our target," Cameron said. "It is that enzyme that allows the antiviral effect of ribavirin by incorporating it into the RNA genome."

When the poliovirus polymerase incorporated ribavirin into the RNA, inappropriate genetic base-pairings occurred. Instead of the viral RNA pairing together in typical C-G or G-C and A-U or U-A combinations, it produced altered, or "mutant," combinations as it copied its RNA genome. Because ribavirin actually changed the structure of the poliovirus' RNA, the virus could not adapt or build an immunity to the treatment.

Researchers believe the findings represent an important addition to existing knowledge about ribavirin's antiviral potency. According to its accepted mechanism, ribavirin-in its monophosphate state, known as RMP-inhibits a specific cellular enzyme, inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), thereby reducing guanosine triphosphate (GTP) pools in cells, which in turn diminishes the synthesis of viral proteins and limits the replication of viral genomes. For Cameron and his colleagues, the RMP part of the equation was only the beginning. Because ribavirin in its triphosphate state, RTP, accumulates in cells after treatment with ribavirin, the researchers theorized ribavirin's antiviral effect required direct incorporation into viral RNA. So, using what could be considered the leftovers from the typical ribavirin mechanism, researchers worked to incorporate RTP.

"It's not just inhibiting the IMPDH that's important, and we've proven that with good science," Cameron said. "But, we're not excluding the existing model. While what we've found might be different, it should also be considered unifying. It makes sense. You could see how inhibiting the cellular enzymes could even increase the ability of RTP to be utilized because you're going to have a greater concentration of it and it's going to be in a less competitive environment."

Although effective treatments for poliovirus do exist, Cameron and his colleagues used that virus for their research because of the availability of their "sym/sub" assay as well as other biochemical and genetic approaches. Their work included initial tests with purified polymerase, purified RNA, and purified ribavirin in order to prove ribavirin would be incorporated into the viral RNA. After that, tests included use of the poliovirus itself in tissue cultures as the researchers attempted to determine whether the virus that came out of the cells was different from what was introduced to the cells.

In every instance, the relationship between the presence of ribavirin and the alterations made to the viral RNA was obvious-and the antiviral effects increased in proportion to the amount of ribavirin used. With that strong ribavirin-to-antiviral correlation in poliovirus, Cameron hopes to have crafted a template that can be utilized to address other RNA viruses. Along with poliovirus and hepatitis C, members of the RNA virus family include: rhinovirus, the common cold; coxsackie virus, summer flu; and foot-and-mouth disease.

"If we use this template as a unifying factor, we might have found the Achilles' heel of these types of viruses," Cameron said. "Together, a unified model really seems to explain what's happening because every time we saw mutations in the viral RNA we saw antiviral activity-and the more mutations there were, the higher the antiviral activity."

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Collaborators with Cameron were: Jamie Arnold and David Maag from Penn State; Raul Andino and Shane Crotty from the University of California at San Franciso; and Zhi Hong, Johnson Lau, and Weidong Zhong from Schering-Plough Research Institute in Kenilworth, New Jersey.

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 the funds you may choose to support. Following the list of funds are those of you who contributed to any of them in 2000; we greatly appreciate your support.

Endowed Funds

Paul M. Althouse Memorial Outstanding Teaching Awards
Arthur K. Anderson Memorial Scholarship in Biochemistry
Irving and Jeanne Atlas Scholarship in Biochemistry
Paul and Mildred Berg Graduate Student Travel Endowment
Paul Berg Professorship in Biochemistry
Paul and Mildred Berg Summer Scholar Research Endowment
Ming Chu Professorship in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
R. Adams Dutcher Memorial Scholarship in Biochemistry
Eberly Family Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Charles R. Gerth Scholarship in Biochemistry
Kevin Daniel Gilmore Memorial Scholarship in Biochemistry
Ruth Ott Scholarship in Biotechnology
Richard l. Maginnis Memorial Scholarship in Medical Technology
Stanley Person Graduate Fellowship in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Stanley Person Professorship in Molecular Biology
Pollard Lecture in Biophysics or Molecular Biology
James W. Shigley Memorial Scholarship in Biochemistry
Stone Lecture in Microbiology
Daniel R. Tershak Memorial Scholarship
Daniel R. Tershak Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Daniel R. Tershak Memorial Teaching Award
Robert Q. and Ida Louise Thompson Scholarship
W. & R. Thompson Scholarship
Frederick C. Wedler Memorial Fund for Outstanding Dissertations
Jacqueline Hemming Whitfield Undergraduate Summer Research Endowment
Verne M. Willaman Professorship/Fellowship

