VCU news

Azhar Rafiq, M.D., associate professor, VCU Department of Surgery and chief scientific officer, NASA Research Partnership Center at VCU
Through the NASA Research Partnership Center at VCU, Rafiq will participate in an international research project on Devon Island in the Territory of Nunavut in Canada. Devon Island serves as a living laboratory to scientists and is very similar to the terrestrial setting of Mars with its rocky, polar, desert setting. Rafiq will be stationed in an off-terrain vehicle close to the rim of the crater, where he will monitor an array of physiological sensors and bio data within each of the two NASA crewmember’s space suits. The crewmembers will simulate an injury while exploring the terrain inside the crater, and a rescuer will provide assistance. The research team plans to demonstrate that it is able to conduct field rescue operations for an incapacitated extra vehicular activity (EVA) crewmember on an extra-planetary surface and is able to conduct remote patient medical diagnosis of an ill or injured EVA crewmember using telemedicine and ultrasound techniques. Rafiq and the team will relay the data back to mission control at Houston as well to space agencies in France and Canada. He will be in the Arctic Circle from July 27 through Aug 3. The goal of the NASA project is to develop new technologies, strategies and field skills that are key to planning the future exploration of the Moon, Mars and other planets by humans and robots. Check out the team’s weblog at: http://www.marsonearth.org/weblog/

Bonnie Brown, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences
Brown, associate professor in the Department of Biology, in collaboration with Virginia Tech and private oyster farmers, recently received a grant of more than $880,000 from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Targeted Watersheds Grant Program. The grant will aid VCU and Virginia Tech’s studies in oyster nutrients in aquaculture. Specifically, Brown and her colleagues, through their project titled “Nutrient Assimilation Credits from Oyster Aquaculture,” will examine and use active management through oyster aquaculture in efforts to enhance water quality and services. According to Brown, oysters play a crucial ecological role in the Chesapeake Bay, in part by their removal of nutrients from the filtration of microscopic organisms, which then improves water quality.

In addition, Brown has received more than $140,000 from the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for her efforts in restoring the American shad, a species of herring, to the James River. A combination of population supplementation schemes and basin enrichment led to a boost in the formerly at-risk American shad population of the James River.

Rita Pickler, Ph.D, VCU School of Nursing
Pickler, associate professor and chair of the Department of Maternal Child Nursing, recently received a continuation grant in the amount of $2.1 million over five years for her work on feeding readiness in preterm infants. According to Pickler’s research, more than 500,000 preterm infants are born each year and feeding these infants is a major clinical challenge while they are in the hospital. How infants are fed during their hospitalization has long-term consequences on health and development. Pickler’s study will help nurses and families in neonatal intensive care units provide feeding care that may result in shorter hospital stays and improved developmental outcomes. Co-investigators of the study include Al Best, Ph.D., associate professor of biostatistics; Gary Gutcher, M.D., chair of the Division of Neonatal Medicine; Barbara Reyna, an advanced practice nurse in VCU’s Newborn Intensive Care Nursery; and Paul Wetzel, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering.

Kenneth Kendler, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics and psychiatry at VCU, and director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics
Kendler’s new book titled, “Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology,” was published in July by The Guilford Press. The book helps readers understand the causes of psychiatric and substance abuse disorders. Specifically, the book looks at the interplay of a number of genetic and environmental factors and how they influence the risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, antisocial behavior, alcoholism, and substance abuse. The book is based on the results of the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders, which includes data on more than 9,000 individuals. Kendler collaborated with Carol A. Prescott, Ph.D., who is affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern California.

Alison Baski, Ph. D., VCU Department of Physics
Baski, associate professor of physics, has been elected to a three-year term as chair of the Department of Physics. She replaces Robert Gowdy, Ph.D., who served as chair since 1998. Baski plans to help the department grow, to enhance its research and graduate programs and to expand interdisciplinary collaborations with other units at VCU.

Forrest Smith, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Smith, associate professor of clinical toxicology and pharmacology, and the medical technology company TyRx Pharma Inc. were awarded the 2006 Fruchaud Prize for Best Scientific Poster Presentation during the 3rd International Hernia Congress in Boston. A panel of three judges recognized Smith and TyRx Inc. for their presentation titled “Pharmacokinetic and Dermal Anesthetic Properties of an Anesthetic-Eluting Surgical Mesh,” a mesh product that would be used by surgeons to repair hernias.

The Fruchaud Prize is named after Henri Fruchaud, a French anatomist, surgeon and pioneer in hernia surgery. Sponsored by the American Hernia Society, the congress is a forum where professionals can exchange information and instruction regarding historic, current and future methods of diagnosis and treatment of abdominal wall abnormalities.

Puru Jena, Ph.D., distinguished professor, VCU Department of Physics
Jena, together with Penn State professor, A. W. Castleman Jr., Ph.D., contributed to a special feature on the study of clusters, which are groups of atoms and molecules, and how they interact in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published July 11. Jena and Castleman discussed how understanding cluster dynamics has shed some light on a number of scientific disciplines including physics, chemistry, biomedicine, materials science and environmental sciences. The cover of this special issue was also designed by Jena, Castleman, and Qiang Sun, Ph.D., who is affiliated with VCU.

Richard Wenzel, M.D., Department of Internal Medicine
Wenzel, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, has been elected president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases for the 2006-2008 term. He recently returned from Lisbon, Portugal, where 3,000 delegates from 106 countries gathered for the 12th International Congress on Infectious Diseases. The society, which focuses on infectious diseases in the third world, has 35,000 members mostly from poor, third world countries and it also owns and edits ProMed, the largest international surveillance system in the world for emerging infections.