UK-SRP Postdoctoral Scholar Receives Lyman T. Johnson Fellowship

(March 17, 2006) - Dr. Xabier Arzuaga, a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Bernhard Hennig's lab, has received the Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship provides a $35,000 stipend plus $5,000 for support of research activities.

Born in Puerto Rico, Dr. Arzuaga attended the Universidad de Puerto Rico before coming to the University of Kentucky as a doctoral student. He joined Dr. Hennig's laboratory as a postdoctoral scholar in 2004.

The University of Kentucky established the Lyman T. Johnson Postdoctoral Fellowships to support postdoctoral fellows in graduate and professional areas while enhancing diversity. The fellowships are named in honor of UK's first African-American graduate student, Lyman T. Johnson.

Fellowship recipients pursue an individualized research program under the mentorship of one or more UK professors and actively participate in departmental and professional research related activities. Fellows play a lead role in designing, developing and implementing research programs that contribute to a department's overall graduate education and research mandates.

Dr. Arzuaga is interested in the biochemical and molecular effects of environmental contaminants, such as PCBs, in the pathology of vascular diseases. Specifically, he is studying cellular signaling pathways activated by these pollutants and how nutrition can influence the exposure outcome in cell culture models and genetically modified mice, with a long-term interest in impacts on human populations.