Produced by the Office of Communications // February 16, 2012

Dessauer named fellow of AAAS

Dr. Carmen Dessauer, professor of integrative biology and pharmacology, has been named a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

She is one of 539 AAAS members who will be recognized with the honor Feb. 18 at the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“She is regarded highly nationally and internationally for her work,” said Dr. John Hancock, chair of the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology and holder of the John S. Dunn Distinguished University Chair in Physiology and Medicine.

Dessauer’s interest in cell signaling dates back to her days as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Alfred Gilman, who shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his part in work involving proteins (G proteins) that serve in the communication process. Gilman is a professor emeritus at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Dessauer and her colleagues said they believe this information could potentially be used to block signals tied to disease. Building on Gilman’s work, Dessauer was honored for her efforts to further the understanding of how G proteins impact a second messenger named cyclic AMP.

“In the heart, we are working to identify complexes that regulate cyclic AMP actions and to inhibit one of the proteins that makes cyclic AMP in an effort to address heart disease,” said Dessauer, noting that cyclic AMP plays a key role in functions ranging from control of heart rate and force of contraction to learning and memory.

According to Gilman, chief scientific officer of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), “The regulation of cyclic AMP synthesis by adenylyl cyclases is a very important and extremely complex subject, with many enzymes and other proteins involved. Carmen Dessauer kicked open the door on this subject when she worked in my lab, now several years ago. And she has continued to make outstanding contributions to our knowledge in this area. In addition to being a superb scientist, she is a fine person and a strong institutional citizen.”

Elected by their AAAS peers, fellows are recognized for efforts to advance science or its applications. Dessauer joins at least eight other AAAS fellows affiliated with UTHealth.

Dessauer received her doctorate at LSU and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science.

— Robert Cahill, Office of Advancement, Media Relations

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Children’s Learning Institute to develop school readiness measurement system

Due to the pressing need for assessment tools that teachers can use to efficiently identify children's strengths and weaknesses in English and Spanish, monitor students' learning, and inform instruction, the Children’s Learning Institute has begun development of the School Readiness Curriculum Based Measurement System (SR-CBMS).

This four-year research project, funded through a $1.7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, will include research-based progress monitoring tools for both English-speaking children and young Spanish-speaking English learners that assess skills in vocabulary, letter identification, letter sounds, and phonological awareness.

Many children, especially those from ethnic and language minority groups, lag behind in development of these critical school readiness skills. This places them at risk for academic failure, said Dr. Jason Anthony, associate professor at the Children’s Learning Institute and principal investigator of the project.

“A substantial number of children do not acquire the early language and literacy skills that are essential for academic success. Regular monitoring of children's learning in critical school readiness areas could help close the achievement gap that currently exists,” Anthony said. “Many existing measures do not cover a broad enough range of language and literacy skills and few can be used with both English-speaking preschoolers and the growing population of young dual language learners.”

Co-principal investigators are Drs. Susan Landry, Paul Swank, Michael Assel, and Jeffery Williams from the Children’s Learning Institute and Dr. Emily Solari from the University of California, Davis. Preliminary development work on the SR-CBMS will take place in Houston, with subsequent testing taking place across Texas. A socioeconomically diverse sample of approximately 4,000 English- and Spanish-speaking children ages 3 to 5 will participate in the study.

The SR-CBMS project will be conducted in four phases. In the first phase, Anthony said, researchers will generate assessment items for the four targeted skill areas in both English and Spanish. During the second phase, a pilot study will be conducted to examine the feasibility of initial testing procedures. The third phase will scale and evaluate test items, and the final phase will examine the SR-CBMS’ reliability and validity.

The SR-CBMS will include two brief parallel English tests and two brief parallel Spanish tests, as well as expanded versions in English and Spanish. Conforming Spanish and English will allow comparisons of bilingual children's competencies across languages. The SR-CBMS also will include an in-service training protocol for teachers and a user's manual.

“Our hope is that the SR-CBMS, and possibly a subsequent computer adaptive version, will help teachers make the best use of limited time and resources by supporting their efforts to provide targeted instruction to those children who need it most,” Anthony said.

—Andrew Heger, Children’s Learning Institute

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Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center seeks physician opinion

Your opinion matters! Memorial Hermann–Texas Medical Center is conducting its annual confidential Physician Satisfaction Survey between Feb. 27–April 20.

Surveys will be hand-delivered or mailed during this time and may also be accessed at www.healthstreamsurveys.com.

“This survey is important for the hospital to implement change based on physician response and is a great opportunity for us to provide our insights,” Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo said.

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Financial disclosure due March 1 for faculty, A&P

All faculty and A&P employees are required to submit an annual financial disclosure to the university. The 2011 Financial Disclosure Statement Form is now available for electronic submission via the web-based form located on the Office of Institutional Compliance website.

The Financial Disclosure Statement for calendar year 2011 outside activities and financial interests is due March 1, 2012.

You are encouraged to review the Frequently Asked Questions document and the following UTHealth policies before you begin the form:

• Conflict of Interest and Outside Activities (HOOP 20)
• Research Conflicts of Interest (HOOP 94)
• Intellectual Property (HOOP 201)

If you need assistance please contact our office via telephone, 713.500.3294, or email.

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Sweet tunes

 

 

 

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