The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) honored Dr. Alessio Fasano as part of its 14th annual Founders Week celebration, October 19-22, 2009.
"Although the current climate in higher education presents us with some challenges, we have more reason than ever to celebrate the achievements made at UMB in 2009," says President David J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil.
The Researcher of the Year is Alessio Fasano, MD, professor in the School of Medicine, who directs both the School's Center for Celiac Research and its Mucosal Biology Research Center. Work at the two centers has led to more than 200 pending and issued patents worldwide and the establishment of Alba Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company spinoff of the University of Maryland.
Fasano's inquiries have led to greater understanding of celiac disease, a condition once mistakenly considered to be rare but that is now believed to affect 1 out of 133 Americans.
In 2000, he and his colleagues discovered a protein, zonulin, that regulates the permeability of the intestine. The group's most recent findings on the protein recently appeared in an article in the September issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Please see our website for the full article.
Dr. Fasano presented his Founders Week Research Lecture, "Celiac Disease: The Key to Unlock the Door to Autoimmunity," on October 20 in Davidge Hall.
In conjunction with this special award, the Center for Celiac Research organized an art exhibit of Italian artwork and a dinner with a live auction to celebrate. About 70 pieces of artwork were brought over from Salerno, Italy to put on exhibit at the new Southern Management Corporation Campus Center. 12 pieces were donated to the CFCR to auction off at a live auction with the proceeds going to support research programs at the Center. The dinner and live auction, Thursday October 22, was a success and a first for the CFCR. Steve Davis was the auctioneer for the evening, a first for him as well. Guests were served a delicious dinner, of course all gluten free! The night concluded with a video excerpt of Dr. Fasano singing O’ Sole Mio from the Founder’s Week Gala on Monday night. The artwork is still on display at the SMC Campus Center and is available for purchase.
A little background about the artwork: 12 Italian artists, each assigned a different month of the year, were asked to create something that represents their inspirations from the Botanical Garden at the Salerno Medical School in Italy. This Garden was recently brought back to life and is a replica of the way it looked hundreds of years ago when it was used for medicinal purposes. It contains a variety of herbs, flowers and plants that were all used by the doctors at the School. The exhibit, Le Mostre, was curated by Paola Capone, a professor at the Salerno Medical School. We were honored to have some of the artists travel from Italy to join us for this wonderful event as well as other Italian guests.
Le Mostre will be on exhibit for another week so go check it out! Thanks to everyone who joined us for these special events!
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