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Oklahoma State University Office of Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer 203 Whitehurst Stillwater, OK 74078-1020

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Angela Piehl pictured with a selection of her floating world paintings.

Research, scholarship and creative activity at Oklahoma State University 2009

Creating Floating Worlds

N ew to the OSU faculty in 2007, Artist Angela Piehl investigates the formation of identity as it relates to stereotypical gender roles with her wide variety

of oil and acrylic paintings. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Piehl says growing up in Texas helped shape the perspective from which she creates her works.

Her earlier paintings are somewhat autobiographical – telling stories of the frustration she felt growing up in a society with prescribed gender roles. Many were painted in a comic book style and included familiar icons from popular culture with which viewers could relate.

Her more recent work stems from a conceptual interest in Japanese “floating world” prints. These prints, which depict worlds filled with frivolity, novelty, superficiality, and artifi-ciality, employ a range of mythology and symbolism.

Piehl’s recent works do the same. The paintings at times loosely emulate scientific illustration resembling various under-water creatures. Their scale in relation to the viewer’s size is unclear, and one cannot be sure if they are looking at a close-up view or a quick snapshot of something in the distance.

“I apply this concept of creating an alternate, ‘floating’ world and create my own fleeting space populated by the strange and taboo,” Piehl says. “My inhabitants are simul-taneously beautiful and seductive, while repellent and abject. I enjoy playing with the notion of the authority of the image, and it is my hope that the viewer believes these creatures can exist simply because I have painted them believably.”

“Curiosities of the Floating World,” a solo exhibit at New York City’s chashama Gallery, displayed Piehl’s paint-ings during July and August 2008. Her work has also been displayed at the IAO Gallery in Oklahoma City, Okla. (as part of “Gendering America,” a regional invitational exhibit), Diaspora Gallery in Miami, Fla. (as part of “Women’s Work,” a four-person invitational exhibit) and Landmark Arts Gallery in Lubbock, Texas (as part of “Y QUE?” a regional, juried group exhibition).

Piehl is the recent recipient of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Council’s Creative Projects Grant and the OSU Dean’s Initia-tive Research Grant, which helped support her New York City solo exhibition. She has been a guest lecturer for the College Art Association Conference. She was also a visiting artist at Clemson University during fall 2008 semester.

For more information on Piehl and her work, visit http://art.okstate.edu/faculty/piehl.html.

Kelly Green

Reaching new heightsReaching new heights

Research, scholarship and creative activity at Oklahoma State University 2009

4 Q&A: Creating a culture where creativity thrivesOklahoma State University President Burns Hargis discusses how a focus on creativity will set OSU and Oklahoma apart from other universities and states. He also comments on the importance of creativity and innovation in making Oklahoma a national leader in research and economic development.

6 Creativity to be a cornerstone at OSUJohn Mowen, Regents professor and Noble chair of marketing strategy in the Spears School of Business, is leading the OSU Creativity Initiative, an effort to weave creativity and innovation into the fabric of standard research at OSU.

8 The power of a peacemakerDr. Amanda Morris, associate professor of human devel-opment and family science at OSU-Tulsa, is giving youth the knowledge and skills they need to resolve conflicts in a nonviolent manner. Working with about 60 families from two Boys and Girls Clubs of Tulsa, Morris and her team are evaluating several factors before and after participation in a conflict resolution intervention program.

10 FAPC is improving food safety by detecting specific allergensResearchers at the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center have developed an improved method to detect the presence of soybean DNA in foods. Soybeans are one of eight allergenic ingredients that cause 90 percent of allergic reactions in the United States.

12 OSU professor discovers famous poet in unexpected placesDr. Edward Jones has dedicated more than 25 years to working on the Milton Quarterly, the first journal in the U.S. devoted exclusively to the life of English poet John Milton, author of the epic poem Paradise Lost. Jones’ knowledge about the famous poet has led to a celebrity status of a peculiar nature.

14 New funding sends OSU researchers fishing for scientific resultsWith a newly acquired $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers from Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma are working to detect, identify and isolate four groups of unique micro-organisms and study them in the laboratory. The OSU group is lead by Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, assistant professor of microbiology.

16 Reaching new heights Students from Oklahoma State University’s Radiation Physics Laboratory have constructed and launched two cosmic radiation detectors that reached the edge of outer space. Funded by a NASA EPSCoR grant, the project seeks to uncover information about radiation levels at varying altitudes – information that will be used by NASA to develop instrumentation for space flight.

20 OSU Medicine’s clinical trials take on children’s diseasesDr. Stanley Grogg is leading a team of OSU Physicians Clinics pediatricians in clinical trials for immunizations against childhood-related diseases. The team has already helped with one successful new treatment for rotavirus or RV (intestinal flu). They are also currently studying treat-ments for influenza, pneumonia and meningitis.

21 For health’s sake Nutritional Sciences Associate Professor Edralin Lucas is studying the effects mangos, bitter melons and grapes have on cardiovascular health. Her research on the anti-inflam-matory properties of grape varieties grown in Oklahoma could boost sales for the state’s grape industry.

22 Using innovative ways to train graduate researchersThe OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences has part-nered with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation to address the growing shortage of veterinary scientists available to deliver modern science and medicine. They are proposing a combined residency – Ph.D. training program set to begin in summer 2009.

24 Creating an atmosphere for learningProject CREATES, a program developed to infuse academics with art instruction at urban elementary schools in Tulsa, is having an impact on students and teachers. Research led by Dr. Diane Montgomery shows the program improved students’ skills in a variety of areas and inspired educators with a new way of teaching.

26 EPSCoR funding playing vital role in OSU biofuels researchWith $20 million in new funding, Yanqi Wu, a plant breeder with Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, is working to create renew-able energy from high-yield, high-quality plants that can help meet the world’s needs in economically viable and environmentally sound ways.

30 OSU researchers make breakthrough against poxvirusesA major breakthrough by Junpeng Deng, a structural biolo-gist in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, and his first-year Ph.D. student, Brian Krumm, may be the first step towards a pharmaceutical medication for smallpox and the emerging human monkeypox.

Back inside cover: Growing the Numbers

Back cover: Creating Floating Worlds

About the cover: Captured by a camera that was launched with the radiation detector built by OSU students, this photo provides an image of the earth from 104,000 in altitude.

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9. #2556

Burns Hargis, President

Stephen W.S. McKeever, Vice President

for Research and Technology Transfer

Vanguard is published annually by Oklahoma State

University. It is produced by the Office of Vice

President for Research and Technology Transfer.

Editor/Writer: Kelly Green, Art Director/Designer: Valerie Kisling; Photographers: Gary Lawson, Phil Shockley, Todd Johnson,

Terry Drenner, Gary Hamilton and Lin Koh

Contributing Writers: Julie Barnard, Mandy

Gross, Sean Hubbard, Emily Kilian, Christy Lang,

Derinda Lowe, Trish McBeath, Eileen Mustain,

Stacy Patton, Lorene A. Roberson, Marla Schaefer

and Donald Stotts

For details about research work

highlighted in this magazine or reproduction

permission, contact the editor.

Kelly Green, Editor, Vanguard 405.744.5827; [email protected]

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

2008 was another record-breaking year for research at Oklahoma State University. Our total for sponsored programs was up more than $25 million to $270.8 million. The figure, which represents all money spent on OSU sponsored programs – including research – over the course of the 2007-2008 fiscal year, is a ten percent increase over the FY07 total and sets a new record for sponsored programs at OSU. The quality of OSU’s filed patents also continues to be high. By being selective in the patenting process we reduce costs and increase the success rate. You will note from the graphs on the inside back cover that the number of patents is down this year, but the license income continues to rise.

In this issue of Vanguard, we highlight some of the projects that account for these record increases. OSU President Burns Hargis tackles our Q&A section and addresses creativity and innovation. Hargis,

a recognizable figurehead for the Oklahoma Creativity Project, has brought his passion for creativity to OSU. He discusses the impact of creativity on research, economic development and education. In a related story, Professor John Mowen presents the OSU Creativity Initiative, an effort to make OSU a leader in creativity and innovation.

For this year’s cover story, we showcase a unique collaboration between the physics department and the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Led by Drs. Eric Benton and Andy Arena, the project allows students to build and launch cosmic radiation detectors into space.

Several of this year’s stories focus on health issues. Nutritional Sciences Associate Professor Edralin Lucas is studying the effects of common foods on cardiovascular health. A major breakthrough made recently by OSU structural biologists could be the first step towards a pharmaceutical for the dangerous smallpox virus. Clinical trials are underway at the OSU Center for Health Sciences to address children’s diseases, and at the Food and Agricultural Products Center, researchers are developing new methods for testing food for allergens.

The OSU Center for Veterinary Health Sciences will partner with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foun-dation on a combined residency-Ph.D. program in 2009. The program will equip veterinary graduates with training in comparative animal studies.

At OSU-Tulsa, Associate Professor Amanda Morris is working with families to evaluate the effects of a conflict resolution intervention program. Also in Tulsa, Dr. Diane Montgomery, professor in the College of Education’s School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, led the research team that evaluated the benefits of Project CREATES, a program that seeks to infuse academics with art instruction at urban elemen-tary schools.

