Alfred University students co-author paper for noted biochemistry journal 10/31/02
Two recent Alfred University graduates are co-authors of a paper recently accepted for publication by Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA), one of the oldest and most prestigious biochemistry journals in the world.J. Trevor Lester and Jacqueline Brown are co-authors of "Research on the metabolic engineering of the direct oxidation pathway for
extraction of phosphate from ore: preliminary evidence for PQQ biosynthesis in E. coli as well as a possible role for the highly conserved region of quinoprotein dehydrogenases."The work, which involved both biochemistry and molecular biology, was done in the laboratory of Dr. Alan Goldstein, Fierer Chair and director of Alfred University's Biomedical Materials Engineering Sciences (BMES) Program. Goldstein is the third author of the paper. As AU undergraduates, "these two did Ph.D-level research during their tenure in my lab," Goldstein said. "It is incredibly difficult for undergraduates to put together the large blocks of time to accomplish this quality of work, but both Trevor and Jackie were exceptional. Fortunately, 'exceptional' is often the rule with our students."Goldstein anticipates
publishing at least two more papers based, in part, on the work Lester and Brown conducted in his lab.The research was supported over a four-year period by a National Institutes of Health grant, as well as Alfred University
endowments established by Dr. Josh Fierer, a 1959 alumnus of AU, and Dr. Gene and Pamela Bernstein. Gene
Bernstein, a 1969 alumnus, is past chairman of the Board of Trustees and current member of its executive committee.
Pamela Bernstein is a member of AU's Class of 1971. Brown is now enrolled in a Ph.D. program in molecular life sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, and Lester is in a similar program at the University of Pittsburgh, PA. Both programs, according to Goldstein, are nationally ranked research universities.
