Marla
Copywriter
Brannan
Writing Your Success Story
Welcome to My Biotechnology and Sciences Portfolio!
Scroll down for the following published samples:
Quartzy and Brex: A Profitable Life Science Partnership
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Quartzy and Brex: Partnering to Drive Efficiency in Life Science Purchasing
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by Marla Brannan
In a new partnership, Quartzy’s streamlined platform for communication, ordering and keeping inventory up to date, and Brex’s life science specific credit card are offering labs exponentially increased efficiency, saving managers and buyers significant amounts of both time and money.
Quartzy is the world’s leading lab management system, completely online, free and dependable. Twenty-five thousand small- and medium-sized R&D organizations, both private and academic, use Quartzy to consolidate workflow in one easy-to-use, cloud-based service.
Brex offers a first-of-its-kind life science Mastercard for purchasing and T&E. With higher limits, custom controls and rewards specifically targeted to the life sciences, it’s an efficient way to streamline your lab’s bookkeeping, receipts and audit compliance.
Together they’re now offering generous sign-up incentives to save life science labs significant amounts of time and money.
With hyper-concentration on helping you migrate your current systems, free training and world-class customer service, the transfer to Quartzy is quick and painless.
And the many benefits after moving to Quartzy make this platform even more convenient and cost effective. With 8 million products in its catalogue and more than 1.8k trusted brands on offer, consolidating a lab’s management with Quartzy saves 20% on the bottom line and untold work hours.
Built into its normal ordering program, Quartzy automatically finds product alternatives and the best deals without you asking for them. Effortless Quotes is exhaustively researched and verified by experienced experts across the life sciences.
The Quartzy Guarantee is a commitment to every aspect of purchasing--unbeatable support, quick and easy product fulfillment, accelerated shipping (free on orders of $99 or more), and tracking packages door to door. Any and all issues are resolved quickly and proactively.
With top-notch products from brands like Zymo Research and GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Quartzy is being used successfully by world-renowned universities like Stanford, industry-leading companies like Dow Chemical and government entities like the USDA.
Brex has introduced a life science credit card to help lab managers and buyers confidently control a company’s spend. This card, built on the Mastercard network, offers more life science specific points back than any other card, covering conference tickets, CROs, lab supplies, software and more.
In fact, using your Brex card wins you twice the points on all lab supplies, and multiplies conference tickets by seven and T&E expenses by four. Anything else you use the card for gives you double points back making every purchase even more beneficial.
Perhaps the most unique thing about Brex’s life science corporate card is the underwriting process. Eligibility isn’t based on the credit scores of a startup’s founders, or a personal guarantee like the security deposit required by banks.
Instead it’s based solely on available cash, and no credit check means no putting credit scores at risk. As a result Brex’s card has 10-20 times higher spending limits than a traditional corporate card, which means even bigger benefits in regard to points back.
As of August, Quartzy and Brex have partnered to offer immense sign-on bonuses at both companies. Brex customers who sign up with Quartzy receive $10,000 in account credit. Quartzy customers who sign up with Brex receive 25,000 bonus points on their card.
Companies like Synthego, OrcaBio, Antithesis Foods and Chronus Health have already taken advantage of this new partnership.
This is the first collaboration of its kind, and is giving life science labs across biotech, pharmaceuticals and academia unprecedented ease of payment, communication, ordering, inventorying, benefits and, ultimately, huge savings of both time and money.
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Biotechnology Boon
by Marla Brannan
Marshall University is poised to become a major player in the emerging biotechnology field with the construction of the new $40 million Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center
In 2002, the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Technology Administration joined forces to study the biotechnology industry in the United States - the first time a detailed assessment had taken place. Three thousand biotech-related companies responded to the survey, 70 percent of those located in a mere 10 states, 26 percent in California alone. They reported 1.1 million employees, $567 billion in annual net sales (in 2001) and $41.6 billion in expenditures for Research and Development.
Currently, few biotech employees call the Tri-State home and we're not seeing much economic impact from one of the fastest growing sectors of the United States economy.
But, all that's about to change: Marshall University has broken ground on the new $40 million Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center. In addition, MU already has built a firm foundation for the future of biotech in our region.
Before the area across Third Avenue from the Science Building was even cleared for construction, Marshall and the College of Science were preparing for biotech. It is a major component of a sharpened focus on Marshall as a research university as well as a springboard for Huntington and the Tri-State to enjoy a boost into the post-industrial knowledge-based economy.
