The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 1.

In this issue

TThe Huck Institutes he Huck Institutes of the Lifof the Life e SScciiencesences

Huck Institutes Highlights• Johnson and Johnson and the Huck • Institutes Seed Grant Awards• Wartik Laboratory Renovations Continue• Crystallography Core Facility • Huck Institutes Awards Six Additional • Planning Grants for Center Grants• Life Sciences Building IIGraduate Education• Student News Spring 2005• IBIOS Student Recipient of Mott Award• BioDays 2005 - Showcases the Biosciences• IBIOS Option News• Fall 2004 Teaching Assistant Honored• News From Our GraduatesInstitute News• M.S. in Biotechnology Degree Program• Continuing Education/Outreach Programs• Neuroscience Institute added to the Huck •• Institutes of the Life SciencesShared Technology Facilities• Electron Microscopy FacilityFaculty News• Faculty Updates• IBIOS Faculty in the News - Part 1, Part 2• New Co-funded Faculty

Huck Institutes Highlights

NEWSNEWSLETTERVol. 14 Spring 2005

Johnson and Johnson and the Huck Institutes Innovative Technology Research Seed Grant Awards

Johnson & Johnson provided a $200K philanthropic gift to Penn State University in January 2005. The gift has been matched with $200K by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences to establish a joint Innovative Technology Research Seed Grant awards program at Penn State. These will be merit-based awards presented to Penn State faculty for innovative research in the life science-related areas. It is anticipated that this partnership between Penn State and Johnson & Johnson will be in place to make these awards available to Penn State faculty on an annual

basis. The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State will administer these funds. Penn State faculty and Johnson & John-son personnel will serve as reviewers and make award selections. thirty-eight proposals were received by the deadline of April 1, 2005. A selection committee has been organized and the awardees will be announced in early May 2005.

Renovations continue at the Institute for Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics in Wartik Laboratory

Renovations are complete on the 5th Floor Wartik Bioinformatics suite. The former Administrative Offi ce space now houses the new videoconferencing room. Two additional, adjoining bioinformatics faculty offi ces and labs now occupy the former videoconferencing room and old staff offi ces.

Renovations continue and are near completion for our new genomics area on the third fl oor of Wartik. A total make-over of the fl oor will give researchers the opportunity to engage in interdisciplinary, collaborative research. New paint, new lighting, wall removal, larger offi ces, more doorways for easy access and fl ow throughout the fl oor adds to the collaborative atmosphere. Researchers on the third fl oor of Wartik will interact with other Institute occupants on a regular basis.

Renovations of the new genomics area on the third fl oor of Wartik Laboratory.

Huck Institutes Highlights

Immunology and Infectious Disease – Bernhard Luscher, Neuroscience Center - Richard Legro, Reproductive Research Center and – Jack Schultz, Center in Chemical Ecology.

Life Sciences Building II

Plans are underway for the construction of a second life sciences building which will house the Neuroscience Institute, an administrative structure within the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. The architectural fi rm of Rafael Viñoly has been selected and is proceeding with the design phase of the building. Construction is slated to begin in late 2006. The Life Sciences Building II will be adjacent to the new life sciences building and will be con-nected by a crosswalk.

Student News Spring 2005

Moses T. Bility (MT) presented a poster entitled “Transcriptional Regulation Of TIMP1 By PPAR-beta” at the 44th Annual Society of Toxicology meeting and the 20th Annual Pennsylvania State University Graduate Exhibition.

Ruan Chun (CDB) has successfully defended her thesis. Chun was a student in the lab of the late Prof. Bob Simpson, who was a co- Director of the CDB option until his death last Spring. Since his passing, Chun has been supervised by Prof. Jerry Workman at

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SARAH ASSMANN - Waller Professor of Biology, Acting Co-Director, Penn State Plant Science CenterJOHN BEARD - Professor of NutritionWILLIAM HANCOCK - Assistant Professor of BioengineeringKEVIN MURPHY - Head and Professor of Psychology C. CHANNA REDDY^ - Distinguished Professor and Head, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences JOHN SCHULTZ - Distinguished Professor of EntomologyERWIN VOGLER - Associate Professor of Medals MaterialsKENT VRANA - Professor and Chair, Pharmacology

^ Ex-offi cio members and Executive Committee Members

ERIC BARRON - Dean, College of Earth and Mineral SciencesRAYMOND COWARD - Dean, College of Health and Human DevelopmentDARRELL KIRCH - Sr. VP for Health Affairs and Dean, Hershey Medical CenterDANIEL LARSON - Dean, Eberly College of ScienceHENRY FOLEY - Associate Vice President for Research and Director of Strategic and Interdisciplinary InitiativesJAY MOSKOWITZ - Vice Dean for Research, Assoc. V.P. for Health Sciences ResearchEVA PELL - Sr. Vice President for Research and Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate SchoolC. CHANNA REDDY^ - Distinguished Professor and Head, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences ROBERT STEELE - Dean, College of Agricultural SciencesSUSAN WELCH - Dean, College of the Liberal ArtsDAVID WORMLEY - Dean, College of Engineering

Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences Faculty Steering Committee:

Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences Deans Advisory Council:

Huck Institutes Highlights / Graduate Education

Crystallography Core Facility

The Huck Institutes has added another core facility to its shared technology facilities. The Crystallography Facility will be housed in 8A and 8B Althouse. Renovations are about to begin to en-large and enhance the space. Dr. Neela Yennawar has been hired to serve as Acting Director of the facility.

The core facility staff will facilitate crystallization efforts by setting up commonly used crystallization trial conditions with investigator supplied purifi ed macromolecule. If no promis-ing leads are obtained with such initial screens, core facility staff will discuss possible ways to improve the qual-ity of the macromolecular sample. If promising crystallization conditions are found, core facility staff will, at the investigator’s discretion, either optimize the crystallization conditions or assist the investigator to do so. When suf-fi cient sized crystals are obtained, core facility staff will perform initial x-ray diffraction experiments to determine the diffraction limits of the crystals. Core facility staff will collect and process diffraction data for diffraction quality crystals. Structure solution will be per-formed by core facility staff for stan-dard projects wherever possible. All macromolecules will be prepared by the investigator.

