The Community Engagement Core is pleased to announce the Science Café line up! Visit the webpage for more details and sign up links.
Community Engagement Core publishes paper about science cafe knowledge transfer
Dr. Brandi Janssen and Jackie Curnick have published a project report in the Science Education & Civic Engagement International Journal. The paper titled, “Evaluating Knowledge Transfer after a Science Cafe: A Qualitative Approach for Rural Settings,” was included in the Winter 2022 edition of the journal.
View the article pdf by clicking the image below
Welsh wins 2022 Shaw Prize in Life Sciences and Medicine
University of Iowa professor and EHSRC Member Michael J. Welsh, MD, has won the 2022 Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine together with Paul A. Negulescu, senior vice president and site head for San Diego research with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
The prize was awarded for landmark discoveries of the molecular, biochemical, and functional defects underlying cystic fibrosis and the identification and development of medicines that reverse those defects and can treat most people affected by this disorder.
The Shaw Prize is considered one of the most internationally prestigious awards in science and its application, and it carries a shared monetary award of $1.2 million. It honors individuals who have made “discoveries in the biomedical sciences and innovations in clinical medicine that have led to significant victories in our longstanding war against illness and suffering.” Welsh and Negulescu will receive the prize in fall 2022.
Welsh is a professor in the UI Department of Internal Medicine and its pulmonary, critical care, and occupational medicine division. He also is a professor in the neurosurgery, neurology, and molecular physiology and biophysics departments. Welsh also serves as director of the Pappajohn Biomedical Institute at Iowa. He has been leading groups of scientists studying lung biology and cystic fibrosis (CF) for 40 years.
Brooks Jackson, MD, vice president for medical affairs and the Tyrone D. Artz Dean of the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, says Welsh’s steadfast pursuit of answers to the fundamental questions underlying cystic fibrosis disease has never wavered in that time.
“As a physician-scientist, Dr. Welsh has remained focused on how his work in the lab would improve the medical care he and colleagues could offer their patients,” Jackson says. “His commitment to discovery and innovation has dramatically changed the lives of people with CF.”
Working with colleagues from the University of California, San Francisco, in the mid-1980s, Welsh first demonstrated that CF disrupts chloride ion movement across the sheet of cells that line the lung’s airways. Chloride, a component of salt, is present in secreted body fluids such as sweat, saliva and mucus, which are vital for the proper function of organs. In the lungs of people with CF, these secretions become thick and elastic and, rather than acting to clear inhaled matter from the lungs, they clog the passageways. Affecting more than 80,000 people worldwide, CF was long considered a lethal disease in childhood. Today, Welsh can point to young people with CF who compete in varsity-level athletics. Life expectancy and health have increased dramatically thanks in part to discoveries made by Welsh and Negulescu.
After the identification of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene in 1989, Welsh and his team made key discoveries toward understanding the role the product of this gene—the CFTR protein—plays in allowing chloride to move in and out of cells. They showed how mutations in the gene and the CFTR protein cause cells to malfunction and fuel disease development. Importantly, they showed that defects in the mutated CFTR can be repaired in cells. These insights provided a roadmap for the subsequent quest toward targeted therapies to repair the function of the CFTR protein.
Building on these key discoveries, a team of scientists at Vertex, led by Negulescu, initiated research in 1998 into compounds that modulate the function of the CFTR protein. The research led to the development in 2012 of the first compound that corrects the underlying protein defect responsible for disease symptoms. The drug restored cells’ ability to transport chloride and ushered in a new era of CF treatment, sparking the development of combination-drug therapies.
“The combined contributions of Welsh and Negulescu represent the complete biomedical arc from basic discovery to application to the saving of lives,” said the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine selection committee in announcing the shared award.
Welsh was quick to share the credit for this work.
“I am honored to receive this award, which would not have been possible without so many other people who contributed: terrific mentors, talented and creative students and trainees, my tireless and innovative assistants, my cherished colleagues,” he says. “The support and environment of the University of Iowa made this possible. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Carver Trust, and Pappajohn Biomedical Institute provided crucial support along the way. I am deeply grateful.”
The Shaw Prize consists of three annual awards: the Prize in Astronomy, the Prize in Life Science and Medicine, and the Prize in Mathematical Sciences. The award is managed and administered by The Shaw Prize Foundation, based in Hong Kong.
This article was first published by the University of Iowa College of Medicine
Thorne recipient of 2022 University of Iowa Distinguished Chair
Peter Thorne, professor of occupational and environmental health in the College of Public Health and deputy director of EHSRC, has been named a recipient of the 2022 University of Iowa Distinguished Chair.
The award is one of the highest bestowed on Iowa faculty. It recognizes tenured scholars of national and international distinction who are making a significant positive impact within the university, state of Iowa, and beyond through teaching, research, and/or scholarship.
“The University of Iowa Distinguished Chair rewards and recognizes some of the most exceptional members of our community of scholars, who have earned national and international distinction,” says Kevin Kregel, executive vice president and provost.
Thorne, who also serves as the director of the Human Toxicology Program within the Graduate College, joined the Iowa faculty in 1988. His pioneering research is focused on environmental risk factors for inflammatory lung diseases, the toxicity of engineered nanomaterials and persistent chemical pollutants, and the health effects of climate change.
Thorne is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Academy of Sciences in translating complex environmental health science to public policy. He is serving a third, three-year term on the EPA’s Science Advisory Board and served two years as chair. Thorne was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology for six years. He is the current chair of the academy’s Committee on Toxicology.
At Iowa, Thorne directed the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center for 20 years and served as head of the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health for 12 years. He has led the Pulmonary Toxicology Facility core since 1993. Thorne was awarded the 2017 UI Scholar of the Year and the 2018 Iowa Board of Regents Award for Faculty Excellence. He teaches courses on health effects of climate change, global environmental health, and human toxicology. He has mentored 25 PhD students, 30 master’s students, and 18 postdoctoral fellows. With his students and staff, he has published more than 290 peer-reviewed publications.
This post first appeared on the College of Public Health website and was adapted from an Iowa Now story.
David Cwiertny comments on presences of PFAS in Central City drinking water
Environmental Health Sciences Research Center Member David Cwiertny, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa, commented recently on the elevates levels of PFAS in the drinking water of Central City, Iowa.
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