Carving out niches broad enough to withstand future business trends, but narrow enough to make Marshall stand out, has been key. Dr. Joseph Bragin, Dean of the College of Science, believes MU has succeeded. "Marshall has adopted the knowledge economy model. We have well-established programs in forensics (including a nationally accredited forensic science lab), environmental science and basic medical research. We also have faculty developing programs in information technology, bioinformatics and nanotechnology."
Medical. Environmental. Forensics. Get used to hearing about this trio as the nerve center of biotechnology research at Marshall University. But what, for the non-scientist, is biotechnology?
The Commerce Department report cited above defined it as the "application of molecular and cellular processes to solve problems, conduct research, and create goods and services ... in various scientific fields and industries such as medicine, animal health, agriculture, marine life, and environmental management." The Biotechnology Industry Organization, biotech's main trade organization, defines it more simply: "The application of biological knowledge and techniques to develop products and services."
But before firms producing goods and services to put Marshall and Huntington on the biotech map and assist our current economy can come into being, Marshall's research capacity needs to be expanded - hence the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center, a structure Marshall President Dan Angel has termed a "signature building" for Marshall's future. All told, Marsh all plans to spend about $120 million in new construction supporting biotech and medicine. The Byrd center will account for just under $40 million of that total figure. This largest capital improvement in the history of Marshall University has been made possible almost entirely by the support of Sen. Robert C. Byrd who secured $35.6 million in National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Angel asserts, "We cannot thank Senator Byrd enough. He has been the linchpin , the most important person for the funding of this building."
Bragin adds, "As the cost of education continues to be shifted to students and their families, Senator Byrd's assistance in funding the Bio technology Science Center become increasingly important in providing educational opportunities to West Virginians." I The 2003 Economic Grant Fund Committee awarded Marshall $ 12.5 million to complete funding for the Byrd center and build the future Biotechnology Development Center. Significant private investment also has been raised.
The Byrd center will house 144,000 square feet and four floors of offices for faculty and staff, auditoriums and, most importantly, dozens of learning laboratories for both undergrads and graduate students. It will connect to the Science Building via a pedestrian bridge over Third Avenue, similar to the one connecting the new parking facility and the Cam Henderson Center. Bragin is excited by the prospect.
"The Byrd center will include space where College of Science faculty along with their colleagues in the Joan C. Edward School of Medicine can have modern facilities to perform cutting-edge basic research ... and to do that in a collaborative atmosphere where several resea rch groups share equipment and students can work together on problems of common interest but perhaps with different perspectives."
Future plans for biotechnology don't end with the fall 2006 completion of the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center. Biotech is both research and development and Marshall University and Huntington have teamed up for success in applying research from the university to the development of businesses, creating biotech goods and services, and to give those new businesses what they need to perform at the highest levels. The not-so-distant future holds the Biotech Development Center, where start-ups can work on products, as well as an addition to the Forensic Science Center and the Edwards Comprehensive Cancer Center buildings that will greatly aid Marshall's biotech focus on medical, environmental and forensic research.
Kinetic Park, a business and industry location right at the intersection of Hal Greer Boulevard and I-64, comes into play as businesses mature and need additional production space . The Huntington Area Development Council (HADCO), now in a biotech alliance with Marshall, provides marketing and promotional expertise and new partnership possibilities for biotechnology coming out of research at the university. The alliance, just formed in late May, already has taken steps toward making these plans a reality. Last month, with HADCO funding, several local business representatives and two Marshall professors attended BIO 2004, biotech's premier trade show.
Appalachia may seem like an odd place to foster a hi gh tech industry cluster, but Bragin notes, "In Finland, Nokia took on telecom giant Motorola and now has twice its share of the cell phone market." He continues by adding that all the things necessary for the success of this huge venture - progressive tax policy, avai lability of capital and a trained work force - are within the scope of state policy makers and universities to provide. But he also notes, "Today's knowledgebased economy is fast paced and depends on a tightly knit web of pe rsonal relationships - acceptance of this way of do ing business will require a change in regional culture."
So why are Marshall, Huntington and in fact the state betting the ranch on biotech - and are we ready to hold our collective breath and plunge into the untested depths of a knowledge based economy? What exactly will the Robert C. Byrd Biotechnology Science Center bring to Marshall and to the Tri-State?