OSU biofuels research is moving forward with an additional $20 million from the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, associate professor of microbiology, also received new funding this year. A $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation will enable Elshahed and partners at the University of Oklahoma to discover new groups of unidentified microorganisms.

In this issue we also highlight the work of Dr. Edward Jones, an OSU English professor and an authority on the poet John Milton. From the OSU-Stillwater campus, Jones works as editor of the Milton Quarterly, the first journal in the U.S. devoted to Milton. In our final story, we feature OSU artist Angela Piehl and her collection of “floating world” paintings.

We hope as you read Vanguard 2009 you are introduced to the breadth and depth of research — and creativity — underway at OSU.

Dr. Stephen McKeeverVice President for Research and Technology Transfer

Creating a Culture Where Creativity Thrives

As the 18th President of Oklahoma State University

and the OSU System, Burns HArgis oversees

one of the nation’s most comprehensive land-grant

university systems with more than 32,000 students,

7,400 employees, and campuses located in Stillwater,

Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Okmulgee.

A firm believer in the power of imagination and collab-

oration, Hargis was the first chair of the Oklahoma

Creativity Project, a statewide initiative to establish

Oklahoma as a world-renowned center of creativity

and innovation in commerce, culture and education.

Hargis, who holds degrees in accounting from

Oklahoma State University and in law from the

University of Oklahoma, is the second OSU graduate

to lead the university as president. Oliver S. Willham,

who served as president from 1952 to 1966, gradu-

ated from then Oklahoma A&M in 1923.

Before being named OSU President, Hargis had a

long and distinguished legal and business career,

with active civic and philanthropic leadership across

many fronts. He also is familiar to many Oklahomans

through the political perspective and wit he provided

on the award-winning television program “Flashpoint.”

Prior to coming to OSU, he was Vice Chairman

of Bank of Oklahoma, N.A. Before joining Bank of

Oklahoma in 1997, Hargis practiced law in Oklahoma

City for 28 years, most recently with the firm of

McAfee & Taft. He is a former president of the

Oklahoma County Bar Association, former president

of the Oklahoma Bar Foundation, and is a Fellow of

the American Bar Foundation. Hargis served as vice-

chairman of the Oklahoma State Election Board, the

Oklahoma Constitutional Revision Commission, and

served as Chairman of the Oklahoma Commission

for Human Services. He is a former member of the

Commission of the North Central Association of

Colleges and Schools. Hargis was a candidate for the

Republican nomination for Governor of Oklahoma in

1990.

He has served and chaired many boards, including

the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural

and Mechanical Colleges of Oklahoma State

University.

Q1For some time now you have been

the recognizable figurehead for the

Oklahoma Creativity Project. What drew you to that

role and why do you feel a focus on creativity is so

important?

Creativity is important because Oklahoma can never spend its way to the front of the line. We have to promote, celebrate and support creative efforts in the state, which is a lot easier said than done because with creativity and innovation comes mistakes. We have to be tolerant of the process. We’ll move ahead as a state if we create a culture that not only tolerates but also promotes people taking risks. Thomas Edison said he knew a thousand ways not to make a light bulb. He didn’t view it as failure when it didn’t work; he just knew another way it wouldn’t work. That kind of persistence is critical to creative ideas. We’re all very creative people. Unfortunately, I think our system of education tends to squelch our creativity. Kids learn pretty quickly there’s only one answer and there is very little room for creative ideas. Responding to that, they stay within a narrow framework in their development. What we’ve got to do is change that.

Q2 In what ways will a focus on creativity

set Oklahoma apart from other states?

There are infinite possibilities. On a non-scientific basis, the MAPS (Metropolitan Area Projects) program in Oklahoma City is a perfect example of creativity where people came together – none of whom would have classified themselves as creative – and came up with all these ideas, which they hoped would rejuvenate the spirit of Oklahoma City and enable it to develop more robustly. The result has been several positive, yet unintended, consequences. One, for instance, has been the idea to put water in the river. I assure you nobody ever thought that river would become one of the major rowing venues in the United States. Here’s a river we used to mow that’s now going to be hosting the Olympic trials. When you engage in these visionary, and sometimes risky undertakings, there are unintended consequences that are both positive and negative. You hope the former outweighs the latter.

Q3Comprehensive research universities

like OSU conduct research and

participate in scholarship and creative activities

as part of their mission. Solutions to today’s

complex problems, however, are often found at the

interface between traditional disciplines. In what

ways does interdisciplinary research encourage

creativity?

I think that is exactly correct – most problems do not reside within one silo. There’s knowledge and developments in many disciplines that can come to bear on any issue. If you research certain issues within a very narrow field you can be encumbered by statements like, “we’ve tried that before,” and

“that won’t work.” With interdisciplinary research, there is an openness to explore the problem much more broadly than you would if you stayed within one narrow discipline.Jordan Tang, who studied at OSU and was recently inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, is a good example of this. Throughout his career, he studied enzymes that cut proteins and was really interested in the digestive system. During his research, however, he discovered these enzymes were cutting proteins in brain tissue. What he may have stumbled onto is a link to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. He wasn’t studying that. As a member of the board of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation I’ve asked researchers, “How often do discov-eries occur in the exact area you were pursuing?” They say almost never. They stumble onto something else in the process. That is a process that we need to catalyze throughout the university.

Q4How do you feel creativity impacts

economic development?

Virtually every new product and innovation is the result of creativity. Ditch Witch in Perry, Okla. is a perfect example – a discovery made by Ed Malzahn and his family in a machine shop trying to come up with something that could dig trenches and dig under roads without tearing them up. The process of developing the Ditch Witch machine was very creative – as creative as any work of art, any composition of music, and any scientific discovery. Economic development is, in fact, driven by creativity and innovation. Although ironically, some of the most creative and innovative entrepreneurs will say they’re not creative because they don’t think of it in that context. Most people think creativity only resides in the arts. It actually mostly resides in economic development matters.

Q5Do you have a vision for creativity at

OSU specifically?

Yes. The goal would be to first create a culture of creativity where all of our scholars, scientists and students are free to explore creative ideas, to collaborate, and to develop entre-preneurial programs that will involve many disciplines. To make that happen, we’re going to have to promote it, support it and celebrate it when it happens. I see OSU developing into a truly interactive venue of intellectual capital.

Q6Your initial months at OSU have been

marked by a whirlwind of successful

– and creative – fundraising efforts for chairs and

professorships. What is the next major fundraising

focus for you, and how can the OSU community

help?

The next fundraising focus is going to be two-fold. One focus will be in the area of scholarships; the other will be creating platforms for the further development of our research capa-bilities. I think one of the reasons states like Oklahoma don’t get their “fair share” of research dollars is that we often don’t have the infrastructure – not just with labs and facilities but with the scientists that are in those labs. Once we develop the resources to retain and attract the best scientists and provide the best facilities, I think the research dollars will follow. We also have to have ample scholarship money to attract students who are committed to this kind of creative endeavor. If we can put those two things together, I think it will march us forward significantly in our hope to be the example of a modern land-grant university.

OSU President Burns Hargis

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Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu4 5Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu

Let’s Get Creative!On Feb. 16-17, 2009, Oklahoma State University will host the OSU Creativity Festival, which is being held in conjunction with OSU Research Week. The Festival will feature a wide variety of activities aimed at sparking creativity and innovation throughout the OSU system.

Oklahoma State University is rethinking and rebuilding the foundation on which research

stands by officially adding creativity and innovation into the fabric of standard research.

Creative fields such as music, poetry, psychology, and other artistic endeavors are often overlooked by traditional research principles. John Mowen, Regents professor and Noble chair of marketing strategy in the Spears School of Business,

wants to make sure creative endeavors get the recognition they deserve.

“OSU has faculty who are writing books and poetry, composing music and performing theater,” Mowen said. “They are doing what is perhaps more appropriately called ‘scholarship,’ and research does not traditionally include every aspect of scholarship. These are the creative endeavors needing to be recognized.”

Mowen’s commitment to recognizing

and nurturing creativity at OSU began when he learned of OSU President Burns Hargis’ vision to make Oklahoma the “state of creativity.”

In the spring of 2008, Hargis spoke to Mowen and the Regents professors at their spring function about the Oklahoma Creativity Project, of which Hargis was the first chair. In this speech, Hargis indicated he would like to make OSU a leader in creativity and innovation.

“Creativity and innovation are at the core of our vision to create a modern land-grant institution,” Hargis said. “There is no place better than a university campus to inspire creativity and discover innovative ways of problem solving and approaching global issues.”

Mowen explained that emphasizing these concepts fits nicely with OSU’s mission as a land-grant university.

“OSU can claim leadership in creativity by taking the organizational steps neces-sary to maximize the role of creativity in five domains - scholarship on creativity, creative instruction, discovery, innova-tion, and community service,” he said. “Within these domains, one finds the three components of OSU’s mission—instruction, research, and outreach. By organizing OSU to focus on these arenas, our university can achieve the goal of becoming internationally recog-nized as one of the leading land-grant universities.”

