AUBURN – An Auburn University professor has received a $424,000 National Science Foundation grant for research in the fight against infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and anthrax, as well as staph infections.

Evert Duin, an assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Sciences and Mathematics, is focusing his research on the different steps that biological cells use in making a group of lipids, called isoprenoids. These are fatty substances that are essential for the survival of all organisms including humans.

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AUBURN – A team of four researchers at Auburn University are collaborating on a year-long project that will give the parking lot at Auburn's Donald E. Davis Arboretum a "green" makeover with pervious concrete.

Pervious concrete is a porous concrete that supports loads while absorbing and filtering stormwater on its way into the soil and is the focus of the Auburn team's research study on stormwater quality improvement.

The team project was conceived by Michael Hein, professor in the McWhorter School of Building Science and principal investigator; Mark Dougherty, assistant professor of biosystems engineering in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering; Charlene LeBleu, associate professor in the landscape architecture program in the School of Architecture; and Dee Smith, curator of the College of Sciences and Mathematics' Donald E. Davis Arboretum.

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AUBURN – Auburn University researchers Mark Byrne and Jacek Wower have developed a way to control the release of drugs into the body and, as a result, reduce the frequency of doses and side effects from multiple medications.

Their work involves harnessing the power of nucleic acids to control the rate, release amount and delivery location of medications throughout the body.

"We anticipate tremendous benefits to the treatment of various cancers and viral infections," said Wower. "There is a need to create tailor-made treatments for these kinds of diseases because one person may respond differently to a medication than another. Medicine of the future will take into account a unique genetic blueprint of every patient, increased risks for certain illnesses and how patients respond to disease and therapy."

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AUBURN – The Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University will host its fourth annual "Art in Bloom" exhibition from Thursday, April 2, through Saturday, April 4, in a three-day event featuring art-inspired floral designs. "Art in Bloom" will be open to the public during regular museum hours beginning April 2 at 10 a.m.

The exhibition will showcase floral designers and garden club representatives from the community and across the Southeast with their interpretations of the museum's permanent collection. Lectures and demonstrations from experts on floral design will enhance the exhibition of paired floral arrangements and artwork.

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AUBURN – John Mason, Auburn University's associate provost and vice president for research, has announced the selection of Carl Pinkert as associate vice president for research in the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Pinkert will promote and develop multidisciplinary research initiatives across the Auburn University campus, coordinate activities among the associate deans for research and work on projects to improve proposal development and submission. He will also represent the Office of the Vice President for Research in certain external roles in the state and national arena.

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AUBURN – Auburn University will welcome top diabetes researchers as well as a former Miss America when it hosts the second annual Boshell Diabetes Research Day on March 6 at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center.

"We will cover the latest research related to diabetes and the role of obesity in its development," said Robert Judd, the Boshell Chair in Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases in Auburn's College of Veterinary Medicine. "We also are pleased to have Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson presenting a talk about diabetes awareness."

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AUBURN – Auburn Research Park officials have announced that financial advisement firm Johnson Sterling Inc. will open a financial research and consulting office in the park in early April.

"Johnson Sterling has a long-standing relationship with Auburn University, having served the Auburn retirement plans and its participants since 1984," Auburn Research Park Executive Director John Weete said. "We are very pleased to have Johnson Sterling in the research park. The firm uses a research-driven, risk-managed financial and investment management discipline to serve its clients. We expect that to continue and even broaden in the research park."

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AUBURN – As one of only ten venues in five states to host the 2008-09 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers, Auburn University's Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art will screen "Member of the Club" on Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. After the screening, the film's director, Phoebe Ferguson, will lead an audience discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker.

"Member of the Club" tells the story of a debutante, Marisa Arianne Mitchell, who has been groomed from infancy to be a New Orleans Mardi Gras queen. With an observational, cinema verité approach, the film follows the Mitchell family through the 2003-04 debutante season as the debutante experiences a flurry of interviews, dress fittings, rehearsals, academic challenges and ball practices. The film explores black social clubs in the South, as well as issues of race, class and the powerful desire of an American family to belong.

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AUBURN – Auburn University fisheries professor Rex Dunham, true to his school's land-grant mission, conducts research with the goal of helping catfish farmers and local communities sustain their way of life.

"The goal is to serve the entire catfish farming industry and local communities," said Dunham, who recently won Auburn's Creative Research and Scholarship Award. "In addition to helping the farms in rural west Alabama, research helps the processing plants, which employ a lot of people, and there is an indirect impact on the local businesses. These include tractor parts suppliers, restaurants, any type of local shop. Hopefully, the impact of that research helps make that way of life sustainable."

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