Given the state of our current local economy and abounding Appalachian stereotypes, it would be easy to give in to pessimism concerning a future in biotech. President Angel rejects doubts. "In West Virginia there's almost a feeling of we're doomed to be like this forever. I don't buy into that. We need to be proactive and optimistic. I believe you form the future - you don't just let it happen. And the people I've talked to have shown good support for biotech. They're ready for anything we can do to help the economy."
The Byrd center will bring Marshall and Huntington too many positives to mention, but here are seven serious biotech by-products that will flow from this building directly into the future of both the university and the city. First, it will increase Marshall's status as a research hub, especially in the already strong areas of medical, environmental and forensics research . Second, the university will continue to receive more funding. Marshall's research funding has tripled since the mid-90s - the amount for this past academic year totaled $45 million. Third, with more visibility in research and increased funds, Marshall will apply for and receive more patents, which will make money for the university.
Fourth, high-caliber students will be attracted to Marshall and will stay for advanced studies. Fifth, the new center will better serve the needs of the area's school children. Bragin observes, "West Virginia has a declining college-age population, so in order to build a high-tech workforce we must expose every one of our children to science early before it is too late for them to choose a science and math-based career. The College of Science's Center for Teaching and Learning hosts a dozen high school teachers and more than 100 ninth and 10th graders from around the state in our Health Science and Technology Academy (HSTA) summer camp. Collaboration between programs such as HSTA and facilities like the Byrd Center is particularly effective in improving academic success."
, high-caliber students will be attracted to Marshall and will stay for advanced studies. Fifth, the new center will better serve the needs of the area's school children. Bragin observes, "West Virginia has a declining college-age population, so in order to build a high-tech workforce we must expose every one of our children to science early before it is too late for them to choose a science and math-based career.
The College of Science's Center for Teaching and Learning hosts a dozen high school teachers and more than 100 ninth and 10th graders from around the state in our Health Science and Technology Academy (HSTA) summer camp. Collaboration between programs such as HSTA and facilities like the Byrd Center is particularly effective in improving academic success."
As President Angel concludes, "We're betting on the frontier instead of wishing for the past. We're in the right place at the right time."
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Cohort of 4
by Marla Brannan
Four distinguished professors from around the globe demonstrate Marshall’s commitment to excellence in the field of biotechnology research
In November 2002, Marshall University announced a $6 million grant for a new and highly anticipated biotechnology center. Marshall President Dan Angel made this statement at the time: “This project will certainly have great implications for economic development...this is something that is forward looking and recognizes the new knowledge-based economy.”
Highly qualified professors can help make that knowledge-based economy dream a reality, and in the last two years the university has hired four new faculty members, all experts in some aspect of biotechnology: Dr. Eric Blough, Dr. Simon Collier, Dr. Philippe Georgel and Dr. Guo-Zhang Zue.
It is important that these four scientists are innovative researchers. The ultimate goal of the biotechnology center will be to take the cutting-edge research conducted in its laboratories and use it as a springboard for forming new biotechnology businesses in the Huntington region and throughout West Virginia. But even now, before the new buildings are complete, the existing laboratories at, the existing laboratories at Marshall are conducting ingenious and useful research.
Take, for instance, Blough. [Currently Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Extracurricular Affairs. In 2010, Dr. Blough founded the Center for Diagnostic Nanosystems, a research facility affiliated with Marshall University. The Center is designed to bring together scientists, clinicians, and engineers to facilitate discovery of improved ways to diagnose, monitor, and treat chronic disease. Dr. Blough oversees the day-to-day operations of the Center while conducting research and teaching.] His expertise is in Molecular Physiology. He studies how muscle adapts to altered loading of contractile activity. For the layman, he explains: “Examples of the types of questions we look at could be the following: What molecular ‘on-off’ switches regulate muscle growth? How do they work? What turns them ‘on’ and/or ‘off’?”
Georgels’ [currently a professor concentrating on chromatin structure and function who's been awarded more than a million dollars for breast cancer research] laboratory focuses on applying a newly developed biophysical method to monitor changes in three-dimensional arrangement of DNA and associated proteins. He asks, “How do these changes affect gene activation of repression? In other terms: How does structural conformation contribute to turning a gene ‘on’ or ‘off’?”
