COLUMBUS - Stephen A. Osmani, senior scientist at the Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, in Danville, Pa., has been named Ohio Eminent Scholar in Molecular Genetics at The Ohio State University. Osmani will join the faculty of the College of Biological Sciences' Department of Molecular Genetics on Jan.1, 2001.

Osmani received his Ph.D. from Kings College, London, England, in 1984. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School from 1984 to 1988. Osmani has been a professor of cellular and molecular physiology at Penn State University College of Medicine and senior scientist at the Weis Center for Research since 1997. He was staff scientist at the Geisinger Clinic from 1992-97. Prior to that, he was assistant professor in the Department of Cell Biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

"Dr. Osmani is a highly accomplished young scientist with an outstanding future ahead of him," says Alan G. Goodridge, dean of Ohio State's College of Biological Sciences. "We are extremely fortunate to be able to attract someone of his caliber and potential to Ohio State."

Osmani, whose research area is cell cycle regulation and nuclear migration, is the author of numerous scientific publications and a frequent invited speaker at top professional meetings.

The focus of Osmani's research is how cells grow and divide to make exact copies of themselves and the way nuclei are positioned within cells. Using genetic approaches on a fungus called Aspergillus nidulans, he first identifies and isolates genes involved in these processes. Then, he isolates and studies the human counterparts. Understanding how cells regulate growth and division has implications for the understanding and treatment of cancer, a disease in which growth and division have become uncontrolled. Movement of nuclei is thought to be important for brain development in humans.

"We are delighted that Dr. Osmani will be joining our department," says Lee F. Johnson, chairperson of the Department of Molecular Genetics. "His research interests mesh beautifully with many of our ongoing departmental research programs in the areas of cell cycle control, cancer, signal transduction, cellular organization, genome analysis, and neurobiology. There will be many opportunities for productive research collaborations. Dr. Osmani's outstanding reputation and scientific stature will also help increase the "visibility" of our department, the College of Biological Sciences and the university. We eagerly anticipate his arrival and look forward to working with him and his research team."

"I am extremely impressed with the Department of Molecular Genetics at Ohio State," Osmani says. "This is a great opportunity to join a very strong department with people doing work similar to mine. I look forward to interacting with this group--I believe there will be a real synergism between my lab and others. I am interested in working with the people using yeast, worms and flies as model systems. I have isolated some new proteins and hope to study their function outside Aspergillus."

A dedicated educator, Osmani also looks forward to the opportunity to teach and train a greater number of graduate and undergraduate students than he has been able to do as a research scientist. For the past few years, he has run an unofficial summer laboratory experience for undergraduate students. "I've had at least two or three undergraduates every summer doing small projects in the lab," Osmani says. "It has worked very well, especially if they come back the second year. Normally, they do exceptionally well; we get a lot from them, and many have gone on to do Ph.D. work."

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