Huck Institutes Awards Six Additional Planning Grants for Center Grants:

The Huck Institutes, in conjunction with the 2004/05 cross-campus tobacco funds, has recently awarded 6 additional planning grants for center grants. PIs receiving the newly funded grants are: Henry J. Donahue, Biomedical Devices and Functional Tissue Engineering – Leonard Jefferson, Center of Excel-lence in Diabetes Research – Andrew Henderson, Center in Molecular

Huck Institutes Highlights

Huck Institutes Highlights

Huck Institutes Highlights

Graduate Education

Taruscio, Danny L. Barney and Jerry H. Exon. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (In press).

Michael Robbins (EMPP) and his wife Laura just had a healty baby boy named Cayden Robbins! Born Feb 24th 2005

Sandhya Sankaranarayanan (NS) had an oral presentation at the 2005 Experimental Biology meeting, held in San Diego, from April 1-6. The title of the presentation was “The Homogeneity of Intra- and Inter-Individual Variations of RBP:TTR Index Makes It A Better BioMarker of Vitamin A Status Than Retinol”. At the meeting she received the runner up award for the “Vitamins and Minerals RIS (VMRIS) best abstract/poster competition, 2005”. Sandhya also received an APG travel award from Nutrition and Dietet-ics Alumni Society (NDAS) to attend the Experimental Biology meeting. Rajandeep Sekhon (EMPP) presented a poster entitled “Differential CG and CNG methylation modifi cations of maize pericarp color1 epialleles in the presence of an epigenetic modifi er Ufo1” In 47th Annual Maize Genetics Conference held at Lake Geneva, WI.

Stowers Institute. We thank Jerry’s generosity and kindness and congratulate Chun for persevering under diffi cult circumstances.

Susan Ishmael (CB) presented her work at the ASBMB conference in San Diego, April 2-7. The title of her poster was “A single N-linked glycosylation site prevents oligomerization of the meprin A metallo-protease.”

Heather Katcher (MM) prepared and submitted a research proposal in conjunction with co-advisors Penny Kris-Etherton, Ph.D. and Richard Legro, M.D. for the General Mills Bell Institute Grants for Innovative Nutrition Research. This proposal on the use of whole grains for the treatment of metabolic syndrome was funded in February 2005 and will be carried out at the University Park and Hershey Medical Center campuses.

Madhu Menon (MM) had an abstract selected for oral session presentation and another for poster presentation at the Annual meeting at San Diego of the American Society of Hematology, 2004. 1. [582] Death Associated Protein Kinase 2 (DAPK2): A Novel Epo-Modulated Apoptotic Regulator of Late Erythropoiesis. Session Type: Oral Session. Authors: Madhu Menon, Bethany Vincent, Anne Breggia, Don M. Wojchowski. December 6, 2004. Session Info: Simultaneous Session: Erythrocyte Membrane and Erythropoiesis. 2. [1621] Core Epo Receptor Signaling Circuits in Adult Bone Marrow-Derived Primary Pro-Erythroblasts. Ses-sion Type: Poster Session 775-I. Authors: Madhu Menon, Vinit Karur, Bethany Vincentand Don M. Wojchowski. December 4, 2004. Session Info: Regulation of Red Blood Cell Production.

Matthew Morrison (MM) published a paper “An atypical TRAF-binding motif of AFF receptor mediates induction of the noncanonical NF-kB signaling pathway”. Matthew D. Morrison, William Reiley, Minying Zhang, and Shao-Cong Sun. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 280; 10018-10024, Mar 2005

Sailendra Nichenametla (NS) wrote a review that has been accepted for publication. “A Review of the effects and mechanisms of polyphenolics in cancer”. Sailendra N. Nichenametla, Todd G.

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 3.

Graduate Education

Graduate EducationPenn State IBIOS Student Recipient of the Gerald O. Mott Award

IBIOS student Rajandeep Sekhon received the 2005 Gerald O. Mott Meritorious Graduate Student Award from the Crop Science Society of America.

Twenty-one students have been named to receive the 2005 Gerald O. Mott Meritorious Graduate Student Award in Crop Science. This annual award recognizes top-notch graduate students pursuing advanced degrees in crop science disciplines. Departments select students based on academic achievements, research and teaching contributions, leadership accomplishments, service activities and personal qualities. The winners will receive a certifi cate and the opportunity to apply for the Gerald O. Mott Scholarship. The award is named for the fi rst CSSA President Gerald O. Mott who trained 75 graduate students during his 45-year career at Purdue University and the University of Florida. Many of his students have become eminent forage scientists in the United States and Latin America.

Bio-Days 2005 Showcase the Biosciences

University Park, Pa. --- BioDays 2005, an interactive event showcasing bioscience research, will be open to the public free Saturday, April 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Information Sciences and Technology Building on the Penn State University Park campus.

Alexandra Surcel, a doctoral candidate in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Integrative Biosciences Graduate Degree Program (IBIOS), is coordinating the event as she did last year, the fi rst year that the event was held.

Surcel says “This year’s events include many hands-on activities including a chance to build your own DNA mobile, perform chlorophyll chromatography, play ecology JENGA, interact with wildlife from Shaver’s Creek and play a survival of the fi ttest game.” “Free prizes will be given away at the Question and Answer Table,” she notes.

In addition, starting a 10:30 a.m. there will be Tours of the Cell, where participants can discover the inner workings of the cell with a room-sized model and a Virtual lab, where participants will

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Graduate Education

be pathogen detectives and learn how scientists identify disease-causing bacteria and viruses.

BioDays will offer three speakers: Susan Carney; a doctoral candidate in biology, “The Biology of Deep-Sea Vent Tube-worms” at 11:30 a.m.; Dr. Nina Fedoroff, Evan Pugh Professor of biology and the Willaman professor of the life sciences, “Genetically Modifi ed Foods: Monsters or Miracles?” at 12:30 p.m. and Dr. James Strauss, lecturer in biology, “Explorations into Human Embryology” at 1:30 p.m. All talks will be presented in 208 Information Sciences and Technology Building.