Collier [who's since won a $4 18K National Science Foundation award to study study the genetic control of the basic developmental processes of the fruit fly (Drosophila)], an expert in Medical Genetics, has studies the characterization of mutations involved in human genetic diseases like Adrenal Hyperplasia and Polycystic Kidney Disease. He also has helped develop tests for genetic diseases. At Marshall he researches cell polarity.
Zhu studies the beginnings of life itself. “My research studies the molecular and cellular biology of mammalian fertilization and early embryonic development; it focuses on understanding the process of sperm-egg union to develop new life." He says, "It’s not hard to see how this type of research and answers to the questions arising from it could hugely affect medicine and help draw affiliated businesses to the Tri-State area--and that’s just a single example."
There’s more. As Collier noted, “The production of graduates who are highly trained in skills that are currently in demand will be a resource for both established and developing businesses and institutions in West Virginia.” Important since, according to Zhu, Huntington will become an incubator for new biotechnology entrepreneurs, especially once the new center is finished. Biotechnology will be the perfect marriage between Marshall and its hometown. Marshall’s reputation as a great research school will continue to grow--and take Huntington’s economy with it. And even better, graduates in biotechnical fields will no longer have to search elsewhere for high-paying and challenging jobs.
Research, however, is only one aspect of the professors’ function at Marshall. What do they bring to the student body and, in particular, to those who want to pursue careers in biotechnology? And what do they and future growth in biotechnology at Marshall bring to the state in terms of higher education?
On a general level, Collier points out that scientific research “develops students’ observation, reasoning and technical skills appropriate for a variety of career paths,” Georgel offers expertise in a field of research that was not previously represented on campus. And Blough and Zhu feel they have great enthusiasm for science and what it has to offer. “I think that science is one of the few endeavors where someone can look at the result of some task they just completed (for example a good experiment) and realize that they may be the first person, ever, to see what they just did,” Blough explains. He continues, “If we, as educators, can change the way people think about their surroundings sometimes, it can instill in them a real enthusiasm to pursue further learning and exploration.”
As for higher education in West Virginia, Georgel believes that the emphasis on research at Marshall may bring national attention to the state, resulting in grants from groups like the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation.
These four professors bring excellent teaching and a world of possibilities to both Marshall and the Tri-State area. And, hopefully, it will put West Virginia on the biotechnology map. As Georgel concludes, “The recruitment of a group of new faculty with diverse scientific laboratory expertise provides the opportunity for Marshall University to make an impact in high profile scientific research.”
Well said.
A Portrait: Introducing the Cohort of 4
Eric Blough, Ph.D.
Born: St. Joseph, Michigan
Essentials: B.S. in Biology from Michigan Technological University; M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Southern Illinois University; Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from The Ohio State University; post-doc, University of Illinois Chicago.
History: Dr. Blough has been at Marshall since fall semester 2003 and teaches Physiology and Muscle Physiology. Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Marshall he taught biology at his alma mater, Michigan Technological University.
Quote: (The professors were asked what they are most passionate about in the field of biotechnology.) “The future. It is a very exciting time in science right now. The field is advancing at an incredible rate. The prospects that advances in biotechnology will bring to the field of medicine will be astounding.”
Simon Collier, Ph.D.
Born: Liverpool, England
Essentials: B.Sc. in biology from Nottingham University, Ph.D. in medical genetics from Manchester University. (Both schools are located in the United Kingdom.)
History: Dr. Collier has been at Marshall for a year and teaches Genetics and Genes and Development. Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Marshall he taught at Manchester University for three years.
Expertise: Medical and Developmental Genetics.
Quote: “It’s exciting that new technology will allow us to address old problems.”
Philippe Georgel, Ph.D
Born: Niort, France
Essentials: Master’s degree in Cell Biology and Physiology from Universite de Poitiers (France), Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biophysics from Oregon State University.
History: Dr. Georgel has been at Marshall for two years and teaches Molecular Biology, Advanced Methods in Modern Molecular Biology and Nuclear Proteins. Prior to becoming an assistant professor at Marshall he taught at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.
Expertise: The effect of chromatin structure on gene expression.
Quote: “Biotechnology is open-ended. The researcher’s imagination is the limit. Every answer that we gather leads to a new set of questions to investigate.”
Guo-Zhang Zhu, Ph.D.
Born: Fujiang, China
Essentials: B.S. in Pharmacy, Ph.D. in Molecular Biology (obtained in China), post-doc, University of California Davis.
