{"id":61617,"date":"2013-12-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-recognizes-molecular-biology-professor-for-research-teaching-mentorship\/"},"modified":"2013-12-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T00:00:00","slug":"uri-recognizes-molecular-biology-professor-for-research-teaching-mentorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/12\/uri-recognizes-molecular-biology-professor-for-research-teaching-mentorship\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 recognizes molecular biology professor for research, teaching, mentorship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tScholarship established to continue Paul Cohen\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 December 2, 2013 \u2013 More than 100 colleagues and former students were in attendance last month as the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences inducted Professor Paul Cohen into its hall of fame. The Narragansett resident was recognized for his 47-year career studying E. coli and for his teaching and mentorship of numerous graduate students who have gone on to have highly successful careers.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cPaul has had tremendous success in his decades of teaching, research and service at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d said John Kirby, dean of the 溏心vlog免费B站 College of the Environment and Life Sciences. \u201cThat is best exemplified by the success of his students and their expressions of the key role that Paul played in helping them get to where they are today. The theme that comes through from each of his former students is that he cared for them and was truly interested in their success, interested enough to step up and help them find opportunities and then to succeed at those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tCohen joined the 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty in 1966 following a postdoctoral research appointment at St. Jude\u2019s Children\u2019s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee and earning his Ph.D. at Boston University in 1964. During most of his 溏心vlog免费B站 career, he conducted research on the various strains of E. coli, the common bacterium that lives in the intestines of humans and other warm-blooded animal, in some cases causing serious intestinal disease.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThere are good E. coli and bad E. coli, and I was interested in their nutrition. What sugars does each strain eat in order to grow in the intestine?\u201d Cohen explained. \u201cFor the bad E. coli to survive, they have to figure out what to eat so they aren\u2019t competing for food with the good E. coli and with other bacteria.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tHe also studied E. coli that cause urinary tract infections , some of which are able to \u201chide\u201d in the epithelial cells of the bladder to avoid being killed by antibiotics and in that way cause recurring infection after antibiotic treatment is withdrawn. He said he may have figured out how they can hide there, but there is much more research to be done. \u201cThat work will still be going on long after I retire,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n


\n\tGongqin Sun, chairman of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, said that while Cohen\u2019s research has increased the understanding of how E. coli causes disease, his greatest achievement may be in training the next generation of molecular biologists.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cPaul trained 32 graduate students during his career, far more than most faculty members,\u201d said Sun. \u201cBut it\u2019s not just the number of students he\u2019s trained, it\u2019s the quality of the training they received. Most have gone on to become very successful researchers, educators and industrial leaders. Paul doesn\u2019t look at training students as a way of advancing his own career success, but as a way of helping them reach their potential.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAmong those who earned doctoral degrees working with Cohen are Craig Rosen, executive chairman and chief scientific officer of PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals; Bruce Zetter, professor of cell biology and surgery at Harvard Medical School; Diane Pennica, senior scientist at Genentech, one of the largest biotechnology companies in the U.S.; and Beth McCormick, professor of microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. All were in attendance at the celebration honoring Cohen.<\/p>\n


\n\tSun said that in addition to training students, Cohen has provided guidance to several generations of young faculty members as well. \u201cLong after he retires, Paul\u2019s influence will still be felt here at 溏心vlog免费B站,\u201d Sun said.<\/p>\n


\n\tThat is especially true now that a scholarship has been established in Cohen\u2019s name. More than $36,000 was raised at the hall of fame celebration to endow the Paul Cohen Graduate Mentorship Fund. The College has a goal of raising $250,000 for the fund, which will support graduate students studying cell and molecular biology while underscoring the importance of mentorship in the sciences. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI was tremendously surprised and pleased with the honor and all the kind words that were said about me,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cI\u2019ve always thought that I was just doing my job. When you train people and see that they\u2019ve gone on to do great things, you don\u2019t think about yourself, you think about their great success. So it was amazing to me that so many of them came back for that celebration.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI loved helping them and seeing them be successful, but I must admit that I also loved doing the work,\u201d he added. \u201cEvery day I\u2019m still excited to see the results from yesterday\u2019s research. I still love the work and the teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tCohen expects to retire from 溏心vlog免费B站 in January 2015.<\/p>\n


\n\tThose wishing to contribute to the Paul Cohen Graduate Mentorship Fund should contact Amy Porter, associate dean of the 溏心vlog免费B站 College of the Environment and Life Sciences, at 401-874-2446 or amy_porter@mail.uri.edu.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 Professor Paul Cohen, right, receives congratulations from John Kirby, dean of the 溏心vlog免费B站 College of the Environment and Life Sciences, at the College\u2019s hall of fame induction ceremony. (Photo by Chandu Dondeti)\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scholarship established to continue Paul Cohen\u2019s legacy KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 December 2, 2013 \u2013 More than 100 colleagues and former students were in attendance last month as the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences inducted Professor Paul Cohen into its hall of fame. The Narragansett resident was recognized for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}