Wichita State News: Biological Sciences

WSU premedical student focuses on underserved parts of Kansas

Thu, 2 May 2013 15:38:00 CST

Karissa Gilchrist

Karissa Gilchrist plans to help others by someday becoming a doctor. The Wichita State senior not only wants to practice medicine, but also hopes to offer convenient health care to people living in low-populated areas of the state.

"It is my dream to be a genuine, caring, passionate and dependable physician for people in rural Kansas," said Gilchrist. "I want to provide people with a reliable option for treatment rather than make them feel forced to travel to a bigger city with more options."

As a child, Gilchrist lived in Arnett, a small town in northwest Oklahoma. Arnett's closest hospital is 15 minutes outside of town, but many residents choose to drive an extra two hours to ensure better medical care.

"People living in small towns, such as Arnett, should be able to trust and believe in their hometown doctor," she said.

Gilchrist, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry, said one of her favorite aspects about premedical studies is the complexity of the human body.

"The body has so many critical pathways and processes, as well as ways to correct itself if those processes fail," she said. "It amazes me that more doesn't go wrong in the body all the time."

Reflecting on time at WSU

After graduating from WSU in May, Gilchrist will attend the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita for four years. She then plans to complete a three-year residency program in family medicine.

While at Wichita State, Gilchrist has been involved in Student Ambassador Society, Premedical Student Association, Golden Key International Honors Society and is a Dean's Scholar. She is also a member of the KU School of Medicine Scholars in Rural Health.

"During my medical school interview, I was questioned on what characteristics I thought made a good physician and how I had demonstrated those characteristics in my life," she said. "After reflecting on my answer, I realized that every experience I spoke of was a result of my time at WSU."

Gilchrist is most grateful for the lasting relationships she developed with WSU faculty, staff and fellow students.

"College is more than building a resume; it's about experiencing all that you can and learning about yourself in the process," she said.

Gilchrist also said that because of Wichita State's urban location, she was able to shadow physicians in multiple specialties, which helped her decide which career path she wanted to pursue.

To gain experience in a doctor's office before graduating, Gilchrist received her Certified Nurse's Aide (CNA) license and has been a medical assistant for a year at Via Christi Clinic in Andover, Kan.

WSU professors' research could enhance quality of human life

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 15:35:00 CST

Coronary stents have saved a lot of lives over the years, but there is a growing interest in what happens when a stent stays inside the body for too long.

With that in mind, Wichita State assistant industrial and manufacturing engineering professor Anil Mahapatro is focusing his research on the investigation of biodegradable metallic stents.

Mahapatro, who came to WSU in August 2011, is collaborating with associate mechanical engineering professor Ramazan Asmatulu and Li Yao, assistant biology professor.

The goal of their research is to someday develop metallic implants, including cardiovascular stents, that will safely dissolve inside a person's body.

"There exists a critical clinical need, as well as a growing interest, in development of biodegradable stents," Mahapatro said.

About biodegradable stents

A biodegradable metal is a metal that would degrade inside the body without causing any harm to the human body. Biodegradable metallic implants are being explored for applications that currently use permanent metallic implants but do not required those implants to be in the body lifelong.

Examples include cardiovascular stents and orthopedic fracture fixation devices. Coronary stents are placed during a percutaneous coronary intervention procedure, better known as an angioplasty, for treating coronary artery diseases resulting from narrowing of coronary arteries.

A stent is a tubular mesh-like scaffold that is placed and expanded inside a coronary artery during angioplasty.

There have been many arguments within the medical research community over the potential benefits of having the stent removed after 12-18 months, by which time most of stents have fulfilled their purpose.

Mahapatro said the most obvious argument for stent removal is the fact that the stent is a foreign object, and its presence is associated with the potential for inflammatory reactions and other damage.

Researchers also worry that the long-term presence of a stent could cause remodeling of the arterial wall in a person's heart.

But a biodegradable stent would provide a temporary opening to a narrowed arterial vessel. When the vessel is fixed, the stent would progressively disappear.

A successful biodegradable stent could possibly phase out other long-term clinical problems sometimes associated with traditional metallic implants, Mahapatro said.