History: Dr. Zhu has been an assistant professor at Marshall for about 10 months and teaches Molecular Biology Lab Techniques and Principles of Cell Biology. This is his first teaching position.
Expertise: Molecular and cellular biology of cell-cell interaction.
Quote: “Biotechnology has great potential to create new job opportunities, improve human health, increase agricultural output and protect environmental and ecological systems.”
4.
ICE HUNTERS
by Marla Brannan
Meet Dr. Lonnie Thompson and his wife Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson, two world-renowned Marshall alumni who traverse the far reaches of the earth as part of their pioneering research on global warming.
August 1, 1993. Nevado Huascaran, Andes Mountains, Peru. Twenty thousand feet above sea level. A storm the likes of which experienced mountaineers have never seen breaks across the peaks packing 80 mile an hour winds and lasting three days. A group of researchers, ice hunters, huddle in their tents through the night, three nights out of 53 spent at this elevation.
On night two the nearly disastrous happens: the winds rip a tent’s anchor lines clean off. The tent and everything in it--researcher, precious notes and equipment--slide down the mountain toward a 1,000 meter cliff until a comrade chases it down and secures it with an ice axe straight through the tent floor. But, two Italian mountaineers, experienced climbers, weren’t so fortunate. The winds of this storm blew them off Huascarian’s North Peak and they fell 2,000 meters to their deaths.
Mountaineering is, mildy put, a hard day’s work--but Dr. Lonnie G. Thompson, a Distinguished University Professor at The Ohio State University and graduate of Marshall, loves it despite almost sliding off Huascaran in his tent. The dangers he has faced over the years are just part of the job.
“No scientist has taken bigger risks to track ancient weather patterns and help us understand the anomaly of current climate trends,” notes former Vice President Al Gore.
So why does he do it? Because of the ice.
Thompson is a glaciologist, a researcher who studies the world’s glaciers. In this case, those glaciers, ice caps and ice fields are in the tropics where 50 percent of earth’s surface area lies and 70 percent of the world’s 6.5 billion people currently live. He has made 50 expeditions in 15 countries up mountains in these latitudes, at times utilizing as many as 92 porters and more than 40 yaks to haul six tons of equipment and supplies--all in the pursuit of ice.
The ice Thompson and his team retrieve comes from cores drilled at sites in places like the Andes of Peru, the Himalayas and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It is recovered using electro-mechanical and thermal drills powered by 60 individual solar panels.
The solar-powered drill was a product of necessity. “Often reaching our drill sites involves traveling for days on horseback, and then climbing the glacier sometimes includes negotiating crevasses using ladders. A conventional generator cannot be transported in this environment,” says Thompson. So his team, based at OSU, decided to develop a new drill that would harness something already on the mountain: sunlight.
“The assembled panels produce four kilowatts of power to drive the drills. There is no noise and no pollution. The downside is you can only drill during the day.”
This is how Thompson explains the process: “Ice is removed from the drill and placed into plastic sleeves, then sealed and placed into tubes. The cores range from 1 to 1.6 meters (3.3 to 5.2 feet) in length and 11 centimeters (or 4 inches) in diameter. They are stored in chambers dug into the snow surface while drilling is taking place. The individual tubes are then sealed in insulated boxes, 6 tubes to a box, and moved by sled to the edge of the glacier. For instance, when we worked in the Himalayas, they were carried by yaks to the valley below where the vehicles were located. The trucks were then driven day and night across Tibet to the nearest large freezer in Lhasa. From there they were air cargoed to Beijing, where they cleared Chinese customs and were subsequently flown to Chicago. From Illinois, a refrigerated truck brought them to our lab in Columbus. The cores can be in transit for more than a month.”
The facilities at Ohio State are impressive: a Class 100 Clean Room with all the necessary instruments to measure the chemistry and dust in ice cores without introducing foreign elements; four mass spectrometers; a machine shot for developing the drills’ and a -30 degree Celsius cold storage vault containing 7,000 meters of tropical ice core, the largest such archive in the world.
But what’s so important about ice, especially tropical ice, that a 58-year-old university professor, with a Ph.D. in Geology, would risk life and limb just to study it in his lab? The answer: It holds the history of our planet’s climate, and in that history, keys to its future.
