Ouachita professors awarded grants for undergraduate research
March 16, 2015 - McKenzie Cranford
Reinforcing the continued achievements of Ouachita Baptist University’s J.D. Patterson
School of Natural Sciences, Ouachita professors Dr. Lori Hensley and Dr. Marty Perry
were each recently awarded research grants from the Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical
Research Excellence (INBRE).
“The INBRE grants awarded to Dr. Hensley and Dr. Perry help us primarily in our undergraduate
research program because the funding will provide for a minimum of 15-20 students
during the lifetime of the grant,” said Dr. Tim Knight, dean of the Patterson School
of Natural Sciences. “Additionally, the grant recognizes the quality work of both
Dr. Hensley and Dr. Perry as well as the excellence of our research program.”
Ouachita faculty members received two of the nine INBRE grants awarded in Arkansas.
“It’s always nice to have your scientific ideas recognized by your peers,” said Dr.
Perry, OBU’s Nell I. Mondy Professor of Chemistry. “More importantly, I was thrilled
for the students at Ouachita who will benefit the most from the research opportunities
these grant funds provide.”
Dr. Perry, who has also been awarded INBRE grants in the past, cited that “Ouachita
has been extremely fortunate to be associated with the Arkansas INBRE program for
over a dozen years.” The faculty in Ouachita’s biology, chemistry and physics departments
began to emphasize and require research projects for all students about the time of
the initial INBRE funding. “The INBRE funding advanced our progress at a rate that
would not have been possible otherwise through allowing us to purchase cutting-edge
scientific instruments and supplies,” Perry said.
“It is important for the sciences and our students at Ouachita to continue to thrive
through funding and participation with the INBRE program,” added Hensley, who holds
the J.D. Patterson Chair of Biology and has received funding from INBRE since 2003.
“Additionally, the grant allows me to work on a disease about which I am passionate
and share that experience with my students.
Perry and his students will use the grant to continue exploring the interactions of
drugs with human proteins using computer software and molecular modeling. The goal
of the research is to determine why the molecules react in certain ways through examining
the molecular structure of the proteins as they metabolize the drugs. Hensley’s research
is focused on finding new therapeutic options for a pediatric cancer called Ewing’s
sarcoma. She and her students have designed experiments to demonstrate how a class
of compounds called cannabinoids might provide targeted therapy for cancer cells with
mutations specific to Ewing’s sarcoma.
Along with providing money for equipment, supplies and software, the funding also
will give students the opportunity to continue traveling to professional meetings
to present research results and network with other scientists.
“Students benefit greatly from the entire experience from literature review and software
tutorials all the way through presenting and publishing their results,” Perry said.
“They learn that science is not just about learning facts and memorizing equations.
It is about exploring, creating and communicating with a community.”
Perry, who has taught at Ouachita since 1998, holds degrees from Arkansas Tech University
and Oklahoma State University. Hensley has taught at Ouachita since 2002. She holds
degrees from Bowling Green State University and the University of Tennessee-Memphis.
For more information, contact Dr. Tim Knight at [email protected] or (870) 245-5528.
By McKenzie Cranford
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