Marketing & Communications
Division of University Relations and Development
News Release
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SDSU Researcher Wins CSU's Top Contact: Lorena Nava SAN DIEGO – (Monday, Jan. 9, 2006) – San Diego State University biology professor and researcher Roger Sabbadini will receive the California State University’s top bioscience research award this week from the CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology (CSUPERB). “Roger Sabbadini is in the pantheon of life science researchers within the CSU – he’s a shining example of the extraordinary individuals that the system has recruited over the past 25 years,” said A. Stephen Dahms, CSUPERB’s executive director. “Roger has also fulfilled the two mandates required of the modern university – the search for knowledge and the communication of that knowledge to those that need it.” The award recognizes Sabbadini’s research on sphingolipids, which are molecules that stimulate growth during wound healing but also are associated with the spread of cancer in the body. Sabbadini’s research has led to the creation of an artificial antibody that neutralizes the sphingolipid’s cancerous effects, helping to retard and/or eliminate growth of tumors in experimental animal models. Sabbadini’s research is also being used to help discover new ways to fight heart disease and macular (eye) degeneration. “While I am honored to receive the recognition of my peers, this research could not have been done without the close interaction of SDSU students and faculty,” Sabbadini said. “Both undergraduate and graduate students, along with our technical staff, aided in the research necessary to produce these groundbreaking results.” The research conducted by Sabbadini and his team also led to the founding of Lpath Therapeutics Inc., the first public biotechnology company to be created based on research done within the CSU system. Lpath is a theranostics company focused on bioactive signaling lipids as targets for treating and diagnosing important human diseases. For more information on Lpath, visit www.lpath.com. The CSUPERB Award for faculty research is given annually to a California State University faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding scientific achievement in the CSU’s molecular life science and biotechnology research effort. Sabbadini will receive recognition at CSUPERB’s 18th Annual Biotechnology Symposium on Saturday, Jan. 14, in San Jose, Calif. CSUPERB is a multi-campus program created in 1987, designed to channel systemwide resources and catalyze interdisciplinary, inter-campus, synergistic research endeavors in biology, chemistry and biotechnology, as well as in engineering, agriculture and computer science. For more information on CSUPERB, please visit www.csuchico.edu/csuperb/. Since the award’s inception in 1991, four other SDSU biology faculty members have been recognized for their research by CSUPERB. They are Judith Zyskind, Sanford Bernstein, Skaidrite Krisans and Chris Glembotski. SDSU is the oldest and largest institution of higher education in the San Diego region. Founded in 1897, SDSU offers bachelor’s degrees in 81 areas, master’s degrees in 72 and doctorates in 16. SDSU’s nearly 33,000 students participate in academic curricula distinguished by direct faculty contact and an increasingly international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu. ### |