Contributing to society's well-being

The research being done by Mahapatro, Asmatulu and Yao includes the testing of magnesium-based alloys as possible metallic biodegradable stent material.

Typically, pure magnesium corrodes too quickly, losing its mechanical integrity before the tissue has had time to heal.

One of the focuses of their research is to develop surface coatings and modification strategies to control and slow the biodegradation rates of magnesium-based materials.

Mahapatro's interest in this line of work started with casual discussions with clinicians and slowly evolved from there.

"Being involved in biomaterials and biomedical engineering research enables me not only to be involved in basic and applied research, but also in contributing to the well-being of the society by developing medical technologies that improve and enhance the quality of human life."

Searching salt for answers about life on Earth, Mars

Thu, 9 Aug 2012 12:00:00 CST

Wichita State University associate professor Mark Schneegurt recently had a paper published in the journal "Astrobiology."

His paper focused on bacteria that live in environments that are salty, but not with sodium chloride – the kind of salt we're used to. It has to do with magnesium sulfate, also known as Epsom salt.

Researchers have discovered that not only is there evidence of liquid water on Mars, but the planet is also rich with magnesium sulfate.

One of the questions Schneegurt is seeking an answer to is whether microbial life on Earth can grow at these high concentrations of magnesium sulfate.

"This impacts our understanding of what ancient or current life on Mars may be like," he said. "What single discovery could have a greater impact on our philosophy and culture, how we view ourselves in the universe, than finding life on another planet?"

Finding life on Mars?

Other questions his paper and research deal with include:

Are there any microbes on Earth that may be able to survive on Mars?
How can we protect our search for life on Mars by preventing terrestrial microbes from infecting Mars when a spacecraft lands?
Are epsotolerant microbes a glimpse at what life may have been like – or is like – on Mars?

Schneegurt said it's been hypothesized that living in high magnesium sulfate may be the hardest part of living on Mars, but his contention is that it's not as difficult as some scientists think.

Part of his research also focuses on searching for life in lakes with high magnesium sulfate levels, as well as searching for similar life in spacecraft assembly facility clean rooms.

Schneegurt and his research team have been working at Hot Lake in Washington and Basque Lake in British Columbia, and have isolated hundreds of microbes that grow at high magnesium sulfate concentrations. The goal is to characterize those microbes and see if they can also find them in spacecraft assembly facilities.

"If we bring life with us and it can grow on Mars, this makes it more difficult to be sure that any life we find on Mars actually comes from Mars," he said. "It also will impact our efforts in forward planetary protection, where life from Earth contaminates Mars when a spacecraft lands."

Is this research important? NASA and the astrobiology community think so, Schneegurt said.

After receiving a small Kansas NASA EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) grant in 2009, Schneegurt received a NASA grant through the ROSES program and the Planetary Protection group at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory).

Schneegurt said not only can his research teach us more about life on Mars. It can teach us about our own planet.

"Our work has relevance to the origins of life on Earth, since life may have arisen from a briny tidal pool." he said.

Husband-and-wife biology faculty learn from each other's work

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:36:00 CST

Deep in the corridors of Wichita State University's Hubbard Hall, two Biological Sciences faculty are intertwined in a sometimes contentious relationship.

Associate professor Mary Liz Jameson is a biodiversity scientist. Her research focuses on the science of insects, specifically beetles.

Associate professor Leland Russell is a plant population and community ecologist. His research focuses on the effects that herbivores, such as beetles, have on plants.

Jameson and Russell are married. One studies beetles. The other studies plants.

Beetles eat plants. Plants can poison beetles.

Can this relationship be saved?

Working together

Jameson and Russell have joked before about the comparisons between their two specialties. While, yes, sometimes their subjects can be at odds with each other, mostly it's a symbiotic connection.

"Plants need beetles," Russell said. "Beetles are the primitive pollinators. And, of course, the plants give the beetles their food. So there's a positive take on it as well."

Jameson agrees, calling theirs a "mutualistic relationship."

Russell, a St. Louis native, didn't develop an interest in insects until he met Jameson at the University of Nebraska, where Russell was working as a post-doctoral researcher and Jameson was a research assistant professor working on a grant. Jameson is a native of Lincoln, Neb., and earned her bachelor's and master's at Nebraska and her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

"I've always thought about how the plants can provide sustenance for my insects," Jameson said. "Now I think also about how the flowers benefit, or don't benefit, from the insects feeding on them or using them."

