Faculty

Simple blood test can detect cancer in early stages

(Deryl Troyer is a 2012 K-INBRE Scholar and 2011 Bridging Grant Recipient)

Washington, September 27 (ANI): A simple blood test, developed by researchers at Kansas State University, can accurately detect the beginning stages of cancer.

In less than an hour, the test can detect breast cancer and non-small cell lung cancer-the most common type of lung cancer-before symptoms like coughing and weight loss start. The researchers anticipate testing for the early stages of pancreatic cancer shortly.

The test was developed by Stefan Bossmann, professor of chemistry, and Deryl Troyer, professor of anatomy and physiology. read more >>

Dr. Virginia Rider, Pittsburg State University, Awarded as one of Ingram's 2012 Icons of Education

The fourth installment of Ingram’s Icons of Education produced an odd twist: Each year since the program began in 2009 to recognize the best of what education in this region has to offer, we’ve cast a spotlight on nine highly qualified administrators, researchers and classroom instructors. read more >>

K-INBRE Bioinformatics Core Director at Kansas State University Receives Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award

Susan Brown, PhD, professor of biology at Kansas State University, has received one of two KSU Distinguished Graduate Faculty Awards, supported by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Commerce Bancshares Foundation. The annual award, which comes with a $2,500 honorarium, honors faculty who have distinguished themselves nationally and internationally for excellence in research and graduate education.

“All of the graduate faculty work hard to mentor students, so it is an honor to be selected by my peers for this award,” said Dr. Brown.

Dr. Brown is a developmental geneticist studying the genetic regulation of embryonic development in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. She has developed genetic and genomic tools to establish Tribolium as a premiere genetic model organism and was a leader in the Tribolium genome project, which produced the first complete genome sequence of a beetle. Dr. Brown is the director of the Arthropod Genomics Center and the K-State Bioinformatics Center at KSU.

“Sue is a real star,” said Dr. Rob Dennel, KSU University Distinguished Professor of Biology and Director, Terry C. Johnson Canter for Basic Cancer Research. “In addition to maintaining a highly successful personal research effort, she has created and directs major campus programs that have achieved international recognition and aid many K-State faculty researchers.”

Dr. Brown has served as KSU’s bioinformatics core director for the Kansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE) since 2001.

“Sue Brown’s exceptionally diverse experiences as a renowned molecular geneticist is a tremendous benefit to our bioinformatics community,” said KU’s Dr. Gerry Lushington, K-INBRE Biolinformatics Core Director.  “She is capable of injecting insight into all of the wide ranging topics that cross our discussion paths, and her background in developing novel biological model systems is a strength that we should all be exploiting as we look to formulate and validate increasingly complex new analytical techniques.”

Dr. Brown earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Smith College and a doctorate in genetics from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She joined K-State as a research associate in 1983 and became a full professor in 2007.

 

© K-INBRE