AWARDS AND HONORS

Dr. Shulin Li has been invited to serve on the editorial board of the journal Molecular Biotechnology, published by Humana Press, now in its fifteenth year of publication.

Dr. Henrique Cheng has been invited to give 2 talks on the “Regulation of insulin secretion by TRP proteins” at the meeting of Functional Foods in the Prevention and Control of Diabetes from May 3-10 of 2008 at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kyungpook National University and Daegu Bio Industry Center (DBIC), Daegu, South Korea.

Dr. Arthur Penn has been invited to serve a 3-year term as a member of the US Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee Carbon Monoxide Review Panel.  Among other things,
this panel provides advice to the EPA Administrator regarding the Health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide.

A new book from Humana press has just been published titled "ELECTROPORATION PROTOCOLS, Preclinical and Clinical Gene Medicine." Dr. Shulin Li is the Editor of this book, as well as the contributor of several chapters. The book is one in the Methods in Molecular Biology series published by Humana and is impressive not only for the content but for the number of authors Dr. Li recruited from around the globe--Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada, Scandinavia, etc.

Dr. George Strain presented two invitedtalks on deafness in dogs and cats at the 11th Congreso Internacional de Medicina, Cirugía y Zootecnia en Perros, Gatos y otras Mascotas, in Alcapulco, Mexico, April 24-25, 2008. The congress was sponsored by the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Federación Canofila Mexicana (Mexican Kennel Club).

Dr. George Strain gave two invited presentations on deafness in dogs at the National Veterinary College (Ecole Nationale Veterinaire de Toulouse) in Toulouse, France, in March, 2008, where he was also presented with the University Medal.

Dr. Arthur Penn has been invited to serve on an American Heart Association study section meeting in March, 2008.

Dr. Gary Wise's research on tooth eruption was featured in an article entitled "Lifting the Lid on Tooth Eruption" published in the autumn, 2007 issue of LSU Research.

Dr. Shulin Li was invited to make a research presentation at the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Virginia Commonwealth University on Oct. 9th, 2007.

Dr. Gary Wise has been invited to be a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the 2008 Conferences on Orthodontic Advances in Science and Technology (COAST) meeting.  The conference will be titled "Biomedicine in orthodontics: From tooth movement to facial growth" and will be held September 11-14, 2008, at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove, Calif.

Dr. Steven Barker received the University of Alabama - Birmingham School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Outstanding Alumni Award for 2007.

Dr. Shulin Li has been invited to serve on the Non-viral Vector Committee of the American Society for Gene Therapy for the next three years. He has also been asked to give an invited presentation at that organization's annual conference in June.

Dr. Inder Sehgal gave an invited presentation titled "Expression and functions of the urokinase receptor in prostate cancer cells" for the LSU New Orleans Health Sciences Center Gene Therapy Program Spring Seminar Series on March 28th. The presentation was sponsored by the Louisiana Gene Therapy Research Consortium.

Congratulations to Dr. Inder Sehgal and Dr. Joseph Francis for receipt of tenure (both) and promotion to the rank of associate professor (Dr. Francis).

Dr. Hermann Bragulla has been promoted to assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, effective August 20, 2007.

RESEARCH AND INSTRUCTION

Dr. Ji-Ming Feng was hired as an Associate Professor beginning September 1, 2007.

Dr. Xiaochu Wu was hired as an Instructor and Director of the Microscopy Center beginning October 1, 2007.

Dr. Marxa Figuieredo was hired as an Assistant Professor beginning May 1, 2008.

Dr. Shisheng Li has received a 3-year National Science Foundation grant award for $510,000, funded on its first submission.  This is the first NSF award in the SVM.

Dr. Shulin Li received a 1-year award from the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium (LCRC) for $100,000 in support of his gene therapy cancer research for 2008.

Dr. Shulin Li was awarded an NIH R01 grant entitled "Gene-Product Auto-Targeting to Tumor Vessels." The five year award is for $1,396,500 for the period 8/1/07-5/31/08.

Dr. Inder Sehgal received notification of funding from the National Institutes of Health (R15) for his research project entitlied "The role of the urokinase receptor in prostate cancer progression".

Dr. Shulin Li received notification of funding from the Competitive Advantage Fund of the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium for his research project entitled "IL-12 potentiated bleomycin therapy."

Dr. Joseph Francis received notification of funding from the National Insitutes of Health (R01) for a research project as a co-investigator in collaboration with investigators at Tulane University.

4/28/08