“I believe that tropical climate variability plays an important role in determining the climate of the rest of the earth,” declares Thompson. “I also believe that glaciers in the tropics are the ‘canaries in the coal mine’ for the earth’s climate system. The tropics are characterized by temperature uniformity, and in fact all tropical glaciers are retreating. Where we have time lapse measurements, we can see that the rates of retreat are accelerating.”
In other words, Thompson considers research conducted on these ice cores as well as documentation of glacial retreat as proof: The earth is warming up. Infact, due to global warming he believes that in as little as 15 years the only place to see Kilimanjaro’s famous ice will be in his archive at OSU.
In other words, Thompson considers research conducted on these ice cores as well as documentation of glacial retreat as proof: The earth is warming up. Infact, due to global warming he believes that in as little as 15 years the only place to see Kilimanjaro’s famous ice will be in his archive at OSU.
More incredible than his research, influence or even the rigors of mountain climbing with asthma, are the obstacles Thompson overcame to obtain even a high school education. Raised poor in Gassaway, in West Virginia, his father hampered by an eighth grade education and a heart condition, Thompson worked four part-time jobs to help make ends meet. Still, his interest in weather and climate developed early. “I had a weather station in the loft of our barn, and I received daily weather maps from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from which I would make forecasts. I used to raise lunch money by making bets on what the next day’s weather would be.”
When Thompson’s father died of a heart attack during his son’s senior year in high school, his mother impressed her kids by earning a GED, thus instilling in them the idea that only through education could they make for themselves a brighter future. Her son began at Marshall as a physics major but ultimately chose to pursue a degree in geology.
“In my junior year I took an introductory geology class with Professor Jansen, who was the chair of the geology department at the time,” Lonnie explains. “I did well in his class and he asked me if I would like to work for him along with a few older classmates on a project making mineral sets for the State Parks of West Virginia. It was while working with him I became convinced that I wanted to become an earth scientist.”
He also met his wife at Marshall. Dr. Ellen Mosley-Thompson holds a Ph.D in Geography (Climatology) from OSU, teaches at the university and conducts her research in Antarctica and Greenland off-season to her husband’s. In that way, one spouse was always available to parent daughter Regina when she still lived at home.
Mosley-Thompson grew up in the Charleston area and graduated from Nitro High School in 1966. An avid student of science and physics, she studied at Marshall where she became only the second woman in school history to graduate with a B.S. in physics.
Lonnie and Ellen began working together as graduate students where they built the Ice Core Paleoclimate Research Group. Ellen has been to Antarctica eight times, seven as the field team leader, and to Greenland five times, each time as the field leader where she oversaw ice core drilling projects. All of her team members have been men.
“Frankly, I rarely think about the gender composition of my field teams,” she notes. “Lonnie and I consider the quality of the individual--their curiosity, motivation and enthusiasm--as the highest criteria when selecting our students. But over the last 15 years it has been very rewarding to see more young women going into the geosciences and joining research groups and taking faculty positions. Today, women are strongly represented in our group of graduate students. I have already accomplished more than I would have ever expected when I graduated from Marshall in 1970. However, there is yet more to do and ‘philosophical’ mountains to climb.”
Lonnie and Ellen are a formidable team, each operating under their own travel schedules but ultimately sharing their research and data to achieve a collective knowledge that is changing the way we view our world. Nearly 90 percent of their papers have been jointly authored.
Global warming is a phrase heard or read often in the American mainstream media, but there seems to be some confusion about what it is, and in some circles, a suspicion that it may not even exist. First of all, the debate among most scientists does not revolve around whether or not the planet is actually getting warmer; that’s easy enough to prove with simple measurements. Instead it revolves around humans. Has our increased usage of fossil fuels over the past century, which consequently led to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, made the planet warm up?
Thompson believes his research shows humanity is contributing to this warming trend, but also of great importance, he believes humanity can do something about it. “All of us need to conserve natural resources, and we should be doing this whether or not global warming is a problem which it is, simply because the supplies are running out. We need to develop alternative energy sources and more energy efficient products. In order to reduce fuel consumption and human-induced greenhouse gases, we must move to hybrid technologies for cars and mass-transit like fuel-cell powered trains and buses, especially in places like China and India with their developing mega-economies.”