Penn State biology research will be presented in interactive poster presentations. Tours to the electron microscope and the Center for Quantitative Cell Analysis facilities will occur throughout the day with shuttle bus service departing from the Information Sciences and Technology Building. Surcel adds, “On these tours, participants can look at plant cells, fl eas, their own cheek cells, and much more.”

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, in partnership with the Department of Biology, the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Offi ce of the Vice President for Research, is sponsoring BioDays 2005.

BioDays followup: 897 people attended the BioDays event on April 2nd. This was a 20% increase over last year’s attendance. There were over forty volunteers who all showed an amazing amount of enthusiasm and hard work.

Some comments from attendees:“There were friendly and helpful student/teachers...every booth was GREAT and the students were top-notch.” “These demos are well done and I can even use some of them in my classroom.” “I enjoyed seeing the excitement and enjoyment on the kids faces.” “There were even kids who attended some of the demos several times! It was all great!”

Graduate Education

Children participate in hands-on activities

Participants had the opportunity to interact with wildlife from Shaver’s Creek.

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 5.

Graduate Education

Fall 2004 Teaching Assistant Honored

Julie Flood, a graduate student in the Nutrition Sciences Option of the Integrative Biosciences Graduate Degree Program, is the recipient of the fall semester 2004 Nina V. Fedoroff Teaching Assistant Award. Julie earned the award for her role as teaching assistant in the NUTR 451 course at University Park.

The students of NUTR 451 indicated that Julie was easy to ap-proach, helpful, provided excellent guidance and informative, comprehensive and clear lectures. Julie’s faculty TA supervisor commented that she had “an intuitive capacity for developing assignments and preparing lectures, she was diligent, enthusiastic and showed great empathy for students.”

Upon receiving the award, Julie commented, “I was thrilled to receive the Nina V. Federoff Teaching Award for the Fall semes-ter. Dr. Francisco Rosales was a great mentor for Nutrition 451. I gained invaluable experience and great insight into what it takes to run a college-level course!”

IBIOS Option News

Neuroscience OptionNeuroscience Option has added Michael Wenger and Dezhe Jin as new faculty members.

Molecular Medicine OptionDr. Avery August, Associate Professor of Immunology in the Department of Veterinary Science has assumed the co-directorship of the MM option at UP starting November 2004. A new course has been offered in Spring 2005 for the MM graduate students at UP. This course, IBIOS 591K: Contemporary Concepts in Molecular Medicine is a team taught course offered by the faculty in the MM option. The course will expose graduate students in the Molecular Medicine Graduate Option of IBIOS to an in-depth analysis of various approaches to understanding the molecular basis of disease and their treatments.

Graduate Education

Graduate Education Graduate EducationNews from our Graduates

Amy Binkoski, (PhD, NS, FA04) began a position as Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at Messiah College, Grantham, PA in August 2004.

Dae Kim, (Ph.D., MT, FA04) received First Place Award for an Outstanding Presentation in the 44th Annual Meeting of The Society of Toxicology, 2005. Also, his second paper was pub-lished in the Journal of Biological Chemistry 280:9519-9527, 2005. The title is “Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta/delta inhibits epidermal cell proliferation by down-regulation of kinase activity.

Jelena Lazovic, (Ph.D., MM, FA04) has a publication in JCBFM January issue. Her work was selected to be on the cover of the January issue of Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism. Basu A, Lazovic J, Krady JK, Mauger DT, Rothstein RP, Smith MB, Levison SW. Interleukin-1 and the interleukin-1 type 1 receptor are essential for the progressive neurodegeneration that ensues subsequent to a mild hypoxic/ischemic injury. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab. 2005 Jan;25(1):17-29.

Aron Parekh, (Ph.D., BTD, SP04) is a postdoctoral fellow at the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative (PTEI) from March 2004 through February 2006. His area of Research is: Determining Mechanical Properties of Remodeled Collagen Gels by Fibroblast Traction Forces. Here is a brief article from PTEI’s website about Aron.

Our newest Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Parekh, a chemical engineer, began his PTEI Postdoctoral Fellowship in March 2004. Prior to his joining PTEI, he began his graduate school career conducting research with the Life Sciences Consortium Research at Penn State under Dr. David Edwards and focused on lipid bilayer permeability, drug delivery agents, and skin permeability. He then pursued his PhD work with Dr. Darrell Velegol and developed a laser

trap microrheometry technique used to character-ize the changes in microstructure of contracting collagen gels. During his PhD studies, he acted as a chemical engineering representative to the Engineering Graduate School Council, worked as a teaching assistant, and was an opinion colum-nist for The Daily Collegian. Dr. Parekh articu-lated his interest in tissue engineering to lie within the interactions between cells and scaffolds, with interest in exploring methods to elucidate the rela-tionship between matrix structure and cell func-tion to improve the functionality and durability of tissue. Dr. Parekh’s primary and co-mentor team include Patricia Hebda, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Otolaryngology and Cell Biology and Physiology, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Rangos Re-search Center, and Michael Sacks, PhD, Univer-sity of Pittsburgh, Department of Bioengineering, who have collaborated in the past. Dr. Parekh is interested in investigating cellular therapies for the reduction of fi brotic tissue formation in the up-per airway mucosa. His research is entitled, Cel-lular Therapies for Wound Healing in the Airway.

Janell Schaak (Ph.D., CB, SU03) received a 2004-2005 IUCCP Award for Outstanding Oral Presentation in Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Texas A&M University in October 2004. She also has a new paper out from her postdoctoral work. Osborne, E. M.*, Schaak, J. E.*, and DeRose, V. J. “Characterization of a Native Hammerhead Ribozyme Derived from Schistosomes.” RNA, 2005, 11, 187-196. (*Both authors contributed equally to this work).

