Dr. Amy Ham, of the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, recently had a paper published online, ahead of print of her manuscript in the American Chemistry Society’s Journal of Proteome Research. The paper is titled “IDPQuantify: Combining Precursor Intensity with Spectral Counts for Protein and Peptide Quantification. Ham is part of a team that developed new software, IDPQuantify, to align multiple replicates using principal component analysis, extract accurate precursor intensities from MS data and combine intensities with spectral counts for significant gains in differentiation and quantification. The software is able to associate peptides with peaks that are otherwise left unidentified to increase the efficiency of protein quantification, especially for low-abundance proteins.

Dr. Edgar Diaz-Cruz, in the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social & Administrative Sciences, recently had an abstract accepted for presentation at the 2013 San Antonio Brest Cancer Symposium. The work is titled “Effect of letrozole is superior to tamoxifen in limiting preneoplasia in both ERα and aromatase over-expressing mice.” As lead investigator, Cruz and his team determined the impact of letrozole was greater than tamoxifen in reducing prevalence of mammary gland preneoplasia in both ERα and aromatase over-expressing mice. These results suggest that letrozole should be considered as a chemo-preventive agent based on individual estrogen signaling prognostic factors.

The biography of Joel Treybig, associate professor of music, was chosen for inclusion in “Trumpet Greats: A Biographical Dictionary.” The biographies in the book were selected by David Hickman at Arizona State University and content editors Edward Tarr, of Germany, and Michel LaPlace, of France. The recently-published text is the largest book ever written about the trumpet: a 1,128-page work featuring biographies of trumpeters and instrument designers from 64 countries who have made important contributions to the profession since 1542.

Assistant Professor Cathy Ficzere, in the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Science, was elected to serve as chairwoman of the Drug Information Practice Related Network of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy. In this role, Ficzere will coordinate national drug information education and resource development opportunities.

Ficzere also serves as director of the Christy Houston Foundation Drug Information Center at Belmont University.

Assistant Professor Genevieve Ness, in the Department of Pharmaceutical, Social and Administrative Sciences, was selected to be a committee member of the Global Alliance of Drug Information Specialists. The committee is part of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.  The committee is comprised of five members with diverse backgrounds, each chosen to represent a cross section of interests, concerns and responsibilities of their fellow drug information pharmacists.

Ness also serves as assistant director of the Christy Houston Foundation Drug Information Center at Belmont University.

Dr. Steve Murphree, professor of biology and entomologist, recently appeared on Fox News’ program “America Live.” Shannon Bream interviewed Dr. Murphree about ticks and tick-borne diseases during the show on Tues., Aug. 20.

In the most recent issue of Serve InDEED: Tennessee Journal of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, three members of the English faculty published work connected to their service-learning practices in the classroom. In a piece titled “This Isn’t Your Mother’s English Class: Using Service-Learning Experiences to Improve Writing in the Composition Classroom,” Drs. Jason Lovvorn, Linda Holt and Charmion Gustke unpack an interactive workshop they conducted at the 2013 Tennessee Conference on Volunteerism and Service-Learning, held in Franklin, Tenn. In the workshop they shared ideas about the impact of service-learning in their writing classes, and they guided participants through a simulation and two writing exercises that showcased connections between service encounters, empathy, learning and writing. The article details this workshop experience and analyzes response data from workshop participants in terms of social justice, experiential knowledge and authentic writing.

In the same issue Lovvorn published an article titled, “‘Knowing the Why’: Personal Writing and Its Value in the Service-Learning Classroom.” He argues for the merits of personal, expressive writing because it encourages service-learning students to “synthesize intimate experience and more abstract academic knowledge. ” Using examples of student work from past service-learning classes, he shows how students can use personal writing to make important intellectual connections at the same time they produce engaging written work.