Section News

As originally printed in The Physiologist, 
August 2001, Volume 44, Number 4 
Page 189

Introducing Ken Baldwin
Introducing Michael Jennings

Introducing Ken Baldwin

Ken Baldwin

    Effective April 2001, Ken Baldwin succeeded Charles M. Tipton as the Chair of the Exercise and Environmental Physiology (EEP) Section of the APS. Prior to assuming this role Baldwin served on the Animal Care and Experimentation Committee from 1990-1993 and was the APS representative to the FASEB Consensus Coalition on Federal Funding of Biomedical Research in which he chaired the Subcommittee on NASA from 1997-2000. He also served on the program committees for the three APS-sponsored Biology of Exercise Specialty Conferences.
    Baldwin is currently Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, College of Medicine at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) where he has been located for the past 28 years. He did his undergraduate work at Springfield College in Massachusetts where he received his Bachelor of Science degree, Magna Cum Laude, in 1964. Following completion of the Master of Science degree in Biomechanics and Physical Education at the University of Massachusetts, Baldwin served briefly as an Instructor of Physical Education at Keen State University in New Hampshire and at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He then began studies in Exercise Physiology at the University of Iowa where he received his PhD in 1970 under the mentorship of C. M. Tipton. From 1970-73, Baldwin served as a postdoctoral fellow in the field of exercise biochemistry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis under the direction of John O. Holloszy. Baldwin’s pre-doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on the adaptive properties of different types of skeletal muscle in response to acute and chronic exercise stress.
    After joining the faculty at UCI, Baldwin became interested in the effects of the microgravity environment on the structure and function of antigravity skeletal muscle. Although he initially received a grant from NASA in 1980 to study the effects of spaceflight on muscle mitochondrial function, it took him 11 years before completing this initial project, because of the lack of available flight opportunities during the initial stages of NASA’s space lab program (hardly a good model in which to receive tenure in a research university). However, in the last decade he has had four flight opportunities in which to explore the effects of gravity on the mechanisms of a) atrophy processes in adult animals and b) muscle growth and differentiation processes in neonatal models. These studies laid the ground work for our current understanding that sarcomeric gene expression in antigravity skeletal muscle is highly regulated by the daily impact of gravity. 
    In addition to his space biology research, Baldwin has been funded continuously for over 20 years by both the National Institute of Heart, Lung, and Blood Diseases and the National Institute of Arthritis, Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases (NIAMS). This research has focused on interactive studies concerning hormonal and of activity/inactivity factors in the regulation of striated muscle myosin heavy chain gene expression. Baldwin has published extensively on this general theme in both the American Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Applied Physiology.
    Based on his expertise in muscle biology, Baldwin has served key roles in the program activities and advisory councils of both the NIH and NASA. From 1987-1991 he served on the NIH Respiratory and Applied Physiology Study section, and he recently was appointed as a founding member of the newly formed Skeletal Muscle Biology Study Section. Also, he has served on several strategic planning workshops and Task Forces for NIAMS. Currently, he serves on the jointly sponsored NIH/NASA Biomedical and Behavioral Advisory Committee, which fosters joint research activities between the two agencies. 
    Within NASA, Baldwin chaired the Life Sciences Advisory Committee from 1994-2000 and currently serves as chair of the Biological and Physical Research Advisory Committee (1999-2001). More recently, he was appointed to the NASA Advisory Council, which is the highest ranking advisory group within the space agency. In 2000, he was appointed as the Muscle Atrophy Team Leader for overseeing countermeasure-related research within the NASA-sponsored National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
    Over the years Baldwin has received several awards for his service and research activities including the NASA Group Achievement Award in Spacelab Sciences in 1992, the American College of Sports Medicine Citation Award in 1993, the APS Edward Adolph Award in Exercise and Environmental Physiology in 1998, and the NASA Public Service Medal in 1999.
    Baldwin and the EEP Steering Committee, consisting of Clark Blatteis, Vic Convertino, Hal Laughlin, Kevin Kregel, Tim Musch, and Andy Young have established a number of goals for the next few years. These include the continuation of the APS EEP Section as an international leader in the sponsoring of Exercise/Environmental Biology Specialty Conferences, which have been most successful under the past leadership of Peter Wagner. A second goal is to use the EEP as the primary vehicle for sponsoring cutting-edge symposia, poster sessions, and special topics that focus on mechanisms of molecular and cell biology, the integrated biology of activity/inactivity disorders, and the functional genomics of exercise and environmental physiology. Coupled to these program goals within the Section is an initiative to create a greater voice within APS in influencing and shaping the ongoing evolution of the peer review process for the review of exercise- and environmental sciences- focused research grant proposals at NIH. A fourth goal is to increase synergy between the EEP Section and other sections in APS such as the Cardiovascular and Comparative Physiology Sections and the Myobio Group in order to generate greater depth and breadth of integrated topics within the science program presented at the annual Experimental Biology meeting. Finally, the EEP must become postured to provide a voice of advocacy of supporting more research opportunities for activity, inactivity, and environmental factors that impact a variety of health problems facing society in the new millennium through its interactions with specific Institutes within the NIH and at NASA. Thus, there are many challenges facing the EEP and the time is ripe to address them. 