M.S. in Biotechnology Degree Program http://www.huck.psu.edu/ms/ms.html

The Masters program in Biotechnology, which continues to be supported by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, has successfully gradu-ated its fourth batch of 10 students in December 2004. That brings a total of 29 graduates from the program, a 100% graduation rate. Eight of the ten graduates are now employed, two are still in the interview stage. This refl ects a near 100% employment rate after graduation from the MS Biotechnology program, all earlier graduates fromthe program are now pursuing careers they have desired upon entering the program. The seven

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Graduate Education / Institute News

new students who came to the program in Fall 2004 are preparing for internships for Summer-Fall 2005, all except one who is still doing interviews have gotten internship placements in biopharmaceutical industry, medical school and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

Meanwhile, a new Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate (IUG) degree program is in the fi nal stages of the approval process for new programs. The IUG program BS Animal Science (Science Option) - MS Biotechnology is going up for approval by the Graduate Council, and the IUG program BS-MS Biotechnology is also proceeding through the process. These IUG programs are designed to give exceptional undergraduates from these two BS degree programs a chance to graduate in fi ve years with a Masters degree to enhance their qualifi cations for entry-level positions in life sciences-related industry. Any student interested in the IUG programs should consult their respective undergraduate coordinators in charge of their BS degree program.

Application materials for the MS Biotechnology program can be obtained by e-mail requests at: msbiotec@mail.biotec.psu.edu, or can be accessed online at: http://www.huck.psu.edu/ms/ms.html. Application deadline is March 1.

Continuing Education and Outreach Programs

Faculty and Staff Workshops on Techniques in Molecular Biology

The Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology continues to offer this workshop every year to faculty and staff of Penn State and research staff of other organizations. This is a hands-on labo-ratory course on the basic techniques in purifying DNA, analyz-ing DNA by restriction enzymes, gel electrophoresis, Southern blotting and hybridization, cloning, DNA sequencing, polymerase chain reaction and also screening desired clones by protein immu-nodetection (western blotting). The course is intended for faculty and research staff who want to gain hands-on familiarity with the basic techniques in molecular biology research. This year’s work-shop is scheduled for June 6-17, 2005. Spaces are now taken for this year’s workshop, but you can request to be included in the waiting list. Contact cjl2@psu.edu or lje6@psu.edu or access registration information online at:http://www.huck.psu.edu/techniques/workshop.html.

Hands-on Workshop in BioinformaticsThe Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology and the new Bioinformatics Consulting Center is offering for the third time the hands-on bioinformatics workshop scheduled for May 30-June 4, 2005. The workshop is intended for faculty, graduate students, and staff, and will include topics on: biological databases and information retrieval, sequence alignment and

Institute News

Institute News

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 7.

Institute News

homology searches, computational genomics, protein analysis, gene expression analysis, and phylogenetic analysis. The lead instructors in the workshop are Dr. Izabela Makalowska, Dr. Wojtek Makalowski, Dr. Anton Nekrutenko, Dr. Kateryna Mako-va, Dr. Craig Praul and Nigam Shah. For more information about the workshop, go to http://www.cbio.psu.edu/news/workshop/ or e-mail LJE6@psu.edu. Applicants from commonwealth universities can participate in this workshop free of charge by contacting LJE6@psu.edu.

Workshop for Participants from Commonwealth Colleges and UniversitiesThe same intensive two-week workshop on Techniques in Mo-lecular Biology offered to Penn State faculty and staff is available to graduate and advanced undergraduate students, faculty, and staff of state universities and colleges, entirely free of charge, with funding from the Department of Health’s Health Research Formula Fund. The fourth workshop for state universities is scheduled for May 16-27, 2005. To register, e-mail LJE6@psu.edu or access the information and registration form at: http://www.huck.psu.edu/techniques/workshop2.html.

Biotechnology Workshop for K-12 Science Teachers The short course for teachers, “Biotechnology: Genetic Engi-neering and DNA Fingerprinting”, is scheduled for July 11-15, 2005. For more information about the workshop, go to: http://www.psu.edu/spacegrant/k12/educators.html#workshops.

Outreach Programs for K-12 StudentsK-12 students continue to benefi t from the ongoing programs of the Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology (ILMB): the “Scientist-In–Residence” program accommodated 14 SCAHS students for 3-day immersion in the ILMB in March.

“Scientists in Residence” 2005 participants at the HUCK Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology.

A scientist-in-residence viewing the fl uorescent bands of DNA in a gel.

Scientists-in-residence busy preparing to load their DNA samples in a gel.

The “Biotechnology Immersion” program of the ILMB, will host students from the SCAHS Delta Program under Ms. Sara Bresler for 4 days in May 2005 learning hands-on techniques in biotechnology; the “Day in the Lab” program is another continuing program at ILMB; various groups of students from high schools around the area including home-schooled students come to the ILMB for a day’s immersion in the laboratory learning DNA fi ngerprinting and genetic engi-neering. The “Graduate Students as Teachers” program will once again be fi elding volunteer graduate students to State College Area High School classrooms talking molecular biology and biotechnology to Biology students. This program is great for enhancing graduate student’s skills in communicating science to non-scientists, and in exciting high school students in science.

Dr. Bernhard Luscher, associate professor of biology and of bio-chemistry and molecular biology, University Park, is an interim co-director of the cross-campus Neuroscience Institute and Dr. Thomas Uhde, professor and head of the Department of Psychia-try, is also a co-director. Uhde directs neuroscience research, patient care and outreach at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medi-cal Center and the College of Medicine.

At University Park, some of the neuroscience activities are now housed on the second fl oor of the Life Sciences Building-1 where the Huck Institutes offi ce is located. However, a new Life Sci-ences Building-2 is also planned, which will house neuroscience activities. The initial $40 million program budget provides for a building with 54,000 assignable square feet. The building will contain new research laboratories, multi-disciplinary core facili-ties and videoconference rooms.

Core facilities planned for the new building include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Biophotonics facilities. A new faculty member scheduled to join the bioengineering department this summer, Dr. Andrew Webb, is already working with Dr. Mi-chael B. Smith, Hershey MRI research facility director, to set up an MRI facility for animal studies at University Park. The facility at Hershey handles both animal and human subjects. The Depart-ment of Psychology at University Park is working on an MRI fa-cility for human imaging studies, and the Neuroscience Institute is also looking into partnering with Mount Nittany Medical Center, which also has an MRI facility for human studies.