Other Funds

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department
Biochemistry Program
Microbiology Program
Medical Technology Program
Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology

Contributors in 2000

Corporations and Charitable Organizations

Alumni News

'50

Ruth Ott Arthur (B.S., Med. Tech., '59) retired from Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, in September 2000.

'60

Fred E. Hossler (M.S., Micrb., '65, Robert Stone) was named Professor of the Year at the James H. Quillen College of Medicine in 1981, 1986, 1991, 1993, 1994, and 1995. He received the Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award (College of Medicine) for 1997-1998 and was honored at Medical Class Hooding Ceremony in 1986 and 1988.

'70

Kevin R. Lynch (B.S., Micrb., '72) received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Rhode Island in 1979 and after completing postdoctoral work at Columbia University, joined the faculty at the University of Virginia in 1983. His research program focuses on the molecular pharmacology of lysophospholipid mediators. He and his wife, Debra A. Stergios, have two children and reside in Charlottesville, VA.

F. Alan Andersen (Ph.D., Biophys., '72, Stan Person) served for 22 years with the Food and Drug Administration before leaving to head the Cosmetic Ingredient Review. This voluntary, self-regulatory program celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2001. He also is currently President of the NCCLS, a voluntary consensus standards-setting group headquartered in Wayne, PA.

Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Cook (B.S., Med. Tech., '76) is Associate Director, Vocabulary Standards and has worked at Merck for 20 years. She has a 17-year old daughter, Colleen.

Ronald Kramer (B.S., Micrb, '76) is Vice President, Environmental Safety Professionals, Inc. in Winter Springs, FL.

Debra M. (Krebs) Martin (B.S., Med. Tech., '78) was a supervisor and Medical Technologist of a satellite laboratory from 1987-1997. She is currently working as a part-time Medical Technologist in Hematology at Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg, PA. Her husband, Blaine, is deceased and was a 1973 graduate of Penn State. Debra has a son and a daughter.

'80

Lorainne (Matthews) Fought (B.S., Bioch., '85) went on to get her Ph.D. and has been working for Bayer Corporation for 10 years on the development and registration of crop protection products. She and her husband, Dan, purchased an almond farm in northern California. They have three children and three grandchildren.

Cheryl (Strickland) Gavoni (B.S., Micrb., '80) is currently a Medical Technologist, Blood Bank, at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore, MD. She is the mother of two children.

Domenic Paone (Ph.D., Micrb., '81, Ed Stevens) is currently Director of Institutional & Household and Industrial Wastewater Treatment with Sybron Biochemicals in Salem, VA.

Terry Katz (B.S., Micrb., '81) was recently promoted from Senior Statistician to Manager of Research Statistics at Schering-Plough Animal Health. He and his wife Sylvia have two children.

Michael Unks (B.S., Micrb., '83) is currently the Physician Director of Clinical Research with Asheville Cardiology Associates. He lives in Asheville, NC, with his wife, Susan Mullin Unks (HPA, 1983) and three children.

Renee M. Wagner (Ph.D., Bioch., '83) is Research and Laboratory Director, USDA-ARS-BCIRL in Columbia, MO.

Andrea (Katz) Cologer (B.S., Micrb., '85) and her husband, Peter, live in York, PA, with their two daughters, Alexandra and Christina.