His wife and partner agrees. “It is essential for the continued well being of humanity, and indeed many other life forms on the earth, that we begin to attend to the quality of our environment by considering how we use resources. I feel strongly that the time for action is now and to delay action will only result in larger changes with greater potential to affect the economic, social and political future for generations. The course of action must be based on a societal commitment to sustain the earth’s life support system for future generations.”
The Thompsons assert that individuals can do many small things to reduce the environmental pressure that they exert on the planet. Starting with simple steps such as reducing personal consumption, eating more vegetables and less meat, replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, turning off the lights when you leave an empty room, using public transportation when feasible, using natural vegetation in your yard and avoid application of pesticides, slowly acclimatize to a slightly cooler house (say 2 degrees C) in winter and a slightly warmer house in summer. These are all baby steps but if 296 million Americans were to all take such steps, nations would have a real chance to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and increase the length of time before the “end of the oil and gas era” so that we can bring alternative sources into wide scale use.
As for any skeptics who assert that global warming is simply a natural part of the earth’s climate cycle, Thompson says, “Name someone who has ever really studied climate or collected data. I bet you can’t. Glaciers have no political agenda. They don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. Science is about what is, not what we believe or hope. And it shows that global warming is wiping out invaluable geological archives right before our eyes.”
Lonnie and Ellen Thompson shine as two of Marshall University’s most successful and renowned graduates.
With the assistance of his wife and partner, Thompson was named one of American’s Best in Science and Medicine by Time magazine and CNN in 2001. He was given the JohnMarshall Medal, the Vega Medal from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, and the Dr. A.H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Science from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences--all in 2002.
In addition to numerous other awards, Thompson also won the 2005 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, a prize some regard as comparable to a Nobel Peace Prize and formerly awarded to such household name as C. Everett Koop and Jane Goodall. He has sat on nearly a dozen committees and editorial boards with important acronyms like NOAA and heady locations like Cambridge, England. He’s published more than 165 scholarly articles or papers and been awarded 53 grants, both governmental and private, to fund his expeditions.
In 2002, both Lonnie and Ellen were awarded the Common Wealth Award for Distinguished Service for Science and Invention.
Ellen has also been the recipient of the John C. Marshall Award (2002), for distinguished scholarship; election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2003); induction into the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame by Gov. Bob Taft (2003); and the University Distinguished Scholar Award (2003) from Ohio State.
Despite these professional kudos, the Thompsons sum up their personal philosophy in ten simple words: “Leave any place a little better than you found it.”
5.
St. Mary's Regional Heart Center
by Marla Brannan
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St. Mary's Medical Center's cardiac physicians are Healing the region's broken hearted.
The year is 1979. Jimmy Carter is President. Alternate day gas rationing begins in California and spreads across the nation as OPEC announces a 50 percent increase in oil prices. Inflation is at 13.3 percent. In the midst of it all, Gloria Gaynor’s feminist anthem, “I Will Survive” grooves through the airwaves as one of the year’s biggest hits and “The Dukes of Hazard” begins its prime-time reigh. And in Huntington, W.Va., a team at then-called St. Mary’s Hospital performs the first open heart surgery in the tri-state area in its brand new high tech Heart Center.
In the year 2002 alone, St. Mary’s Regional Heart Center performed 500 open heart surgeries. Twenty-one cardiologists and four board certified cardiothoracic surgeons hold privileges at the Center.
Beyond the complexity and importance of open heart surgery, St. Mary’s offers many other forms of advanced cardiac care. Jack Taylor, director of the Heart Center, says, “Since the Center’s inception in 1979, it has always been the goal of St. Mary’s to provide tri-state residents with cutting edge cardiac procedures that go far beyond open heart surgery. We also have state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization labs, a department for non-invasive cardiology testing and numerous prevention and early detection programs.”
In addition, St. Mary’s offers patients be-ventricular pacemakers (new pacemakers that stimulate both the left and right ventricles of the heart) and a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation program. The Cardiac Catheterization Lab provides the most advanced minimally invasive interventional cardiology services available today. These treatments for coronary artery disease include balloon angioplasty, utilizing both traditional and cutting balloons, stenting with the latest forms of expandable mesh stents and Rotoblator - all catheterization procedures that do not require general anesthesia and are thus safer and less painful for the patient.
One recent advance in catheterization procedures now available at St. Mary’s helps doctors better determine exactly where to place balloons or stents. Brooke Leaberry, manager of the Cath Lab, describes intravascular ultrasound as a procedure that gives physicians the best definition of where the plaque blockage is, enabling them to attack problem areas with pinpoint accuracy.