Dr. Ahmed Heikal from the Department of Bioengineering and Dr. Steven Benkovic from the Department of Chemistry are tak-ing the lead in building the Biophotonics facility, which will be housed in the basement of Life Sciences Building-2. The Bio-photonics facility will aid in research to identify and characterize protein-protein interaction networks.

In addition to the new building and core facilities, plans also call for 30 to 40 more neuroscience faculty members to be hired at the College of Medicine and at University Park over the next decade.

Dr. Karin Foley, associate dean, Eberly College of Science, and Dr. Jay Moskowitz, vice dean for research and graduate studies, College of Medicine, presented a report to Dr. Eva J. Pell, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, on behalf of the University-wide Neuroscience Advisory Committee. The report contained the recommendation to create the Institute and noted, “The neurosciences are one of the most rapidly growing and challenging areas of the life sciences. They account for a substantial proportion of federal funding in biomedicine refl ecting the considerable impact of neurological and psychiatric diseases on society. A substantial program in neuroscience research and education is essential for a major research university.”

For more information visit the web site at:http://www.huck.psu.edu/institutes/psni/

This is scheduled for April 18, 20 and 25 this year, and the volunteer graduate students are: Holly Marking (Genetics), Kristin Black (Wildlife and Fisheries Science), Brad Heidrich (MS Biotech), Amelia Henry (IBIOS), Jenelle Heyer (Pl Phys), Doug Heidelberger (MS Biotech), Pratik Patel (MS Biotech), Rachel Loux (MS Biotech), Jim McNeil (Entomology), and Laurie Shuman (IBIOS).

Any K-12 teachers and students interested in participating in or accessing any of these outreach programs at the HILS Instructional Laboratory in Molecular Biology should contact Dr. Loida Escote-Carlson, lje6@psu.edu.

Neuroscience Institute Added to Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences

News Release - University Park, Pa. -- A Neuro-science Institute, dedicated to teaching, research and service across the broad array of neuroscience-related disciplines from molecular and cellular research to studies on human behavior, has been added to Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

A Biotechnology Institute and an Institute for Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics al-ready exist as part of the Huck Institutes. Like those institutes, the Neuroscience Institute will bring together faculty members and students from throughout Penn State. Colleges currently planning to participate in the Neuroscience Institute include Agricultural Sciences, Engineering, Health and Human Development, the Liberal Arts, Medicine and Science.

Dr. Channa Reddy, director of the Huck Institutes, says, “The Huck Institutes’ objective is to move forward in the life sciences by supporting the best and most innovative ideas and people, regardless of their academic home and discipline. While the Neuroscience Institute is now a virtual orga-nization, the new Life Science Building-2, when completed, will connect neuroscientists in differ-ent disciplines and locations physically even as we connect them conceptually through the Huck Institutes.”

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Institute News

Institute News

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 9.

Shared Technology Facilities / Faculty News

Electron Microscopy Facility

A Mini-Workshop on Ultramicrotomy was held in late January. The workshop aimed to teach graduate students and technical staff how to perform ultrathin sectioning, one of the most diffi cult pro-cedures of specimen preparation for transmission electron micros-copy. The workshop started with a lecture given by Greg Ning, Facility Director and followed by demonstrations and hands-on practice. Eight students attended the hands-on session.

The EM Facility hosted a series of seminars and demonstration on Laser Dissection Microscopy, a new technology which enables us to use laser to dissect and collect selected tissue areas, group of cells or even a single cell from sectioned materials. Acturus, Leica, and PALM-Zeiss presented their latest equipment. Re-searchers from six PSU laboratories tested their samples.

Faculty Updates

Kevin Alloway (NEURO) won the 2005 Distinguished Educator Award in Neural and behavioral sciences at Penn State University College of Medicine.

Gong Chen’s (NEURO) student Min Jiang was awarded the 2004 Paul Berg Prize in Molecular Biology recently. Min is currently a 3rd year Ph.D. student. He has fi rst authored a paper on Gene Therapy about high effi ciency gene transfer in single neurons. Min is currently studying rapid vesicle endocytosis in glial cells.

Joanna Floros (BTD, MM) received an honorary degree from the College of Medicine of the University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece. The receipt of this honor from the University of Ioannina was particularly meaningful for Floros because this is the Greek university that is closest to her birthplace, Agrinion, a city where she still has many relatives. (From January 5th Crescent)

Anita Hopper (MM) won the Pennsylvania State University Col-lege of Medicine and Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Distin-guished Educator Award in biochemical and molecular biology.

Walter Koltun (IM) has been named the fi rst Peter and Marshia Carlino Chair in Infl ammatory Bowel Disease. (From March 9, 2005 Crescent).

Hong Ma (CDB, EMPP) has two members of his lab who will be giving birth in June. Post-doc Laura Zahn and her husband Alex Richter, who works with Dr. Izabela Makalowska in the Center for Computational Genomics, will welcome their fi rst child. Also, Guanfang Wang and Yujin Sun, students in the Plant Physiology

and Biology Graduate Programs, respectively, will greet their fi rst baby. In addition, Carey Hendrix, an EMPP student, is engaged to be married in May to Stephen Hord, also a Penn State student. The Ma lab welcomes Alexandra Surcel, a CDB student in the lab of the late Prof. Bob Simpson, who has joined the lab for the remainder of her thesis research.

At the same time, we bid farewell to several mem-bers, who have completed their research here. Dr. Weimin Ni has moved to the Plant Gene Expres-sion Center at Albany, CA. Dr. Hongzhi Kong, a joint post-doc in both the Ma and dePamphilis labs, has returned to the Institute of Botany of the Chi-nese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, where he is now an associate professor. Dr. Ljudamilla Timofe-jeva, a visiting scholar from Estonia, has return to her home institution of Tallinn University of Tech-nology. Visiting graduate student Yingxiang Wang has completed his training and returned to his home lab at South China Agricultural University.

Hong Ma was awarded the Faculty Scholars Medal in Life and Health Sciences for 2005 at a ceremony in the Nittany Lion Inn for his research on plant reproductive development that also has relevance to human reproduction.