Amy (Donnermeyer) Jessop (B.S., Micrb., '86) received an MPH in Epidemiology from UMDNJ-School of Public Health and Ph.D. in Health Studies from Temple University. She is currently serving as MPH Fieldwork Coordinator in Temple’s Public Health Program.

Minda (Werner) Cohen (B.S., Micrb., '87) received her M.S. in Nutrition Science from Drexel University and is currently a Laboratory Associate, Molecular Genetics, at Quest Diagnostics in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Minda and her husband, Larry, have two sons, Harrison and Evan.

Karen (Smith) Lounsbury (B.S., Bioch., '87) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Vermont. She has been awarded an NIH Research Grant to study signal transduction in vascular smooth muscle. She is married to David Lounsbury ('86, Marketing) and they have two children, Emily and Andrew.

Paula Sgrignoli Michaels (B.S., Micrb., '88; B.S., Nutr., '98) left PSU in '99 after 11 years as a Research Technician at the Biotechnology Institute to complete a dietetic internship at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Currently she is a clinical dietitian for Sodexho Marriott Services and lives with her husband, Jim, in Southeast PA.

'90

Timothy F. Witham (B.S., Bioch., '90) will finish his residency this year. He is currently Chief Resident, Neurological Surgery, at University of Pittsburgh. He and his wife, Brenda, are proud to announce the birth of their son, Ben, in February of 2000.

Leann (Avery) Naughton (M.S., Bioch, '93) is an Instructor in the Molecular Biology Department at the University of Wyoming. She and her husband, Jonathan (Ph.D., '93, Mechanical Engineering) have two children.

Matthew Lehman (B.S., Bioch., '94) is currently Senior Quality Technical Associate-Molecular Diagnostics with Becton Dickinson Biosciences in Sparks, MD.

W. Neale Lanigan, III (B.S., Micrb., '95) is a biotechnician at Merck & Co. in Quality Testing. His wife, Rebecca (B.S., Biol., '95) is a Preclinical Coordinator, Toxicology Department, with Sanofi-Synthelabo Research in Malvern, PA.

Melissa S. (Goetz) Coyle (B.S., Micrb., '95) and her husband, Bill, are proud to announce the birth of their first child, John Patrick, in December 2000. Melissa is a Staff Biochemist with Merck & Co., Inc., West Point, PA.

Kathy (Wick) Boltz (B.S., MCB, '96) is a Ph.D. graduate student in Plant Biology at Arizona State University. She is married to Chris Boltz.

Catherine (Paik) Huh (B.S., Bioch., '97) is temporarily at home with her young son. After graduation from PSU she was a research fellow for two years at the National Institutes of Health (NCI, LCCTP).

Kate E. Pennick (B.S., BMB, '99) is a Research Technician in the Department of Small Animal Medicine at The University of Georgia. Her reserach focuses on Mink Aleutian Disease (Parvovirus) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV; retrovirus).

Theses

The following undergraduate students graduated as University Schryer's Scholars in 2000/2001:

Heather Fenderson, MICRB, Dr. Phillips, "Role of HutD on the Regulation of the hutG Gene Encoding formylglutamate Amidohydrolase in Pseudomonas putida," August 2000.

Megan Bergkessel, BMB, Dr. Reese, "A Genetic and Biochemical Analysis of the Role of TSG8 in the DNA Damage Reseponse of Budding Yeast," May 2001.

Matthew Gerstberger, BMB, Dr. Bryant, "Cloning and Characterization of the recJ Gene in SynechococcusSp. Strain PCC 7002," May 2001.

John C. Graybill, BMB, Dr. Gilmour, "Primerr and G/A Ladder Construction for Analysis of Termination Region in Drosophila melanogaster hsp 70 gene," May 2001.

Ryan Howley, BMB, Dr. Tan, "Structural Characterization of Yeast TFID and SAGA Complex Components," May 2001.

Jason Huhn, MICRB, Dr. Cameron, "Proteinase-Polymerase Precursor as the Active Form of Feline Calcivirus RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase," May 2001.

