Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Tenure Denied ! : The 9mm Solution is NOT the Right Solution

That most unfortunate situation over the weekend, the school shooting at Shelby Hall at U. Alabama Huntsville, being a department member shooting 6 other department members over her tenure denied, should not pass without comment, by any of us.

Three Scientists were killed, 2 injured, and the Biology department's exec secretary as well.

You can read elsewhere about the horrible 9mm handgun response the deranged denied-professor carried out, and about her herself. I am sick at heart of  the whole situation and will mention her no further.

Instead, I wish to call attention the the deceased Scientists. They wondered as we do, they worked to tear away the veils of ignorance, as we do, but they can practice their craft no more, as we can.

Their survivors deserve our thanks for nurturing these good people which led to their important accomplishments..

They and their accomplishments were:



Dr. G. K. Podila
Chair
Department of Biological Sciences




Research Areas




Research Description

Selected Publications

Jain P, Wadhwa P, Aygun R, Podila G.K. 2008. Vector-G: Multi-Modular SVM-Based Heterotrimeric G-Protein Prediction. In silico Biology 8, 0013.

Martin F. et. al. (2008). The genome of Laccaria bicolor provides insights into mycorrhizal symbiosis. Nature 452(7183):88-92.

Pandey, A., White, H., Podila G.K. 2007. Functional Genomic Approaches for Mycorrhizal Research. In Plant Surface Microbiology, Springer-Verlag, Germany.

Cseke, L.J., Ravinder, N., Pandey, A.K., and Podila, G.K. 2007. Identification of PTM5 protein interaction partners, a MADS-box gene involved in aspen tree vegetative development. GENE 391: 209-222.

Hiremath ST, Balasubramanian S, Zheng J, Podila G K. 2006. Symbiosis-regulated expression of an acetylCoA acetyltransferase gene in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor. Canadian Journal of Botany 84: 1405-1416.

Gupta, P., Duplessis, S., White, H., Martin, F., Karnosky, D.F., Podila, G. K. 2005. Gene expression patterns of trembling aspen trees following long-term exposure to elevated CO2 and tropospheric O3. New Phytologist 167(1): 129-142.

Cseke LJ, Cseke SB, Ravinder N, Taylor LC, Shankar A, Sen B, Thakur R, Karnosky DF, G. K. Podila. 2005. Sep-Class Genes in Populus Tremuloides and Their Likely Role in Reproductive Survival of Poplar Trees. GENE 358: 1-16.

P. Lammers, G. A. Tuskan, S. P. DiFazio. G. K. Podila , F. Martin. 2004. Mycorrhizal symbionts of Populus to be sequenced by the United States Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute. Mycorrhiza 14:63 n 64.

G.K. Podila, L. Lanfranco. 2004. Genomics approaches to unravel mycorrhizal symbiosis. In Plant Surface Microbiology, Springer-Verlag, Germany. Pp 561-592.

S. Sundaram, Brand, J.H, Hymes, M.J, S.T. Hiremath, G.K. Podila. 2004. Isolation and Analysis of A Symbiosis-Regulated and Ras Interacting Vesicular Assembly Protein Gene from the Ectomycorrhizal Fungus Laccaria bicolor. New Phytologist 161:529-538.

Cseke, L.J., Zheng, J., Podila, G.K. 2003. Characterization of PTM5 In Aspen: A MADS-Box Gene Expressed During Woody Vascular Development. GENE 318 (2003) 55-67.

Peter M, P-E Courty, A. Kohler, C. Delaruelle, D. Martin, D. Tagu, P. Frey-Klett, S. Duplessis, M. Chalot, G.K. Podila, F. Martin. 2003. Analysis of expressed sequence tags from the ectomycorrhizal basidiomycetes Laccaria bicolor and Pisolithus microcarpus. New Phytologist 159: 117-129.
Dr. Adriel D. Johnson, Sr.
Associate Professor
Department of Biological Sciences




Research Areas


Research Description


The nature of my present research program involves aspects of gastrointestinal physiology that seeks to identify methods of beneficially altering digestive function, specifically pancreatic function, in vertebrates. The philosophy of the program is that the best way of altering gastrointestinal function is to thoroughly understand regulatory mechanisms. The approach is to examine regulatory mechanisms that could enhance pancreatic function via the autonomic nervous system. The overall achievement of this concept of regulating gut function will be to enhance nutrient utilization in domestic animal species.

Selected Publications
Dr. Maria Ragland Davis
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences




Research Areas


Research Description


My research focus has been to initially identify novel factors, proteinacious or chemical, which contribute to the fitness of the plant pathogenic fungus, Botrytis cinerea. We are using a combination of tools including a bioinformatic analysis of the known genome sequence and LC-MS mass spectrometry to analyze the secretome of the organism upon exposure to various plant tissues. The LC-MS/MS analysis of various protein secretions is currently being performed in collaboration with Ron Orlando’s lab at the University of Georgia. The hypothesis that we are proposing is that the mechanism of pathogen attacks on host plants may be initially defined with the secretion of key proteins and chemicals that breach the plant cell wall as an initial barrier to the fungus’ attack on its host.

Selected Publications

2 comments:

Jérôme Chauvet said...

Owe, terrible news. I learn it for the 1st time from your weblog.

I know the situation is getting tense in biology, but there it goes beyond my expectations.

All killed were black people. I guess the killer was racist, and killed them thinking they had stolen a position he thought to deserve.

With such a logic in mind, no wonder why he was denied tenure.

Really sad for the field I love the most, biology, for the research world, and simply for their family.

Steven Colyer said...

It was a "she", Jérôme, and I don't think it had to do with the field of Biology so much, as the fact she was deranged. Temporarily maybe, but still deranged. She went to the shooting range for chrissakes to test her weapon. She definitely plotted this, and if I actually gave a damn about her, I would ask how long have you been on the new medicine? Or were you just born crazy? But i don't give a damn so I don't ask. I just wish to honor the fallen, is all.

The department head was of Indian heritage, not black. Most of the injured were white. I don't think race entered into it.