RESEARCHERS & INNOVATION CENTERS
We are committed to protecting and supporting medical research and entrepreneurial efforts that are founded on medical research. We believe it’s essential to protect and grow Missouri’s research environment in order to attract and retain the best and brightest talent to our research facilities and innovation centers.
It is important for us to recognize and support the efforts of medical researchers and entrepreneurs across the state. By hosting events to showcase their research and ongoing work, we promote innovation in Missouri. Our educational mission allows us to partner with leading researchers to present cutting-edge work to local audiences throughout our state.
This Month’s Featured Researcher
March 2020
Dr. Tom Curran, Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Children’s Research Institute, Children’s Mercy, Kansas City
Dr. Tom Curran has been working on the frontline of cancer research and developmental neurobiology for more than 30 years and continues to contribute as a scientist, administrator, leader and mentor in the research community. In 2016, he became the Executive Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Children’s Research Institute, Children’s Mercy, Kansas City with the ambition of establishing a world class center for pediatric translational research. His goals for the Children’s Research Institute are to develop a strong focus on pediatric translational research and developmental therapeutics throughout the region. Learn more about him and the Children’s Mercy Research Institute here.
Previous Featured Researchers
February 2020
Dr. Enrico Di Cera, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Dr. Enrico Di Cera was recently named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for his distinguished contributions to science. Dr Di Cera, who is the Alice A. Doisy professor and chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at SLU, is being recognized for his key contributions to the theory of ligand binding and to the structural enzymology of proteins controlling blood coagulation. He is also the Interim Vice Dean for Research at Saint Louis University. Learn more about his work here.
January 2020
Jannette Berkley-Patton, Ph.D., University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine –Biomedical and Health Informatics Department
Jannette Berkley-Patton, Ph.D., is a professor in the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine –Biomedical and Health Informatics Department. She is also the director of the Community Health Research Group, the director of the UMKC Health Equity Institute, and adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychology at UMKC. Her expertise is in using community-engaged approaches to test and disseminate evidence-based health screening and linkage to care interventions focused on HIV/STDs/Hepatitis C, diabetes, heart disease, and mental health in community settings. She is dedicated to engaging students and community-health-academic partnerships along with underserved populations to address health disparities using novel scalable and sustainable methods. She recently spoke at one of our Brews & Breakthroughs. Find out more about her work here!
December 2019
Dr. Walter Gassmann is Interim Director at the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri
Dr. Walter Gassmann is Interim Director at the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center at the University of Missouri. The Bond Life Sciences Center at MU allows researchers to form collaborations rarely seen on college campuses to solve problems in human and animal health, the environment and agriculture. Dr. Gassmann’s research focuses on the inner working of plant immune systems. In particular, he is interested in how it is activated, and how it is kept in check to prevent harmful side effects from an overactive immune system. Learn more about his work here.
November 2019
Fran Sverdrup, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Saint Louis University
This Month, we’d like to introduce you to Fran Sverdrup, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Saint Louis University. He and his team are working on finding a way to shut down the toxic protein that leads to facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), an illness that starts with facial, shoulder and upper arm weakness and eventually affects nearly all skeletal muscles of those with the disease (full story linked above).
Dr. Sverdrup was motivated to search for a cure for FSHD after his own daughter was diagnosed with the illness. His research suggests a way forward in developing the first treatment or cure for FSHD. You can learn more about his groundbreaking work here.
October 2019
Dr. Jeffrey Gordon, Distinguished University Professor of Pathology & Immunology, Biology and Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine
September 2019
Rochelle Henderson,Vice-President, Health Services Research, Express Scripts
Dr. Henderson oversees Express Scripts’ clinical product evaluations and publishes applied research in peer reviewed manuscripts. She has 24 years of experience in health services research and has conducted pharmacoepidemiologic and pharmacoeconomic research. Today, she uses that experience to focus on the economic evaluation of drug therapies. We are proud to feature Dr. Henderson as a panelist at our 2019 WISER St. Louis Conference.
August 2019
Jaya Ghosh, Program Director of the Coulter Biomedical Accelerator at the University of Missouri
Jaya Ghosh is the Program Director of the Coulter Biomedical Accelerator at the University of Missouri, a training and grants program proven to accelerate the translation of biomedical innovations from bench to bedside. Jaya is also an Adjunct Faculty of the MU Trulaske College of Business, and a Program Manager for the BioComX/NIH Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) Program. Most recently, she was the Assistant Program Director of the MU-Coulter Biomedical Accelerator. Prior to that, she was the BioDesign and Innovation Fellow at the University of Missouri. Jaya holds a BE degree in Instrumentation & Control Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology in India, and a PhD in Bioengineering from MU. Learn more about her work here.
July 2019
Toni Kutchen, Ph. D., Vice President for Research and, Oliver M. Langenberg Distinguished Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Toni Kutchen, Ph. D. serves as Vice President for Research and is the Oliver M. Langenberg Distinguished Investigator at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. Research in Dr. Kutchen’s lab is aimed at elucidating the biosynthetic pathways of selected medicinal compounds in plants and developing improved sources of these chemicals. The lab investigates how plants make special chemicals called natural products. These chemicals frequently are used as medicines, either as pure compounds by pharmaceutical industry, or as mixtures in traditional medicines. Recently, her lab discovered a way to produce life-saving opiate antidotes at a fraction of the cost. You can read more about her fascinating research here.
June 2019
Dr. William Fay, Senior Associate Dean for Research at the School of Medicine at University of Missouri
Dr. William Fay is the Senior Associate Dean for Research at the School of Medicine at University of Missouri. He is a clinician-scientist which means in addition to caring for patients, he researches the broad fields of thrombosis and vascular biology. His lab studies how blockages form in blood vessels, which relates to major cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction (heart attack), restenosis, vein graft failure, and stroke. Dr. Fay is currently are focusing much of his efforts on the development of new drugs to inhibit atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and vein graft failure. Read more about his work here.
May 2019
Dr. Daniela Salvemini, Professor of Pharmacological and Physiological Science at Saint Louis University School of Medicine
This month our featured researcher is Dr. Daniela Salvemini, Professor of Pharmacological and Physiological Science at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. Dr. Salvemini is doing ground-breaking work to help find alternatives for pain management. According to Dr. Salvemini, “Opioid pain killers are widely used but can cause strong side effects and carry risks of addiction and abuse. There is an urgent need for better options for patients suffering from chronic pain.” Dr. Salvemini has spent her career studying the mechanisms of pain, sussing out the molecular series of interactions that lead to pain in the body. Building on previous research, she and her team found that a particular cellular receptor appears to be the culprit in the development of traumatic nerve injury pain in an animal model. Learn more about her research here: Learn more about her research click here and click here.
April 2019
F. Sessions Cole, MD.
Meet our featured researcher, F. Sessions Cole, MD. Dr. Cole is doing important and much-needed research on rare diseases. He serves as the Principal Investigator for the NIH-funded Washington University Undiagnosed Diseases Network and also serves on the MO HealthNet Rare Diseases Advisory Board for the Missouri Department of Social Services. Dr. Cole is a distinguished physician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and is known for his remarkable dedication as a clinician, researcher, and educator. We are so excited he is turning his considerable knowledge, talent, and passion for finding cures and therapies for rare diseases. Learn more about his work!
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