Alumni Notes

’07

Richa Priyadarshini, Ph.D. (Microbiology and Immunology ’07), began working as a postdoctoral student with Christine Jacobs-Wagner, Ph.D., at Yale University’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology in New Haven, CT.

Priyadarshini recently completed her doctoral studies under the mentorship of Kevin Young, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology, Grand Forks.

Jacobs-Wagner is an internationally known researcher who is working on cell division in the bacterium Caulobacter crescentus.  She is known for her work on cell walls and on the recent discovery of a bacterial cytoskeleton protein that was thought to be present only in the cells of higher animals (eukaryotes).           

She studies the mechanisms that govern cell cycle control and the acquisition and propagation of asymmetry using a simple prokaryotic model system. She also studies the bacterial cytoskeleton that supports cell shape.         

“This is extremely important, very basic work,” Young said.  “The cell cycle is extremely important to understand if we want to eventually know how to manipulate (kill or inhibit) bacterial growth.  Thus the long-term rewards of her research would be to identify new ways to interfere with or control bacterial growth for therapeutic purposes.”

’03

Andrea Swenson, M.D. ’03, plans to begin a fellowship in neuromuscular medicine at the University of Illinois-Chicago in July 2007. She is completing residency training in neurology at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

’02

Ryan Holzwarth, M.D. ’02, has joined MeritCare in his hometown of Jamestown as a dermatologist.  He completed his residency at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

’57

Kenneth Kihle, M.D. (B.S. Med. ’57), of Bottineau, ND, has been named “The Outstanding Rural Health Provider” by UND’s Center for Rural Health.  This award is granted to a health provider that practices in rural North Dakota and who has made important contributions to their community and area in an unselfish mannerism.  Kihle practiced for 47 years in Bottineau and the surrounding area.

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