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Just symposium helps to recruit students While the Ernest E. Just Symposium has become a beacon for promising young scientists, it also has become an occasion for faculty and students to hear highly-touted researchers and physicians discuss topics ranging from health disparities to embryonic stem cell research in regenerative medicine.   The 2007 Ernest E. Just Symposium, held in honor of the early 20th century black scientist, will be held Feb. 2 in Gazes Auditorium. The daylong symposium featuring six internationally acclaimed scientists also is used to entice students to join MUSC’s College of Graduate Studies.   Cynthia Wright, Ph.D., organized the outreach to students attending colleges in the Southeast. She said the symposium has succeeded in attracting students who now are attending MUSC,  and announcements of the event have been generated to colleges and universities that include those in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.   “The E.E. Just Symposium is a great way for MUSC to honor the legacy of Dr. Just,” said Wright, assistant dean for MUSC Admissions. “MUSC sponsors undergraduate students from all over the Southeast to visit our campus and participate in sessions to learn of Dr. Just’s career and to hear scientific presentations. The students are exposed to the possible career pathways in biomedical research and health care offered at MUSC, and they have a chance to meet with representatives from all of our colleges. That this outreach is successful is evidenced by the fact that students who participated in this program in the past have applied to our colleges and have matriculated here.”   The significance of the symposium is linked to MUSC’s commitment to research in areas mystified by racial disparities. In honoring the late scientist Just, a Charleston native, MUSC pays homage to African-Americans who have long contributed to emerging sciences.   The Ernest E. Just Symposium is held every year in conjunction with the celebration of black heritage in February. The symposium was originally created to expose undergraduate minority students to the scientific accomplishments of Just through discussions of his research and presentations by scientists working in related research areas.   “Since the symposium's inception, the organizers have determined that Dr. Just's scientific contributions can inspire any student regardless of ethnic origin,” said Titus Reaves, co-director of the symposium. “Thus, MUSC invites all students. The university believes it has a responsibility to educate the citizens of the state of South Carolina and uses this symposium as a means to increase undergraduate student interest and enrollment in its graduate programs in the biomedical sciences, medicine, and health professions programs.”   Just published more than 50 papers from 1912 through 1937, and two books “Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Animals” and “Biology of the Cell Surface,” and is arguably the father of cell adhesion research.   Today, the field of cell surface and cell adhesion research is very broad and encompasses many disciplines. Symposium highlights   In the morning on the day of the symposium, presentations will cover the history of Just, which includes the early career path and institutions he attended. The next section is the role model segment in which a role model symposium speaker and prominent scientists or physician-scientists give a presentation on their research, career path and the importance of scientific research.   Following the role model segment, student advisors will meet with graduate advisors while students are invited to tour the campus. In the afternoon, when students determine their interests in one of MUSC’s six colleges of graduate education, they will meet with university advisors where they discuss the degree requirements for their chosen programs of study. As the students meet with graduate counselors, the science segment of the symposium begins and includes three scientific presentations from well accomplished scientists working in areas related to Just’s research. Speakers and topics Catherine Norton, librarian and historian, director of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass.Presentation title—E.E. Just as a Summer Researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. Norton will give a presentation on the experiences of Just while he performed research at the Marine Biological Laboratory and some of the programs and educational opportunities offered by MBL. Joan Reede, M.D., dean for Diversity and Community Partnership, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Department of Pediatrics, associate professor of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health, assistant in Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. Presentation title—Creating and Sustaining Equity in Medicine. Reede was appointed Harvard Medical School’s first dean for Diversity and Community Partnership. She is the first black woman to hold a position of that rank at Harvard Medical School and one of the few black women to hold a deanship at a medical school in the United States. She will discuss recruiting and retention of minority students in science and medicine and successful recruiting and retention methods for minorities. Lovell Jones, Ph.D., director of Center for Research on Minority Health, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Department of Health Disparities Research, University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Presentation title—Science Coupled with Service: A New Approach to Health Disparities Research in the 21st Century. Jones performs cancer research in the areas of hormonal carcinogenesis; nutritional endocrinology; breast cancer; endometrial cancer; ovarian cancer; cervical cancer; reproductive toxicology; and cancer prevention and control. As the keynote speaker, Jones will discuss health disparities in the minority community and a scientific presentation on his research. Richard O. Hynes, Ph.D., Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research  investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Presentation title— Cellular Mechanisms of Metastasis. Hynes will give a presentation on his research. His focus is on understanding the molecular basis of cell adhesion and its involvement in cell behavior including contributions to various human diseases, especially cancer progression, including invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Pamela Cowin, Ph.D., professor of dermatology and cell biology, New York University Medical Center. Presentation title—Patterning and Adhesion in Breast Development and Cancer. Cowin will give a presentation on her research, which involves the exploration of the distinct roles that cytoplasmic plakoglobin and beta-catenin play in Wnt signal transduction. Many cells communicate their positional co-ordinates by secreting Wnt proteins, which bind to receptors on the surface of neighboring cells. John Gearhart, Ph.D., Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine, professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Physiology, Comparative Medicine, and Population Dynamics; director of Stem Cell Biology, John Hopkins School of Medicine. Presentation title—Roles for Embryonic Stem Cells in Regenerative Medicine.Gearhart is a developmental geneticist with research programs in the genetic control of mammalian development and in human stem cell biology. In 1998, Gearhart published the landmark paper on the derivation of human embryonic stem cells from primordial germ cells. Gearhart will give a presentation on his research on embryonic stem cells. Friday, Jan. 26, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. 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