A new lab in the surgery department headed by Hiroshi Saito, PhD is investigating and discovering important clues to the effects of aging on sepsis and systemic inflammation. The lab has numerous studies funded by prestigious organizations such as the National Institute on Aging and the National Institutes of Health. Working with Dr. Saito are Hitoshi Takahashi, PhD and Marlene Starr, a third year graduate student in molecular biology. The lab is one of a number that came from Texas with Dr. B.

Hong-Bo Zhao, MD, PhD has received a grant from the Children’s Miracle Network to help define genetic mutations in children with hearing loss. It is known that mutation of the connexin gene, which encodes intercellular communication proteins in vertebrates, accounts for 70-80 percent of hereditary hearing loss in children. Recently, by application of genoinformatics, a new chromosome called pannexin has been found in human and mouse genomes. In recent studies conducted by Dr.

Rachel Wallace, Administrative Support Associate to Surgery Chair Jay Zwischenberger, was recently interviewed about the role she and her toy poodle, Bella, play in brightening up the lives of young patients at Kentucky Children's Hospital. To read the original article and view the accompanying video, go to KyForward.

The Division of Plastic Surgery held the Annual Andrew M Moore Sr., MD, Visiting Professor Lectureship on April 29-30, 2011. This year’s Visiting Professor was Glenn W. Jelks, MD, FACS, Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery and Ophthalmology, NYU Medical Center, New York, New York.

Pictured left to right: Dr. Jared Nimtz, Dr. Jason Buseman, Dr. Glenn Jelks, Dr. Elizabeth Jelks, Dr. Patrick Wilson, Dr. Joe Hill and Dr. Brad Turner.