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NEWS RELEASE

07-31-01

Contacts:
Xun Gu, Laurence H. Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics,
(515) 294-8075
Teddi Barron, News Service, (515) 294-4778

ISU BIOINFOMATICS PROFESSOR NAMED A DUPONT YOUNG PROFESSOR

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University bioinformatics professor Xun Gu is one of 10 faculty nationwide to receive a DuPont Young Professor grant.

Gu is an assistant professor of zoology and genetics and agronomy and a member of the Laurence H. Baker Center for Bioinformatics and Biological Statistics, a center in ISU's Plant Sciences Institute.

The DuPont Young Professor grant provides $75,000 for three years to help untenured faculty develop research programs.

Gu creates and improves computational tools for DNA sequence or genomic analysis. He will use the DuPont award to continue developing models of functional divergence gene families.

Members of the DuPont technical community nominate faculty for the grant. Guoping Shu, a scientist at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Des Moines, nominated Gu.

Gu joined Iowa State's faculty in 1998 as one of the first three professors recruited for the new area of bioinformatics. Before coming to Iowa State, he was a research scientist at the Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics at Pennsylvania State University, University Park. Gu earned his doctoral degree in biomedical science at The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston.

The Plant Sciences Institute, which consists of nine research centers, is supported through public and private funding. Its goal is to become one of the world's leading institutes for plant science research, education and unbiased research-based information. Researchers are developing ways to help feed the growing world population, strengthen human health and nutrition, improve crop quality and yield, foster environmental sustainability and expand the uses of plants for biobased products and bioenergy.

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