Portland, Ore.

An Oregon Health & Science University faculty member has received an award for his research on alcohol dependence and another has been appointed to an international board for stem cell research.

John Crabbe, Ph.D., professor of behavioral neuroscience, OHSU School of Medicine, received the 2004 Bowles Lectureship Award in recognition of his research on alcohol dependence in mouse genetic models. Crabbe presented "The behavioral landscape of alcohol sensitivity genes' effects in mice" at a March seminar at the University of North Carolina, home to the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies.

Crabbe is director of the OHSU Portland Alcohol Research Center and senior research career scientist at the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His research on pharmacogenetics, tolerance and dependence, and gene mapping, and his development of novel behavioral assays may someday help identify individuals at risk of developing drug-related disorders and lead to treatments before alcohol or drug use become habitual.

The Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies presents the Bowles Lectureship Award annually to an internationally renowned scientist studying addiction medicine. The center conducts, coordinates, and promotes basic and clinical research on the causes, prevention and treatment of alcoholism and alcohol abuse.

Markus Grompe, M.D., professor of molecular and medical genetics, and pediatrics, OHSU School of Medicine, and director of the Oregon Stem Cell Center at OHSU, was elected to the board of directors of the International Society for Stem Cell Research at the organization's annual meeting last month in Boston.

Grompe's laboratory is using animal models to study the potential benefits of bone marrow stem cells as an alternative to organ transplantation for treating liver and pancreas diseases. The Oregon Stem Cell Center, launched in January, serves as a hub for all areas of OHSU's rapidly expanding stem cell biology program.

The ISSCR is an independent, nonprofit organization established to promote and foster the exchange and dissemination of information and ideas relating to stem cells, to encourage the general field of research involving stem cells and to promote professional and public education in all areas of stem cell research and application, according to the organization's Web site. For more information on the ISSCR, visit http://www.isscr.org/.