From the Labs
Houston, Texas
Volume 8, Issue 5
June 2009

Briefs

Kuspa named associate dean of research

Adam Kuspa, Ph.D., has been named associate dean of research at BCM. He will continue to serve as chair of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. Kuspa will be working with Susan Hamilton, Ph.D., vice president and dean of research, in all aspects of the office of research. Kuspa is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and internationally recognized for his research in elucidating the regulatory mechanisms that govern cell differentiation, using the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as a model organism.

Lynch wins academic clinical professionalism award

Garrett R. Lynch, M.D., professor of medicine–hematology and oncology who holds the Dan L. Duncan Endowed Chair at BCM, has been selected to receive the prestigious Ben and Margaret Love Foundation Bobby Alford Award for Academic Clinical Professionalism. The award recognizes a BCM physician for professionalism and humanism, and the ability to serve as a role model for these qualities in the practice of medicine. Lynch, who is a member of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, will receive the award during the White Coat Ceremony this summer.

Neuroscientist recipient of Searle Scholar’s Award

Mauro Costa-Mattioli, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience at BCM, has been honored with a Searle Scholar’s Award. Costa-Mattioli is one of 15 scholars selected this year for their work in biomedical science.

The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected academic institutions to support the independent research of outstanding individuals who are in the first or second year of their appointment at the assistant professor level, and whose current appointment is a tenure-track position.

Costa-Mattioli began his career as a molecular virologist studying protein synthesis in viruses and has since shown how the process of protein synthesis is an important step in the formation of new memories. He also studies what happens to these processes during brain aging and during neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Lee honored by Society for Pediatric Research

Brendan Lee, M.D., professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and chief of the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic at Texas Children’s Hospital, received one of two 2009 E. Mead Johnson Awards for "outstanding scientific achievement in pediatrics" during the recent annual meeting of the Society for Pediatric Research. Lee has focused on the study of skeletal dysplasias and inborn errors of metabolism. He has identified the underlying genetic defect in multiple skeletal dysplasias as a first step to explaining the developmental mechanisms that regulate mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into cartilage and bone-forming cells and cell-matrix interactions in the human skeleton. In the area of biochemical genetics, he has focused on understanding how dysregulation of metabolite flux can lead to complex disease by using ureacycle disorders as a model.

Medical students awarded HHMI fellowships

Five Baylor College of Medicine medical students have been accepted into the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowships Program, making it possible for them to work in the laboratory of their choice for one year. They are among 112 students from 44 institutions who are taking part in HHMI student research programs.

The BCM students are: