Minority Programs Update: Winter 1999 - National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Minority Programs Update

Winter 1999

MORE Announces New Career Development Award
Good Advising About Career Options is More Crucial Than Ever
Dr. Hinda Zlotnik Joins MARC Program
NIGMS Bridges Program Director Retires
FASEB Undertakes a Major Expansion of Its MARC Programs
Montana State Extends Development Activities with New IMSD Grant
Profile: Dr. Renato J. Aguilera
News and Notes about the MORE Division
Selected Publications
Recent Awards and Fellowships
Upcoming Meetings
Acronyms Used in this Issue

The NIGMS Minority Programs Update is produced by the Office of Communications and Public Liaison of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The material is not copyrighted and we encourage its use or reprinting.

Editor: Susan Athey
Office of Communications and Public Liaison, NIGMS
Room 1AS.25
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301) 496-7301
Fax: (301) 402-0224
e-mail atheys@nigms.nih.gov

MORE Announces New Career Development Award

The MORE Division has announced a new award that is designed to facilitate the progress of postdoctoral candidates toward research and teaching careers in academia. The Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) combines a traditional mentored postdoctoral research experience with an opportunity to develop teaching skills through mentored assignments at a minority-serving institution. The goals of the program are to provide a resource to motivate the next generation of scientists at minority-serving institutions as well as to promote linkages between research-intensive institutions and minority-serving institutions that can lead to further collaborations in research and teaching.

Applications must be submitted on behalf of a consortium of domestic, private or public, educational institutions. The applicant institution should serve as the primary site of the postdoctoral research experience, and the consortium must include one or more minority-serving institutions. The minority-serving institution may be a public or private, 2- or 4-year college, university, or health professional school with a significant enrollment of underrepresented minority students.

The total project period may not exceed 5 years, and projects are renewable. Institutions that receive awards may recruit and select candidates directly into their programs, rather than submitting a separate application on behalf of each prospective candidate. Applicants may request salary and fringe benefits to support the full-time efforts of the candidates, as well as funds for tuition, fees, and books related to career development; supplies and other research expenses; travel to one training or scientific meeting per year; and statistical services, including personnel and computer time. Funds may also be requested to support mentoring activities at the minority-serving institution and program administration. As with other MORE grant programs, institutions are expected to set specific goals and measurable objectives against which they will be evaluated when they recompete for continued funding.

The annual receipt date for IRACDA Program applications is October 1.

The complete announcement for the IRACDA Program, issued June 24, 1998, can be found on the Web at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-98-085.html

For more information on the IRACDA Program, contact:
Dr. Clifton Poodry
Director, MORE Division, NIGMS
Room 2AS.37
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301) 594-3900
Fax: (301) 480-2753
e-mail: poodryc@nigms.nih.gov

From the MORE Director...

Good Advising About Career Options is More Crucial Than Ever

by Clifton Poodry, Ph.D.
Director, MORE Division, NIGMS

The mission of the MORE Division has been, and continues to be, to increase the number of underrepresented minorities going into biomedical research. However, the production of non-minority Ph.D.s has recently outstripped the number of available faculty positions in research institutions. Two reports, Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists from the National Research Council¹ (NRC) and Losing Ground: Science and Engineering Graduate Education of Black and Hispanic Americans by Malcom et al. of the American Association for the Advancement of Science², combine to paint a discouraging picture of prospects for a diverse and inclusive biomedical research workforce. The former report describes the overproduction of Ph.D.s and recommends "no further expansion in the size of existing graduate-education programs in the life sciences and no development of new programs, except under rare and special circumstances, such as a program to serve an emerging field or to encourage the education of members of underrepresented minority groups." The latter report documents a disturbing drop in the enrollment of Black and Hispanic Ph.D. students after 1996.

A major point in the NRC report is caveat emptor. The reasoning is that if students know that the prospects are slim for finding employment at research universities, they will self-select out of the Ph.D. pathway. I fear that many underrepresented minority students, especially those who are less than 100 percent confident in their abilities or are uncertain about how welcome they will be even if they attain the Ph.D., will be so diverted.

While pondering these reports and the challenge of getting more minorities into research careers--since, in my view, there is still no glut of Ph.D.s who are from the underrepresented groups--I thought about how I had wandered into a research career. Let me share some personal experiences to illustrate how having options can provide both motivation and a security that nurtures further exploration. My story will illustrate a stepwise set of career choices and reinforce the notion that knowledge of options can help to reveal the value added of achieving the next level of education.

Career? What's That?

When I was growing up on the Seneca Indian Reservation, my main consideration was getting a job, any job, to be able to make a little money. It is a fortunate few who have clear career aspirations from early in life. My friends and I were not among them.

When I was a young teenager, I made money in about the only way I could at that age--as a farm hand. I worked summers picking cherries and potatoes. In the latter job I learned a very important lesson at an early age, as I got fired for throwing potatoes at the farmer's cows.

At 15, I got a job working as a busboy in a restaurant--a job I found to be very hard work. In addition to giving me a means to an income for three summers, the experience taught me that I didn't want to be a busboy or short-order cook for the rest of my life. What I really hoped for was a job with a construction company. It is hard to believe now that at one time the most desirable job I could imagine was a flagman on a road crew.

The summer after my sophomore year of college, I had a day job as a house painter and a night job as a restaurant cook and manager. I worked a combined 75 to 80 hours a week. By working long hours in the summer, I was able to minimize the number of hours that I had to work during the school year, and I knew that if I dropped out of school I could always get a job in a restaurant.

After my junior year in college, I got a job at Republic Steel. As a union steelworker, I made a good wage, much better than I could make in the restaurant. I worked nights in the steel mill and days painting houses. I looked forward to getting back to school, but I knew that I could always fall back on my trade as a skilled house painter. And if that failed, I could return to my job at the mill or a job in the restaurant.

Near the end of my senior year, I applied for a position as a technician for a company that recycled nuclear fuel. I didn't get the job. Who knew that grades mattered? Who knew that interview skills mattered? So it was back to the steel mill and house painting for another summer. Even though I preferred to move on to new endeavors, there was an important security in having some choices. I wonder what other choices an advisor would have suggested.

One of the careers I had considered for some time was that of a high school science teacher and football coach. I realized that a year or two of graduate work would open new doors. On the advice of fellow students, I sought a master's degree in biology rather than in education in my quest for the credentials needed to become a teacher. With no financial aid, my two summer jobs eased the loan burden that was accumulating and getting a master's degree proved to be a critical stepping stone to yet another new possibility--getting the Ph.D. New goals were set. There were some very low moments, such as the stress of qualifying exams, but I always had the security of a number of fall-back positions. I could teach high school, I could be a painting contractor, or if those options did not work out, I could always work in a steel mill or a restaurant.

Getting a Ph.D. greatly widened the number of options available to me. I liked teaching, so I thought that a job in a junior college, or better yet a small 4-year college, would be very rewarding. I viewed a job at a research university as frosting on the cake. Another path I thought I could take would be to apply for a research job in the pharmaceutical industry.

When and How Does Career Advice Begin?

As my experiences reflect, having options is very empowering, and getting a higher degree does expand the range of possibilities--but there are no guarantees. Competition for the most desirable positions is fierce. We can help students with the real-world choices they face by making them aware of the options available to them. Responsible mentors, teachers, and advisors should do more than just identify the wonderful possibilities that are available to students. Good advice should enable students to assess their own current skills and competitiveness and guide them to prudent choices. With that advice in hand, and with the security of having a variety of options, a student can decide whether to take the next step along a path to a biomedical career.

¹National Research Council. Trends in the Early Careers of Life Scientists. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998.

²Malcom SM, Van Horne VV, Gaddy CD, George YS. Losing Ground: Science and Engineering Graduate Education of Black and Hispanic Americans. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1998.

Dr. Hinda Zlotnik Joins MARC Program

Dr. Hinda Zlotnik has joined the staff of NIGMS as a program administrator in the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) Program Branch. She comes to NIGMS from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine in San Juan, where she was director of the office of sponsored research and a professor in the department of microbiology and medical zoology.

Zlotnik earned her undergraduate degree in biochemistry and microbiology from the Universidad Nacional Aut—noma de Mexico in Mexico City, and her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Temple University in Philadelphia. She did postdoctoral work at Temple University's Skin and Cancer Hospital, as well as at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases' Laboratory of Enzymes and Biochemistry. In 1995, she spent 6 months as an NIH extramural associate, performing assignments with the MARC Program and with the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

Zlotnik is a member of several scientific societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, and the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas.

NIGMS Bridges Program Director Retires

Dr. Americo Rivera, the director of the Bridges to the Future Program at NIGMS since its inception, retired in December after a 36-year Federal career.

Rivera joined NIH as a research chemist in 1965, serving in the Laboratory of Perinatal Physiology (located in San Juan, Puerto Rico) in what was then known as the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB). He transferred to NIH's Bethesda campus in 1970, when the laboratory was moved from Puerto Rico. In 1975, Rivera joined NIGMS as a health scientist administrator in its Biomedical Engineering Program, and in 1992, he assumed the additional role of director of a new NIGMS initiative--the Bridges to the Future Program.

Over the years, Rivera's name has become synonymous with the Bridges Program, which is co-sponsored by NIGMS and the NIH Office of Research on Minority Health. The program assists students in associate's or master's degree programs in making the transition to the next level of training (the bachelor's or Ph.D. degree) toward careers in biomedical research.

"Much of the success of the Bridges Program can be attributed to Dr. Rivera's outstanding leadership," said Dr. Clifton Poodry, director of MORE Division. "He has been a key player at every stage of the program's development and implementation, and in the years since its establishment, he has provided valuable advice to potential Bridges Program applicants. Under his direction, the program has grown from 9 grants in 1992 to 84 today."

Prior to joining NIH, Rivera served from 1946 to 1949 in the United States Army Medical Corps. He received his A.B. degree from the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico in San German; his M.S. degree from Fordham University in the Bronx, NY; and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in New York, NY. He did a predoctoral fellowship at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a postdoctoral fellowship at the McArdle Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Rivera is the recipient of numerous government awards, including a Public Health Service (PHS) Equal Opportunity Achievement Award and a PHS Special Recognition Award. His successor as director of the Bridges Program is Dr. Irene Eckstrand, who holds a joint appointment in the Institute's MORE Division and in its Division of Genetics and Developmental Biology.

For more information on the Bridges to the Future Program, contact:
Dr. Irene Eckstrand
Director, Bridges to the Future Program, NIGMS
Room 2AS.25
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301) 594-0943
Fax: (301) 480-2228
e-mail:eckstrai@nigms.nih.gov

FASEB Undertakes a Major Expansion of Its MARC Programs

by Henry T. Dunbar with Ana August, FASEB

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has begun an expansion and enhancement of its 15-year participation in the MARC Program. Historically, FASEB's MARC program has supported a variety of activities, including:

a visiting scientist program for minority institutions;
scholarships for minority scientists to attend FASEB society scientific meetings and conferences held throughout the year; and,
scholarships for minority students to attend FASEB summer research conferences in Vermont, Colorado, and Oregon.

With a new NIGMS grant, FASEB is collaborating with all of its member organizations to develop a comprehensive program to complement its existing MARC activities. Four new initiatives that have been implemented in the past year are described below.

Enhanced Web Site

FASEB has developed and maintains a MARC Activities and InfoNet Web site at https://ns2.faseb.org/marc/. Using World Wide Web browsers, minority scientists, students, and other interested people can access information on all FASEB minority activities and programs, including a listing of upcoming events and the names of contact people. The site also contains information on a variety of Federal and private organizations' minority research activities, as well as links to other Web sites.

National Conference on Minority Researchers

FASEB hosted a 1-day national conference and workshop at the Experimental Biology '98 meeting in San Francisco, CA, this past April. Well-known minority scientists and minority graduate and undergraduate students with majors in the biological and biobehavioral sciences participated. For the fourth consecutive year, the American Association of Anatomists hosted a program at the meeting for local minority undergraduate students, scientists, anatomy department chairpersons, and other decisionmakers to discuss educational and professional opportunities for minority students in academic medicine and biomedical research. Dr. David Satcher, U.S. Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was the keynote speaker at the event. Dr. James C. Story of Meharry Medical College served as the moderator.

Grant Application and Process Training

Recognizing the significant disadvantages young scientists--especially young minority scientists--have in competing against veteran scientists for research funding, FASEB developed a program to inform and train minority researchers about the NIH and National Science Foundation (NSF) funding systems and how to effectively prepare research grant applications.

FASEB sponsored two workshops in an effort to train minority scientists to successfully prepare grant applications. The first workshop, "An Introduction to NIH and to NIH Grantsmanship," was organized by Dr. Michael Rogers, director of the NIGMS Division of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Biological Chemistry. The workshop was held in conjunction with the Experimental Biology '98 conference. The second workshop, "Grant Writers' Seminar and Workshops, Inc.," was held in June at FASEB's headquarters in Bethesda, MD. Through these workshops, participants were exposed to the theoretical and practical aspects of grant writing.

In addition to workshops and seminars, FASEB plans to establish a training program based on a moot peer review, similar to moot courts in law schools. The primary purpose of this effort will be to assist minority scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and predoctoral students in developing successful applications.

Faculty/Student Summer Fellowships

One of the most successful MARC activities for talented minority students is summer internships at major research laboratories. The objectives of this activity are to expose students to "hands-on" research and to develop better teaching and research programs at minority institutions. FASEB currently provides funding for faculty and student pairs from minority institutions to visit a major research laboratory or institution to learn and update research techniques during the summer months.

For more information on FASEB's MARC programs, contact:
FASEB Career Resources
9650 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD 20814-3998
Telephone: (301) 530-7020
Fax: (301) 571-0699
e-mail: aaugust@faseb.org
FASEB Web site: http://www.faseb.org

Montana State Extends Development Activities with New IMSD Grant

By Sara L. Young, AIRO

When the MORE Division announced changes to its MBRS programs, Montana State University (MSU)-Bozeman responded. The university was successful in obtaining a new grant under the Initiative for Minority Student Development (IMSD). MSU-Bozeman's program started in January 1998 with 9 undergraduate students; it now funds 13. Dr. James McMillan, dean of the College of Letters and Science, serves as the principal investigator, and Sara L. Young, director of American Indian Research Opportunities (AIRO), is the program director.

Although the program is open to all underrepresented minority groups, the students in MSU-Bozeman's program are all Native Americans. AIRO, which serves as the campus "home" for the program, is a consortium of Montana State University and the seven Montana Tribal Colleges. AIRO coordinates the IMSD program with other minority science and engineering programs.

Academic Development

The IMSD program at MSU-Bozeman has targeted several areas of academic development for the participants. Students take part in a weekly group technical writing class as well as an hour-long, one-on-one technical writing session with the IMSD technical writing instructor, who also teaches a three-credit technical writing course at the university. Students work individually and in small groups three evenings a week at the AIRO office to prepare for tests, complete group projects, and use the computers in the AIRO student resource center. Each student is required to develop a Web page highlighting his or her college interests and the research projects in which he or she is involved during the year. The student Web pages are located at http://www.montana.edu/wwwai.

In their junior year, students are encouraged to spend time at the AIRO student resource center to prepare for graduate and medical school admission tests. Students are also given support to attend workshops on getting into graduate and professional schools. An additional component of the IMSD program at MSU-Bozeman is a one-credit seminar series each semester dealing with a specific biomedical issue relating to Native Americans.

The first seminar series, held this past spring, focused on general biomedical topics relating to Native Americans. Each seminar was broadcast to the tribal colleges throughout the state to broaden the outreach the IMSD program has with them. This provided the MSU faculty members who participate in the program as mentors and researchers with an opportunity to interact with students at the tribal colleges. Dr. Clifton Poodry, director of the NIGMS MORE Division, was the final speaker of the eight-session series. Other speakers during the spring semester included Dr. Walt Hollow, a faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine; Dr. Warren Lockette, a faculty member at the University of Michigan Medical School; Drs. Bill Bennington and Lori Colomeda of Salish Kootenai College; Dr. Dwight Phillips, a physiology professor at MSU, and two of his IMSD students; and Dr. McMillan, principal investigator of the MSU IMSD program.

The seminars held during the fall semester dealt with cancer among Native Americans.

Faculty Development

Faculty members at MSU-Bozeman and at the tribal colleges are also participating in faculty development activities sponsored by the IMSD program. These activities seek to increase awareness of how the research the IMSD students conduct might impact tribal communities in the future. To gain a greater understanding of the students' needs, MSU faculty researchers learn about the tribal communities and the health issues these communities face.

Editor's Note: Let us know what your institution is doing with MORE support. Articles can be submitted to the Editor (see page 1).

Profile: Dr. Renato J. Aguilera

This special section profiles former MARC and MBRS participants who have excelled in their fields. We hope that the profiles will give students an idea of the types of careers available with science degrees, and the paths others have taken to achieve those careers.

Dr. Aguilera, a former MBRS undergraduate participant at the University of Texas at El Paso, is now the MARC program director at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he is also an associate professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. He joined UCLA in 1989 as an assistant professor after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley. Aguilera has been an active member of numerous scientific societies. From 1994-1997, he served on the board of directors of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, and from 1997-1998 he served on the minority task force of the American Society for Microbiology. Aguilera received his B.S. and his M.S. in biology from the University of Texas at El Paso, and his Ph.D. in immunology from the University of California, Berkeley.

HOW I BECAME INTERESTED IN SCIENCE: When I was a kid, I was very interested in animals and animal behavior. In fact, instead of toys or candy, I spent all of my allowance money on animals such as fish, hamsters, birds, and reptiles. As I grew up, I envisioned becoming an ichthyologist or a marine biologist, but eventually I settled on a career as an immunologist. This transformation happened as a result of working in the immunology laboratory of a Hispanic professor, Dr. Eppie Rael, during the summer of my sophomore year in college at the University of Texas at El Paso. This summer program was funded by MBRS.

HOW THE MARC/MBRS PROGRAM HELPED ME: The MBRS Program opened a door to a laboratory at a time when I was still undecided as to what career path to take. This research experience not only helped me out financially, but it also opened my eyes to a scientific career.

WHAT I ENJOY MOST ABOUT SCIENCE: I enjoy thinking of novel ways of attacking a problem and being able to do the research that proves or disproves a hypothesis. I also enjoy training students to become competent experimentalists.

MY ROLE MODEL: I really don't have one particular role model. As an undergraduate, I became exposed to the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the founding members of this organization and look at all of them as role models. Their success in academia and industry made it possible for me to think that I, too, could aspire to become a successful scientist.

MY ADVICE TO STUDENTS ENTERING/CONSIDERING SCIENTIFIC CAREERS: In order to fall in love with science, you must first become actively involved in it. I strongly recommend to young people interested in the biomedical sciences to try very hard to become actively involved in research. This experience may very well change their career outlook and their lives.

If you know an outstanding former MARC or MBRS participant who has excelled professionally and you would like to nominate that person as a future Update profile subject, please let us know. Your suggestions are always welcome.

News and Notes

Dr. Derrick C. Tabor and Dr. A. Krishna Kumaran have joined NIGMS as expert consultants in the MORE Division.
Tabor is currently on a leave of absence from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC, where he is an associate professor of chemistry and chair of the Department of Natural Sciences. As a former director of the MBRS program at Johnson C. Smith University, Tabor brings to NIGMS an extensive knowledge of MORE's minority programs at the institutional level.
Kumaran recently retired from his position as the Wehr Professor of Biology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. He has a broad knowledge of Federal and private grants, having held awards from NIH, NSF, the Department of Agriculture, the American Cancer Society, and several private foundations. In addition, Kumaran was the program administrator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Undergraduate Biological Sciences Initiative at Marquette University.
Dr. Rebecca H. Hackett recently joined the staff of NIGMS as a scientific review administrator in the Office of Scientific Review. Hackett is a biochemist whose independent research has been in the field of cytokine and growth factor signaling.
Hackett comes to NIGMS from the Food and Drug Administration, where she was a senior staff fellow in the Division of Cytokine Biology at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. She earned an undergraduate degree in the biological sciences with a specialty in medical technology from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and she earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. She did postdoctoral work in the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute.
At NIGMS, Hackett will be working primarily on the review of applications to the MORE Division.
Dr. Eugene Vigil has left the MORE Division to join the NIH Center for Scientific Review as a scientific review administrator in the Cell Development and Function Initial Review Group. In his new position, Vigil will be responsible for the review of applications for instrumentation grants, predoctoral minority fellowships, and other specialized grant programs.
Dr. Herbert B. Silber, a chemistry professor and director of the MARC program at San Jose State University in San Jose, CA, was among this year's recipients of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Silber was honored for his mentoring of minority and disadvantaged students at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels over the past 25 years.
The awards were established by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and are administered and funded by the NSF. They recognize individual efforts and organizational programs designed to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in mathematics, engineering, and science.
Silber was among 10 individuals and 8 institutions honored during ceremonies at the White House on September 10. In addition to a Presidential commemorative certificate, each awardee received a $10,000 grant to be directed back to the mentoring activity.
Dr. James G. Townsel, an MBRS and Bridges program director and professor of anatomy and physiology at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN, has been appointed to the National Advisory Mental Health Council. The council advises the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the Director, NIH; and the Director, National Institute of Mental Health on policies and activities relating to the conduct and support of mental health research, research training, and other programs of the Institute.
Florida A&M University in Tallahassee was named the 1997-1998 "College of the Year" by TIME magazine and The Princeton Review. A historically Black university, Florida A&M participates in the MARC, MBRS, and Bridges Programs.
Scientists looking for sources of support for research and advanced training in the biomedical sciences may want to access GrantsNet, the newly launched site sponsored by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The site provides information for scientists looking for grants, fellowships, and other sources of support. Use of the site is free, although it does require registration. The site can be accessed at http://www.grantsnet.org.
Many student participants in NIGMS' minority programs received degrees this past year:
- Nine former MBRS program participants at New Mexico State University (NMSU) at Las Cruces earned Ph.D. degrees. Five of the recipients were MBRS graduate student participants at NMSU. They are: Yvette Jutta Gardner, molecular biology; Mary Lucero, molecular biology; Armando Varela, molecular biology; Norma Duran, microbiology; and Marcela Trevino, molecular biology. Four of the Ph.D. degree recipients participated in the MBRS program at NMSU as undergraduates and received their degrees from other institutions. They are: Stephen Velarde, organic chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA; Annette Gabaldon, physiology, University of California, Davis; John Trujillo, organic chemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe; and Maria Flores, physiology, University of California, Davis.
- Four MBRS program participants at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey received degrees in May. Sandra Chinapen and Tracy Matthews-Felton received Ph.D. degrees in behavioral and neural sciences, and Claudia Coke and LaToya N. Linton received M.S. degrees in biology. Coke has accepted a position as a research specialist at Merck & Co., Inc., in Rahway, NJ, and Linton began studies at the Pennsylvania State School of Medicine in Hershey this past August.
- Other recent graduates include Paul Anaya and Sue Magdaleno, former MARC program participants at the University of Texas at El Paso, who earned degrees in June from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. Ayana completed the Ph.D. portion of his M.D.-Ph.D. and Magdaleno completed her Ph.D. degree. Magdaleno was named the cell biology outstanding graduate student of the year·Michelle Galloway, a former MBRS program participant at Johnson C. Smith University, received her M.S. degree from Delaware State University and has been admitted to the chemistry Ph.D. program at Kent State University in Kent, OH·James Eric McDuffie, a former MARC student at Benedict College in Columbia, SC, received his Ph.D. in pharmacology from Meharry Medical College in June·Darryl Murray, a former MBRS student participant at Alabama State University in Montgomery, received his Ph.D. in developmental biology in September from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD·Maurice Sholas, a former MARC trainee at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, received his M.D.-Ph.D. in June from Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, MA. He is currently doing his medical residency in San Antonio, TX·Pamela Taylor, a former MBRS program participant at Johnson C. Smith University, received her Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles this past spring.
Two participants in the North Carolina State University (NCSU) Bridges to the Future Program-- Jose I. Alvelo and F. Javier Cisneros--made the transition from master's programs to Ph.D. programs this fall.
Alvelo received a B.S. in premedical studies/biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, and an M.S. in biology from Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, NC. He began doctoral studies in immunology at NCSU this fall.
Cisneros received his D.V.M. from the Central University of Ecuador and his M.S. in animal science from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. He began doctoral studies in human and animal medicine at NCSU this fall.
Many student participants in NIGMS' minority programs made presentations about their research at recent scientific meetings.
- Six MBRS student participants at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) attended the 1997 National Minority Research Symposium, held last fall in New Orleans, LA. They were Abel Baerga-Ortiz, Amanda Coltes, Derek Guirand, Francisco Lio, Sharon Okonkwo, and Gina Tercero. Three UCSD students presented their research at other scientific meetings. They are: Rocio Castro, Society for Neuroscience annual meeting; Keikipua Dancil, fall meeting of the Electrochemical Society; and Gena Tercero, national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
- Three student presentations at the 1997 National Minority Research Symposium were honored with Excellence in Biomedical Research Awards. The awards went to: Shawn Llopis, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA; Geanncarlo Lugo, San Diego State University, CA; and Stephanie Sharps, Hampton University in Hampton, VA.
- Abiola Shitta-Bey, a Bridges student at Miami-Dade Community College in Miami, FL, presented a poster on her research at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology meeting in May in Washington, DC. Her poster was the winner among 400 students in the poster competition. She received a certificate and a $100 prize. Shitta-Bey transferred to the University of Miami, FL, this fall, where she will continue her research with a scholarship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
- Onica Anderson and Alicia Pilgrim, both Delaware State University MARC trainees, were awarded the 1998 MARC scholarship award from FASEB to make a poster presentation on their research at the Experimental Biology '98 meeting in April.
Paul Ardayfio, a senior MARC trainee at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, spent this past summer performing research at the University of Minnesota. He expects to graduate in December with bachelor's degrees in chemistry and psychology. Ardayfio has received numerous awards throughout his academic career. Most recently, he received a $1,000 scholarship from the Society of Toxicology and the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Toxicology in Seattle, WA in March 1998.
In recent months, we have received word about the following current and former student participants in NIGMS minority programs·Maria (Lupe) Garcia, a MARC fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, was a co-recipient of the Ingrith Deyrup-Olsen Award in June for her teaching and special concern for minority students·Dowdy Jackson, a former MBRS student participant at California State University, Dominguez Hills, has taken a research position with Searle working on angiogenesis. Jackson received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco·Valerie Jones, a senior MARC student at Tougaloo College in Tougaloo, MS, was featured in the Mississippi Dental Association Journal this past spring for research she performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center's School of Dentistry in Jackson·Maria Lage, a former MBRS student participant at California State University, Dominguez Hills, has received the Vice President for Student Affairs Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in Science. She entered the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy in Los Angeles this fall·Gina Ochoa, an MBRS program participant at California State University, Dominguez Hills, was selected to participate in the Minority International Research Training Program this past summer. She worked on a research project at Guy's Hospital in London, England. In addition, Ochoa and fellow MBRS participant Begona Velasco received the university president and dean's awards for outstanding student research.

We are always interested in hearing about NIGMS minority program faculty, alumni, and students. Photographs of your students, research labs, and activities are also welcomed and encouraged. Please send information to:

Editor
NIGMS Minority Programs Update
Room 1AS.25
45 Center Drive MSC 6200
Bethesda, MD 20892-6200
Telephone: (301) 496-7301
Fax: (301) 402-0224
e-mail: atheys@nigms.nih.gov

Selected Publications by MARC and MBRS Faculty and Students

(listed by institution)

Arizona State University
Tang B, Sitomer A, Jackson T. Population dynamics and competition in chemostat models with adaptive nutrient uptake. J Math Biol 1997;35:453-79.

Barry University
Mudd LM, Torres J, Lopez TF, Montague J. Effects of growth factors and estrogen on the development of septal cholinergic neurons from the rat. Brain Res Bull 1998;45:137-42.

California State University, Dominguez Hills
Cullings KW, Morafka DJ, Hernandez J, Roberts JW. Reassessment of phylogenetic relationships among Pitviper genera based on mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences. Copeia 1997;2:429-32.

Torres SC, Camacho JL, Matsumoto B, Kuramoto RT, Robles LJ. Light-/dark-induced changes in rhabdom structure in the retina of Octopus bimaculoides. Cell Tissue Res 1997;290:167-74.

California State University, Hayward
Gailey DA, Ohshima S, Santiago SJ, Montez JM, Arellano AR, Robillo J, Villarimo CA, Roberts L, Fine E, Villella A, Hall JC. The muscle of Lawrence in Drosophila: a case of repeated evolutionary loss. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1997;94:4543-7.

Ohshima S, Villarimo CA, Gailey DA. Reassessment of 79B actin gene expression in the abdomen of adult Drosophila melanogaster. Insect Mol Biol 1997;6:227-31.

Villella A, Gailey DA, Berwald B, Ohshima S, Barnes PT, Hall JC. Extended reproductive roles of the fruitless gene in Drosophila melanogaster revealed by behavioral analysis of new fru mutants. Genetics 1997;147:1107-30.

Prairie View A&M University
Burghardt RC, Bowen JA, Newton GR, Bazer FW. Extracellular matrix and the implantation cascade in pigs. J Reprod Fertil 1997;52:151-64.

Dace R, McBride E, Brooks K, Gander J, Buszko M, Doctor VM. Comparison of the anticoagulant action of sulfated and phosphorylated polysaccharides. Thromb Res 1997;87:113-21.

Minix R, Doctor VM. Interaction of fucoidan with proteases and inhibitors of coagulation and fibrinolysis. Thromb Res 1997;87:419-29.

University of California, Los Angeles
Brown ST, Miranda G, Galic Z, Lyon CJ, Aguilera RJ. Regulation of the RAG-1 promoter by the NF-Y transcription factor. J Immunol 1997;158:5071-4.

Galic Z, Alva JA, Lin A, Lyon CJ, Aguilera RJ. Characterization of a novel DNA binding domain within the amino-terminal region of the RAG-1 protein. Biochem Mol Biol Int 1998;45:535-44.

University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
Vivas-Mejia PE, Cox O, Gonz‡lez FA. Inhibition of human topoisomerase II by anti-neoplastic benzazolo [3,2-] quinolinium chlorides. Mol Cell Biochem 1998;178:203-12.

Rodriguez AD, Acosta AL. New cembranolides from the Gorgonian Eunicea succinea. J Nat Prod 1998;61:40-5.

Rodriguez AD, Acosta AL, Huang SD. Absolute structure of (11E, 1S, 3S, 4R, 7S, 8R, 14S)-3,7-diiodo-4,8-epoxy-euniolide. J Chem Crystallog 1998;28:17-21.

Rodriguez AD, Soto JJ. Pseudopterane and norcembrane diterpeniods from the Caribbean Sea plume Pseudopterogorgia acerose. J Nat Prod 1998;61:401-4.

Carballeira NM, Colon R, Emiliano A. Identification of 2-methoxyhexadecanoic acid in Amphimedon compressa. J Nat Prod 1998;61:675-6.

University of Southern Colorado
Shellhamer DF, Callahan RP, Heasley VL, Druelinger ML, Chapman RD. Facile addition of poorly nucleophilic alcohols to unactivated alkenes. Synthesis 1997;9:1056-60.

Wayne State University
Commissaris RL, Ardayfio PA, Meadows KD, Normile HJ. Classically conditioned reward results in potentiated startle in rats. Br J Pharmacol 1997;120:373.

Send in your references for inclusion in Selected Publications. We would appreciate your contribution to this section in order to represent as many MARC and MBRS programs as possible. Complete bibliographical citations can be phoned, faxed, mailed, or e-mailed to the Editor (see page 1).

Recent Awards and Fellowships

Predoctoral Fellowships for Minority Students

(listed by fellow and graduate institution)

Timothy K. Amukele, Yeshiva University, New York, NY.
Yolanda D. Arias, University of California, San Diego.
Guadalupe X. Ayala, San Diego State University, CA.
Jonathan E. Baines, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN.
Dana M. Bonas, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Eric L. Buckles, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN.
Nohelia D. Canales, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN.
William M. Clemons, Jr., University of Utah, Salt Lake City.
Jeanette L. Ducut, University of California, San Diego.
Fannie Fonseca-Becker, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
Luana M. Garrison, University of California, San Diego.
Maria L. Gemeniano, University of California, Davis.
Kimberly Y. Hamilton, Louisiana State University A&M College, Baton Rouge.
Shelly A. Hargrave, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Scottie Y. Henderson, University of Washington, Seattle.
Kristie R. Hill, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, TN.
Matheau A. Julien, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
Yolanda D. Keller, Ohio State University, Columbus.
Maria A. Lopez, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Christine McGiffert, University of California, San Diego.
Michelle A. Mendez, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Bridgette D. Person, Clark Atlanta University, GA.
Luis A. Rajman, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.
Carlos Rios-Velazquez, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Amariliz Rivera, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway.
Johanna Rivera, Yeshiva University, New York, NY.
Christen M. Rivera, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN.
Paula D. Rodrigues, Mayo Foundation, Rochester, MN.
Dolores P. Thompson, University of Hawaii, Manoa.
Lisa L. Tiger-Stabenau, University of Arizona, Tucson.
Angela J. Wells, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

MARC Faculty Fellowships

(listed by principal investigator and institution)

Ida A. Mejias, University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan.
Patricia C. Rutledge, University of Missouri, Columbia.

MORE Faculty Development Awards

(listed by principal investigator and institution)

Lawrence W. Johnson, York College, NE.
Andrew T. Tsin, University of Texas, San Antonio.

Bridges to the Future Awards