Professor of Microbiology James Slauch has been recognized as a University Scholar. The program recognizes the university’s most talented teachers, scholars and researchers.
Begun in 1985, the program provides $10,000 to each scholar for each of three years to use to enhance his or her academic career. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes.
According to the University News Bureau, "James M. Slauch, a professor of microbiology, is internationally recognized for his work on Salmonella virulence, a major cause of food-borne illness. His research focuses on the interplay between the human host and bacterium in disease. His work demonstrated, for example, that an enzyme produced by Salmonella is key to enabling the bacterium to evade the immune system, and to actually live in phagocytes in the body. In a second area of impressive impact, Slauch identified the complex process through which bacteria sense that they are in the phagocyte and should start producing virulence proteins."