Of note

The end-of-semester poster competition in biomedical engineering was held Dec. 12, 2007, with the following teams taking honors: First place went to the Equinus Gait Trainer group, composed of seniors Kate Achtien and Maiko Kume. Second place was given to the Next Generation Sequence Analyzer group. Team members were seniors Rachel Lee, Christopher Stephenson and Jonathan Gerstenhaber. Two groups tied for third place. One was the Diabetes Book/Tracker group of seniors Elizabeth Ochoa, Nicole Wilson and Jennifer Yu. The other group was the CPAP Infant Ventilator team. Members were seniors David Brigati, Rakesh Kashyap and Maya Solomon. …

James H. Buckley, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, and Daniel J. Leopold, Ph.D., research associate professor of physics, have received a two-year, $210,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for research titled “High Quantum Efficiency A1GaN/InGaN Photodetectors.” …

H. Mark Johnston, Ph.D., the McDonnell Professor of Molecular Genetics and professor of genetics, was awarded the George W. Beadle Award for 2008 from the Genetics Society of America. The award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics research. …

F. Scott Kieff, J.D., professor of law, has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez to serve for a three-year term on the nine-person Patent Public Advisory Committee of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. …

Chithprabha Kudlu, graduate student in anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has received a $24,300 doctoral dissertation grant from the National Science Foundation and a $14,890 grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation for research titled “Journey from Plant to Medicine: A Study of Ayurvedic Commodity Chains in Kerala.” …

Marc S. Levin, M.D., associate professor of medicine in the Divisions of Veteran Affairs Medicine and of Gastroenterology, was awarded a four-year, $1,261,600 grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for research titled “Nutrient Modulation of Gene Expression in Gut Adaptation.” …

Mark Manary, M.D., professor of pediatrics, was awarded the 2007 World of Children Health Award and received a $50,000 cash grant at the 10th Annual World of Children Awards Ceremony at UNICEF House in New York City. He received the award for his “Project Peanut Butter,” a program that uses a peanut butter-like food to rescue malnourished children in Malawi. …

Robert D. Schreiber, Ph.D., the Alumni Endowed Professor of Pathology and Immunology and professor of molecular microbiology, has received a four-year, $450,000 predoctoral training grant from the Cancer Research Institute. This grant provides support for training of graduate students in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences in the area of tumor immunology. …

Jay Turner, Ph.D., associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, has received a two-year, $117,778 subaward from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for research titled “Advanced Sampling and Data Analysis for Source Attribution of Ambient Particulate Arsenic and Other Air Toxics Metals in St. Louis.” The prime award is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Community Air Toxics Program.