Comparative Biosciences Features

Dr. Melissa Clark Passes Clinical Pharmacology Boards

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 08:00:00 CDT

Dr. Melissa Clark , department of comparative bioscienes, passed her veterinary clinical pharmacology board certifying exam and will continue on to complete her PhD in pharmacology after 3 years in the clinical pharmacology residency program. Her residency training was supervised by Dr. Duncan Ferguson, with support from Drs. Dirikolu and Lavergne. Dr. Clark's doctoral work is funded by a Morris Animal Foundation/Pfizer fellowship and a Morris Animal Foundation grant which supports her work with Drs. Hoenig, Dirikolu, and, Ferguson.

Studying the Effects of Plastics on Children

Thu, 23 Dec 2010 08:00:00 CST

Susan Schantz (pictured here), professor of comparative biosciences and environmental toxicologist, will direct the new, NIH-funded Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center at Illinois. Comparative biosciences professor Jodi Flaws, a reproductive toxicologist, will act as associate director of the new center, which will investigate whether common plastics chemicals alter child development, cognition or behavior.

Photo credit: L. Brian Stauffer.

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Dr. Schantz to Direct Botanical Research Center

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:00:00 CDT

An ongoing research initiative into the health effects of botanical estrogens will get an $8 million boost from the National Institutes of Health. Susan Schantz, professor of comparative biosciences, will serve as the associate director of the new Botanicals Research Center.

Based at the University of Illinois, the Center will draw on the expertise of a multidisciplinary team of researchers to address the many unknowns associated with use of botanical estrogens. These plants and plant-based compounds are often marketed as aids to prevent cancer, promote healthy aging or relieve menopausal symptoms. Researchers from Illinois, the University of Mississippi, Oregon State University and the FDA’s National Center for Toxicological Research will contribute to the five-year effort

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Photo by L. Brian Stauffer

Dr. Lloyd Davis Honored with Street Banner

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CDT

Notable facutly members and alumni and their achievements are being commemorated with a series of orange and blue banners that will be displayed along Green, Sixth and John streets later this spring and summer. The 20 honorees who were selected by Provost Linda Katehi based upon nominations from each of the colleges, include current, retired and deceased faculty members as well as living and deceased alumni. The banners celebrate the diversity of scholarship and achievements that is Illinois.

Among the honorees is Lloyd Davis, DVM, PhD, a founder of the field of veterinary clinical pharamacology and Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Illinois from 1978-1994. Dr. Davis, still living in Urbana, was the director of the first clinical pharmacology residency program at Illinois and was one of the five founding diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Clinical Pharmacology in 1990. He was also the first president of the American Academy of Veterinary Pharmacology and Therapeutics founded in 1977.

Meet Dr. Jason Herrick

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CDT

Jason Herrick, assistant professor, veterinary biosciences, received his PhD, from Purdue in 2003. He held a post-doctoral position at the Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, where he worked with embryo culture media.

His research interests include the development of assisted reproductive technologies and application of those techniques to conservation of endangered species; the interaction between the environment and the development of embryos during the preimplantation period; formulation of a culture medium for domestic cat embryos and utilization of this medium to develop in vitro fertilization procedures for endangered small cat species, specifically the black-footed and sand cat.

Dr. Herrick hopes to continue research on feline embryos and his work with blackfooted cats and sand cats. Much of his current research on embryos has concerned their metabolic activity, a good indicator of embryo health which provides important information on what the embryo needs in culture to survive. He also plan sto do more comparative research with several species to see how maternal diet affects the metabolism of the embryo.

Meet Dr. Megan Mahoney

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:00:00 CDT

Megan Mahoney, assistant professor of veterinary biosciences, received her PhD in Zoology and Evolutionary Biology and Behavior from Michigan State University in 2003.

Before coming to Illinois, Dr. Mahoney worked as a research scientist at the University of Michigan's Department of Psychology and as a postdoctoral fellow in their Reproductive Sciences Program.

A winner of the 2006 Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology's Young Investigator Award, Dr. Mahoney's recent work includes the study of related antigen expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus and surrounding regions in the diurnal rodent.

Marie-Claude Hofmann Receives Independent Scientist Award

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:00:00 CST

Marie-Claude Hofmann, associate professor of veterinary biosciences, has received an Independent Scientist Award from the National Institutes of Health.

The Independent Scientist Award is intended to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to their field of research. It provides three, four, or five years of salary support and protected time or newly independent scientists who demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means of enhancing their research careers.

Dr. Hofmann's current research seeks to answer questions about stem cell biology using spermatogonial stem cells as a model.

Learn more about Dr. Marie-Claude Hofmann

NIH Funds New Reproduction Research Center at Illinois

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:00:00 CST

The Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has approved funding to support a Center for Reproduction and Infertility Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The center will support research aimed at expanding the science underlying the success or failure of human reproduction with the goal of improving human reproductive health.

The Department of Veterinary Biosciences faculty who will lead synergistic research projects at the center are Indrani Bagchi and Paul Cooke.

Yao to Receive Young Investigator Award

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 00:00:00 CST

Humphrey Yao, assistant professor of veterinary biosciences, will receive the 2008 New Investigator Award at the annual meeting for the Society for the Study of Reproduction (SSR) in May 2008 where he will make a presentation showcasing his research.

This award recognizes members of the Society for outstanding research completed and published within 10 years after receiving the PhD or other equivalent professional degree. Criteria include originality, conceptual breakthrough, contribution and significance to the field and development of new methodology, technology or clinical procedures.

"His accomplishments as an independent investigator, teacher and mentor of graduate students and as a faculty member have been stellar," remarked one of Yao's nominators. "He has established a very mature research program and has made solid and novel contributions to the field of reproductive biology."

The research focus of Dr. Yao's laboratory is to understand the fundamental process for the formation of sex organs in mammals. His lab uses genetic mouse models and molecular approaches to define the cellular process for gonadal development and establishment of the reproductive organs. Dr. Yao and his group hope that one day they can apply this knowledge to understand the origins of reproductive problems such as reproductive birth defects and infertility in humans.

One of Dr. Yao's recent projects has centered on locating the gene that spurs development of the epididymis, an organ essential for male fertility. In spring of 2007, Yao's research team discovered a mutant mouse embryo that led them to a gene essential for the coiling of epididymis.

$3 Million Grant Furthers Study of Risk Factors for Hot Flashes

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 08:00:00 CDT

With the help of a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Institute of Aging, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine will begin to examine why obesity is associated with increased risk of hot flashes in mid-life women. Earlier this year, Dr. Jodi Flaws, veterinary biosciences professor at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, found that obese women have lower levels of estrogen. Her new study, entitled "Risk Factors for Hot Flashes in Mid-Life Women," will test the hypothesis that obesity is associated with hot flashes through mechanisms that involve ovarian failure, altered sex steroid hormone levels, and selected genetic polymorphisms. Dr. Flaws and her colleagues at Johns Hopkins University will recruit obese and non-obese perimenopausal women aged 45 to 54 and will follow them for four years to determine whether differences in hormones or genetics increase risk of hot flashes. While most participants will be recruited from the state of Maryland, some may be recruited within Illinois.