News and NotableCongratulations to Dr. HollyColognato on her promotion toAssociate Professor and to Drs.Carlos de los Santos and OrlandoSchärer on their promotions toProfessor in 2011. Congratulationsalso to Dr. Feng-Qian Li, who waspromoted to Research AssociateProfessor in 2010.Chair’s MessageThese are terrific times in the Department.We have grown dramatically andour core now houses more than 20funded research groups in three centersacross the campus. We bring in morethan $10 million annually in direct extramuralsupport, and exciting findingsare reported regularly in a host of premierjournals. Much of the Departmentalresearch space has been recently renovated,creating large open labs that promotecross-group interaction with readyexchange of ideas and approaches.The NIH-funded, Department-based interdisciplinaryGraduate program in Molecularand Cellular Pharmacology trains40-50 graduate students and links morethan 60 faculty from BNL, CHSL, andSBU. Twelve departments, both basicand clinical, participate, ranging fromapplied math and chemistry to medicine,pediatrics, and neurosurgery. Plansare underway for formation this coming year of the SBU Umbrella Programin Biomedical <strong>Sciences</strong> and Molecular Medicine, featuring Training Programsin Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology, Neuroscience, and Physiology & Biophysics.This program will offer incoming students new options for integratedtraining and interactions across a wide spectrum of disciplines.Our undergraduate major program in Pharmacology is one of only three suchin the country and continues to train some of the very best students at SBU,a high fraction of whom go on to medical/graduate school and careers in pharmacologicalbiotechnology.One of the great features of our faculty and research programs is the breadthof interests and technologies. Department core faculty are addressing keyquestions in Cancer, Metabolic diseases, Neuropharmacology, Mitochondrialdiseases, and Signal transduction using chemical biology, biochemical, cellular,animal model, structural biology, and proteomic and genetic approaches,offering rich opportunities for collaboration and training on multiple levels.The future undoubtedly presents both opportunities and challenges. Revitalizationof the SBU School of Medicine through new leadership and strongphilanthropic support is ongoing. We are confident that combined with strongextramural support, even in these relatively difficult times, we will continue tostrengthen our research enterprise while delivering high-quality education topostdoctoral fellows, graduate students, medical students, nursing and alliedhealth students, undergraduates, and even high school students!With best wishes,Michael A. Frohman2 Summer | 2011 |
Department of <strong>Pharmacological</strong> <strong>Sciences</strong>Research Overview & HighlightsNeurobiology of Disease &DevelopmentMolecular Mechanisms ofSignalingFaculty AwardsDavid TalmageNeuregulin functions in corticaldevelopment, contributes toabnormal neuroconnectivity(PMID: 20610754)Stella TsirkaMicroglia/macrophagespromote glioma progression(PMID: 21264953)Craig MalbonDynamics of supramolecularcomplexes in Wnt signaling(PMID: 20940260)Feng-Qian Li, Ken TakemaruCby and 14-3-3 proteins controltrafficking of beta-catenin(PMID: 19940019)Cancer BiologyEmily ChenCancer stem cell subpopulation enrichedby hypoxia/reoxygenation cycles (PMID:21067584)Howard CrawfordKey roles of transcription factors inepithelial-mesenchymal transition inpancreatic cancer (PMID: 20160041)Genome Stability and theEnvironmentArthur Grollman, Charles Iden,Francis Johnson, Masaaki MoriyaDNA adducts of aristolochic acidpromote base misincorporation(PMID: 19854934)Mitochondrial BiologyDan Bogenhagen, Bruce DempleNovel long-patch DNA repairmechanism in mitochondria(PMID: 18541666)Dr. Markus Seeliger received a2010 New Scholar Award fromthe Ellison Medical Foundation, anon-profit corporation supportingbasic biomedical research on agingrelevant to understanding lifespandevelopment processes and agerelateddiseases and disabilities.The award provides $100,000per year for four years. Dr.Seeliger’s research “centers onprotein turnover via the ubiquitinproteasomesystem, a processintimately involved in diseasedevelopment.”This is the second EllisonFoundation award for thedepartment in just two years. In2009 Dr. Dan Bogenhagen receiveda Senior Scholar Award for hisresearch on how mitochondrial DNAnucleoid organization promotes agerelatedmitochondrial dysfunction.Summer | 2011 |3
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