The couple enjoys working side by side whenever possible. Recently colleagues from the Czech Republic came to Wichita to work on a project involving insects that feed on thistles, giving Jameson and Russell a chance to work together on their specialties.

They also enjoy traveling, and, in January, will go to Peru, where Jameson will help lead a course.

"We both are fascinated with the natural world, so we have a lot of fun going out and identifying plants and identifying insects," Russell said.

Teaching what they know

As much as Jameson and Russell like research, they equally enjoy passing on their knowledge to WSU students.

Russell spends time teaching his students about plants on the Ninnescah, Gerber and Sellers Reserves – tracts of land where WSU has field stations for students to study plant, insect and animal life.

Jameson said her position affords her the ability to teach biology and higher-level courses, as well as help give some of her students real-world experience outside of the classroom and in the field.

A recent graduate student, Matt Moore, traveled to Guatemala in May to search for a specific type of beetle. Jameson said she enjoys helping further her students' interests and career goals.

"I like to make biology and science accessible to students, to challenge them to think conceptually, and to apply the tools that they gain in classes to their everyday life," she said.

Discovering new species

Jameson, who has been interested in tropics and conservation since childhood, has only been associate professor at Wichita State for only one year. But she has already made a lasting impact on her field of study. Read Jameson's full bio.

She has discovered and named 37 new species of scarab beetles through her research in places such as Sumatra, Peru, Honduras, the Soloman Islands and Thailand. Jameson has also had several species actually named in her honor.

"Species are the pieces of the puzzle that help us to understand how all of the components of life on Earth work together," she said. "Scientists have named about 1.8 million species on Earth, but millions more remain to be described."

She has yet to name a newly discovered species after Russell, but said she's working on it.

"I haven't found just the right one to name after Leland," she said. "It's gotta be from someplace he loves. Or it's gotta have a nice smile. Or it's gotta be something that strikes me as, like, him."

Russell jokes that he'd prefer not to be named after a dung beetle.

Farm life shaped Russell's interests

Russell became assistant professor at WSU in January 2005. Prior to that, he was a research assistant professor at the University of Nebraska.
Read Russell's full bio.

He is most interested in understanding the extent to which herbivores determine why some plant species are abundant and others are rare, as well as how herbivores distribute their food plants to particular habitats.

Russell said he developed his interest in this line of work from his youth. His father's family owned a farm in central Missouri that had a creek and plenty of woods to explore.

"I think that this exposure to the natural diversity of organisms as a child really shaped my interest in interactions among organisms in natural ecosystems," he said.

Students get to work at new biological field station building

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:35:00 CST

The Wichita State University Biological Field Station celebrated the grand opening of a new building at its Ninnescah Reserve Friday, Sept. 24. The building provides biology students a place to conduct field research, record results, analyze data and even escape from the nature that surrounds them.

The building is located approximately 35 miles southwest of Wichita State's main campus, and includes wet and dry labs, classrooms, a library and a seminar room.

Zach Quick

"It's just a great place to come out and do some of your own studies," said Zach Quick, a junior biology major. "I'm out here a lot."

Quick plans on studying winter survival rates of dark-eyed juncos, a member of the sparrow family, with resources from the new field station.

"It would be hard to work out here," said Quick. "It's nice to have a place to come back and take a lunch break, just sit around or keep equipment that you're not using at the time."

"It's really useful," he said.

Suvidha Samant, a graduate biology student who uses the field station regularly, stressed the convenience of a facility located in the middle of the Kansas prairie.

Suvidha Samant

"If you're working something in a plot, and you find something interesting and you want to go on the Internet and check it, we have Wi-Fi over here," said Samant. "We can just come in, turn on our laptop and Google something."

"You're not out of touch."

Samant said she spends a majority of her time at the field station checking traps and plots, and looking at data. Her plots are scattered on both the east and west sides of the field station.

"I work from 6 (a.m.) probably until 5 in the evening, so it's really helpful," said Samant.

