Jayaswal to Deliver Distinguished Professorship Lecture March 25

Distinguished Professor Radheshyam Jayaswal will deliver his Distinguished Professorship lecture, "Superbugs, Staphylococcus aureus: New Insights and Continued Challenges," on Thursday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the Bone Student Center Prairie Room. A reception will immediately follow the program. Both are free and open to the public.

Jayaswal, an Illinois State faculty member since 1988, has made significant research contributions in an area of tremendous practical importance. His research contributions in microbiology have attracted international distinction for Illinois State University. Paul Williams of the University of Nottingham indicated that Professor Jayaswal "is well known internationally for his research on the molecular genetics of antibiotic resistance, metal homeostasis and pathogenicity in Staphylococcus aureus" and described the significance of his "excellent innovative work in this field."

Saleem Khan of the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine explained that Professor Jayaswal's laboratory at Illinois State "was the first to clone and characterize the S. aureus gene encoding an autolysin" and described a subsequent series of "significant contributions" with "very important" implications in public health. According to Bernard Weisblum of the University of Wisconsin, Jayaswal's studies "are important conceptually, as well as practically, in connection with emerging resistance of bacterial infections to nearly all antibiotics currently in use."

Jayaswal's research agenda has yielded an impressive number of publications including widely cited works in the Journal of Bacteriology, Microbiology, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, Molecular Microbiology, and Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The continuous nature of external funding in support of Jayaswal's research program for over 20 years serves as an essential indicator of his recognized leadership in the field. His work at Illinois State has been supported with over $2 million in extramural funding from competitive sources including the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association and industry grants.

Doctoral students under Jayaswal's supervision have moved on to postdoctoral positions at prestigious institutions such as the University of Chicago and Stanford University. Master's students working in his laboratory have enjoyed an outstanding record of professional accomplishment.

Jayaswal has also provided significant contributions in service to the University and to his discipline, including valuable efforts on a number of curriculum development projects such as the M.S. sequence in biotechnology and the Ph.D. sequence in molecular and cell Biology. He has served on the University Curriculum Committee, College Faculty Status Committee, Panel of Ten and Department Faculty Status Committee. Jayaswal has provided service as a reviewer for numerous academic journals and on grant review panels for a variety of funding organizations including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Science Foundation of Ireland.