Dr. Dunman to receive 2009 Gilmore Award

Paul Dunman, Ph.D., assistant professor in the department of pathology and microbiology, will receive the Gilmore Award on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.

All Paul Dunman, Ph.D., really had to offer those who recruited him to UNMC in 2004 was an idea.

A good idea, for sure, but just an idea nonetheless.

Dr. Dunman wanted to create an antibiotic that could kill Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria — also known as MRSA. Dr. Dunman believed certain vulnerable enzymes within the staph cells could be inactivated and this would kill the bacteria cells.

“I didn’t have an actual project in the works, just this idea, but they offered me the job anyway,” said Dr. Dunman, who worked for the pharmaceutical company, Wyeth, before coming to UNMC. “That rarely happens at academic institutions. Typically, you need grant funding to even be considered.”

But Dr. Dunman really wasn’t that much of a risk, said Paul Fey, Ph.D., an associate professor of pathology and microbiology who helped recruit Dr. Dunman to UNMC.

About the Gilmore Award The Gilmore Award is named in honor of the late Joseph P. Gilmore, Ph.D., a distinguished UNMC scientist and administrator who died in 2007 at the age of 78. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Gilmore was professor and chairman of the UNMC Department of Physiology and Biophysics from 1970 to 1987. Before coming to UNMC, he worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., and the University of Virginia College of Medicine. Dr. Gilmore was instrumental in elevating the level of cardiovascular and renal research at UNMC to world-class levels, said Irving Zucker, Ph.D., who worked under Dr. Gilmore at UNMC and succeeded him as chairman of the department (now called Cellular and Integrative Physiology). “He was a hard task master and he had high standards,” Dr. Zucker said of Dr. Gilmore. “He wanted everybody to work as hard as he did. He enjoyed the science and he tried to get everybody else to feel the same way.” Dr. Gilmore obtained the first NIH training grant at UNMC. He is best known for two areas of research: Developing an early description of the determinants of oxygen consumption by the heart. This work led to improved therapeutics for patients with impaired coronary blood flow; and His expansion of the knowledge base on the mechanisms by which the heart, the nervous system and the kidneys interacted to control blood volume, an area critical for the comprehensive treatment of patients with chronic heart failure. The Joseph P. Gilmore Award was established by the department of physiology and biophysics upon Dr. Gilmore’s retirement in 1987 to recognize outstanding research contributions by young UNMC faculty members. It is awarded annually at a formal convocation and lectureship.

While at Wyeth, Dr. Dunman — now an assistant professor of pathology and microbiology — had established himself as the world’s leading expert in transcriptional profiling of staph cells.

In transcriptional profiling, scientists isolate parts of a cell called messenger RNA and examine what genes are activated in various conditions.

This means scientists can see how cells respond to various elements and this can help in a variety of ways including allowing scientists to see how cells respond when exposed to medications.

His expertise in transcriptional profiling combined with his desire to create antibiotics to battle staph made him a good fit for the pathology department, which looked to beef up its already-strong team of staph researchers.

“I knew Paul from his work at Wyeth and I knew he’d fit in really well with our department,” Dr. Fey said.

He has since rewarded those who recruited him by securing several grants, including an RO1 award from the National Institutes of Health, publishing nearly 25 articles and by designing an antibiotic that has proven effective in killing all known MRSA lineages in mice.

MRSA — which has become more prominent in recent years — is responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than HIV/AIDS.

For his outstanding work since arriving at UNMC, Dr. Dunman will receive the 2009 Joseph P. Gilmore Outstanding Investigator Award on Tuesday during a 3 p.m. ceremony in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.

“Overall, Paul has been an outstanding success story since arriving at UNMC,” said Ken Bayles, Ph.D., professor of pathology and microbiology, who nominated Dr. Dunman for the award. “Quite honestly his abilities and potential are among the highest that I have ever seen.”

Dr. Dunman has several strengths that make him an outstanding researcher, Dr. Bayles said. Among these are his ability to build collaborations with scientists from multiple disciplines and institutions.

“On last count, the list totaled 25 researchers who work with him on various aspects of (staph research),” Dr. Bayles said. “His collaborative spirit has led to multiple publications with many more to follow and is reflected in the high number of visiting scientists he has hosted in his laboratory over the past several years.”

Dr. Dunman’s team building skills help galvanize the department, said Steve Hinrichs, M.D., chairman of the pathology and microbiology department.

He cited a video created by Dr. Dunman’s laboratory team for the recent “I Love UNMC” video contest as an example of this strong team spirit.

“Not surprisingly, his lab won first prize,” Dr. Hinrichs said.

Drs. Hinrichs and Bayles both said Dr. Dunman is a strong mentor to those who work under him, and they noted that graduate students and others who have worked in Dr. Dunman’s lab have secured prestigious fellowships and received awards at various conferences.

“Paul’s contributions to the department have occurred in multiple ways beyond his scientific endeavors,” Dr. Hinrichs said. “He has added to the academic atmosphere through the recruitment and training of many fine graduate students.”

Dr. Dunman takes great pride in his laboratory personnel.

“I owe so much thanks to my outstanding research team, as well as my strong departmental and university administration,” he said.

There’s another great quality about Dr. Dunman that undoubtedly has won him some fans, Dr. Fey said.

“Paul’s just a really great guy. He’s a good friend and colleague. Everybody loves to be around him,” Dr. Fey said. “I’m not surprised at all to see how successful he’s been.”