Faculty Recruitment: As has been the case for several years now, faculty recruitment has been one of the highest priorities of the Department. We were extremely pleased to have recruited Dr. Jane Jackman to the faculty last fall. Dr. Jackman received her Ph.D. degree in biochemistry at Duke University under the able direction of Professors Carol Fierke and Christian Raetz. She conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Rochester with Professor Eric Phizicky. Dr. Jackman conducts research on the function and mechanism of tRNA processing enzymes including the tRNA guanyltransferase (Thg1). She will fit in well with the strong RNA Group here. Dr. Jackman began her appointment as an Assistant Professor in August of 2007 and has quickly established her lab and research program. She is occupying newly renovated space on the 7th floor of the Biological Sciences Bldg. We are very pleased to have someone of her capabilities on our faculty.
As yet another search to fill a faculty position, again targeted at the Assistant Professor level, was initiated during the fall of 2007. Several excellent candidates were interviewed early in 2008. We are very pleased with the candidates that were interviewed and we look forward to attracting at least one top-ranked young scientist to our ranks in the coming year.
The addition of several new members to our faculty over the past several years has been an exciting development. Our youngest faculty members have all established active research programs and external funding has been forthcoming. These individuals have brought with them new projects, ideas, and energy. We are very pleased to have them are “on board”.
Dr. John Cogan joined the Department as a Lecturer/Instructor. His services are also shared with the Center for Life Science Education. Dr. Cogan has been instructing Biochemistry 511 and 521 as well as Biology 101 and 113 during the year. We are pleased with Dr. Cogan’s contributions thus far. Dr. Cogan obtained his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry here at Ohio State and had been serving as the coordinator for the Introductory Biology Program until beginning this new position.
Faculty Highlights: Our faculty and their associates have been quite productive. Collectively, our faculty published approximately 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers in highly prestigious journals, as well as four book chapters including review articles in the past year. Our faculty and their students and postdoctoral researchers also presented over 50 presentations and invited seminars during the year. The faculty remains very busy preparing and submitting grant applications. Collectively, our faculty is engaged in a total of 34 funded research projects. Total grant expenditures increased by about 36% over last year. This continues a strong upward trend in the past seven years, with grant expenditures increasing nearly 4-fold over this time. These increases are a testament to the addition of highly qualified young faculty over the past eight or so years. We see this trend continuing in the future as our newest hires establish their research programs and replace those who have retired.
Not all of the many individual accomplishments can be summarized here. However, a few notable examples will be given. Dr. Zucai Suo continued his research on the Y-family polymerases supported in part with funds his prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Dr. Suo was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure last year. We are very pleased with his efforts. Two research articles published by Dr. Suo and members of his research group entitled “Mechanism of Abasic Lesion Bypass Catalyzed by a Y-Family DNA Polymerase” highlighted during the year through press releases titled “protein averts cell suicide but might contribute to cancer” in Frontiers Magazine, which also cited on the websites of 23 news organizations. The Department has enjoyed success in obtaining NSF CAREER awards. In addition to Dr. Suo, this prestigious award has been granted to Drs. Michael Chan, Venkat Gopalan, and Mark Foster over the past several years. NSF CAREER awards are designed to assist new faculty integrate their research and teaching activities, which represents a wonderful way to develop their academic careers. Dr. Venkat Gopalan, along with Dr. Amanda Simcox in the Department of Molecular Genetics, serve as co-program directors for our Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) grant from the National Science Foundation during the year. This collaborative effort brings 12-15 highly qualified students to campus each summer to conduct research projects in our laboratories. NSF REU awards are very competitive and we are very pleased to have this award in the College.
Our Assistant Professors, including Drs. Justin Wu, Jane Jackman, Jennifer Ottesen, and Thomas Magliery continue to establish strong research programs here at Ohio State. All have attracted good graduate students and/or other research personnel to their programs and are doing well. We couldn't be more pleased to have them here with us at Ohio State. Dr. Venkat Gopalan was the recipient of an “Excellence in Biochemistry Award” from the Department for his exemplary efforts and contributions.
Staff Highlights: Ms. Shannon Thomas, the Department’s Office Assistant, left the Department this past year for another position at the University. We wish her well in her new job. We took this opportunity to upgrade this position to the Office Associate level because of the new University requirements to separate some of the administrative responsibilities among staff members as part of a checks-and-balances process. Ms. Candy Danforth was hired and she began her new position in October. Candy comes with various work-related experiences at Wendy’s International and the Columbus Dispatch. She will assume greater responsibilities in the areas of procurement and human resources. We are very pleased to have Candy with us.
