October 19, 2001

Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7336.

Chancellors Club honors scientist

LAWRENCE -- University of Kansas professor Michael J. Soares received the Chancellors Club Research Award for 2001 tonight at the 24th annual meeting of the Chancellors Club at the Lawrence Holiday Inn Holidome. Soares is an internationally known scientist in the field of reproductive biology and endocrinology and a professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center,

The Chancellors Club, established in 1977 by the Kansas University Endowment Association, is KU's major-donor organization. The $5,000 annual Chancellors Club Research Award honors a KU Medical Center researcher whose work has led to significant scientific discoveries.

"I am very honored to receive this recognition by the university and my colleagues," Soares said.

Candidates for the award are nominated by colleagues, students and alumni. In letters of support, his peers said Soares is an international leader in the field of pregnancy biology. Soares studies the role of the placenta and the hormones it produces in establishing and maintaining pregnancy. He discovered a family of hormones related to prolactin, and this discovery "opened a new area of scientific investigation for others to follow," wrote Geula Gibori, professor of physiology and biophysics at the University of Illinois-Chicago.

Soares has also contributed new methods of research for reproductive biology, most notably by establishing stem cell lines that are being used in research worldwide to further understanding of placental biology and gene regulation.

Soares studies the trophoblast cell, the working unit of the placenta. After fertilization, the trophoblast cells are the first to differentiate from the developing embryo. These cells penetrate, or "invade," uterine blood vessels, creating the conditions for the placenta to grow and providing nutrients to the embryo/fetus. (Scientists use the term "embryo" for the beginning stages of a pregnancy, switching to the term "fetus" after it reaches mid-gestation.)

In helping to establish and maintain pregnancy, trophoblast cells also produce hormones that facilitate necessary changes in the mother's body.

In addition to its focus on pregnancy, Soares' research has implications for understanding the health of people after birth. Problems in the development of the placenta can negatively impact the fetus, creating a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease, diabetes or other problems.

For the past 15 years, Soares' research has been funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has resulted in more than 130 published reports. His international reputation is evident from the many presentations he has given at symposia around the world and by the number of international faculty who have chosen to visit and work in his laboratory, wrote R. Michael Roberts, Curator's Professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Soares is a senior editor for the Journal of Endocrinology and has been a member of the editorial boards for the journals Biology of Reproduction, Trophoblast Research, and Endocrinology.

His research has been recognized previously with awards, including the KU School of Medicine's Faculty Research Award, the University of Tokyo's Distinguished Visiting Scientist Award and the Castellucci Award from the European Placental Group.

As a mentor and teacher, Soares has supervised the training of 19 postdoctoral fellows and six graduate students as well as visiting scientists, medical students and undergraduate students. He directed an NIH-sponsored training program in reproductive biology, and he currently is associate director of the KU Medical Center Training Program in Biomedical Research.

Soares received a bachelor's degree in psychology from California State University-Chico and a Ph.D. in reproductive biology from the University of Hawaii. He joined the KU faculty in 1984, following postdoctoral training at the University of California-Santa Cruz and Baylor College of Medicine.

The Kansas University Endowment Association is an independent, non-profit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management organization for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university and one of the largest.