KU News Release

Acclaimed scientist joins KU’s molecular biosciences department

Berl R. Oakley

LAWRENCE — An internationally recognized leader in cell cycle research from Ohio State University has been appointed the first Irving S. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Kansas.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences announced today that Berl R. Oakley will join the faculty in the Department of Molecular Biosciences in August.

“Berl Oakley is a first-rate scholar, a great teacher and mentor, and an outstanding addition to the University of Kansas,” said Joseph E. Steinmetz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “Future work by Dr. Oakley and his colleagues will undoubtedly lead to additional important discoveries that will have a significant impact on the fields of genetics, molecular biology and biomedical science in general.”

The endowed professorship was created by Irving S. Johnson, a 1953 KU graduate who earned a doctorate in developmental biology (zoology). He established the professorship with a $507,000 gift to the university through KU Endowment and recently added an additional $500,000 to the fund. Johnson’s gift provides for the professorship as well as scholarship funds for a graduate student or postdoctoral researcher to assist Oakley. The Kansas City-based Hall Family Foundation contributed $500,000 to the professorship. Moreover, the professorship will leverage additional funding through the Kansas Partnership for Faculty of Distinction Program.

“I think there are hardly any limits to what can be done in biomedical research anymore,” Johnson said. “I wanted to endow a chair of molecular biology so that other students in Kansas could have the courses they need to be able to do biomedical research.”

Oakley is a distinguished scholar who received a bachelor’s in botany from Duke University and a doctorate in botany and cell biology from the University of London. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia and York University and an instructor at Rutgers Medical School. In 1982, Oakley began his faculty position at Ohio State, where he now is a professor of molecular genetics. In 2003, he received the highest award for research and scholarship at Ohio State and was named an Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar. In addition, he is an American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow and recipient of the Harlan Hatcher Award for his mentoring of younger colleagues and students.

“Oakley started a new scientific movement that resulted in a better understanding of the important process of mitosis,” said Kathy Suprenant, chair of the Department of Molecular Biosciences. “I am particularly excited about Dr. Oakley’s new line of research that combines gene targeting and natural-products chemistry to identify and purify secondary metabolites that have been shown to have immunosuppressive, anti-tumor, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and even anti-cholesterol activity. This timely combination of genomics and chemical biology will lead to a better understanding of human health and disease.”

Endowed professorships help recruit and maintain an outstanding faculty. Because of donors to KU Endowment, more than 120 faculty members at KU’s four campuses hold such professorships.

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