YSU Research team gets $700,000

The professors say research could lead to economic development in Youngstown.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Discussing the news that he and his two partners received $700,000 for a research project, Dr. Thomas Kim said they were "still in 'pinch-me' mode" and searching for the hidden "Candid Camera."
After all, a program director at the National Science Foundation had questioned the grant application only once -- to tell the Youngstown State University research team members that they didn't ask for enough money.
"When the phone call came, I nearly fell out of my chair," said partner Dr. Chester R. Cooper Jr., associate professor of biology. "... We basically walked around speechless for three days."
The team had asked for $400,000 over three years. But NSF thought it wasn't enough and had the group revise its application for funding from the NSF "Collaborative Research at Undergraduate Institutions" fund, for inter-disciplinary work.
"It allows us to do things -- to dream a little bit -- off the beaten path," Kim said.
Kim, an associate professor of chemistry, is partnered with Cooper and Dr. Gary Walker, an associate professor of biological sciences.
What the team is doing, Kim said, is "just a natural collaboration between chemistry and biology," called proteomics research.
Research subject
They are studying a deadly fungus called penicillium marneffei, which infects nearly 30 percent of AIDS patients in Thailand and is fatal if left untreated.
The research at YSU examines proteins in the fungus and how each is related to the way in which the organism causes disease. Understanding the proteins could lead to ways of diagnosing and treating infected patients. The process could also be applied to other pathogens and diseases.
Kim calls proteomics "part of the forefront of biomedical research today."
"It's so far out there that many mainline universities haven't gotten into this," he said. "It is the next wave of biomedical research."
Besides equipment and materials, Walker said funds will be used to hire a full-time postdoctoral fellow -- a researcher who has earned a doctorate -- to assist undergraduates in the lab on a day-to-day basis.
Such a worker will offer leadership and continuity as undergraduates move through the university, Kim said.
The funds will also pay for undergraduate summer research fellowships so undergrads can study year-round.
"It's taking teaching out of the classroom and teaching in the lab instead," Cooper said. "I don't think it can be stressed enough how important it is for undergraduates to get research experience. Some businesses and industries won't even look at undergrads if they don't have research experience."
Kim told an anecdote about an employer who kept two r & eacute;sum & eacute; piles: One included r & eacute;sum & eacute;s from undergraduates with research experience; the other was in the trash can.
Besides the student benefit, the professors said any discoveries can be patented. Such recognition could set the foundation for new economic development in Youngstown and attract companies who see YSU as a resource for their business.
"By getting this grant and doing this kind of research, it not only puts YSU in the spotlight, and Youngstown as a place to do business," Cooper said, "but I think it sets a new standard here at the university for doing research and scholarship."