December 2007
Dear Alumni and Friends of Biochemistry,
Greetings from Purdue's Department of Biochemistry! I hope this has been a
successful year for all of you and that 2008 provides joy, hope and intellectual
challenges. We have completed another busy semester and hopefully our
students, staff and faculty will take time to enjoy the holidays before the
"spring" semester (I recommend wearing long pants for the first week of class). There
have been several changes at the top of the university administration this year. We have a
new University President, France Cordova, who was trained as an astrophysicist and
served as the Chief Scientist at NASA (1993-96) and the Chancellor at the University of
California Riverside (2002-2007) before arriving at Purdue. Provost Sally Mason became
the President at the University of Iowa and Vic Lechtenberg (Dean of Ag. 1994-2004) is
currently serving as interim Provost until a national search is completed. With a new
administration in place, a new strategic plan is not far behind, and it is clear that
increasing student achievement and enrichment experiences will be a key priority. This
university objective fits well with many of our departmental goals and approaches such
as using faculty as academic counselors and emphasizing undergraduate research.
After serving the Department of Biochemistry for 30 years, Mark Hermodson
J^       retired this semester (December 31). Mark generously devoted his time to
J        serving others, whether as Department Head, the Editor of Protein Science, or
^HW^ interim Director of Bindley Biosciences. He was always willing to assume more
than his fair share of administrative and teaching responsibilities and probably
served on more Ph.D. advisory committees than any faculty member in the life sciences
at Purdue. Mark and Sue plan to remain in town (at least for now) and hopefully Mark
will continue to be active in the department's intellectual community. Sadly, I need to
report that Barney Axelrod is in recovery from a major stroke that occurred last May.
Barney has serious limitations but his daughter, Judy Weitzman, explains that he still
maintains a wonderful sense of humor and assures me the family appreciates your
thoughts and prayers. Henry Weiner and Esther visited Slovenia this summer to scout a
site for his 2008 Carbonyl meeting which is scheduled for next July in Kranjska Gora, a
Slovenian town in the Alps near the Austrian border. David Krogmann was honored to
find that one of his previous publications on the history of photosynthesis research
(Govindjee and Krogmann, Photosynthesis Research 80:15-57) was reprinted in a book
published by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei entitled "Chemistry and Biology: the
Transition Between Two Centuries." The Accademia dei Lincei is a highly respected
international academy of science founded in 1603 and includes Galilieo as one of its
earliest members. Karl Brandt will serve on the academic review panel for the
Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology at Iowa State University
in April 2008. The site visit is part of a required five-year review process. Scott Briggs
was appointed to the board of directors of the Epigenetics Society, an
international scientific society open to all those interested in any aspects of
biological methylation. Vic Rodwell and Meredith continue to split time
between West Lafayette and their condo in Clearwater, Florida. He is assisting
Cynthia Stauffacher's group with enzymes and methods for high throughput
screens of compounds that target bacterial HMG-CoA reductases.
Biochemistry Holiday Letter 2007
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