CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR WINS NEW FACULTY AWARD

   COLUMBUS -- Michael A. Freitas of UPPER ARLINGTON, assistant professor of chemistry at The Ohio State University, has been awarded a Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award for 1999. He is one of 13 faculty nationally to receive the award this year.

   The $40,000 award from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Inc. will fund a research project titled "Regulation of the p53 suppressor protein monitored by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry." Freitas' research focuses on mass spectrometry-based methods for studying the structure of large protein complexes involved in regulating the concentrations of cellular proteins. Protein complexes are used by the cell to signal which proteins are destroyed. The over-regulation or under-regulation of protein levels can induce abnormal cell growth, resulting in the growth of a tumor.

   The Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Awards Program provides funding for faculty members at the start of their research and teaching activities. The unrestricted research grant is awarded in September of the year the new faculty member formally begins the first-year appointment. Institutions that grant a doctorate in chemistry, chemical engineering or biochemistry may submit nominations, which are reviewed by distinguished faculty in the chemical sciences.

   Freitas earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Kansas State University and his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Oklahoma State University. In 1997, he was a postdoctoral research associate at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Fla., working for Alan G. Marshall, a former professor in Ohio State's Department of Chemistry. While there, Freitas worked on projects investigating the gas phase structure of DNAs, RNAs, peptides and proteins.

   He also served as a graduate research assistant at the University of Melbourne in Australia and at Kansas State while pursuing his doctorate. As an undergraduate research assistant at Oklahoma State, he identified major components of snake venom using gas chromatography mass spectrometry. During the 1997-98 academic year, he was a guest lecturer at Florida State University. Freitas also has published nearly 30 journal articles and made 25 conference presentations.

   The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation was established in 1946 by chemist, inventor and businessman Camille Dreyfus as a memorial to his brother Henry, also a chemist. Camille and Henry Dreyfus were pioneers whose efforts contributed significantly to the evolution of the modern chemical industry. The foundation seeks to advance the science of chemistry, chemical engineering and related sciences.

Contact: Michael Freitas, Chemistry, (614) 688-8432