Biodesign Institute researchers continue to shine among their scientific peers. Dr. Sudhir Kumar, director of the Center for Evolutionary Functional Genomics in the Biodesign Institute at ASU, has recently joined the elite ranks for researcher with the most citations. Kumar was the sixth-highest ranked researcher in the field of computer science (out of a total of 1,826 authors) over the last decade. The data was gathered from the Institute for Scientific Information’s (ISI) Essential Science Indicators from January, 1995 to June, 2005. The latest rankings are indicative of a prolific publication career for Kumar, whose works have also received two prestigious ISI “Hot Paper” in Biology designations in 2000 and 2004. The first one was published in the journal Nature and demonstrated a molecular timescale for vertebrate evolution. The second one was published in the journal Bioinformatics and outlined the components of the MEGA software (
Research sheds new light on protein behavior
Proteins play an essential role in virtually every cellular process. They provide actin and myosin for muscles, form the cytoskeleton that maintains a cell’s shape, and carry out innumerable duties critical for immune response, cell signaling and other central functions. A better understanding of protein complexity would be a significant advance in life sciences research, particularly for the study of the mechanisms underlying disease.
Now, Dr. Sidney Hecht and his colleagues are pioneering new techniques to peer into the inner workings of proteins, hoping to learn how they perform their impressive feats. Hecht is a professor of chemistry and director of the Center for BioEnergetics at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. The group’s efforts may pave the way for more effective therapeutics for a host of major illnesses, among other advances.