Dr. Laura Zahn and Wei Hu presented posters at the Plant and Animal Genome Conference at San Di-ego in January. In December, Hong Ma presented a talk at the Carnegie Institution of Washington De-partment of Plant Biology at Stanford and gave a seminar in February at Cornell University, both on genes required for normal meiosis in Arabidopsis. In March, Hong Ma visited Zurich, Switzerland, as part of his sabbatical leave. During the visit he presented seminars on meiosis and fl ower develop-ment at the Zurich Botantical Garden in the Uni-versity of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH).

George Makhatadze (CB) mentors Katrina Schweiker, a fi rst year IBIOS Chemical Biology student. Katrina was accepted into the 2005 NASA Academy at the Glenn Research Center in Cleve-land, OH. The NASA Academy is an immersive and integrated multidisciplinary exposure and train-ing program for students with various backgrounds and an interest in a career with the National aero-space program. The academic curriculum balances opportunities for direct contact with advanced science and engineering R&D teams with an

Shared Technology Facilities

Faculty News

awareness of the complex managerial, political, fi nancial, social, and human issues faced by the current and future aerospace programs.

Christopher Norbury (MM, IM) was asked to join the editorial board of the Journal of Immunology.

Randen Patterson (NEURO) submitted to Nature: “PLC-1 Controls Surface Expression of TRPC3: Evidence for Inter-molecular PH Domains”. Damian B. vanRossum, Randen L. Patterson, Sumit Sharma, Roxanne K. Barooow, Michael Kornberg, Donald L. Gill and Solomon H. Snyder. (These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Catharine Ross (NS, BTD, CB, MM) had a poster of her work, which was conducted in col-laboration with researchers at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center, Beltsville, MD, se-lected as the winner of the poster competition by The Human Proteome Scientifi c Advisory Com-mittee, at ‘PepTalk 2005’, held in Del Coronado, CA in January. The poster is titled “Proteomic and Bioinformatic Approaches in Vitamin A (Retinoid) Research: Plasma Profi ling of Retinol-defi cient Rats by Anion Exchange Fractionation and SELDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry.” The authors are Thomas Linke, A. Catharine Ross, and Earl H. Harrison.

Stanley Naides (MM, IM) has been appointed to membership of the NIH Study Section ZRG1, Im-munity and Host Defense, for a three year term.

Jeffrey Peters (BTD, MM, CB, NS) and his wife just had their third child on 3-9-05, Timothy, weighing in at 8 lbs, 3 ounces, 22 inches long. Mom (Kathy), Michael, Elizabeth and dad are all enjoying their new family member. Dr. Peters was also invited to give a presentation at the 3rd International Symposium on PPARs Effi cacy and Safety: From Basic Science to Clini-cal Application, in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The title of his presentation was: PPARb-dependent regulation of epithelial cell proliferation, differen-tiation and carcinogenesis.

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Frank Ritter (NEURO) along with Laura Klein (NEURO) recently gave a talk. Ritter, F. E., Klein, L., Reifers, A., & Schoelles, M. (2005). Defi ning 10 testable theories of pre-task appraisal stress: Types 1 & Type 2 & Type 3. Presented at the AFOSR Integrated Models of Cognitive Systems Workshop. This will turn into a book chapter in about 3 months. They also, had a conference paper: Ritter, F. E., Reifers, A., Klein, L. C., Quigley, K., & Schoelles, M. (2004). Using cognitive modeling to study behavior moderators: Pre-task appraisal and anxiety. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, (pp. 2121-2125). Santa Monica, CA: Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

Ian Zagon (MM, NEURO, CDB) began his war on cancer 20 years ago. Motivated by his own family history, his discover-ies in the laboratory led to a therapy that increases survival time for those with pancreatic cancer, a swift and devasting disease. Working with physician Dr. Jill Smith (MM), Zagon has devel-oped a therapy that may give patients more precious time with loved ones. (From the March 30, 2005 Crescent - Touching Lives).

IBIOS Faculty in the News - part 1

News Release: Targeting mutant protein reduces melanoma development

Thursday, March 24, 2005 – Gavin Robertson (BTD, MM, CB, NS) and Charles Smith (MT)

Hershey, Pa. -- Researchers in the Penn State College of Medi-cine have identifi ed the mechanism by which the most-mutated gene in melanoma, called v599EB-Raf, aids melanoma tumor de-velopment, demonstrating its importance as a therapeutic target.

“Our studies suggest that using therapies to target and inhibit the function of mutant v599EB-Raf protein could prevent the spread of melanoma and halt tumor growth for those melanomas con-taining the B-Raf mutation,” said Gavin P. Robertson, assistant professor of pharmacology, pathology and dermatology in the Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “With cases of melanoma increasing at about 4 percent per year and no effective treatments available for ad-vanced-stage disease, it’s imperative that we continue to look for important proteins that could be targeted therapeutically. Studies like this one that identify how inhibiting important melanoma regulating proteins reduce melanoma development will lead to a better understanding of the disease, and thus, the development of more effective long-term treatment options for patients.”

The study, titled “Mutant V599EB-Raf Regulates Growth and Vascular Development of Malignant Melanoma Tumors,” ap-peared in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.

Faculty News

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 11.

Faculty News

The job of normal non-mutated B-Raf is to relay signals from the cell membrane, which is the boundary of the cell receiving the signals, to the nucleus, which contains genetic material and controls many of the cell’s activities. B-Raf is one member of the chain that relays signals playing an important role in cell sig-naling. The protein is usually active only when needed to relay signals.

In contrast, mutant B-Raf is active all the time, which disrupts the chain’s normal function. Previous studies have shown B-Raf is the most-mutated gene in melanomas, present in about 60 percent of human melanomas, but the role mutant B-Raf plays in causing melanoma tumors remained unknown.

Robertson used human melanoma cells, applying siRNA, small interfering ribonucleic acids, or BAY 43-9006, a general Raf inhibitor, to show that lowering mutant B-Raf protein reduced melanoma development.