"This is like a second home, a home away from home," she said. "Just have to get out a mattress and bed, that's the only thing that's missing."

The advantages of the new building are something both students and faculty will benefit from.

"It substantially increases the research capacity of our department," said Greg Houseman, assistant professor of biological sciences. "Now we have dedicated phone lines and Internet access."

Houseman listed the benefits from basic necessities like bathrooms, equipment storage and safety, to increased research capabilities and better communication.

"Instead of showing a slide or a picture we can go out and experience it," he said. "We can go out there and can actually work."

Houseman compared the new field station building to a campus laboratory.

"Except on campus you can't go out and find 50 native plants," he said. "If you're going to do real field research, then you have to have this."

Rain or shine, the new biological field research building will provide students and faculty a place to study and learn, while providing shelter from weather and nature.

For more information on the biological field station, or the classroom and laboratory, call the Department of Biological Sciences at (316) 978-3111.

WSU's biological field station celebrates grand opening

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:45:00 CST

Construction of the research and classroom center at the Wichita State University Biological Field Station: Ninnescah Reserve near Viola is complete. Wichita State and the Wichita State University Foundation celebrated with a ribbon cutting ceremony followed by tours of the facility and prairie, student poster presentations and ecology slide shows on Friday, Sept. 24.

The four-prong mission of the field station—research, teaching, conservation and outreach—provided the focus for the activities. Its primary function is to conduct original, environmentally based research in an undisturbed natural setting.

"The field station will not only promote increased research and types of research," said Gary Miller, provost and vice president of academic affairs and research, "but it will also provide opportunities for collaboration with scientists at other institutions."

Funding for the project included a $240,000 National Science Foundation grant and matching dollars from generous donors to build a research and classroom center.

The approximately half-million-dollar center serves as headquarters for three parcels of land totaling more than 500 acres: the Ninnescah Reserve, the nearby Sellers Reserve and the recently acquired Gerber Reserve in Kingman County.

"The generous support of our donors and the interest and participation of our community affirms our belief and dedication that research, teaching and public outreach regarding conservation and all aspects of science and nature are needed to preserve and restore our environment and those around us," said Elizabeth King, president and CEO of the WSU Foundation.

Speakers participating in the grand opening included Don Beggs, WSU president; William D. Bischoff, dean, Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; William Hendry, chairperson and professor of biological sciences; Curt Gridley, WSU alumnus; and Miller.

At each of the reserves, students and faculty study grassland restoration, river ecology and general wildlife biology. Each land parcel represents habitats west of the Flint Hills not found at field stations owned by other public universities in Kansas.

"This facility will enhance and facilitate our research and teaching efforts," said Chris Rogers, associate professor of biological sciences and research director of the field station. "It will also provide expanded opportunities for seasonal, scheduled events such as teacher education workshops and Bioblitz, a research and surveying activity involving local high school students."

All of these activities are strongly facilitated by the conservation of natural ecosystems and their plant and animal communities, Rogers said.

WSU BioBlitz helps students, biologists learn area's ecology

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 07:00:00 CST

The 3rd Annual Biological Field Station BioBlitz will be held from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 25, at the Wichita State University Biological Field Station: Ninnescah Reserve in Kingman County.

The Ninnescah BioBlitz provides an opportunity to discover the biological diversity of birds, plants, reptiles, insects and aquatic critters in south-central Kansas.

It engages Wichita-area high school students in exploring plant and animal biodiversity, and it helps raise awareness of local and global biological diversity.

This is a fun event for all of its participants, and it blends science and a celebration of nature.

This year's BioBlitz biologists will lead student research teams to investigate turtles, insects, mussels, prairie plants, reptiles and amphibians, and fish in central Kansas.

About 50 students from Wichita East, Wichita North and Wichita South high schools, as well as Neosho County Community College, will take part in activities.

BioBlitz biologists include Wichita State Department of Biology faculty and graduate students, Wichita high school biologists and Wichita-area experts.

The Ninnescah BioBlitz provides an annual survey of regional biodiversity, and it uses repeatable field protocol that is aimed at creating long-term data for ecological analyses.

Besides the Ninnescah Reserve site, WSU's Biological Field Station has two more sites: the Sellers Reserve and the recently acquired Gerber Reserve.