Introducing Michael Jennings

    Effective April 2001, Michael L. Jennings succeeded Robert B. Gunn as the Chair of the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section of the APS. Jennings is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He received his PhD in Biophysics from Harvard University in 1976, where he was a student of Arthur K. Solomon. Following a postdoctoral fellowship with Hermann Passow at the Max Planck Institut für Biophysik in Frankfurt, Germany, he joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics, headed by Robert E. Fellows. In 1987 he moved to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston as Professor of Physiology and Biophysics in the department chaired by Luis Reuss. In 1995 he moved to UAMS, where he is in the process of building a department that, like those at Iowa and Galveston, is focused on cell physiology. 
    Jennings has been on the Editorial Board of AJP:Cell Physiology since 1984 and was on the Editorial Board of Physiological Reviews in 1985-93 (Associate Editor 1991-93). He was also on the Technical Books Committee of the APS. He has been on several other editorial boards, including the Journal of General Physiology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, and American Journal of Kidney Diseases. He was President of the Society of General Physiologists in 1997-98.
    Jennings’ main research interest is in the structure, function, and regulation of ion transporters, especially coupled exchangers and cotransporters. He and his associates have spent many years studying the topology and function of the erythrocyte anion exchange protein (band 3). Unlike many other transporters, band 3 can be studied at the molecular level not only by heterologous expression and mutagenesis, but also by biochemical analysis of the protein in the native red blood cell. His laboratory is using a combination of biochemical and kinetic approaches with red cells, as well as inducible expression in mammalian cells, to identify amino acid residues of functional importance and to define the elementary events in the catalytic cycle for transport. 
    Another interest in Jennings’ laboratory is cell volume regulation. In addition to being a general problem in physiology, cell volume regulation is especially important in the context of sickle cell disease. Because of the high concentration dependence of the hemoglobin S gelation rate, a slight increase in red cell volume would significantly reduce the rate of sickle cell formation. Red cell volume is affected by a K+-Cl- cotransport system that is stimulated by cell swelling and by several other interventions, some of which inhibit protein kinases. Although it is clear that red cell K+-Cl- cotransport is regulated by phosphorylation events, the molecular details are poorly understood. Jennings is currently using a variety of experimental approaches (knockout mouse RBC, yeast) to try to determine the identity and modes of regulation of the kinases and phosphatases that control K+-Cl- cotransport. 
    Jennings is grateful to the previous Section Chair, Robert B. Gunn, the continuing Vice-Chair, Martha E. O’Donnell, and to the Cell/Molecular Steering Committee for the outstanding leadership they have provided over the past several years. Steering Committee members who have completed their terms are Simon A. Lewis, who was Program Advisory Committee Representative, and Marshall H. Montrose, who served as Councillor. Kim E. Barrett, Editor of AJP:Cell Physiology has provided outstanding service as ex-officio Steering Committee member. In addition to Martha O’Donnell, the other continuing member is Peter M. Cala, who is Program Advisor. Newly elected Steering Committee members are John Cuppoletti (Councillor), Peter K. Lauf (Councillor), Ronald M. Lynch (Program Advisor), and Caroline R. Sussman (Postdoctoral Fellow Representative). Jennings very much looks forward to working with the new Steering Committee. 
    Jennings feels that the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section will continue to be of major importance to APS, because more and more investigators are using the techniques and approaches of cell physiology. Many biochemists and biophysicists who had previously worked exclusively on isolated molecules are now using optical imaging techniques to study molecular interactions in intact cells. An important mission of the Section is to maintain a high profile for cellular and molecular-level research in APS. The Section should help promote APS membership among current non-members who consider themselves to be biochemists, biophysicists, and cell biologists. 
    At the other end of the scale of biological complexity, individuals interested in integrative organ-system physiology now have the tools to study the cellular and molecular basis of organ function. The study of molecular function in living cells, i.e., cell/molecular physiology, will be an increasingly important facet of research in all organ systems. Jennings encourages APS members with primary affiliation in other sections to choose secondary affiliation in the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section. 
    One of the concerns of many members of the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section of APS is that there is a critical need for NIH Study Sections with expertise in and appreciation for cell physiology. Jennings was a member of the Physiology Study Section when it was disbanded as part of a preliminary reorganization of NIH Study Sections. In part because of the dissolution of the Physiology Study Section, there are currently not enough Study Sections that are “natural homes” for grants focused on cell physiology. Jennings feels that the Cell and Molecular Physiology Section of APS should be a strong voice urging NIH to ensure that cell physiology is properly represented in Study Section membership. 

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