The Messenger

Sept. 30, 2009

COLLEGE OF NURSING OPENS RENOVATED LAB

Chris Recktenwald, Andrienne Zamora and Lauren Mergenthaler

Chris Recktenwald (left), lecturer in nursing at UMSL, works with UMSL nursing students Andrienne Zamora (center) and Lauren Mergenthaler on Sept. 23 in the renovated Health Assessment Lab at Seton Hall.

The College of Nursing at the University of Missouri–St. Louis held a grand opening for the college's refurbished Health Assessment Lab on Sept. 23. About 50 people gathered for the ribbon cutting, ice cream social and tours of the facility. Housed on the second floor of Seton Hall on South Campus, the lab features individual learning stations, a small-group work space and eight exam areas. The exam areas are replicas of hospital rooms where students can learn health-assessment skills. The Seton Hall lobby also was renovated. "We are delighted to have had the opportunity to provide wonderful fresh new spaces for students," said Julie Sebastian, dean of the college. "As the demand for nurses has grown, our needs for space for students and faculty also have grown. Seton Hall has a rich and varied history as a building, and we are pleased to have been able to renovate parts of the building to accommodate the growing needs of our students and faculty." Fifth-semester nursing student Sarah Aebischer, who gave tours of the lab, said it's a great addition to the college. "It's really nice and gives us an actual hospital feel."

STUDENT MAKES HEADLINES
FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING

UMSL student Juan Bermudez

University of Missouri–St. Louis student Juan Bermudez is "good people," says Missouri Auditor Susan Montee. According to news reports, the auditor's Kindle, a wireless reading device, was stolen from her car on Sept. 23 in St. Louis. Bermudez (pictured), a senior math major at UMSL, ended up buying the stolen device Saturday from a seller on Craigslist. After the purchase, he noticed the Kindle was registered to Montee and knew then that it was stolen property. So he called the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. Bermudez gave the Kindle and information about the seller to the police, who are holding the Kindle for Montee. Bermudez's helpful act garnered coverage by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Columbia Daily Tribune, United Press International and KTVI (Channel 2). Montee told KTVI, "When you experience a theft you feel bad about everything, and when good people step forward it kind of helps restore your faith a little bit." Click here to download a 1.9 MB copy of the KTVI story. (QuickTime Player is required.)

UMSL alumnus Gábor Balázsi

ALUMNUS SCORES $1.5 MILLION GRANT
University of Missouri–St. Louis alumnus Gábor Balázsi (pictured) learned Thursday that he would receive a $1.5 million New Innovators Award from the National Institutes of Health. The five-year grant will fund his research "Connecting the Selection of Noisy Gene Expression Deviants to Genetic Evolution." Balázsi, PhD physics 2002, is an assistant professor of systems biology at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He said the grant will enable his team to: develop new approaches to "tune" various aspects of gene activity in cell populations; study how various "demographic" aspects of gene expression affect survival during drug treatment; and study how cells evolve under prolonged drug treatment to resist therapy. "This is important because genes and gene products determine everything that cells and cell populations do, including virulence, tumor growth and drug resistance," Balázsi said. "By knowing how to tune different aspects of gene activity in cell populations we hope to get a better chance to control and treat diseases." Balázsi credited UMSL faculty for helping him get to where he is today. "I would like to thank my professors at the UMSL Department of Physics and Astronomy for the education I received," he said. "Most of all, I would like to thank my PhD advisor Frank Moss for his guidance and support over the past 12 years." (More information)

USEFUL LINKS
Campus Calendar UMSL News Releases UMSL Tritons The Touhill St. Louis Public Radio

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sept. 30: "State of the University Address," UMSL Chancellor Tom George, auditorium, J.C. Penney Conference Center, 3 p.m., free, 314-516-5442

Oct. 1: Homecoming Parade, outside Woods Hall, J.C. Penney Conference Center and Millennium Student Center and ends at parking lots C and D, 1:30 p.m., free, gloria_schultz@umsl.edu

Oct. 2: College of Business Administration Research Seminar Series, "Information asymmetry around bank earnings announcements during the financial crisis," Gauri Bhat, assistant professor of accounting at Washington University in St. Louis, 11 a.m., 401 Social Sciences & Business Building, free, 314-516-7354

Oct. 2: Brown bag presentation, "The Coming Out Process," A.J. Bockelman, executive director of PROMO in St. Louis, noon, 211 Clark Hall, free, james@umsl.edu

Oct. 3: Symposium, "Anime at UMSL," several presenters, 9:30 a.m.-6:30 p.m., auditorium, J.C. Penney Conference Center, free, http://tinyurl.com/lw4m4o

Oct. 5: Monday Noon Series, "Women, Depression, and Creative Writing," Colleen McKee and Catherine Rankovic, co-editor and contributing author, respectively, of the anthology "Are We Feeling Better Yet? Women's Encounters with Health Care in America," 12:15, 222 J.C. Penney Conference Center, free, http://ce.umsl.edu/mondaynoon/

Oct 5: Colloquium, "Photochemical generation of biologically active reactive oxygen and nitrogen species," Ryan McCulla, assistant professor of chemistry at Saint Louis University, 4 p.m., 451 Benton Hall, free, 314-516-5311

Oct. 7: Health event, "Confidential Depression Screenings," Office of University Health, Wellness and Counseling Services, 5-7 p.m., outside 225 Millennium Student Center, free, 314-516-5711

Creative Services at the University of Missouri-St. Louis publishes The Messenger every Wednesday. The online and e-mail publication contains university news. Also included is event information for the upcoming week. Recipients are UMSL students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Send content to hockett@umsl.edu. Submission deadline is 5 p.m. Monday prior to publication.

© 2009 University of Missouri-St. Louis