Taking actionAfter learning about Hargis’s desire

to make OSU a creativity leader, Mowen created a steering committee that will spearhead the effort to make OSU a leader in creativity and innovation. This goal has become known as OSU Creativity Initiative.

As part of a comprehensive plan to make OSU a leader in creativity and innovation, the team decided to hold a Creativity Festival. The festival will recog-nize creative endeavors from students

and faculty, and will communicate these endeavors to those outside OSU. The Creativity Festival will be held during Research Week 2009, which is titled “Cele-brating Creativity and Innovation.”

Research Week is a perfect outlet to carry out the goal of recognizing creativity and innovation in scholarship and research, said Stephen McKeever, OSU vice president for research and technology transfer.

“Research, by its very nature, is creative and innovative,” McKeever said.

“It is our obligation to push the bound-aries of our understanding and to think about the world around us in new and different ways.”

Mowen said the goal of the Creativity Festival during Research Week is to showcase all aspects of creativity and innovation at OSU – in both scholarship and research.

“The festival will have presentations and booths in which different groups from across campus can illustrate the importance of creativity and how they have used it to forward and promote their own activities,” McKeever said. “An artist may cause us to pause and view the world in a way we haven’t seen it before, and this goes hand in hand with research. It needs to be a part of the festival.”

The right LeaderMowen has become a champion of

this creativity initiative because of his love for the arts.

“I have a strong interest in all phases of creativity, from the arts to science,” Mowen said. “I love new ideas, I love new things, and making creativity and innovation part of OSU’s brand will energize the campus, attract students and increase research.”

Beyond Mowen’s academic work, he is a semi-professional artist. He creates images from photographs, and his original digital designs can be seen in galleries in Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma. Mowen also plays the piano and conducts psychological research.

“John is the perfect person to lead this initiative,” McKeever said. “When he suggested highlighting creativity for Research Week, I immediately said yes.”

In order for OSU to become outstanding, Mowen thinks the univer-sity must find a niche.

“We can become outstanding and unique, and it will differentiate us from other universities,” he said. “This initiative is academically sound and is important for the community because of our focus on outreach and community service.”

Through Mowen’s creativity research, he found environment is key to creativity.

“To support creativity, the environ-ment must be willing to accept diverse ideas and encourage people to challenge

Creativity to become cornerstone for Oklahoma State University

John Mowen is spearheading the OSU Creativity Initiative, which seeks to make OSU a leader in creativity and innovation. Mowen has become a champion of this creativity initiative because of his love for the arts and endeavors as a semi-professional artist.

O K L A H O M A S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y

INITIATIVEcreativity

• Paneldiscussionsaboutthe role of creativity and innovation at OSU and in the workplace.

• AplenarytalkbyChicThompson, creativity consul-tant to Fortune 500 companies, on “The Power of Possibilities: Unlocking Creativity and Innovation at OSU.”

• Presentationsofscholar-ship on creativity and inno-vation by OSU faculty and graduate students.

• AkeynotepresentationbyBob Mankoff, cartoon editor for the New Yorker magazine.

• Boothsanddemonstra-tions of OSU creativity and innovation.

• Workshopsaboutcreativityheld by Bob Mankoff and Chic Thompson.

• Acreativitychallengecontest where students, faculty and staff submit proposals on ways OSU can be more creative and innova-tive. Winners will receive cash prizes.

For more information on these and other events taking place during the festival, visit http://researchweek.okstate.edu.

ideas,” Mowen said. “Right now OSU is famous for its sports and its friendliness. We need to add an outstanding academic element to this, and creativity will become a cornerstone in setting OSU’s reputation as a leading university.”

The creative process will spawn more opportunities for faculty and better prepare students for a new and constantly evolving world.

“I appreciate John’s leadership on this initiative,” Hargis said. “It has the poten-tial to transform learning at OSU.”

Emily Kilian

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Whether it’s bullying, teasing, jealousy, sibling disputes or playground fights, many

young people are caught up in conflicts every day and they don’t know how to handle them.

Dr. Amanda Morris, associate professor of human development and family science at OSU-Tulsa, is working to provide youth with the knowledge and skills they need to resolve conflicts in a nonviolent manner.

With funding to support the study from the Oklahoma Agricultural Experi-ment Station, Morris and her team of trained OSU researchers, graduate assistants and students from Tulsa and Stillwater are trying to make a differ-ence by promoting resilient and healthy family behaviors.

“One of my passions is to help at-risk youth and families through my research projects and related outreach,” Morris said. “Helping early adolescents learn how to manage emotions and handle conflict is one the best ways to reach this goal and we are seeing a lot of success.”

Morris said the objective of her research is to assist Tulsa-area parents and youth (ages eight to 12) who are at an increased risk for community violence, economic distress and difficulties in effective parenting and family inter-action. Learning how they cope with emotions and conflict can give parents, teachers and other community members the insight they need to promote and encourage peaceful conflict resolution and improve conditions in their homes, schools and community.

The FactsAccording to the Office of Juvenile

Justice and Delinquency Prevention in the U.S. Department of Justice, conflict resolution education can help bring about significant reductions in suspensions, disciplinary referrals, academic disrup-tions, school fights and family and sibling disputes. By providing young people with the knowledge and skills needed to settle disputes peacefully, they can success-fully prevent conflicts from escalating into violent acts.

Working with about 60 families from two Boys and Girls Clubs of Tulsa, Morris and her team are evaluating several factors before and after participation in a conflict resolution intervention program.

The program, “I Can Problem Solve,” was developed by Dr. Myrna Shure, a developmental psychologist and professor of psychology at Drexel University. The adapted 10-week intervention program aims to strengthen parent-child commu-nication and conflict-resolution skills by teaching perspective-taking, effective communication, problem-solving and means-end thinking.

“Many young people turn to gangs, drugs and violence to make them feel better about themselves,” Morris said. “We want to teach kids positive ways to handle emotions and related stress. We want to reach youth early in adolescence before negative influences and destruc-tive coping patterns set in.”

Morris’ research findings during an earlier study at the same Boys and Girls Clubs of Tulsa in 2006 suggested the need for conflict-resolution programs. The results indicated that those chil-dren were being exposed to moderate to high levels of violence in their neighbor-hood. Sixty-two percent of the children reported hearing gun shots; 48 percent reported seeing drug deals; 74 percent reported seeing someone being beaten up; 16 percent reported seeing someone get stabbed; and 23 percent reported seeing someone get shot.

“Violence in communities is a perva-sive contextual factor in child and adoles-cent development,” Morris said. “Youth exposed to high family and peer conflict may see this type of family interaction as an appropriate way to deal with conflict, increasing the risk for destructive interac-tion within families and communities.”

Promising results The 2006 research study was Morris’

first as a professor at OSU-Tulsa. Since her initial findings, she has worked continu-ally to get funding and the appropriate approvals to put the “I Can Problem Solve” intervention program in place.

Though Morris is still collecting data for her current study, she is already seeing promising results.

“What we’re finding so far is that their responses to conflict are becoming much more positive after the intervention,” Morris said. “The program really seems to be making a difference.”

OSU-Tulsa President Gary Tren-nepohl said Morris’ research and work with Tulsa’s youth are great examples of the many OSU professors and students who are impacting communities through their academic efforts and research expertise.

“University-community partnerships are exciting and beneficial for everyone involved. Our faculty and students have the opportunity to apply their research skills and knowledge to a real-world problem and assist local organizations with their goal of improving the quality of life for individuals and families in the community,” Trennepohl said. “OSU-Tulsa will continue to focus on conducting research that is relevant and beneficial to the needs of our community.”

Morris hopes to broaden her research intervention project across Oklahoma, as well as collect similar data in other parts of the world. She is conducting related research in Kenya that involves families living in extremely violent, high-risk environments with no running water or electricity.

She and her colleagues at OSU are also in the early stages of creating the Center for Family Risk and Resilience through the Department of Human Devel-opment and Family Science at OSU-Tulsa. The Center will partner OSU researchers with local social service agencies to tackle problems and find solutions for issues in the community.

Morris admits that although the focus of her research is difficult at times, she loves working with young people and looks forward to a career of seeing them succeed.

“I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve just always wanted to help families,” Morris said.

Trish McBeath

The Power of a Peacemaker

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OSU-Tulsa Researcher Explores Conflict Resolution in Tulsa’s Youth

Through her research, OSU-Tulsa professor Dr. Amanda Morris is helping about 60 families from two Boys and Girls Clubs of Tulsa learn how to manage emotions and resolve conflicts in a nonviolent manner.


Food allergies are an important health concern in developed countries. According to several

European and American studies, food allergies affect about 2 percent of the adult population and 8 percent of chil-dren. In addition, it has been estimated that more than 20 percent of all allergic reactions are caused by foods.

Because of these data, researchers at the Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center on the Oklahoma State University campus are currently evalu-ating methods to rapidly detect specific allergens in foods.

The idea for this project developed from a brainstorming session by a food science research initiative team in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. Christina DeWitt, FAPC food chemist, and a team of food science researchers decided to tackle the issue and help to improve consumer food safety.

“When reviewing possible aller-gens, it was brought to our attention by someone in the food industry, a former OSU graduate, that allergen detection kits for soy proteins were not reliable,” DeWitt said.

Tackling the ProblemTo help solve this problem, Tyler Tate,

food science graduate student, conducted the study for his master’s program. Tyler currently works in research and devel-opment for the Advance Food Co. in Enid, Okla.

“This study was designed to use real-time PCR as a method to detect soy DNA as an indicator of the presence of soy in foods,” Tate said. “These results can be used to help design an assay to detect the

The Big 8In August 2004, President George W.

Bush signed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, or FALCPA, which required labeling on food that contains certain allergenic ingredients known as the “Big 8.”

The purpose of FALCPA is to ensure that foods containing the “Big 8” allergens, which include cow’s milk, eggs, crusta-ceans, fish, peanuts, wheat, soybeans and tree nuts, or a derivative of these aller-gens, give sufficient information on the presence of the allergen in the food. The “Big 8” accounts for about 90 percent of food allergies in the United States.

The only effective treatment to prevent possible life-threatening reac-tions to food allergies is to strictly avoid consuming these allergenic foods; which makes it necessary to provide sufficient information about potentially allergenic ingredients on food labels.

According to a Japanese study, soybean labeling is particularly impor-tant, citing the almost unlimited uses of soybean and the number of people with soybean allergies. It has been reported that 16 allergenic proteins have been found in soybean seeds.

“These statistics show just how impor-tant our research is in detecting aller-gens in soy-containing foods,” DeWitt said. “Detection of allergen-containing foods, like soy, is possible with real-time PCR without having to worry about false positives or negatives caused by food processing conditions or interference by the food substance itself.”

Mandy Gross and Stacy Patton

presence of soybean DNA fragments in food samples.”

PCR, or polymerase chain reaction, is a method to amplify short DNA sequences within a long DNA chain. Real-time PCR results are measured by florescence spec-troscopy, which can be used to determine the presence of soy in a food.

Problems with Allergen Detection

Allergen detection kits are based on an antigen-antibody interaction. The antigen is the allergen, which in foods is typically a protein. In fact, the majority of allergens are proteins. The Enzyme Linked Immuno Assay, or ELISA, is the common antigen-antibody method used to detect proteins in a sample.

The antibody used by the kit binds specifically to the protein of interest. However, proteins are often altered during the processing of foods causing problems with antibody detec-tion. Changes in protein shape and size make it difficult for the antibody to detect the protein, and the result is often a false negative.

“Since soy products are commonly highly processed, the soy protein’s shape and size can be altered not allowing ELISA to detect it,” Tate said.

The approach for this project was to attack the problem of allergen contamina-tion from a food labeling perspective.

“Food labeling laws require that you identify whether or not a food that is a source of the allergen is in the product,” DeWitt said. “So, you aren’t really saying yes, there is an allergen or no, there is not an allergen. You are saying either there is an allergen-containing food or no there is not an allergen-containing food in the product.”

Instead of developing a method to test the presence or absence of the allergen, DeWitt, Tate and other researchers developed a method to test the presence or absence of the allergen-containing food.

“The best way to do this is through DNA detection,” DeWitt said. “DNA detection does not rely on the ‘shape’ of the DNA; it relies on identifying a sequence of nucleic acid in the DNA that is unique to the product or food in ques-tion. In soy, this comes from a specific region of the DNA that is unique to soy called the soy lectin gene.”

Detecting soybean DnAA variety of different soy products

where obtained from commercial food ingredient suppliers to evaluate the rigor and specificity of soybean DNA detec-tion using real-time PCR.

“Soy protein concentrates, soy protein isolates, soy flour and soy protein-fiber-lecithin are all highly processed products,” DeWitt said. “This means the DNA will likely be degraded to varying degrees in each type of product.”

DNA was extracted from each soy product, and real-time PCR was used to detect the soy lectin gene. The results demonstrated that processing did cause significant degradation of the DNA; however, this did not prevent real-time PCR from detecting the presence of soy.

“Neither processing conditions nor the amount of DNA degradation affected the detection of soybean DNA,” Tate said. “This method is another approach to attacking the problem of food aller-gens, specifically soy products, being present in foods.”

FAPC is improving food safety by detecting specific allergens

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Tyler Tate, OSU food science graduate student, loads micro-wells with samples for real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Real-time PCR was used during the study to detect soy DNA as an indi-cator of the presence of soy in foods.

Edward Jones has dedicated more than 25 years to working

on the Milton Quarterly, the first journal in the U.S. devoted

exclusively to the life of English poet John Milton who

composed the epic poem Paradise Lost.

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OSU Professor Discovers Famous Poet in Unexpected Places

Every time OSU professor Edward Jones starts to grasp the life and writings of poet John Milton,

he reminds himself his research has been shaped by luminaries such as T.S. Eliot and C.S. Lewis.

“To go into this field and think you will leave a lasting mark is naïve,” Jones says.

So 15 years ago Jones decided to go down a road not often taken by Milton Scholars – one littered with dusty and

rarely looked at archival records found only at 17th-century English churches.

Jones’ decision has led to a celebrity status of a peculiar nature. The laid-back professor routinely shares new informa-tion about Milton’s life and family while urging other scholars to reconsider age-old assumptions about the English poet.

Filling in the BlanksLocating manuscripts in remote and

ancient places is like researching your

family tree, Jones says. “There are enor-mous records relating to Milton’s life, yet huge gaps remain in his biography.

“I am helping fill in the blanks.”The gaps are aplenty. How many

residences did Milton have? At least 10 are known, Jones says. Are there others? Where are Milton’s first wife and only son buried? What are the birth and death dates of Milton’s sister? When did Milton go blind?

“I continue to search for these docu-ments,” Jones says. “It’s all very strange that Milton’s life is so well documented and yet so many essential facts remain unknown.”

Jones senses that family skeletons may account for missing records. He gives examples:

“Milton’s sister, Anne, married her first husband’s best friend within months of the latter’s death but essentially disap-pears from the historical record shortly thereafter. Milton’s younger brother Christopher (whose marriage record Jones found in 2006) had impregnated his future wife months before their offi-cial ceremony.”

The search for truth places Jones in an elite world. In December, he attended several invitation-only events celebrating Milton’s 400th birthday.

A Year to rememberFor Milton Scholars, 2008 was a

good year. It was the 400th anniversary of the poet’s birth and celebratory events took place throughout the year in both the U.S. and England.

In December, Jones spoke at Stanford University at a two-day event honoring a long-time Miltonist from Scotland.

He also attended Milton’s birthday celebration at the British Academy. A few days later at Oxford University, Jones and fellow editors of the newly-commissioned Oxford edition of Milton’s Complete Works attended a private party that took place at the Bodleian library, one of the most renown libraries in the world.

While the activities reflect Jones’ growing stature in the international community, he is the first to deflect the attention. And he cautions his students to be mindful that ‘fame is that last infir-mity of noble mind,’ according to his favorite author.

“I have worked steadily over a number of years and eventually recognition for that effort has come, but why I do what I do is unrelated to that,” Jones says. “Schol-arship is typically done in the shadows, away from distractions, away from the public and it is the isolation that allows it to be accomplished successfully.”

It’s no wonder though that the native New Yorker’s expertise is in demand.

He has discovered more than 100 archival records about Milton.

His scholarly effort and diplomatic style have earned him easy access to original documents (vs. microfiche) at the British Museum in London and The National Archives in Surrey, England.

He has presented his findings at more than 35 academic conferences at

locations ranging from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., to York, England, to Grenoble, France.

His students have gone on to study at Harvard Law School, Yale University, the University of Cambridge and Univer-sity of Oxford. He has mentored both Rhodes and Gates Scholars. He currently advises six doctoral students specializing in Milton, including one from India and another from Uzbekistan.

Beyond those accomplishments, Jones’ role as editor of the Milton Quarterly has skyrocketed him to the forefront of Milton scholarship. Jones is one of only two to serve as editor of the journal that was founded in 1966.

An unexpected CareerIn 1977, however, Jones’ career was

heading in a different direction. He was a graduate student at Ohio University specializing in the English Renaissance. Roy Flannagan, the journal’s founding editor and Jones’ dissertation adviser, asked the young Jones to become assis-tant editor.

Jones originally turned down the request because he was not knowledgeable enough about the poet and writer.

Why the change of heart? Jones discovered that Milton’s secular ideas on liberty and personal responsibility spoke to him loudly. And more surprisingly, he came to realize how much Milton’s ideas impacted America’s Founding Fathers.

“Milton was much more popular in 18th century America, than in 18th century England because of his political views,” Jones says.

Jones admits he was naïve on his first manuscript-seeking venture to England.

A biography about Milton had touched upon the Kedermister library in Berkshire, England. Jones’ goal was to locate public records about Milton at the library, a private theological collection inside a 17th-century church. “Rightly or wrongly, at the time, the collection had received little notice,” Jones says.

Jones thought he could find the docu-ments in three weeks; however, when he met the Kedermister librarian, he discov-ered the collection was available only at the convenience of the librarian. Jones would have to adhere to her schedule.

“I started out with an hour a day, but as we got to know and understand each other, she gave me more time.”

Two years later Jones summarized his findings in Filling In A Blank in the Canvas: Milton, Horton, And The Keder-mister Library.

The JournalIn 1987, after stints at universities

and colleges in Ohio, Jones arrived at Oklahoma State. In 2005, Jones became editor bringing the Milton Quarterly to the Stillwater campus.

His primary responsibility as editor is to review submissions and publish peer-reviewed scholarship of a high level.

Four issues each year contain arti-cles, book reviews, abstracts, and news concerned with the latest developments in Milton scholarship. The journal’s standards are rigorous. Less than 10 percent of submissions are accepted for publication.

But it is filling in the blanks of Milton’s life that remains Jones’ passion. Finding documents buried in county record offices is exciting, he says. “The documents often appear in more than one language with various abbreviations.

“It’s a lot like looking at the shorthand and symbols found in medical records.”

When Jones first started delving into Milton’s life, he was unsure what he would find.

Today he is finishing a book tenta-tively titled Milton and the Parish Chest: Documentary Evidence and the Biograph-ical Enterprise.

Jones also has found 24 new letters that will be included in his Oxford edition of Milton’s State Papers.

“When I first started out with articles on Milton, I did not think I would have enough for a book. Now, fortunately, I do. It is a tall order to produce docu-ments for Milton’s entire life.

“Everything about Milton’s life has proved interesting and rewarding.”

Lorene A. Roberson

▲ Edward Jones has located more than 100 archival records about John Milton that are found only at 17th-century

English churches.


W ith a newly acquired $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation, researchers from Oklahoma State University and the University

of Oklahoma are on the hunt for new microorganisms. The five-year award enables the scientists to detect, identify and isolate four groups of unique microorganisms and study them in the laboratory.

“Our goal is to bring these microorganisms to light so that other scientists that have more applied ideas – like looking for new antibiotics or new enzymes for bioethanol production – will have these new microorganisms in their arsenal,” said Dr. Mostafa Elshahed, assistant professor of microbiology and the lead OSU researcher on the project. “We know for sure there are thousands of new microorganisms in nature, we are focusing on the ones that are present in the highest numbers at our study site.”

Researchers collect the microorganisms from the sulfur-rich Zodletone Spring in southwestern Oklahoma. The Zodletone spring is ideal for this research, Elshahed says, because it has abundant sunshine, a lack of oxygen and a high concentration of hydrocarbons. “That spring has a combination of things that are common by themselves but rarely come together,” Elshahed said. “It appears when all these environmental factors come together they select for these novel microorganisms.”

OSU received $800,000 of the total award, which Elshahed, post doctoral student Noha Youssef and graduate student Jim Davis will use to accomplish two of the project’s three main goals. First, they will identify and analyze the genome, or DNA, of the microorganisms. Second, the team will attempt to tame the microorganisms by growing them in the laboratory.

Since the microorganisms are anaerobic (i.e. die in the pres-ence of oxygen), keeping them alive to monitor their behavior and evaluate their characteristics will be key to the success of the project. For that reason, Elshahed said much of the work will be conducted in an anaerobic glove bag, a plastic, dome-like chamber that seals out oxygen and can be filled with gases similar to those present in the spring.

OU received $500,000 of the total award, which will be used to evaluate the way the microorganisms behave in the spring. “If we know how they behave in the spring it will give us a better indication of where else they could be,” Elshahed said. “If you know how they behave in the spring it also helps you tame them in the lab.”

An educational outreach component of the grant will allow high school students to be involved as well. Led by Dr. Caroline Beller, assistant professor in the OSU College of Education, the award will fund several high school students who will participate in the research process and then present their results at the Junior Science and Humanities Sympo-sium, a regional competition that takes place each year on the OSU campus.

“It gives these students the opportunity to do university-level research that they normally wouldn’t be able to do at a high school,” Beller said. “It’s a great learning experience.”

Work with a similar philosophy has been going on for the last 20 years and has resulted in many useful products such as antibiotics and commercially useful enzymes, Elshahed said. With today’s more sophisticated techniques and equipment, this team is hoping for similar or even better results.

Kelly Green

New funding sends OSU researchers fishing for scientific results

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Dr. Mostafa Elshahed and graduate student Jim Davis collect microorganisms from the Zodeltone Spring in southwestern Oklahoma. The pair will transport the samples to Stillwater for further study.


Reaching new heights

Students from Oklahoma State University’s Radiation Physics Laboratory are taking research to a whole new level – literally. With simple materials and a lot of ingenuity, the students have constructed and successfully launched two cosmic radiation detectors that reached the edge of outer space.

Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu 17Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu16 17Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.eduResearch at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu16

Photos provided

Funded by a three-year NASA EPSCoR grant, the program, which is a collaboration with the OSU School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), seeks to uncover infor-mation about radiation levels at varying altitudes – informa-tion that will be used by NASA to develop instrumentation for space flight.

“Our project is unique because we are not only developing and fabricating new radiation detection instrumentation for use in space, we are field testing the instrumentation ourselves by flying it on high altitude balloons,” said Dr. Eric Benton, assistant professor of physics and co-principal investigator on the grant. “The use of high altitude balloons provides the students with hands-on experience in carrying out research in physics and in engineering, as well as providing us with a practical means of achieving the research objectives of the project.”

starting the processBenton, who has flown detectors on long-duration, high-

altitude balloons with NASA for years, said he was unaware until about three years ago that college students could conduct these types of experiments and get results in a matter of hours.

When he arrived at OSU, he heard about Dr. Andy Arena’s Atmospheric and Space Threshold Research Okla-homa (ASTRO) program. Sponsored by the NASA Oklahoma Space Grant Consortium and OSU, ASTRO provides low-cost access to the space environment by launching payloads on weather balloons.

“We’ve used it to give students an introduction to aerospace engineering,” Arena said. “They get hands-on experience building satellites, taking data and other things of that sort.”

Benton was curious about the other possibilities.“We got together for lunch, tossed around ideas and said

one of these days we should collaborate,” Benton said. “When the NASA EPSCoR opportunity came up, I knew this had to be a major component of it.”

The team received the grant in September 2007 and launched the first detector on July 10, 2008.

“Our first attempt was really a proof of concept,” Benton said. “It’s a very conservative design. We wanted to keep it really simple so if something went wrong we’d know what it was.”

Much to their delight, however, the flight was flawless. The detector, as well as a high-resolution camera, sensors

for temperature, pressure and humidity, and a GPS module to determine altitude and geographic position, launched from the OSU-Stillwater campus at 9:18 am. A helium-filled balloon spanning 12 feet in diameter carried the payloads to 104,000 feet before bursting. A parachute returned all the devices safely to Earth about two hours later – landing near Perry, Okla. about 10 miles away from the launch site.

“There are so many things that have to work perfectly,” said Carl Johnson, one of the physics graduate students who designed and constructed the radiation detector. “We really could not have asked for any better outcome.”

raising the barTaking what they learned from the first flight, the team

immediately began perfecting the detector for a second launch.

Prompted by inconsistent data during one phase of the first flight – more than likely caused by extreme vibration during the detector’s rapid descent – the team added a three-axis accelerometer to the second detector. To increase stability, they also lengthened the electrode that runs through the center of the ionization chamber.

“On the first flight, we learned a lot about vibration extremes and temperature extremes and how they affect our instrument,” Johnson said. “The design changes greatly reduced the sensitivity to vibration and temperature on the second flight.”

During both flights, the detector measured dose rate, or the amount of energy absorbed by matter as a result of exposure to radiation, as a function of time. Results show the dose rate increased as the detector moved higher into the atmosphere, reaching its highest level between 65,000 and 70,000 feet in altitude – an area known as the Pfotzer Maximum.

“Cosmic radiation present in the atmosphere is composed almost entirely of secondary particles, which are emitted through a series of nuclear reactions as primary cosmic rays penetrate into the atmosphere,” Benton said. “The Pfotzer Maximum is the region where the density of secondary parti-cles is the greatest.”

Above the Pfotzer region, Benton said secondary particle production via nuclear interactions is greater than particle losses through ionization. Below the region, ionization dominates secondary particle production and the number of secondary particles slowly decreases with altitude.

“It’s really great to see that the ASTRO program has been useful for a research mission,” Arena said. “I’m just thrilled that we could put their payload on our balloon and they could get useful scientific data.”

For the third flight, Johnson plans to revamp the detector to include much more sophisticated electronics, including a change from through-hole to surface-mount electronic components.

“The jump to surface-mount basically allows you to increase the density of components on the circuit board space,” Johnson said. “The third version will be about one-fifth the

size of the first, be much lighter weight, and still possess the same capability.”

sharing their successIn addition to the development of instrumentation for use

in space flight, educational outreach is a component of this NASA EPSCoR award.

Although future detectors designed by Johnson and the team for NASA will likely be too sophisticated, Benton said the first detector will serve as a prototype for radiation detec-tors included in the Near Space Standard Science Platform, an experiment platform he hopes will be used by science students at high schools and colleges around the country conducting research with high-altitude balloons.

Using PVC pipe, simple electronics and other items readily available at local hardware stores, students will be able to build the detector for their own flights. Benton and the team intentionally kept the cost to build the detector low. The total for the first version was about $150.

“Another goal of the project is to promote student interest in science and engineering through experiments with high-altitude balloons,” Benton said. “There will be a range of possibilities. Some students could do the actual building of the instrumentation; some could just fly pre-made instruments to obtain useful data.”

The team plans to launch eight different detectors over the course of the project. The final detector will be sent on a long-duration NASA balloon launched from the Antarctic. Ultimately, Benton hopes similar detectors will be worn by astronauts. If outfitted with an alarm, he said the detector could warn astronauts about increasingly dangerous levels of radiation, especially when they are outside the space craft.

“This is an inexpensive way to test our detectors,” Benton said. “If they won’t work on one of these balloons, they won’t work in space; many of the environmental constraints are very similar.”

How the detectors will be implemented by NASA – either in space flight or for educational outreach purposes – is yet to be determined. What is certain, however, is that these OSU researchers will continue to reach beyond the limits.

Kelly Green

Dr. Andy Arena inflates a high-altitude balloon to carry the payloads. Fully inflated, the balloon measures 12 feet in diameter.

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A group photo after a successful first flight. Pictured left to right are: Joe Conner, Ladd Rupp, Dr. Eric Benton, Ryan Paul, Dr. Art Lucas, Xander Buck, and Carl Johnson.

For Health’s Sake

Nutritional Sciences Associate Professor Edralin Lucas would like to help reduce and perhaps prevent health problems with the naturally occurring compounds

found in food. Her goal is to promote healthy foods that would prevent the development of chronic diseases and decrease the use of pharmaceuticals due to their side effects. She is particu-larly interested in compounds that affect cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cancer.

Lucas, who holds a doctorate in analytical chemistry, and her research team have investigated the effect of flaxseed on lipid and glucose metabolism. She has also participated in research showing dried plums can help prevent and reverse osteoporosis. Her current projects measure the effects mangos, bitter melons and grapes have on cardiovascular health.

The National Mango Board is backing her investigation into the use of mangos to modulate glucose and prevent osteo-porosis. While studies on mangos’ antibacterial, antiviral and anticancer properties have been conducted, research to deter-mine mangos effect on cardiovascular health was not available. Preliminary reports from animal studies conducted by Lucas and her team found that mangos show promise as a food that could help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Using the flesh from whole Tommy Atkins mangos, the researchers discovered the fruit is as effective as the glucose lowering drug rosiglitazone and lipid lowering drug fenofi-brate in reducing fat mass in mice. Lucas says the findings showed that mango can help prevent metabolic syndrome – a cluster of conditions like obesity, insulin resistance, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study also showed that the positive effect of mangos on glucose and lipid parameters is not accompanied by a negative effect on bone as seen with rosiglitazone. Whole body bone mineral density and bone mineral content were highest for mice fed mangos for two months and were better than those of mice fed rosiglitazone.

“We were pleased to find the mangos did not play a role in bone loss, and may actually improve bone density,” Lucas said.

Lucas is also researching the efficacy of bitter melon for diabetes, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The widely consumed Asian vegetable has hypoglycemic properties. The study compared the effects of freeze-dried bitter melon with rosiglitazone and fenofibrate on body weight and glucose.

“Significant differences in body weight were observed within one week of beginning the study, Lucas said. “Body weights in groups fed bitter melon were reduced and blood glucose was normalized.”

But it’s yet another study that has grabbed the atten-tion of Oklahoma’s grape growers and wine makers. Lucas is researching the anti-inflammatory properties of the grape varieties grown in Oklahoma. Her findings could boost sales for Oklahoma’s grape industry. Lucas hopes by spring 2009 to have results for the study, which the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station is funding.

“We’re testing 33 varieties of Oklahoma grapes. We first determined each variety’s phenolic content – the compounds that we think provide health benefits. Now we’re using grape juice extract to test the anti-inflammatory benefits at the cellular level. The next step is to see how the compounds work in humans,” she says.

Lucas believes it would benefit growers and wineries to determine which variety of grapes offers the most health bene-fits. “Oklahoma had 49 wineries in 2005, and each worked with a different variety of grape. Since most grow their grapes, they could then look into producing the healthiest variety for their wine,” she says.

“Our findings will help Oklahoma grape growers market their products by promoting them as potentially beneficial to the prevention of inflammation related diseases,” Lucas says. “The health benefits will not only be a strong promotional tool to market wine but could encourage some growers to expand their businesses to produce a ‘healthier’ grape juice as well.”

While everyone knows fruits and vegetables have long been recommended by the medical community as the foun-dation for health, Ed Lucas is proving why consuming them can reduce the dependence on chemicals to manage a variety of diseases and prevent others from occurring.

Eileen Mustain and Julie Barnard

Edralin Lucas

“Being a part of protecting children from diseases is really wonderful,” says Stanley Grogg, D.O., clinical research medical director at Oklahoma State University Center

for Health Sciences. Grogg, a pediatrician who has traveled the world on

mission trips caring for kids, leads a team of OSU Physi-cians Clinics pediatricians in clinical trials for immuniza-tions against childhood-related diseases. Drs. Colony Fugate, Shawna Duncan, Christine Clary, Rhonda Casey, Kayse Shrum, Jennifer Skelton, Whitney Latham and Amanda Foster are part of the team currently studying treatments for influenza, pneumonia and meningitis.

They already have helped with one successful new treat-ment. A trial for a vaccine against rotavirus or RV (intestinal flu) is complete and RotaTeq oral vaccine by Merck and Co. is on the market. It has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and recommended for general use for RV. The vaccine is recommended for children at ages two-, four- and six-months-old to protect against moderate to severe RV.

Grogg says the viral infection causes diarrhea and dehy-dration and takes many young lives in poorer nations.

Photo: Terry Drenner

Stanley Grogg, D.O., medical director of clinical research and professor of pediatrics and Kayse Shrum, D.O., chair and associate professor of pediatrics.

OSU Medicine’s clinical trials take on children’s diseases

“We were involved with initial studies to get FDA approval, and had 362 patients in the trials. Since the release of the vaccine the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Family Practice have recommended that the vaccine be used,” Grogg says.

RV occurs year-round in the tropics and is the top killer of children worldwide, Grogg says. It is seasonal in the United States, starting in the southwest in December and January and the ending in the northeast in April and May.

Grogg explains that the vaccine doesn’t prevent the diar-rheal illness, but lessens its severity. “By age five, virtually all children will have had RV,” he says. Seriously ill patients required hospitalization and IV therapy. Infants can become lethargic, unusually pale, and if they cannot tolerate liquids they can become rapidly dehydrated.

The Centers for Disease Control reports since the vaccine’s release a decrease in the number of emergency room visits and hospitalizations due to RV has occurred and the season for the illness has been shortened.

“In other words, the vaccine is working,” Grogg says.Marla Schaefer

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Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences and the Oklahoma

Medical Research Foundation have part-nered to address the growing shortage of veterinary scientists available to deliver modern science and medicine.

There is a nationally recognized need for increased numbers of veteri-nary graduates trained in comparative animal systems able to conduct advanced research in the health sciences. The National Research Council in a recent study, “Critical Needs for Research in Veterinary Science” (Committee on the National Needs for Research in Veterinary Science), warns that we are not training enough veterinary researchers to take advantage of scientific opportunities.

The CVHS is addressing the current shortage by proposing a combined Resi-dency-Ph.D. training program at OSU’s CVHS and the OMRF. The program is set to begin in summer 2009.

“The training of veterinarians for academic careers is extremely critical due to the national shortage of veterinar-ians entering academic careers,” explains Dr. Michael Lorenz, dean of the CVHS. “Training residents to conduct biomedical research is an important preparation for faculty careers. This program is designed to prepare clinical scientists for produc-tive academic careers.

“This innovative collaboration will utilize the depth and breadth of our faculty expertise to train clinician-scien-tists for future clinical research careers,” he continues. “The OMRF faculty conducts cutting-edge research in biomed-ical science using a cross-disciplinary approach to medical research focusing on such critical research areas as heart disease, cancer, lupus, and Alzheimer’s disease.”

The areas of complementary and overlapping interest between the two institutions provide a good foundation to establish a unique and successful program with opportunity to expand over time based on the acquisition of extramural training grants.

Among the major areas for research activities are application and/or devel-opment of animal models of diseases of

human or veterinary importance and new application of technologies, particularly bio-imaging, across these models. There are other areas of need such as diagnostic and pathology services, specialized animal housing, and other infrastructure that closer interaction might address to the benefit of both institutions.

“One of the greatest challenges we face as veterinary educators is recruit-ment of veterinary clinical specialists with the advanced training and interest to fill open faculty positions,” says Dr. Charles MacAllister, department head of Veterinary Clinical Sciences. “This

proposed combined program will allow us to train additional clinical specialists that will have not only clinical specialty training, but also the research training that will enhance their careers as faculty members.”

The research conducted by these future scientists would be directly appli-cable to advancing human and/or animal health and welfare. The first promising scientist would be trained in pathology. In subsequent years, a scientist could alter-natively receive training in radiology.