“Reducing B-Raf activity in melanoma cells before tumors had formed signifi cantly decreased the growth potential of the mela-noma cells and, in effect, prevented tumor development,” Robert-son said. “In contrast, reducing B-Raf activity in existing tumors in a mouse model did not shrink the tumors but did prevent them from getting bigger. These discoveries are important for the treat-ment of metastatic melanoma since therapeutically inhibiting mutant B-Raf could prevent growth of existing tumors and more importantly prevent development of metastatic tumors at secondary sites.”

The study shows that in existing melanoma tumors, inhibiting V599EB-Raf activity reduced vascular development, which is essential for tumor growth. Without vascular support the tumors remained the same size. This process occurs by reducing the secretion of VEGF, a factor downstream of B-Raf promoting vascular development, from melanoma cells.

“Because the tumors remained the same size, siRNA or BAY 43-9006 would have to be paired with another therapeutic agent to cause the tumors to shrink or disappear,” Robertson said.

Of the major types of skin cancer, melanoma is the most meta-static and lethal form. It is currently the seventh-most common cancer in the United States, with about 52,000 cases diagnosed annually. Furthermore, it is the cancer with the second-fastest growth rate. In 2004, an American’s lifetime risk of developing melanoma was one in 63 and at the current rate of increase will be one in 50 by 2010. As a direct result of a lack of effective therapeutics, the 2005 prognosis for patients in the metastatic stages of the disease remains very poor with average survival ranging from six to 10 months.

In addition to Robertson, the study team included Arati Sharma, Nishit R. Trivedi, Melissa A. Zimmerman and Charles D. Smith, Department of Pharmacology, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and David A.

Tuveson, University of Pennsylvania. The re-search was funded by grants from the Melanoma Research Foundation, Foreman Foundation for Melanoma Research and Barsumian Trust.

IBIOS Faculty in the News - part 2

News Release: Laura Carrel (MM) 1 p.m., E.T., Wednesday, March 16, 2005 MEN AND WOMEN: THE DIFFERENCES ARE IN THE GENES

HERSHEY, PA– For every man who thinks women are complex, there’s new evidence they’re correct; at least when it comes to their genes.

Chromosomes contain the set of instructions to create an organism. Men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome, the latter being respon-sible for the characteristics that make men male, including the male sexual organs and the ability to produce sperm. In contrast, women have two copies of the X chromosome. But, because the X chromosome carries a bigger instruction manual than the Y chromosome, biology’s solution is to largely inactivate one X chromosome in females, giving one functional copy of the X in both men and women.

“Our study shows that the inactive X in women is not as silent as we thought,” said Laura Carrel, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry and mo-lecular biology, Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. “The effects of these genes from the inactive X chromosome could explain some of the differences between men and women that aren’t attributable to sex hormones.”

This study titled, “X-inactivation profi le reveals extensive variability in X-linked gene expression in females,” was published in the March 17, 2005, issue of the journal Nature.

Depending on the gene, having two active copies can matter very little, or very much. When genes on the inactive X escape inactivation and are ex-pressed, that can create a stronger overall concen-tration of particular genes. Carrel and her co-au-thor, Huntington F. Willard, Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke University, determined which genes were escaping inactivation and where

Faculty News

they were located on the inactive X chromosome. They found that most of the wayward genes were grouped together.

“This tells us that neighborhoods matter,” Carrel said. “Genes on the X chromosome evolved in fi ve sequential segments or layers. The older segments have fewer genes that escape inactivation than those that developed later in the chromosome’s evolutionary path. This suggests that, as the human species continues to evolve, more and more of the genes that are escaping inactivation may lose their ability to do so.”

Carrel developed two laboratory systems to inves-tigate the inactive X chromosome. Using primary skin cells, she compared gene expression between the X chromosome and the inactive chromosome for 94 genes spanning the X chromosome in 40 human samples. She found that only 65 percent of the genes were inactive in all samples. Twenty percent were inactivated in some samples and not in others, and 15 percent escaped inactivation in all samples. In addition, many of those from the inactive X that were expressed were only partially expressed.

The second laboratory system used other cell lines to compare inactive to active X chromosomes and recorded genes expressed from inactive X chro-mosomes. Six hundred twenty-four genes on the chromosome were tested with this system and also showed that 16 percent of genes on the inactive X escaped inactivation, confi rming the results in the fi rst laboratory model.

Although this data was collected from cell culture experiments, it may have implications for counsel-ing individuals with X chromosome abnormali-ties, which accounts for about one in 650 births. It also explains that there is more variability among females than scientists thought.

The data also suggests that the female genome now differs from the male genome in at least four ways. First, previous studies had shown that the Y chromosome gives males several genes that are absent in the female. Second, this study shows the fact that some genes on the inactive X are ex-pressed means that about 15 percent of the genes are expressed at higher levels in females than in males. Third, this study also shows an additional 10 percent of genes on the inactive X show variable expression levels in females, whereas men have only a single copy of these genes.

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And fi nally, scientists had already known that random nature of X-inactivation shows that females, but not males, are mosaics of two cell populations with respect to X-linked gene expression.

“Although we’ve shown sex-specifi c differences, the clinical implications remain unexplored,” Carrel said. “We can, however, conclude that these differences should be recognized as potential factors for explaining normal differences between the sexes but also gender differences in how certain diseases are manifested, progress and respond to treatment. Further studies will be re-quired to establish such a role for these genes.”

New co-Funded Faculty

Adam Glick joined the Department of Veterinary Sciences in March of 2005 as an Associate Profes- sor of Veterinary Science. Dr. Glick earned his B.S. from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. from Yale University. He moved his laboratory from the National Cancer Institute (NIH), where he was a tenure track P.I. The overall research mission of his laboratory is to identify and understand at the cellular, molecular and tissue levels pathways that regulate premalignant and ma-lignant progression of squamous tumors, and to work towards identifying molecular targets that can be used for anti-cancer therapy. His laboratory uses multistage chemical carcinogenesis of the mouse skin as a model for human squamous cancers of the skin and other lining epithelia. In this model cancers are gener-ated in the skin of mice by topical application of carcinogens and repeated exposure to chemicals that cause outgrowth of benign tumors, some of which eventually progress to malignant squa-mous cell carcinomas. This serves as a useful model for human cancers since most solid tumors form in epithelial tissues, are frequently the result of some type of environmental or physical carcinogen exposure and progress though multiple stages. Due to the superfi cial nature of the mouse skin tumors, the different stages can be easily quantitated and manipulated. In addition, many transgenic and knockout mice can be utilized to understand the role of a specifi c gene in cancer development. His research focuses specifi cally on a secreted protein or growth factor called Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGFβ1). TGFβ1 is secreted by normal and neoplastic cells and has the unique property of being a negative regulator of cell growth. Many human cancers are no longer responsive to this protein due to specifi c mutations in the signaling response pathway. In addition many human cancers produce high levels of the growth factor which may affect the immune system and normal cells surrounding the tumor in a way that favors tumor growth. He uses mice that have specifi c genetic defects in the TGFβ1 pathway, or over-express this protein in the skin, in order to understand how changes in expression and response to this growth factor regulate tumor development.

