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Dr. Claude Krummenacher Receives Excellence in Research Award

December 20, 2007

Dr. Joseph Rabinowitz congratulates Dr. Claude Krummenacher

Dr. Claude Krummenacher, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Penn Dental Medicine, has been recognized for his research activities as the recipient of The Joseph and Josephine Rabinowitz Award for Excellence in Research. This Penn Dental Medicine award – established in 2003 through the generosity of Dr. Joseph Rabinowitz, Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry, and his wife, Josephine – was created to promote independent research among junior faculty members. This year's award presentation was made at a November 14 luncheon held in the Leon Levy Center for Oral Health Research.

"I am extremely grateful to Jose and Josie Rabinowitz for their support of new faculty through this award, and I am honored to be the recipient this year," says Dr. Krummenacher. "The recognition by the award committee and the financial support are very important to me as a new independent investigator."

Dr. Krummenacher was selected as this year's recipient for his research on a project titled Cellular Response to Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Binding to its Receptor, Nectin-1. He is studying how the cell surface molecule nectin-1 is used by the virus to enter the target cells of its host. He has been concentrating his research on the molecular aspects of the interaction of nectin-1 with the viral envelope glycoprotein D, which led to a structural model of how nectin-1 activates the viral machinery used by the virus to penetrate the cell.

"With this award, I will expand these studies to look at the activity of nectin-1 as a component of cellular junctions and determine how the virus affects this normal activity of nectin-1 when it uses it to enter cells," he explains. "I also hope to use it to explore other interesting consequences of HSV entry on cellular activities."

Dr. Krummenacher assumed his current position as a member of the Department of Biochemistry's standing faculty in July 2007, but first joined the Penn Dental Medicine community in 1997 on a fellowship and rose to Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, a position he previously held for two years.

Dr. Krummenacher is the fifth recipient of the Rabinowitz Award. Previous winners include Dr. Fernando Segade, Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, in 2006; Dr. Sunday Akintoye, Assistant Professor of Oral Medicine, and Dr. Faizan Alawi, Assistant Professor of Pathology, both in 2004; and Dr. Elisabeth Barton, Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, in 2003. Faculty members are nominated for the Award by department chairs, and winners are selected by a faculty advisory panel under the leadership of Dr. Bruce Shenker, Associate Dean for Research. The candidates' research proposals are evaluated for their scholarly merit, creativity and innovation; the significance of the research; the prospects for future extramural funding; the availability of alternate funding sources; career development of the investigator; evidence that the applicant will be working as an independent investigator; and forwarding of the School's research objectives.

"Because there are no restrictions on the use of this award, it offers an invaluable opportunity to explore new areas and develop new studies that would be considered too risky by more conventional funding sources," adds Dr. Krummenacher. "To me, this freedom is by itself a great asset when establishing a new laboratory."

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