News release issued May 15, 2001, effective immediately.
For media inquiries, contact Caroline Booth Lara, Communications Specialist, (580) 224-6379.
  email: cblara@noble.org

Researcher receives $45,000 award

ARDMORE, Okla. - Dr. Dianjing Guo, a Noble Foundation Plant Biology researcher, has been chosen by her scientific peers as this year's recipient of the division's annual Postdoctoral Excellence Award, which includes a $45,000 research payment to the winner.

"The award is budgeted every year but is not always awarded," said Dr. Richard Dixon, Plant Biology Division director. "Postdoctoral researchers who have been with the Foundation for two years and who have had their work published in highly respected scientific journals are eligible for consideration."

Applicants are screened by Dixon, who passes along the approved applications to the Plant Biology Non-Resident Fellows, a group of four prominent scientists affiliated with other universities and research institutions. The Non-Resident Fellows then choose the winner.

"Dianjing has made a significant contribution to the output of the Plant Biology Division through her published work in such journals as The Plant Cell, Plant Journal, Phytochemistry, and Transgenic Research," Dixon said.

Guo's work has concentrated on genetically regulating levels of lignin, the plant cell material largely responsible for a plant's rigidity. While some lignin is essential for plants to grow and stand upright, too much lignin in a forage plant (such as alfalfa) can lead to digestibility problems in grazing animals.

Guo has also worked with the Foundation's Agriculture Division on forage digestibility in steers, with a focus on the lignin content of the alfalfa being grazed. Her research indicated that cattle were able to digest reduced-lignin alfalfa much more easily than the unmodified alfalfa.

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Photo: Dr. Dianjing Guo

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The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation, headquartered in Ardmore, Okla., is a non-profit organization conducting agricultural, forage biotechnological, and plant biology research; providing grants to numerous non-profit charitable, educational and health organizations; and assisting farmers and ranchers through educational and consultative agricultural programs.

To learn more, check out the Noble Foundation Web site at http://www.noble.org.

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