Directions to the Biological Field Station: Ninnescah Reserve are available at http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=bioscience&p=/fieldStation/fieldMap/.

In case of inclement weather, the event will be held from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 2.

Top 10 new species of 2009 named

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 08:22:00 CST

A bomb-dropping worm, Swima bombiviridis, is among the top 10 species discovered in 2009, according to the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University. The annual roundup winnows down a list of about 20,000 species described each year to just a few mind-benders.

"It is a great way of getting the public involved in biodiversity," says Mary Liz Jameson, a biodiversity scientist at Wichita State University and chair of this year's selection committee. While the criteria for selection include scientific significance, Jameson admits that "the cool factor" also plays a part.

For example, the bomb-dropping worm found off the coast of California "has these green gills it can kind of throw off, and the predator will follow the gill instead of following the [worm], so it is tripping up the predator," Jameson said. "It's really cool."

Read full story.

WSU's Ninnescah field lab preserves, explores prairie wildlife

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 08:39:31 CST

NEAR CHENEY — A great field experiment is under way. Songs of Eastern meadowlarks and blue-gray gnatcatchers can be heard as wind brushes past prairie grass.

Dragonflies and grasshoppers flit along a well-worn trail as Christopher Rogers and Don Distler drive a pickup around 330 acres known as Wichita State University's Biology Field Station Ninnescah Reserve.

The birds, the grasses, the insects are signs the experiment is working.

Read full story.

Wichita State biology labs to receive major upgrade

Wed, 9 Jun 2010 10:07:06 CST

George Bousfield

The National Institutes of Health recently approved a $2.2 million WSU Combined Core Facility Renovation Project to significantly upgrade four research laboratories at Wichita State University. About $700,000 will be used to purchase new equipment.

The renovation project in Hubbard Hall is scheduled to begin June 2011 and be completed by March 2012.

The laboratory upgrade will complement a $6.6 million, five-year, multi-investigator, multi-institutional infertility research project, "The Aging Pituitary/Gonadal Axis" by biology professor George Bousfield.

Infertility statistics ...
» Number of women ages 15-44 with impaired ability to have children: 7.3 million (11.8 percent).
» Number of married women ages 15-44 who are infertile: 2.1 million (7.4 percent)
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov.

WSU to study Kansas prairie on new Kingman Co. property

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 13:59:27 CST

Wichita State University has acquired 157 acres of land near Kingman, Kan., for the Gerber Reserve, a new addition to the WSU Field Station that will be used by the Department of Biological Sciences for research, preservation and maintenance of the Kansas prairie.

WSU's existing Ninnescah Reserve along the Ninnescah River will be the headquarters for the Gerber Reserve's research. At the 320-acre Ninnescah Reserve, which Wichita State acquired in 1983, biology students and faculty study grassland restoration, river ecology and general wildlife biology.

Greg Houseman, assistant professor of biological sciences, hopes to do the same type of research on the new property.

"Our primary research interest is to better understand how to restore and manage native plant and animal biodiversity in Kansas prairie ecosystems," Houseman said. "The Gerber property will provide new opportunities for faculty and students to study the ecological processes that control the assembly and maintenance of biodiversity."

As researchers' understanding of ecological processes increases, he said, they will be better able to provide recommendations for land managers across the state. The property has unique features that will allow them to study low-productivity grasslands that are found throughout central Kansas.

Along with the Ninnescah and Gerber reserves, the Wichita State Field Station also includes the Sellers Reserve—a 20-acre, site also along the Ninnescah River. All three locations fill an important ecological gap in Kansas by representing habitats found west of the Flint Hills, Houseman said.

In addition to research, the Gerber Reserve will provide unique teaching opportunities for classes offered in the biology department and outreach activities for citizen groups.

The acquisition of the property is a good example of turning a negative situation into something positive, Houseman said. After Magellan Ammonia Pipeline unintentionally spilled anhydrous ammonia into Smoots Creek in 2004, the company worked with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of the Interior to locate a mitigation site that would provide the highest conservation benefit in the affected area.

The property was owned by the Joan A. Gerber Trust, which agreed to convey the land to the state of Kansas with the understanding that the site would be preserved as native grassland.

