Newswise — Two scientists from the Department of Biochemistry at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School have been elected to Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology (Academy). Céline Gélinas, PhD, professor of biochemistry, and Masayori Inouye, PhD, distinguished professor of biochemistry, join more than 75 Fellows who were elected this year through a highly selective peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology.
Dr. Inouye is world-renowned for his work in genetics and biochemistry, having discovered miniature RNA (micRNA), along with two collaborators. RNA serves a multitude of roles in living cells; micRNA are miniature strands of ribonucleic acid, which control the chemical activities in a cell. Dr. Inouye’s breakthrough is still being built upon by today's genetic research pioneers, who have been using the notion of RNA activity to understand disease pathways and potential drug targets.
Dr. Inouye, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Osaka University in Japan before attending Princeton University as a postdoctoral fellow. He served on the faculty at the State University of New York, Stony Brook, from 1971 to 1986 before joining Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1987. He is a resident member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, a joint institute of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
Dr. Gélinas is internationally known in the fields of Rel/NF-kB signaling, cancer and apoptosis (cell death). Cancer ariseswhen thedelicate balance between cell proliferation and cell death is upset. Signals that promote uncontrolled cell division and those that block cell death contribute to the development and progression of tumors. Dr. Gélinas’ research investigates the mechanisms involved in the development and progression of hematopoietic and solid tumors andhow the Rel/NF-kB pathway, which is key in immune and inflammatory responses, regulates gene expression, apoptosis, cancer and chemoresistance.
Dr. Gélinas earned her doctorate at the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada, where she was a pre-doctoral fellow of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. She completed her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Howard M. Temin at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied retroviruses and oncogenes as a King George V Silver Jubilee fellow of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. Dr. Gélinas joined the faculty of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1988 as a resident member of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. In 1995, Dr. Gélinas became a member of The Cancer Institute of New Jersey and in 2008 was appointed associate dean for research at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
The American Academy of Microbiology consists of more than 2,000 Fellows who represent all subspecialties of microbiology, including basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service.
About UMDNJ-ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON MEDICAL SCHOOL
As one of the nation’s leading comprehensive medical schools, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, health care delivery, and the promotion of community health. In cooperation with Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the medical school’s principal affiliate, they comprise New Jersey’s premier academic medical center. In addition, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has 34 other hospital affiliates and ambulatory care sites throughout the region.
As one of the eight schools of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey with 2,800 full-time and volunteer faculty, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School encompasses 22 basic science and clinical departments, hosts centers and institutes including The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, and the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The medical school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels for more than 1,500 students on its campuses in New Brunswick, Piscataway, and Camden, and provides continuing education courses for health care professionals and community education programs. To learn more about UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, log on to rwjms.umdnj.edu. Find our fan page at http://www.Facebook.com/RWJMS and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/UMDNJ_RWJMS.
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