This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: Oct. 14, 2012

  • Bangs named chair of microbiology

    James (Jay) D. Bangs, professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School and an expert in the cell biology of the agent that causes African sleeping sickness, has been appointed the Grant T. Fisher Professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

    The announcement brings to nine the number of new chairs and chair-level appointees recruited by Michael E. Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the medical school, in the past four years. These national hires, Cain says, are a critical piece of his strategic vision for the medical school’s future.

    Under Bangs, Cain says, the department will enhance the excellence of its research enterprise, undergraduate and graduate student education, and mentored research training programs.

    Bangs succeeds J. Iain Hay, who served as department chair for 20 years.

    A faculty member and trainer for the microbiological doctoral training program at UW and a member of its Center for Research and Training in Parasitic Diseases, Bangs will join UB in January.

    He conducts research on African trypanosomes, one-celled parasites transmitted by the tsetse fly, which cause African sleeping sickness in humans, a fatal disease that is re-emerging throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

    Bangs investigates the basic cell biology of trypanosomes; specifically, the intracellular trafficking of lysosomal and cell surface proteins as key aspects of the host-parasite relationship. The goal of Bangs’ research is to define aspects of trypanosomal secretory processes that may provide novel avenues toward developing new drugs to treat African sleeping sickness.

    His work currently is funded by several grants from the National Institutes of Health.

    A native of Vineyard Haven, Mass., Bangs received his undergraduate degree in biology from Bates College. He received his PhD in biochemical, cellular and molecular biology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and completed postdoctoral training in cell biology at Yale University School of Medicine and in microbiology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

  • Flags at half-mast honor fallen soldier

    Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has directed that flags on state government buildings—including those at UB—be flown at half-mast on Oct. 9 in honor of a Liverpool soldier who died in Sayyid Abad, Afghanistan, on Sept. 29.

    Sgt. 1st Class Daniel T. Metcalfe died of injuries sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based at Caserma Ederle in Vicenza, Italy.

    Cuomo has ordered that flags on all state buildings be lowered to half-mast in honor of and tribute to New York service members who are killed in action or die in a combat zone.

  • Zodiaque to perform fall concert

    The Zodiaque Dance Company will present “1.2.3.4—Countdown to Celebration 40,” its fall concert, Oct. 17-21 in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus.

    Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

    “1.2.3.4—Countdown to Celebration 40,” which will begin the dawning of the 40th anniversary of Zodiaque Dance Company, is a four-day eruption of diverse programming that includes new and recent works by faculty and distinguished guests performed by students in the UB Department of Theatre and Dance.

    Among the highlights are group works choreographed by UB dance faculty members Melanie Aceto; Tressa Gorman Crehan; Jon Lehrer, who also serves as artistic director of LehrerDance; and Kerry Ring. Invited guest choreography includes a new work by Nailah Bellinger, international choreographer and teaching artist at Harvard University. Bellinger’s new work is sponsored through the generosity of First Niagara Bank.

    Adding contemporary classicism to the program is a work by guest artist John Magnus, former artistic director of Joffrey Ballet in New York City, and now artistic director of Poland Festival Ballet.

    The concert also will feature work by Amy Van Kirk, a 2005 graduate of UB’s dance program who recently completed an MFA in Dance at the University of Arizona.

    Tickets for Zodiaque Dance Company are $20 for general admission and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at the CFA box office. To charge tickets call 888-223-6000. For more information call 645-2787.

  • ‘Artful bras’ raising money for research

    UB’s annual “artful bra” fundraiser for breast cancer research is now under way.

    Twenty-five “creative brassieres” designed by UB staff and members of the Western New York community are on display in the atrium of the Center for the Arts, North Campus, through Nov. 2. Members of the UB community and the general public may view the bras in person or online and bid on their favorite one. Proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society as part of UB’s Employees Campaign for the Community.

    The cancer society also will benefit from the sale of the 2013 artful bra calendar. The calendar may be ordered online.