Science Magazine has published an article by Timothy L. Stemmler, Ph.D., associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology for the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Dr. Stemmler’s article, “A Cystosolic Iron Chaperone That Delivers Iron to Ferritin,” was published May 30. The groundbreaking study centers around Dr. Stemmler’s work with a human protein – PCBP1 – which binds iron and delivers it to an iron storage protein called ferritin within cells.

“There are a large number of cardio- and neurodegenerative disorders linked to an inability to properly regulate the availability and chemistry of metals that in normal patients are essential for life,” explained Dr. Stemmler. “By understanding proteins that control metal homeostasis under normal conditions, we can provide basic biochemical insight into pathways that are deficient in patients that have these disorders. This insight can be used to design better treatment strategies for these patients.”

Nearly all forms of life, Dr. Stemmler noted, require iron. However, each organism must balance the “advantageous aspects of the chemistry this metal can provide to a cell with the unfavorable oxidation chemistry this metal will perform if unregulated. To accomplish this, organisms generally store iron at the core of the multi-protein complex formed by ferritin. Ferritin will both accept iron when the metal is in high abundance and release metal when it is required in the cell.”

The human protein, which Dr. Stemmler describes as an “iron chaperone,” ensures the reactive iron is delivered to ferritin in a manner that prevents unwanted oxidation chemistry that could occur in the absence of the protein.

PCBP is a family of proteins that selectively deliver iron to ferritin.

This group is only the second known set of iron chaperones, and, Dr. Stemmler said, it is important in the capacity of iron storage throughout the body. Scientists have searched for the protein for decades. It was discovered in yeast by Dr. Caroling Philpott at the National Institutes of Health.

To read Dr. Stemmler’s article in Science Magazine, visit http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5880/1207

Denise G.K. Gray, M.D., assistant professor in the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Radiology, has been awarded Fellow status in the American College of Radiology.

Dr. Gray, a 1975 graduate of the Wayne State University School of Medicine, was inducted as a new Fellow on May 18 in Washington, D.C., at the annual meeting of the ACR. She is the only Fellow from Michigan inducted this year.

Only 10 percent of ACR members attain the distinction. Candidates must be nominated by other Fellows and their state chapter. They must demonstrate significant accomplishment in teaching, research or organized medicine.

“I am honored by my nomination and selection into this prestigious fellowship,” said Dr. Gray, who has served as a School of Medicine faculty member since 1982, and has been an ACR member since 1980. “I am humbled to stand with colleagues that have contributed so much to radiology through distinguished careers. In developing and proceeding along your career path you must have vision, and not just sight.”

Dr. Gray was nominated by two Fellows from national radiological associations and two fellows in Michigan, including the Michigan Radiological Society.

 ACR Fellows are inducted based upon “significant accomplishment in teaching research or organized medicine." Dr. Gray has contributed to radiology through her teaching, academic and research pursuits, and the establishment and growth of organizations that assist and improve the field. In addition to teaching medical students and residents since 1982, she has served as vice president of the American Society of Emergency Radiology, a focus of Dr. Gray’s for many years. She co-chaired the ASER annual meeting and scientific programs.

She has twice been appointed to the statewide health planning council, and has served as a site surveyor for the Joint Review Committee for Education in Diagnostic Sonography, which approves new sonographer training programs. Her work has included research presentations, and chairing the radiology resident research competition and awards program at the National Medical Association Radiological section. Dr. Gray has served as a member of the Wayne County Medical Society Editorial Board and the Advisory Committee to the Bureau of Economics-Michigan State Medical Society.

As a student, Dr. Gray turned down a full-ride scholarship to Yale University for family reasons. She completed her undergraduate studies at Wayne State University, and then attended the School of Medicine. After serving her radiology residency here, she entered private practice for two years.

“I felt a deep longing to return to the academic community at Wayne State University, which had provided me such an excellent academic background,” she said. “The medical career that Wayne State University provided me has been second to none as I’ve witnessed from interacting with many colleagues across the country. For the life and career that I have enjoyed, I hope that I have given back to WSU and its community the benefits that Wayne State University has given to me.”

Jun Li, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Neurology, recently received the 2007-2008 Junior Faculty Award for Science from the Wayne State University Academy of Scholars.

Each year the academy selects a junior faculty member to represent the sciences. Dr. Li was selected from among non-tenured faculty members who are in the process of building careers through the publication of papers and have received national or international recognition early in their careers.

