North Carolina Biotechnology Center Renames Faculty Recruitment Grant To Honor Dr. Oliver Smithies

Nobel Prize Recipient Honored For Medical Achievements In North Carolina

[ClickPress, Fri Mar 28 2008] The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (www.ncbiotech.org) has announced its Faculty Recruitment Grant has been renamed the Oliver Smithies Faculty Recruitment Grant in honor of Nobel Prize recipient, Dr. Oliver Smithies. The North Carolina Biotechnology Center created the Faculty Recruitment Grant to assist universities in attracting top scientists to North Carolina and outfit their labs after arrival. Dr. Smithies was one of the program’s earliest recruits. In the program’s 22-year history, 52 scholars have been recruited with $9.8 million. They’ve gone on to win $362,799,695.07 in federal and other research grants.

Smithies is an excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was recruited to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in 1987 and was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom. The Nobel Prize was awarded in recognition of “their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.”

Related Links:
www.ncbiotech.org
www.ncbiotech.org/assets/multimedia/smithies_mar08.mp3
www.ncbiotech.org/smithies
www.mmimarketing.com/podcast/dr-oliver-smithies
www.mmimarketing.com

News Facts:

• The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (www.ncbiotech.org) has announced its Faculty Recruitment Grant has been renamed the Oliver Smithies Faculty Recruitment Grant in honor of Nobel Prize recipient, Dr. Oliver Smithies.
• The North Carolina Biotechnology Center created the Faculty Recruitment Grant to assist universities in attracting top scientists to North Carolina and outfit their labs after arrival, and Dr. Smithies was one of the program’s earliest recruits.
• In the program’s 22-year history, 52 scholars have been recruited with $9.8 million.
• They’ve gone on to win $362,799,695.07 in federal and other research grants.
• Smithies is an excellence professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• He was recruited to the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in 1987 and was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Mario R. Capecchi of the University of Utah’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Sir Martin J. Evans of the United Kingdom.
• The Nobel Prize was awarded in recognition of “their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells.”

Quotes:
“If central casting created a Nobel Laureate, Dr. Smithies is it,” said Erskine B. Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina. “There is no higher prize than the Nobel Prize. His receipt of this award does so much for our university and the state of North Carolina.”

About Dr. Oliver Smithies:
Dr. Oliver Smithies is an Excellence Professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is credited with greatly improving gel electrophoresis, a process of separating proteins to identify genes, which simplified the procedure and became standard in laboratories. He is also credited with discovering a technique to introduce DNA material in cells, replicating a natural process called homologous DNA recombination. He was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his work leading to the ability to modify genes in predictable ways.

About North Carolina Biotechnology Center:
The Biotechnology Center is a private, nonprofit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business and education statewide. For more information, please call (919) 541-9366 or visit www.ncbiotech.org.

Keywords:
The North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Dr. Oliver Smithies, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, gene modification, public health, life sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina life sciences, Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans, embryonic stem cells, research, Faculty Recruitment Grant, The Smithies Award,

Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
(919) 233-6600
patty@mmimarketing.com
PR Firms Raleigh, NC

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