Kristina Ile, BMB, Dr. Abmayr, "The Characterization of DrosophilaMelanogasterwith Translocations Occuring Near or In the crk Gene," May 2001.

Drew Lowery, BMB, Dr. Pugh, "Purification of Recombinant B-Related Factor and in vitroStudies of TATA-Binding Protein Dimerization," May 2001.

Matthew Shiels, BMB, Dr. Gay, "The Effect of Donor Age on Rat Tibia Osteoblast Sensitivity to the Proliferative Effects of TGF-_ and 1,25-Dihydroxy Vitamin D3," May 2001.

Jayaram Srinivasan, SC BS, Dr. Cameron, "Lipofection in Mammalian Cells to Study Poliovirus Replicon Kinetics," May 2001.

Christopher Vakoc, BMB, Dr. Simpson, "Purification and Electron Microscopy of a Silent Mating-Type Locus," May 2001.

The following students received MS or Ph.D. degrees in 2000/2001:

Mikhail Antonkine, Ph.D., John Golbeck, "PsaC Subunit of Photosystem I: Electronic Structure of Iron-Sulfur Clusters and NMR Solution Structure."

Jeffrey Baldwin, Ph.D., J. Martin Bollinger, "Investigating the Oxygen Activation Mechanism of E. Coli Ribonucleotide Reductase R2 Subunit."

Larry, Benjamin, Ph.D., David Gilmour, "Study of the Mechanism of Promoter-Proximal Pausing."

Melissa Callahan, Ph.D., Robert Schlegel, "The Role of Phosphatidylserine in Cellular Interactions."

Carmelata Chitikila, Ph.D., B. Franklin Pugh, "Genomic, Genetic and Biochemical Characterization of Repression of the TATA-Box Binding Protein."

Jonna Combs, Ph.D., Jean Brenchley, "Biochemical and Phylogenetic Analyses of Glycosyl Hydrolases from the Genus Carnobacterium."

Charles Ducker, Ph.D., Robert Simpson, "Physical Studies of STE6 Repression Using Affinity Purified Minichromosomes"

Robert Durso, M.S., Joe Reese, "Dissecting the Function of yTAF90 in TFIID and SAGA."

David Gohara, Ph.D., Craig Cameron, "Structural, Biochemical and Biological Analysis of the RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase from Poliovirus (3Dpol)."

Mohan Kumar, Ph.D., Gary Perdew, "Tanscriptional Regulation of the Human Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor: Identification of Multiple Transactivation Sub-domains and Role of Coactivators in Modulating Transactivation Potential."

Joseph Molete, Ph.D., Ross Hardison, "Role of Conserved DNA Sequences in Synergistic Enhancement by the Mammalian Beta-globin Locus Control Region."

Christopher Nomura, Ph.D., Donald Bryant, "Electron Transport Proteins of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002."

Ajay Pandit, M.S., Don Wojchowski, "Molecular Mechanisms for Friend Virus-Induced Erythroleukemia."

Cynthia Prins, Ph.D., Richard Frisque, "Genetic and Biochemical Characterization of JC Virus Early Proteins T'135, T'135, and T'165."

Joseph Stains, Ph.D., Carol Gay, "Characterization of Na+/Ca2+ Echanger in Osteoblasts and Investigation into its Role In Mineralization."

Marissa Vignali, Ph.D., Jerry Workman, "Role of Histones and Transcriptional Activators in the Regulation of Eukaryotic Gene Expression."

Janice Williams, M.S., Graham Thomas, Investigating the Role of Maternal and Zygotic Bh-Spectrin during the Embryonic Development of Drosophila Melanogaster."

Hong Zhang, M.S., B. Tracy Nixon, "A Study of Phosphorylation Induced Conformational Change in DctD Protein by Site-Directed Mutagenesis and NMR Spectroscopy."

Tong Zhao, Ph.D., J. Greg Ferry, "A Novel Family of Iron-Sulfur Flavoproteins from Diverse Prokaryotes."

CONGRATULATIONS!

Alumni Directory

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