FACULTY/STAFF NEWS

Tom Beery, faculty member in HPER was recently awarded a grant from the University of Minnesota’s Council on Public Engagement. Beery’s proposal was a project to support undergraduate training in outdoor education and environmental studies at UMD. The grant will support an effort to improve the internship opportunities for UMD students at the Hartley Nature Center in Duluth.

Thomas Hedin delivered a lecture on February 10 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts at the invitation of the Decorative Arts Curatorial Council. The presentation was titled “Nicodemus Tessin the Younger and France.” It dealt with Tessin’s study of gardening in France in the 1670s and 1680s and the application of his lessons in gardens of his own design in his native Sweden.

Dalibor Froncek, associate professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, presented a colloquium talk “League scheduling, math, and corrupt referees” in Krakow, Poland at Jagiellonian University (established 1364) which is one of the oldest universities in Europe.

MINNESOTA SEA GRANT NEWS

Jeff Gunderson conducted three Aquatic Invasive Species-Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (AIS-HACCP) workshops with the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission in Baraga, MI; Red Cliff, WI; and Lac Courte Orellies, WI in January. Gunderson and Sea Grant specialists from Michigan and Wisconsin taught tribal, federal, and state fishery managers, hatchery personnel, and enforcement officers about the AIS-HACCP approach for preventing the spread of invasive species.

Cindy Hagley, water quality specialist, and Jesse Schomberg, coastal communities and land use planning extension educator, earned an environmental stewardship award for their work on the DuluthStreams.org Web site by the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee in recognition of their efforts towards protection and preservation of area streams. The award was presented during a ceremony held in January in Duluth. Representatives from NRRI and the City of Duluth are project co-operators. Schomberg presented “North Shore Land Use and Water Quality” to the Two Harbors City Council in January, discussing trends in changing land use and water quality along the North Shore and some of the options local governments have in protecting water resources as their communities develop. Hagley gave a talk on aquatic plant ecology for the University of Minnesota Extension Service Shoreland Education Program’s Curly Leaf Pondweed workshop held February in Osakis, MN. Minnesota Sea Grant will cooperate with the Minnesota Lakes Association (MLA) to produce and broadcast the video, “Linking Land Use to Lake Quality.” MLA was awarded $5,000 from Twin Cities Public Television for this project, which is based on a Northland NEMO presentation designed to improve understanding among citizens about how to manage growth and development so that it is compatible with water resource conservation. The money was awarded as part of Governor Pawlenty’s Clean Water Initiative. Other collaborators are the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, University of Minnesota Extension Service, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

NRRI NEWS

Subhash C. Basak was co-chairperson of the Fourth Indo-U.S. Workshop on Mathematical Chemistry organized in Pune, Maharashtra, India, in January 2005. Basak and collaborators gave the following presentations at the conference:
1) “Mathematical structural invariants: Developments and
applications,” by Subhash Basak.
2) “Partial order: A general tool in ecotoxicological and ecosystems hazard assessment,” by Rainer Brüggemann (Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Dept. of Ecohydrology, Müggelseedamm, Berlin-Friedrichshagen, Germany) and Basak.
3) “Prediction of biologic partition coefficients and binding affinities using SAR models,” Moiz M. Mumtaz and Hisham A. El-Masri, (both from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA), Douglas M. Hawkins (University of Minnesota Dept. of Statistics), Denise Mills, and Basak.
4) “Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) modeling of juvenile hormone activity of alkyl (2E, 4E), 3,11-trimethyl-2, 4-dodecadienoates,” Basak, Ramanathan Natarajan, Mills, and Brian D. Gute.
5) “Tailored similarity: Creation of activity specific molecular similarity spaces,” by Gute.
6) “On canonical labeling of proteins of proteomics maps,” Milan Randic (Drake University, Iowa), Dejan Plavsic (Rugjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia), and Basak.
7) “Comparison of arbitrary versus tailored similarity spaces in property estimation,” Gute, Basak, Mills, and Hawkins.
8) “Four-color map representation of DNA sequences and their numerical characterization,” Randic, Basak, Nella Lera, Dejan Plavsic (both of Rugjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia), and Alexandru T. Balaban (Texas A & M University, Galveston, TX).
9) “On invariants of a 2-D proteomic map derived from neighborhood graphs,” Randic, Lera, Plavsic, and Basak.
10) “Mutagen/non-mutagen classification of congeneric and diverse sets of chemicals using computed molecular descriptors: A hierarchical approach,” Basak, Mills, Gute, Christian Matson, and Hawkins. 11) “NMR spectral invariants as numerical descriptors for
diastereomers,” Basak and Natarajan.
12) “Ordering the repellency of stereoisomeric topical mosquito repellents by molecular overlay,” Natarajan, Basak, Balaban, (UMD alumnus) Jerome A. Klun and Walter F. Schmidt (both of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Chemical Affecting Insect Behavior Laboratory, Beltsville, MD).
13) “Overall path connectivity-Two non-degenerate indices for alkanes,” Natarajan, T. C. Murali T. M. Anbazhagan (both of Crux Fusion Software, Bangalore, India).
14) “Prediction of blood: brain penetration of chemicals using computed molecular descriptors,” Matson, Basak, Lester R. Drewes (Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, UMD School of Medicine).
15) “QSTR models of juvenile hormone mimetic compounds for Culex pipiens larvae,” Jessica J. Kraker, Hawkins (both of the University of Minnesota Dept. of Statistics), Mills, Natarajan, and Basak.
16) “Similarity of proteomic maps: Use of similarity index and self-organizing maps,” Marjan G. Vracko (National Institute of Chemistry, Slovenia), Basak, Kevin Geiss (Air Force Research Laboratory, Dayton, OH), Frank Witzmann (Purdue University of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN).
17) “Similarity-based chemical clustering techniques,” Gute and Basak.
18) “Stereochemical structure-activity relationship studies of insect repellents,” Natarajan, Basak, Balaban, and Klun.

MEDICAL SCHOOL

Richard Leino, senior research associate in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, recently published a manuscript along with colleagues at the EPA in Duluth: Leino R. L., K.M. Jensen, and G.T. Ankley. “Gonadal histology and characteristic histopathology associated with endocrine disruption in the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas).” Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, 19 (2005): 85-98.

Edward K. Stauffer, associate professor of Physiology & Pharmacology, published a manuscript entitled “After hyperpolarization-firing rate relation of turtle spinal neurons” in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A 191, 135-146 (2005). The paper reported data and results of Stauffer and his colleagues at the University of Arizona for their collaborative research efforts.

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY, DULUTH

Ayman Noreddin, associate professor, was invited by the Division of Education and Research to serve on the St. Mary’s/Duluth Clinic Research Committee.

Paul Ranelli, professor, has been appointed to the House of Delegates representing the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP) at the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, in April. The House of Delegates is comprised of individuals from states, APhA academies, affiliated organizations, recognized organizations, and ex-officio APhA delegates and is charged with developing official policy for the APhA.

Sarah Westberg, assistant professor, and Todd Sorensen, associate professor at the College of Pharmacy Twin Cities campus, published an article in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association (2005; 45: 48-54) entitled “Pharmacy-Related Health Disparities Experienced by Non-English-Speaking Patients: Impact of Pharmaceutical Care.”

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