An interdisciplinary committee will mentor and advise each trainee. Outcomes of the program will be measured primarily by the number of successful scientists

Photos by Gary Lawson

Using Innovative Ways to Train Graduate Researchers

produced and transitioned into clinical (translational) research careers.

“Eligible candidates must have a genuine intent to pursue an academic/clinical research career and understand that this is an integrated program that leads to both board eligibility and the Ph.D. degree,” adds Lorenz.

A program advisory committee will advise and mentor students regarding career goals, plan of study, selection of lab rotations and academic progress. This committee will include members of the Veterinary Biomedical Sciences graduate faculty, OMRF faculty appointed to adjunct positions, and clinical faculty in the specialty areas for residency training. Written evaluation reports will be submitted annually to the program advisory committee, the coordinator of the VBS Graduate Program, the dean of the CVHS, and president of OMRF.

Research training for the Ph.D. will occur concurrently over a six-year program. Throughout the program, students will be expected to maintain activity and presence in both residency and research environments, attending appropriate conferences, meetings, special training sessions and engaging in regular meetings with mentors across the range of activities.

The budget includes salary and bene-fits, and tuition support for one trainee for six years. Sufficient funds will also be available to mentors to supplement research activities and other training-related expenses, including nominal support for participation of the trainee in regional and national meetings. It is the long-term goal for this program to secure National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Until that occurs, the CVHS and OMRF will split the cost.

The Oklahoma State University Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is one of 28 veterinary colleges in the United States and is fully accredited by the Council on Education of the American Veteri-nary Medical Association. The Center’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital is open to the public and provides routine and specialized care for small and large animals. It also offers 24 hour emergency care and is certified by the American Animal Hospital Association.

Derinda Lowe

Melissa Cordero, DVM, is a graduate teaching assistant in the Physiological Sciences Department at OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences.


Connecting Community Resources Encouraging All Teachers to Educate with Spirit (CREATES) was born in 2000 and Dr. Diane Montgomery, professor

in the College of Education’s School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, was there at the beginning. Mont-gomery served as the principal investigator for the project’s research component.

The mission of Project CREATES was “to develop and deliver high-quality academic instruction infused with high-quality arts instruction for students attending urban elemen-tary schools of need in the Tulsa community.”

After two years of the pilot work, the Barthelmes Foun-dation gave OSU a $250,000 contract in 2002-2003. At the end of that year, the foundation saw a major return on its investment and awarded another $1 million and a four-year contract (2003-2007) for research on cultural changes, equity, and sustainability of the activities.

“The purpose was to conduct research on transforming teaching and learning through the arts,” Montgomery said. “We looked at a culture of change connected to our concep-tion of co-creation. Our goal was equity combined with excellence.”

Project CREATES set out to develop rich and challenging curricula for all students while identifying and supporting talent development with under-identified and under-served populations of students. Music and visual arts were the vehicles used. The project’s focus included arts infusion, professional development for teachers and artists, talent development for students with interest or potential in the arts, and especially research on the outcomes.

The project aimed to expand on the traditional artists-in-residence model, which may be stand alone programs sepa-rate from other curricula. Arts Resource Coaches (ARCs) worked with teachers and artists daily in Project CREATES. These individuals were practicing artists with mastery in a particular arts area who also had experience in curricula and pedagogy.

Classroom instructors worked with community artists and arts educators (ARCs) to co-create lessons, including all instruc-tional aspects of co-planning, co-teaching and co-evaluating. Students painted, sculpted, danced, and played music, inves-tigating their core curriculum and demonstrating standards, objectives, and benchmarks in new and exciting ways.

Examples included a lesson titled “Stomp!” which taught students rhythm and patterns through composing and performing music using common objects; and “What a Wonderful World,” a lesson in which students created a painting or drawing and learned history by analyzing lyrics for the song.

“It was so successful that (teachers) became overwhelmed with how motivating it was to collaborate,” said Montgomery, who received the OSU-Tulsa President’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2008.

Montgomery and her team employed a unique and inno-vative research model that used mixed methods. The research team did not serve to externally evaluate how the lessons were received by the children; they co-planned and implemented the project using immediate research feedback to change it. They were able to make adjustments to what was happening and then continue to document the culture.

“One of the innovations, we felt, was that the people providing services in the schools – the arts educators and our teachers – became researchers,” Montgomery noted. “They assisted in making observations and providing data to graduate students who were researchers in the schools.”

Another unique aspect of the program was that it focused only on teachers who responded to the invitation to partici-pate. Total school commitment was not required. Teachers chose to participate at the level they felt comfortable in terms of their time commitments, interests, and strengths.

One manuscript in press describes teacher outcomes using a circus metaphor. One group of teachers, “Crack the Whip,” did not use the arts until they had time. Another group,

“Walking the Tightrope,” felt a pull with doing art and the traditional mode of presentation and preparing for assess-ments. Another large group of teachers, “Flying the Trapeze,” felt freed by doing art and that their students were going to learn the content well with joy and creativity.

Project CREATES research resulted in more than 30 publications and presentations at the regional, national and international level.

Project CREATES extended beyond the classroom and into the community in the form of visual art displays at libraries, student coffee houses, poetry readings, musical performances and plays. The events were attended by parents and families and supported by community agencies.

From the observations they made and the data collected, Montgomery and her team learned a number of things about the educators and children involved.

They found that involvement in the arts did not take away from student achievement. Also, children who participated in music talent development were found to be better readers and were also better in science and social studies. Creativity scores increased.

It was reported that children had a sense of accomplishment and were better with their self-governing behaviors – concen-trating, intensity of thought and engagement with the task.

Though research continues, initial findings demonstrate the need for teachers to gain comfort in using the arts in their classrooms.

Creating an atmosphere for learningProject CREATES is having a lasting impact on school children by changing the work of teachers in the Tulsa Public Schools.

“It takes three years to make significant changes, three years to see the momentum occur,” Montgomery said. “Our quantitative data demonstrates that the third year, we made a significant difference in what teachers were doing and how they were perceiving the value of the arts and collaborating with artists.”

The research team noted that it takes five years to make this arts program sustainable. Though the research contract for Project CREATES concluded in 2007, the program is sustaining in the original target schools and four new schools. Research indicated that key elements to sustaining the programs included community support, administrative action, and a critical mass of teacher involvement. Support from the community surged, evident by Tulsa arts agencies’ continued efforts. Donors are providing resources, scholar-ships for special music instruction are available, and profes-sional development for teachers and artists continues. Active support continues from District administrators and schools remain committed to using the arts.

“We’re proud to see the schools continue with combining equity and excellence in arts infusion and talent development,” Montgomery said.

Christy Lang

This fish demonstrates arts infusion and reflects the creative product of a lesson designed for kindergarten to second grade students in the theme of relationship. The lesson is a combination of science (studying fish), visual arts (line, shape, color), and language arts (vocabulary, storytelling).

Dr. Diane Montgomery, professor in the College of Educa-tion’s School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, served as the principal investigator for the Project CREATES research component.

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EPSCoR funding playing vital role in OSU biofuels research

Consider it the basis of the coming biobased economy: Build a better plant and strengthen local communities, thereby improving the quality of life

for residents.The ultimate goal is to create renewable energy from high-

yield, high-quality plants that can help meet the world’s needs in economically viable and environmentally sound ways, said Yanqi Wu, a plant breeder with Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.

“It’s a simple concept, but the science needed to realize the goal can be quite involved,” said Wu, a faculty member in the department of plant and soil sciences, whose biofuels research got a boost in November thanks to new funding provided through the Oklahoma Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.

EPSCoR is on tap to receive $20 million from the National Science Foundation and Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education at a rate of $4 million annually, renewable for the next five years.

The EPSCoR funding supports a collaborative project led by OSU’s Ray Huhnke, director of the division’s Biobased Products and Energy Center; Lance Lobban, director of the University of Oklahoma’s School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering; and Kirankumar Mysore, a professor at the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.

“A high percentage of our OSU involvement will be Dr. Wu and his group,” Huhnke said. “Yanqi will be working with scientists across the university community to enhance devel-opment in both yield and quality of switchgrass.”

science at the Molecular LevelWu and his fellow collaborating scientists will be studying

DNA to identify genomic regions responsible for the major components of biomass switchgrass. They will also examine the gene expression profiles associated with switchgrass develop-ment and the makeup of plant structure as it relates to biomass yield. A third major factor will focus on plant stress resistance, a key to protecting biomass yield potential.

State representatives Mike Jackson of District 40 (Garfield County), left, and Lee Denney of District 33 (Logan and Payne coun-ties), center, examine materials that are part of Oklahoma State University’s unique biofuels production process, under the direction of Ray Huhnke, right, coordinator of the OSU Biofuels Team.

A new day is dawning, wherein lignocellulosic biofuels made from switchgrass, sorghum and other grasses and crop residues will enhance traditional sources of energy without negatively affecting food and fiber production.

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Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu26 Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu 27

intellectual capacity in the field of plant development and conversion technologies,” Huhnke said. “This is an impor-tant component of attracting industry to the state. Our cellu-losic ethanol research is already well known throughout the nation. This will solidify Oklahoma’s status as a leader in the use of state resources to develop liquid fuels and other forms of energy.”