Faculty News

involving zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) and squash plants. (iii) The Origins of Viruses. Revealing the origins of viruses is crucial to understanding the early evolution of life on earth. In particular, it has been proposed that viruses are remnants of the earliest replicating systems which used either DNA and/or RNA. Alternatively, it is possible that vi-ruses originated more recently as “escaped genes” from cellular genomes. Recent improvements in methods of gene sequence analysis now make it possible to test some ideas surrounding the origins of viruses. He is currently using new computa-tional methods to infer both the deep evolutionary relationships between DNA viruses and cellular genes

Stephan Schuster joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology during the spring semester 2005. Dr. Schuster earned his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Konstanz, Germany and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Munich (LMU), Germany. He completed his postdoctoral studies in Biology at the California Institute of Technology. Prior to coming to Penn State, Dr. Schuster was Group leader (C3, tenured) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen, AG Genomics and Signal transduc-tion.

Dr. Schuster’s work is in the area of genome evolution and host-adaptation in bacteria. Bacte-ria show an enormous capability to adjust to ever changing environmental conditions. The molecular basis for this potential lies in the bacteria’s ability to acquire mutations, deletions and re-arrange-ments of its genetic outfi t under stress conditions. His lab is studying the adaptive behavior of bacte-ria towards a specifi c host and thereby determining the required changes that make the organism com-patible with the host species. This project uses a selection of different Helicobacter-like organisms, which are specifi c to various mammalian species including man.

A second biological model studies the molecular mechanisms of the bacterial predator Bdellovibrio, which can hunt and consume other bacteria. Bdel-lovibrio again has adapted to a range of different prey bacteria and this host-specifi city is traceable

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences SPRING 2005 13.

Faculty News

Okhee Han joined the Department of Nutritional Sciences in the College of Health and Human Development as an assistant professor during the spring semester of 2005. Dr. Han earned her B.S. from Sookmyung Women’s University, her M.S. from the University of Nebraska and her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina in Nutritional Biochemistry. Prior to coming to Penn State, she completed her postdoctoral work at Yale University (1995-96); she was a Research Associate at Tufts University (1996-99); a Research Associate at the Harvard School of Public Health (1999-2001); and Assistant Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Faculty of the School of International Studies at the Oklahoma State University (2001 – 2005). Dr. Han’s research interests are: 1) molecular and biochemical studies on iron metabolism, 2) regulatory pathways of intestinal iron absorption that control iron homeostasis and 3) cellular and molecular studies on functions of iron transport factor genes using cultured mammalian cells.

Edward Holmes joined the Department of Biology as a Professor of Biology during the fall semester 2004. Dr. Holmes earned his B.Sc. from the University of London and his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He completed his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis, the University of Edinburgh and the Univer-sity of Oxford. Prior to coming to Penn State, he was University Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Oxford and Tutorial Fellow in Biological Sciences at New College, Oxford. Dr. Holmes has a broad interest in evolutionary genetics, the main focus of his research is the evolutionary biology of viruses. His work in this fi eld is highly integrative, melding ideas and tech-niques from molecular evolution, virology, bioinformatics and the ecology of infectious disease. He is currently interested in three specifi c projects; (i) The Evolutionary Genetics of RNA Viruses. Much of his work explores the central mechanisms by which RNA viruses evolve. At present this involves answering three key ques-tions; what factors shape the evolution of mutation rates in RNA viruses, how adaptable are RNA viruses and is recombination/re-assortment in RNA viruses an adaptation for sexual production? His work in this fi eld usually involves the computational analysis of viral gene sequences.

(ii) The Evolution of Emerging Viruses. He is especially interested in the processes that allow viruses to jump species boundaries and spread in new hosts. A key question here is how much the process of emergence depends on viruses adapting to new hosts? To answer this and related questions he is using a variety of model systems including dengue virus, the lyssaviruses (such as those that cause rabies), infl uenza virus and the parvovi-ruses. In collaboration with Prof. Andrew Stephenson (Dept. of Biology) he is also developing an in vivo experimental systems

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This publication is available in alternative media on request. The Pennsylvania State University is an Affi rmative Action, equal opportunity university. Produced by the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

NewsletterPublished by the Huck Institutes of the Life SciencesThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, PA 16802(814) 863-4576; fax (814) 863-1357Judith E. Burns, EditorSteven M. Burns, Design

in the organism’s genome. In order to study the genes of these bacteria, they sequence their ge-nomes entirely using in-house technology. After completion of the sequencing and assembly stages of the project, a detailed bioinformatics analysis is carried out, which predicts the genetic inventory of the organism. In a whole-genome comparative analysis they then identify the variations in each genome that constitute the molecular basis of the observed phenotypes in order to study their role in the process of host-adaptation.

Michael Wenger joined the Department of Psychology in the College of the Liberal Arts as an Associate Professor of Psychology during the fall semester 2004. He earned his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Washington and his Ph.D. in Psy-chology at Binghamton University. Before coming to Penn State, he was an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Wenger’s research focuses on the dynamic interactions of perceptual and memory processes, facial perception and memory, percep-tual and cognitive expertise, and latency-accuracy relations in perception and cognition. Central to each of these research endeavors is a commitment to developing and testing formal (mathematical and computational) models of the hypotheses and phenomena under consideration, with an emphasis on the tools of computational neuroscience.