|
More about Knowles:
Research
|
Agency Scientists Win Top Research Awards
By Jan Suszkiw
February 13, 2002
WASHINGTON, Feb. 13—Medical veterinary officer Donald P. Knowles of Pullman, Wash., has been named "Distinguished Senior Research Scientist of the Year" by the Agricultural Research Service for his leadership in developing new methods to diagnose animal diseases. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
Knowles, who heads ARS' Animal Disease Research Unit at Pullman, will be honored at a Feb. 13 ceremony at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Md., where he and 15 other ARS researchers will receive plaques and cash awards in recognition of their scientific accomplishments.
"Dr. Knowles has been the driving force behind research leading to new diagnostic tools with which we can now more accurately detect infections caused by disease agents such as Anaplasma marginale in cattle," said Edward B. Knipling, acting administrator of ARS.
At the Pullman lab, Knowles led scientists in studies resulting in an accurate new test to detect A. marginale, the parasite that causes anaplasmosis, a tickborne disease that's responsible for an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 cattle deaths per year.
The Pullman scientists' test checks for natural antibodies that bind to parasite proteins in blood samples. In collaboration with ARS, USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is using the test to survey cattle in tick-infested areas of the United States. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also has used the test to diagnose infections in cattle as well as bison.
Other diagnostic tests developed under Knowles' leadership include tools for detecting scrapie in sheep, piroplasmosis in horses and bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle. Knowles, who has been with ARS for 12 years, is senior inventor or co-inventor on five patents, and is an author or co-author on 63 scientific papers and 18 book chapters.
|
|
More about Glenn:
Research
|
On Feb. 13, ARS will honor three other agency researchers as Outstanding Senior Research Scientists. They are:
- David Michael Glenn, ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station, Kearneysville, W.Va., for conceptualizing, developing and transferring to industry a particle film composed of processed kaolin, a type of clay that controls pests and boosts plant productivity in an environmentally safe manner.
|
|
More about Inglett:
Research
|
- George E. Inglett, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Peoria, Ill., for creating four hugely successful technologies derived from grains--Oatrim, Nutrim, Soytrim and Z-trim, used as fat replacers, phytonutrients, and nutraceuticals--that have contributed to improved foods for greater health benefits to people around the word.
|
|
|
- William R. Meredith Jr., Crop Genetics and Production Research, Stoneville, Miss., for outstanding research to provide the cotton industry with valuable insights on improving fiber yield and quality.
|
|
More about Burton:
Research
|
ARS also is honoring four Area Senior Research Scientists:
- Joseph W. Burton, Soybean and Nitrogen Fixation Research Unit, Raleigh, N.C., South Atlantic Area, for developing Satelite and other new varieties of soybean with low saturated fat, improved protein and oil quality, and other important traits.
|
|
More about Moore:
Research
|
- Philip A. Moore Jr., Poultry Production and Safety Research Unit, Fayetteville, Ark., Southern Plains Area, for research to help solve major agricultural problems such as chicken manure runoff. He discovered that adding certain compounds, such as aluminum sulfate, to litter in commercial poultry houses greatly reduces phosphorus runoff.
|
|
|
- Kip E. Panter, Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory, Logan, Utah, Northern Plains Area, for research on the mode of action and effects of plant toxins on livestock, including poisonous plant-induced birth defects in livestock and development of animal models to expedite the study of similar defects observed in humans.
|
|
More about Solomon:
Research
|
- Morse B. Solomon, Food Technology and Safety Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., Beltsville Area, for developing a process using water pressure to tenderize meat cuts and reduce spoilage from organisms and pathogens such as Escherichia coli O157:H7.
|
|
More about Suarez:
Research
|
The winner of ARS' "Herbert L. Rothbart Outstanding Early Career Research Scientist" award is David L. Suarez, Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory, Athens, Ga., South Atlantic Area, for research on the genetic mechanisms by which mild avian influenza virus strains become more virulent and cause disease in poultry.
|
|
|
Other Area Early Career Research Scientist award winners are:
- Christine J. Bergman, Rice Research Unit, Beaumont, Texas, Southern Plains Area, for research on genetic factors controlling milling properties, kernel structure, starch characteristics and other traits in rice and wheat.
|
|
|
- Connie E. Briggs, Microbial Biophysics and Residue Chemistry Research Unit, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, Pa., North Atlantic Area, for research contributing to the identification of genetic, biochemical and metabolic features of agriculturally important organisms, including trout, beneficial insects and microbes such as bacteria, fungi and viruses.
|
|
More about Dayan:
Research
|
- Franck E. Dayan, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, National Center for Natural Products Research, Oxford, Miss., Mid-South Area, for ground-breaking discoveries on the use of natural products as pesticides.
|
|
|
- William J. Orts, Bioproduct Chemistry and Engineering Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, Albany, Calif., Pacific West Area, for research on natural polymers made from wheat and rice as well as starch-based foams and plastics from these crops that can be used in biodegradable food and beverage containers.
|
|
More about Palmer:
Research
|
- Mitchell V. Palmer, Bacterial Diseases of Livestock Research Unit, National Animal Disease Center, Ames, Iowa, Midwest Area, for research leading to the diagnosis and control of tuberculosis in cattle, white-tailed deer and other wildlife.
|
|
More about Smith:
Research
|
- Timothy P. Smith, Production Systems Research Unit, Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Neb., Northern Plains Area, for research to develop and use genetic maps of cattle and swine in support of the livestock industry.
|
|
More about Sonstegard:
Research
|
- Tad S. Sonstegard, Gene Evaluation and Mapping Laboratory, Beltsville, Md., Beltsville Area, for bovine genome research and molecular genetic tools leading to a better understanding of livestock reproduction and lactation physiology.
|