There will be a monument in the area to honor the Gerber family.

WSU will work with Leo Henning of the Assessment and Restoration section of the KDHE to manage the property and use the land as an opportunity to study the grassland ecosystem.

Hand sanitizer versus soap and water

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:36:26 CST

CBS News recently reported that sales of hand sanitizer jumped more than 40 percent since the H1N1 flu virus began spreading across the country.

Millions of people are reaching for a dollop at work, in restaurants, or anywhere on the go. FactFinder 12 Investigators wanted to know if all the fuss was justified.

With help from a Wichita State University germ expert, we put hand sanitizer to the test against good old soap and water.

"I like germs. They're so cool. It's amazing what they can do," said Microbiologist Fawn Beckman," as she prepared for an experiment.

Read full story

Wichita State awarded more than $880,000 by National Science Foundation

Tue, 6 Oct 2009 10:17:01 CST

Wichita State University has been awarded more than $880,000 as part of a $20 million grant from the National Science Foundation that will further establish Kansas as an internationally recognized leader in global climate change and renewable energy research.

The five-year award is for the Kansas NSF EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), a statewide program that includes WSU and other major Kansas research universities. It will provide a fresh integrative approach to address climate change and renewable energy challenges.

The grant is a multi-institutional, multi-sector effort that will link four universities: WSU, the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Haskell Indian Nations University.

It will also include three Kansas-based companies: Abengoa Bioenergy, MGP Ingredients and Nanoscale; and two out-of-state companies: ADM (Illinois) and Netcrystals (California).

The initiative will also be supported by $4 million in matching funds from KU, K-State and Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp.

WSU faculty and staff who are involved in the research project include chemistry professor Francis D'Souza; industrial and manufacturing engineering professor Janet Twomey; chemistry professor Paul Rillema; biological sciences associate professor Mark Schneegurt; mathematics and statistics associate professor Chunsheng Ma; and electrical engineering and computer science assistant professor Bin Tang.

David McDonald

David McDonald, associate provost for research at WSU, said all the projects WSU is involved with revolve around exploring new sources of energy and investigating sustainability.

The project will focus on several critical issues in the development of solar-based renewable energy, with the overall goal to establish a critical energy research infrastructure.

Another goal is to allow Kansas to become a key leader in research that addresses global challenges, said Kristin Bowman-James, principal investigator and project director of Kansas' EPSCoR program.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the state of Kansas," she said. "With this funding, we will be able to harness the talents of researchers across the state to address two major issues of society today – climate change and renewable energy – under the umbrella of a single integrated initiative."

About 40 scientists are involved in the collaborative consortium, representing a vast array of disciplines, including agronomy, anthropology, computer science, economics, geography, mathematics, sociology, engineering, biology, chemistry and physics.

EPSCoR is a federal program that targets states that have traditionally been underfunded in the sciences and engineering. For more information on NSF EPSCoR, go to http://www.nsfepscor.ku.edu/.

Note to editors: News releases on the NSF EPSCoR grant are being distributed simultaneously by several of the institutions. This release has specific information regarding Wichita State.

Grant to Wichita center will allow for more innovation, faster

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:20:17 CST

Thursday afternoon, the Knight Foundation awarded more than $2 million to a research institute based in Wichita.

The Center for Innovation for Biomaterials in Orthopaedic Research (CIBOR) conducts research inside the National Institute for Aviation Research on the Wichita State Campus.

The Knight Foundation granted CIBOR $2.1 million dollars over the course of 5 years to help the center engineer better medical instruments from airplane materials.

Read full story and see video.

Visiting professor to speak as part of Watkins series

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:56:31 CST

David Toft, an internationally recognized investigator in molecular endocrinology, will give a technical lecture at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, in 218 Hubbard Hall as part of the Watkins Visiting Professorship.

The event is free and open to the public.

Toft has made numerous discoveries in the areas of steroid hormone receptors and molecular chaperones.

In 1973, he joined the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he is the Gordon H. and Violet Bartels Professor of Cell Biology.

The Watkins Visiting Professorship was created in 1974 from the Watkins Foundation, which provides the university's biology, chemistry, geology and physics departments with one visiting professor each year as part of the series.