Biochemistry | School of Medicine | WVU Health Sciences Center

Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Biochemistry in the West Virginia University School of Medicine. This is a very exciting time in the Department as we are in the midst of a period of growth. Within the last year, three new faculty members have joined the Department. We continue to recruit for a number of new faculty positions and are interested in candidates with expertise in biochemistry and research interests in a number of broad areas including cancer biology, cardiovascular biology and neuroscience. These represent areas of interest of the current faculty in the department and areas of strength in the three major research centers supported by the Health Sciences Center at WVU. Two of our junior faculty members were awarded their first NIH grants within the last six months. The success of our faculty at securing extramural funding and the recruitment of new faculty are re-invigorating the research programs within the Department and have provided new opportunities for post-doctoral and graduate student training.

Grant Awarded

Steven Frisch, Ph.D.

Grant awarded by the Department of Defense

Dr. Steven Frisch, a Professor of Biochemistry & the Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center in the School of Medicine at WVU, was recently awarded a two year, $296,000 grant to study a protein previously shown to restrict the proliferation of cells during wound healing in the kidney. Dr. Frisch has proposed that the absence of this protein in some kidney cancer cells could lead to their unregulated proliferation and metastasis. The DOD Basic Science Award will allow Dr. Frisch and his laboratory team to compare the expression of this protein in tumors and wound-healing sites and test the hypothesis that the absence of the protein contributes to the development of kidney cancer. If their prediction is correct, the additional insight provided by their study could guide the design of new drugs for treating kidney cancer.

Steve was recruited to the faculty at WVU as a Professor of Biochemistry in the fall of 2004. He joined our department after working as an Associate Professor at the Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA. Prior to this, Steve started his career as an Assistant Professor in both Medicine and Biochemistry & Biophysics at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. Steve completed his postdoctoral studies at the Center for Cancer Research at MIT in Cambridge, MA. He received his formal scientific education at various institutions, earning his B.S. degree from State University of New York, Stony Brook and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, CA.

This is a prestigious award designed to provide continued support for the research program of a valuable faculty and senior investigator within the Department.

Congratulations Steve...!!

Seminar Series & Research Forum

Research Forum: Michael Miller, Ph.D.
	Date: May 23, 2013 Time: 4:00 PM Location: 1st Floor Conference Room, BMRI (Room 101)

Fall 2013 Seminar Series: Roman Kondratov, Ph.D.

Topic: "The effects of circadian clocks on aging under dietary restriction"
Date: September 17, 2013
Time: 12:00 Noon
Location: 3067
Speaker: Roman Kondratov, Ph.D.
Website: http://facultyprofile.csuohio.edu/csufacultyprofile/detail.cfm?FacultyID=R_KONDRATOV
Institution: Cleveland State University, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences
Hosted By: Pugacheva

Rotation Opportunities

Graduate Student Rotation Opportunities

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Achievements

Recruiting, Promotion & Tenure

Yehenew Agazie was promoted to Associate Professor of Biochemistry and awarded tenure, effective July 1, 2009.
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Dr. Max Sokolov, a member of the Departments of Biochemistry and Ophthalmology, and a member of the Center for Neuroscience, was promoted to Associate Professor and awarded tenure effective July 1, 2011.
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Dr. Peter Stoilov joined the WVU School of Medicine faculty this spring as a new Assistant Professor in Biochemistry.
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Dr. David Smith joined the WVU School of Medicine faculty recently as a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry.
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Graduates

Callee Walsh successfully defended her dissertation in November of 2009.
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Ali Kohan successfully defended her thesis on August 17, 2009.
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Hongman Song, a member of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, successfully defended her dissertation thesis on June 11, 2009.
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Brian Zamora completed his doctoral dissertation work in December 2009 in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Graduate Program.
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Sanjeev Kumar joined the Frisch lab in September, 2004 and finished his Ph.D. in April, 2010.
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Grants and Fellowships

Maxim Sokolov, Ph.D., was awarded a $1.6 million NIH Grant.
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Dr. Elena Pugacheva, was recently awarded an RO1.
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Holly Damron, a graduate student in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Training Program, was recently awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the American Heart Association.
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Zachary Hartman was recently awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program in Breast Cancer.
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Awards

Professor Mary Wimmer was selected as a finalist for the Faculty Merit Foundation’s West Virginia Professor of the Year.
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Bill Wonderlin was presented with a Distinguished Teaching Award for his efforts in graduate education.
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Service

Dr. Knox Van Dyke was recently recognized in the department for 35 years of service.
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Dr. Mike Miller was recognized recently for 30 years of service.
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Dr. Mary Wimmer was recognized recently for 30 years of service.
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Dr. Drew Shiemke was recognized recently for 20 years of service.
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Carol Sholtis was recently recognized in the department for 20 years of service.
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Dr. Mike Gunther was recently recognized for 10 years service.
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Dr. Steve Frisch was recently recognized for 5 years service.
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