Dr. Li, also an adjunct professor of the Department of Pathology at Wayne State University School of Medicine, has published extensively on inherited and acquired diseases of the peripheral nerves. Some of his recent studies have also explored neuronal degeneration and the electrophysiological features of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and motor neuron damages by West Nile virus infection. He has published 21 papers in the last five years and is an internationally recognized neuromuscular disease specialist. One of his recent research projects was ranked within the top 5 percent of all presentations and received a scientific highlight in 2008 American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.

Dr Li, who received his medical degree from Anhui Medical University, China, in 1985 and his doctoral degree in neuroscience from Drexel University College of Medicine in 1995, is funded by a variety of external sources, including the National Institutes of Health and the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He was the recent recipient of the Veterans Administration’s Rehabilitation Research & Development Scientific Merit Award for his research project, “Molecular Mechanism of Conduction Block in Nerve Injuries.”

“The Department of Neurology and the of School of Medicine have helped me to establish my laboratory, enabling us to learn new information from our patients, carefully characterize them and from there, propose new pathogenic-mechanisms that will be further investigated in animal models and in vitro models, and hopefully lead to new treatments.” said Dr. Li. “Wayne State has offered an excellent academic environment for my career development.”

Albert Goldstein, Ph.D., associate professor of the Wayne State School of Medicine’s Diagnostic Radiology Department, has received the 2008 Joseph H. Holmes Basic Science Pioneer Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

Dr. Goldstein, who has been with the School of Medicine since 1985, was recognized for his body of work in the field of ultrasound imaging. The award honors an individual who has significantly contributed to the growth and development of diagnostic ultrasound.

His work in ultrasound imaging began at the University of Kansas Medical Center in 1972. He was one of the first to lecture to medical audiences on the physics of ultrasound imaging. He led the development of one of the first digital scan converters in ultrasound in a feasibility study sponsored by a U.S. National Science Foundation grant. Soon after this work, all ultrasound scanners became digitized.

“When I started my first academic appointment as a medical physicist in a radiology department ultrasound imaging was just beginning to be utilized,” Dr. Goldstein said. “The images were very poor by today's standards, but the potential of being able to image soft tissue structures (not possible before ultrasound) was the driving force behind the development of this new clinical imaging modality. I had some experience with the use of ultrasound technology in solid state physics (my initial training) and jumped at the chance to be on the ground floor of its development in clinical medicine. I was lucky enough to make some important contributions early on and have greatly enjoyed watching ultrasound imaging take its rightful place as an important clinical imaging modality.”

Dr. Goldstein received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the City College of the City University of New York and completed his doctorate in physics, specializing in solid state physics, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965. His postdoctoral training in medical physics took place at the City College of the City University of New York and Mt Sinai Hospital. He also completed a preceptor- ship in magnetic resonance imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

In addition to writing the first AIUM Quality Assurance Manual, he holds two U.S. patents for the Auto Switch Biplane Prostate Probe and the Biplane Probe Including CenterIine Highlighting.

Certified by the American Board of Radiology in diagnostic radiologic physics, he is now researching the effects of diffraction on beam patterns and has published definitive journal articles on steady-state unfocused and focused ultrasound beam patterns. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and a member of the editorial board of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, and has been an associate editor of the journal Medical Physics.

A senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Dr. Goldstein is also a fellow of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, the American College of Radiology and the AIUM. He has served on the AIUM's Board of Governors and as chair of the Basic Science and Instrumentation Section.

Department of Neurology Chair Robert Lisak, M.D., was recently elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians.

Founded in London in 1518, the Royal College of Physicians was the first medical institution in England to receive a Royal Charter. Since its creation, the college has offered a wide array of resources and services to its 20,000 members, fellows and other medical professionals. These include providing continuing medical education opportunities and advising the British government and other decision-makers on behalf of its members.

Dr. Lisak’s election is one of the highest honors the organization will bestow. The Honorary Fellowship is awarded to no more than 20 people per year. Dr Lisak is among only 13 physicians selected this year and one of only five Americans.

“This award is special to me because it acknowledges that the work I’ve done is recognized by a historic and prominent body,” he said. “It is a great honor.”

Dr. Lisak who served as a Fullbright Scholar in the United Kingdom in 1978 and 1979, plans to return to England in July for the Royal College of Physicians Admission of the Fellows Ceremony. “This award is not only nice for me, personally,” he said. “This award is also an honor for the School of Medicine and the Department of Neurology.”

Dr. Charles Schuster, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, was honored by the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics with the 2008 Peter B. Dews Lifetime Achievement Award in Behavioral Pharmacology on April 5, 2008. The award recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement in research, teaching and professional service in the field of behavioral pharmacology.