Unfortunately, about 20 percent of patients who undergo angioplasty and/or stenting (procedures that open arteries blocked by a build-up of fatty substances like cholesterol) experience restenosis. Restenosis is a re-narrowing of the blood vessel due to the growth of tissues at the site of the angioplasty of stent implantation resulting in the return of symptoms like angina or chest pains. Until recently, cardiac patients in this situation had two options: bypass surgery or another angioplasty and/or stent implantation.
But in March 2002, St. Mary’s began offering a new treatment that has been proven to considerably reduce the chance of restenosis. It is called intravascular brachytherapy (IVB) and is performed during the same procedure as angioplasty or stenting. During the procedure, a special balloon is positioned at the treatment site, and a wire containing beta radiation is placed inside the balloon. A precisely calculated dose of radiation is then delivered locally to the treatment site and the guide wire and balloon are withdrawn. This site and precise delivery of radiation reduces the growth of tissue that leads to restenosis.
“IVB is a huge advance in the treatment of coronary artery disease,” Leaberry asserts. “It continues our tradition of providing tri-state residents with the very best in cardiac care.”
In addition to invasive and interventional cardiology services, St. Mary’s Regional Heart Center also provides extensive non-invasive cardiology testing, as well as programs designed to help prevent heart disease and detect those at risk before serious problems arise. Two such programs are the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease and the H.E.A.R.T. Program (Helping Educators Attack Cardiovascular Risk Factors Together.)
The Ornish Program emerged from well-known heart researcher Dr. Dean Ornish’s studies that proved better nutrition and stress management, increased exercise and group therapy can actually improve blood flow to the heart. This national program, available at St. Mary’s, can reduce the need for angioplasty or bypass surgery for those already plagued by heart disease and even keep those at high risk from ever developing heart problems.
The H.E.A.R.T. Program is the fulfillment of a dream for Binnie Howard, clinical director of the Heart Center. “For several years and in conjunction with the School of Nursing, we had been teaching ‘Healthy Heartbeats’ seminars in local high school classes,” Howard says. “I realized a high percentage of these kids already had high blood pressure and were overweight - all risk factors for heart disease. We needed to start younger, teaching elementary school kids healthy habits before unhealthy ones became full-fledged lifestyles.”
So with a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, Howard and the Heart Center began H.E.A.R.T., a program to show parents and teachers of Cabell, Lincoln and Wayne counties’ third, fourth and fifth graders, as well as the children, how to prevent heart disease. The program is in its second of three years and the results have been positive. Last year, in addition to screening students for risk factors, the Heart Center instituted the “Feelin’ Good Mileage Club” which rewards kids every time they walk five miles. They set up walking tracks around playgrounds; some schools even painted footprints along the path. Throughout 45 area schools, kids clocked an amazing 10,000 miles. This year H.E.A.R.T. is developing ways for teachers to instruct students about the heart and concentrating on healthy food at school parties and in the home.
As Taylor says, “St. Mary’s goal has always been to provide the cutting edge in cardiac care. To the benefit of our entire region, the physicians, nurses, staff and administration of St. Mary’s Regional Heart Center are meeting that goal.”
AED Device is Helping Everyday People Save Lives
One of the leading causes of death in the United States is sudden cardiac arrest, and according to the American Heart Association, more than 250,000 people die each year from this condition.
St. Mary’s Regional Heart Center is at the forefront of a local effort to reverse this trend. The Heart Center is currently conducting a community awareness program, the goal of which is to educate local organizations about the need for Automated External Defibrillators (AEDS) in their communities. These devices are commonly placed in emergency vehicles such as fire trucks and police cars, because in many cases fire and police personnel are the first to respond to emergencies. In addition, AEDS are being placed in malls, airports, sports arenas, aschools, churches and at golf courses. Time and time again, AEDs have proven to save lives.
AEDs are designed to be used by non-medical personnel. The device includes a simple two-button operation with clear voice directions and automatic analysis, which enables a person with minimal training to use the device. The latest AEDs analyze the victim’s condition and if necessary, deliver an electrical shock to the heart to reverse sudden cardiac arrest.
The awareness program is funded in part under an agreement with the West Virginia Bureau of Public Health Promotion, Division of Health Promotion.