94-04-13  Dr. Thomas W. Sturgill selected to become biomedical...

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                                               Contact: Tom Doran
     CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., April 6 -- A faculty member of the
University of Virginia School of Medicine is among 44 scientists
selected to become biomedical researchers for the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute (HHMI) in a nationwide competitive program.
     Dr. Thomas W. Sturgill, associate professor of medicine and
pharmacology, will remain on the U.Va. medical faculty but focus
on basic research as an investigator employed by the institute.
HHMI will fund a new laboratory for him at the medical school.
     Sturgill's research is aimed ultimately at finding methods
to treat or cure diseases such as cancer and diabetes by
correcting functional defects within the body's cells.
     His studies focus on the precise role of enzymes called MAP
kinases in a process known as cell signaling, which regulates
growth and other functions in cells through chemical messages.
Abnormalities in the pathways that carry the signals cause
cancer, diabetes and other diseases, and Sturgill and other
researchers hope to correct them by genetic or chemical means.
     More than 200 scientific institutions were invited to
nominate candidates for HHMI investigator awards, said Dr.
Purnell W. Choppin, president of the institute.
     Choppin said that 285 biomedical researchers were nominated,
including some of the nation's best-known scientists as well as
outstanding younger investigators.
     "A panel of distinguished experts then helped us select
these 44 scientists as being likely to make significant advances
in biomedical research and to develop new approaches to
overcoming diseases," he said.
     "This investigator award is exciting in many ways," said Dr.
Robert M. Carey, dean of the School of Medicine. "It is a great
honor to Dr. Sturgill, as competition for support from the Hughes
Institute is extremely keen and the standards are very high.
     "For the University and the state of Virginia, it is good
news because the institute is providing financial support for
our research efforts at a time when resources are limited. It
also is wonderful news for the research team in our Markey Center
for Cell Signaling, where Dr. Sturgill will set up his HHMI
laboratory and work closely with other scientists in his field."
     Sturgill is a native Virginian, born in the small town of
Pound, who earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry, a Ph.D. and a
medical degree, all from U.Va. He joined the faculty in 1983.
     A member of the editorial board of The Journal of Biological
Chemistry and an editorial advisor to several other scientific
journals, he has also been a featured speaker at a number of
scientific conferences in this country and abroad.
     HHMI investigators conduct basic biomedical research in five
broad areas: cell biology and regulation, immunology,
neuroscience, and structural biology, In recent years they have
made significant scientific discoveries related to cancer, AIDS,
heart disease, dystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, tuberculosis,
mental retardation and many other medical problems.
     Organized as a research organization, not a foundation, the
institute enters into long-term collaboration agreements with
institutions and scientists. It is the largest private
philanthropy in the United States, with assets of about $7.8
billion. Last year it spent $268 million on biomedical research
 -- more than 21 percent of all support for such research in the
nation, according to a National Institutes of Health report.
                              # # #

Charlotte A. Buttner, Program Support Technician, Health Sciences
News Office, McKim Hall Room 3116, #429, Charlottesville, Va.  22908,
804-924-5679, cab2j@virginia.edu, CompuServe 72203,1033


[Submitted by:  (cab2j@dmt03.mcc.virginia.edu)
               13 Apr 94 15:04:03 EDT]