Oklahoma is one of only four states that have 10 or more distinct eco-systems. This has helped foster the division’s vision about what it will truly take to create a sustainable, renew-able energy system.

Plants that might work best in one part of the state will not necessarily be the best choice for biofuels feedstock in another part of Oklahoma; the same holds true on the national scale, where it might make more economic and environmental sense for states or regions to favor certain feedstocks over others, said Clarence Watson, associate director of the division’s statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system.

“Our vision of a decentralized system has received a great deal of interest from U.S. government officials as they look at developing a national renewable energy policy,” he said. (see sidebar) “Key elements of the science that will help create a

Shaping Oklahoma’s Renewable Energy Future

The OSU Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources’ vision for the future intersection of energy and agriculture involves a decentralized energy production system. This would consist of dispersed energy generation plants, potentially using a different technology and/or biomass feedstock combination appropriate to specific regions of states and the nation. A decentralized system offers numerous benefits:

Optimum Technology selectionDiverse states and regions must be able to use the

appropriate resources best suited to their areas, thereby generating local solutions to their energy needs.

reduced Feedstock supply riskDiversification of feedstocks leads to improved

logistics and reduced risks associated with fueling huge energy production systems, particularly important for the low density feedstocks that potentially may be used in agriculture-based energy production.

simplified Byproduct utilizationMany byproducts associated with renewable energy

production will be available for beneficial, cost-effective local uses in a decentralized system.

reduced Transportation CostsTransportation costs are reduced threefold, in the

feedstock supply chain, distribution of the final product and in the dispersal of byproducts and/or waste prod-ucts.

Expanded rural Economic DevelopmentA decentralized energy production system helps to

disperse monetary gains, particularly into local econo-mies. If agriculture is to play a significant role in the future of renewable energy, there must be a significant benefit to America’s agribusiness operators and rural communities.

Lessened Vulnerability to sabotageDependence on a small number of energy sources

makes the United States vulnerable to potential attacks on the nation’s energy supply. Diversification reduces that risk.

reduced Burden on Local utilitiesAs new industries are introduced into local communi-

ties, the demand on local utilities can be significant. Large water supplies may be required for processing, as well as increased wastewater treatment capacity. A decentralized system provides a better means to distribute the burden and reduce the effect on local municipalities.

“Dr. Ranmanjulu Sunkar’s work with small RNA’s is extremely exciting and cutting edge,” Wu said. “Small RNA’s are important because they regulate plant gene expression. The ability to effectively utilize small RNA activities is a relatively new field of research, and is the foundation of enhancing scien-tific understanding necessary to ultimately produce improved varieties of plants.”

Wu, Sunkar and Ramamurthy Mahalingam, who like Sunkar is a member of the OSU department of biochemistry and molecular biology, will be creating cost-effective feed-stocks that can then be converted by microbial and chemical processes to produce desired products such as biofuels.

Huhnke will be working closely with the University of Oklahoma to make use of the scientific and technical advances discovered and developed by the research teams led by Wu, Sunkar and Mahalingam.

growing intellectual CapacityAs part of its research focus, the EPSCoR funding will

provide the division and OSU with opportunities to hire new faculty, post-doctoral scientists, research engineers and grad-uate and undergraduate students.

“Think of the EPSCoR funding as growing Oklahoma’s

viable biobased economy are going on right now, right here in Oklahoma, and the EPSCoR funding is playing a vital role.”

improving Quality of LifeThe division is comprised of the OSU College of Agricultural

Sciences and two state agencies: the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, with 17 research stations situated across the state, and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, working side-by-side with local residents through county, area, district and state offices serving all 77 counties in Oklahoma.

“Our land-grant mission is to tackle issues and concerns of importance to Oklahoma, and the activities associated with the EPSCoR grant are a good example of some of the ways in which we take science-based discoveries and turn them into practical programs that benefit the public,” Watson said.

The grant allows for summer technology academies, mobile science vehicles and teacher-training workshops aimed at exposing students and teachers from kindergarten classes through high school to cutting-edge science related to bioenergy.

At the collegiate level, the funds support undergraduate student research experiences in academia and industry that will promote increased awareness about bioenergy and stimulate the recruitment of talented next-generation problem-solvers into graduate-level programs.

“A statewide cyber-infrastructure consortium will be estab-lished,” Huhnke said. “Conferences to encourage multi-disci-plinary, multi-campus collaborations will be supported, which should also enhance faculty competitiveness in securing future grants.”

An entrepreneurial workshop, a business plan competition for students and vouchers to assess the commercial potential of researchers’ inventions also are on tap, each of which will help foster the spirit of creativity and entrepreneurship vital to creating a sustainable biobased economy.

Huhnke said the educational initiatives not only strengthen Oklahoma’s business capacity, they also promote the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups through collaboration with 1890 land-grant institutions and tribal colleges.

“The EPSCoR funds will enhance our ability to facilitate the transition of students from high school to college, provide culture-attuned counseling support and promote programs aimed at retaining students pursuing science, technology, engineering and math disciplines,” he said.

Other initiatives will promote the effective communication of biofuels-related advances in order to enhance public aware-ness about the value of science.

Watson adds it is important to remember that science moves at its own pace; researchers do not just snap their fingers and immediately come up with the solution to a concern or issue.

“It’s only because visionary scientists, engineers and agri-cultural economists at OSU and some of our peer institutions began studying biomass-based energy and the economic, envi-ronmental and social implications of a biobased economy back in the early 1990s that the United States today is close as it is to a sustainable biobased energy system,” he said.

Donald Stotts

As Pistol Pete (left) looks on, OSU President Burns Hargis (center) and Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry (right) showcase the university’s ongoing commitment to Oklahoma’s economic development by expanding the scientific frontiers of the state’s two strongest economic engines: agriculture and energy.

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Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu28 Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu 29Research at Oklahoma State University • www.vpr.okstate.edu28

Growing the Numbers

income from Licenses number of Licenses Yielding income

number of Patents granted

Intellectual Property (1998–2008)

Research Expenditures (1998–2008)

’98 ’99 ’00 ’01 ’02 ’03 ’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08

Per Year in Millionsof Dollars

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Licenses Per Year

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Annual Research Expenditures in Millions of Dollars

Photo provided

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The three-dimensional crystal structure of a poxvirus protein in the act of disarming the IL-18 that was solved by OSU faculty member Junpeng Deng and Ph.D. student Brian Krumm. The yellow, stick-like structure is the poxvirus IL-18BP protein. The larger, more colorful structure is the human IL-18.

Smallpox has a nasty history

throughout the world. Caused by poxviruses, smallpox is one of the few disease-causing agents against which the human body’s immune system is ineffective in its defense.

A major breakthrough by Junpeng Deng, a struc-tural biologist in the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (DASNR) at Oklahoma State University, and his first-year Ph.D. student, Brian Krumm, may be the first step towards a pharmaceutical medication for smallpox and the emerging human monkeypox.

The human immune system is rendered helpless against poxvi-ruses partly because the viruses block a human immune molecule, interleukin-18 (IL-18), from sending out a signal to the immune system. The body acts as if everything is fine and the deadly disease takes over.

Deng and Krumm joined an ongoing project midway through 2007 and Krumm found what he was looking for in December 2008. They solved a three-dimensional crystal structure of a poxvirus protein in the act of disarming the IL-18.

“We capped a lot of others’ research. This is additional information provided,” said Krumm, who is credited as the major contributor to the research. “We also show many things through the structure that can’t be revealed through traditional molecular biology and immunology.”

The study is published in the Dec. 22 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

“We know now how the proteins communicate with each other,” Deng said. “In the future, we can design a drug to stop the poxvirus from blocking the IL-18 protein.”

As there is currently no medication for poxvirus-caused diseases, this research could aid national and international secu-rity efforts against potential poxvirus use as bioterrorism.

Deng called the finding an example of “killing two birds with one stone.”

“At this time we only have very limited medica-tion to treat autoimmune diseases,” he said.

For example, rheu-matoid arthritis is one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases in which IL-18 is too active, leading to the body attacking its own cells. Deng said seeing how IL-18 interacts with the poxviruses will help with the devel-opment of effective inhibitors against overreaction.

“There are still a lot of questions to be answered. This is just the beginning,” D e n g s a id . “This opened

up a new area to explore: How we design medication for autoimmune diseases. We want to provide more and more structural insights.”

Deng and Krumm will continue to do research in the lab created two years ago in November 2006, when Deng joined OSU with funding provided by a start-up fund from DASNR.

“Junpeng is a relatively new assistant professor at OSU and has already demonstrated some excellent work,” said Gary Thompson, head of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology. “I’m really impressed with not only Junpeng, but also the quality of work from his Ph.D. students.”

Deng and Krumm did their research in the lab at OSU, but recognize the help they had from other researchers.

“Credit also goes to Yan Xiang and Xiangzhi Meng, our collaborators at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio,” Deng said of the multi-institutional effort. “I believe our excellent collaboration will bring more success in the future.”

Sean Hubbard

OSU researchers make breakthrough against poxviruses

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