Research Facilities Highlights: The Department has been engaged in several laboratory renovations and facilities upgrade projects in the past several years. Five major research laboratories in the Biological Sciences Building have been completely cleaned out, gutted of all fixtures, and refurbished. Refurbishing included new floors, fresh paint in the rooms as well as all installed fume hoods, and the installation of new casework, storage cabinets, and permanent desk areas. These fresh, bright, and fully functional research labs are now occupied by Drs. Donald Dean, Jane Jackman, Jennifer Ottesen, and George Wang. Renovations are in progress for laboratories on the eighth floor which will be occupied when complete by Dr. Zucai Suo's research group. Additional planning is underway for renovating additional laboratory space for new faculty hires. An award was obtained from the Board of Regents Fund for the purchase of a Typhoon Trio Variable Mode Imager which will enjoy shared useage with the Department of Molecular Genetics. With funds from the College's Technology Tuition Fund, a Molecular Devices Flex 3 automated absorbance/fluorescence microplate reader has been purchased. Both instruments will be used for research and the training of our students in modern biochemical methods.
Graduate Student Highlights: Eight students received either their M.S. or Ph.D. degrees during the year. We offer our congratulations to these students. Many of our students have won awards and have traveled to interesting places to participate in research conferences. Kevin Fiala, Jason Fowler, Jason Lavinder (all supervised by Dr. Suo), and Ross Wilson (Foster) received Pre-Doctoral Fellowships from the American Heart Association. Kevin Fiala also was awarded a prestigious Presidential Fellowship from the Graduate School. Shanen Sherrer (Suo) and John Shimko (Ottesen) were recipients of the Dean’s Award for Excellence as a Graduate Teaching Associate. Manoj Nair (Dean) received an Ohio State Alumni Grant for Graduate Research & Scholarship and a “Preparing Future Faculty” Fellowship from Ohio State. Manoj and Marianne Lee (Chan) received the Best Oral Presentation Award from the Biophysics Program. Marianne also was awarded 3rd place in the highly competitive Edward Hayes Graduate Research Forum here at Ohio State. Congratulations to all of these students and all others who have received recognition during the year.
Undergraduate Student Highlights: We are very pleased to have many very capable undergraduate students in our classrooms and in our laboratories. The total number of students choosing biochemistry as their major now exceeds 200, the highest number ever. Although it is not possible to acknowledge all of their awards and efforts, some notable awards and recognition received in 2007 are as follows. One of our majors, Matthew Wohlever, was awarded a prestigious Goldwater Scholarship during the year. Matt used a portion of the funds to contact a research experience abroad for the summer at the University of Milano, Italy. Ian Jones and Olivia Twu were recognized as Honorable Mentions for the Goldwater Scholarship as well. Joshua Lotz received a Harry S. Truman Scholarship. These two scholarships are awarded after highly competitive national competitions and all four of these students are to be congratulated. Olivia Twu also was awarded an Ohio Academic Scholarship, an Honors Arts and Sciences Research Scholarship, a Dean’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship, and the Ohio State University Medalist Scholarship. She was a National Merit Commended Scholar and spent a good portion of the year engaged as an intern at the National Institutes of Health. The Irene Rosenfeld Scientific Achievement Award was presented last year to Sean Newmister and Olivia Twu and to Matthew Wohlever this spring. This award is given to a student majoring in biochemistry who displays exceptional academic achievement in their science courses as well as other activities such as research. Li-Chi Hung, John Pryor, and Amber Simmons all received Canaga Memorial Scholarships in 2007.
We are very proud of the fact that many of our majors enhance their educations here at Ohio State by engaging in undergraduate research. The Department encourages intensive summer research experiences through its highly successful Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP). Michael Corcoran, Brandon Crowe, Lindsey Pack, and Chen Fu all participated in this program last summer. Michael Corcoran and Sanjay Hari received Mayer Undergraduate Summer Research Internships from the College of Biological Sciences. All six of these capable students conducted intensive research activities during the summer and each presented a short seminar describing their research results during the Autumn Quarter to the Department. Summer Undergraduate Research Program award winner for this summer are Michelle Ferdinand (Ottesen), Jonathan Picking (Ottesen and Poirier), Sridevi Ramalingam (Chan), and Jason Talmadge (Chan). Mayer Undergraduate Research Internships were awarded to these biochemistry majors--Jeremy Henderson, Guang Li, and Lindsey Pack. Congratulations to all these capable students.
Thirteen of our students participated in one or both of the College’s Undergraduate Research Colloquium and the University’s excellent Denman Undergraduate Research Forum. The following students (with research advisors) were award winners in the Denman competition: Cecelia Go (Gopalan) (First Place, Biological Sciences Division), John Pryor (Suo) (Second Place, Biological Sciences Division), Matthew Heberling (Magliery) (Third Place, Biological Sciences Division), Matthew Wohlever (Swenson) (Fourth Place, Biological Sciences Division), and Javad Azadi (Bern Kohler, Chemistry) (Fourth Place, Math and Physical Sciences Division). We are very, very pleased with this level of success and recognition at this excellent research forum.
Congratulations to these and all of our other undergraduate biochemistry majors for their hard work and these and other awards they have earned and received.
These are just some of the many exciting activities ongoing in the Department. We thank all those who continue to work very diligently to make this all happen. The Department continues to make significant progress in strengthening its ranks, its academic missions, and its research programs. We look forward to the continuing challenges and rewards that lie ahead.
