University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers Yabing Chen, Ph.D., and Ganesh Halade, Ph.D., have won 2018 “best paper” awards from the not-for-profit Science Unbound Foundation.
Ganesh Halade, Ph.D., left, and Yabing Chen, Ph.D.Chen won for explaining how dietary potassium regulates calcification of arteries. Halade’s paper explained how mice with a missing lipid-modifying enzyme heal better after heart attacks.
At UAB, Chen is a professor of pathology in the UAB School of Medicine and a research career scientist at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. Halade is an assistant professor in the UAB Department of Medicine.
Chen’s winning paper, titled “Dietary potassium regulates vascular calcification and arterial stiffness,” was published in JCI Insight. Halade’s winning paper, titled “Interaction of 12/15-lipoxygenase with fatty acids alters the leukocyte kinetics leading to improved postmyocardial infarction healing,” was published in Heart and Circulatory Physiology, a journal of the American Physiological Society. Both appeared in 2017.
The Science Unbound Foundation has as its mission: “Furthering scientific knowledge in the service of health, happiness, and quality of life of humankind through scientific research and education.” It focuses on research and educational activities in the areas of obesity, nutrition, statistical science and public health.
Each year, the foundation offers five awards for best papers published in the preceding year. Winners receive a plaque and a cash prize: $1,000 for faculty and postdocs and $500 for students.