BUFFALO, NY, July 5, 2004 - - - - - Drs. Hongliang Xu, Andrew Gulick, and Michael Malkowski, Research Scientists at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, have received funding for three different research projects totaling over $3.6 million. Two of these awards include first time National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for these investigators, while the other represents funding from a major national foundation.

Dr. Hongliang Xu is a Co-Principal Investigator with Professor Nikolas V. Sahinidis from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, on a five-year National Institutes of Health grant totaling over $2 million. The main goal of his project entitled Novel Algorithms for Crystallographic Computing is to develop a systematic methodology for resolving the phase problem in crystallographic computing. This work promises to lay the foundation for a new generation of crystallographic computing systems that will reveal the structure of millions of substances that are important in the understanding of life, materials science, and drug design. At HWI he is collaborating with Dr. Herbert Hauptman, President and Nobel Laureate and Dr. Charles Weeks, Senior Research Scientist.

Dr. Andrew Gulick received a five-year National Institutes of Health grant award totaling $1.4 million for his project entitled, Structure of Peptide Synthetases and Related Enzymes. Dr. Gulick and his research team, Jill Carney, HWI Research Associate, David Nicolai, HWI Research Associate, and Albert Reger, Graduate Student, will attempt to determine the structures of bacterial proteins involved in antibiotic synthesis. In recent years, infectious diseases have become more difficult to treat with antibiotics, as antibiotic resistance becomes an increasing public health problem. Dr. Gulick's research will study the structure and function of certain enzymes that synthesize antibiotics perhaps allowing the engineering of these proteins for the production of a new generation of drugs.

Dr. Michael Malkowski received a three-year, $225,000 Arthritis Investigator Award from the Arthritis Foundation for his project entitled, Novel Oxygenations of Arachidonic Acid by Cyclooxygenase. Arthritis is one of the most prevalent diseases in the United States afflicting 42 million Americans. Dr. Malkowski's research will provide insight into how non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) affect the inflammatory process and may also lead to development of new medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and other inflammatory disease with fewer side effects. Current medications provide relief from the painful symptoms of arthritis but can have adverse gastrointestinal side effects. Working with Dr. Malkowski on this project are HWI Research Associate, Tracy Lloyd, Graduate Student, Danielle Campanaro, and Research Apprentice, Adam Krol.

Dr. Andrew Gulick came to HWI, in 2001, after working at the University of Wisconsin, Department of Biochemistry as an Assistant Scientist. He received his Ph.D. in Experimental Oncology and Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Michael Malkowski also joined the staff of HWI in 2001 after completing an NIH postdoctoral fellowship at Michigan State University. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Wayne State University in Detroit. Dr. Hongliang Xu began his research career at HWI in 1997 and received his Ph.D. in Numerical Analysis from the University at Buffalo in 1998. All three currently serve as Assistant Professors in the University at Buffalo's Department of Structural Biology.

A Western New York center for basic biomedical research since 1956, the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is a world-renowned, independent, non-profit facility located in the heart of the newly emerging Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Our basic research mission is two-fold; committing ourselves to improving the health of people for generations to come by studying the causes of diseases at their basic molecular level and working to educate the scientists of tomorrow. Currently, we are in the process of building a new, state-of-the-art, $24 million Structural Biology Research Center located at 700 Ellicott Street.