Zhang named 2014 OSU Whatley Award recipient

Friday, October 10, 2014

Oklahoma State University’s Guolong “Glenn” Zhang has been named the 2014 recipient of the James A. Whatley Award for Meritorious Service in Agricultural Sciences.

The award was initiated in 1982 and is presented annually by OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in recognition of outstanding research contributions that command national and international respect in their applicable career fields.

An OSU animal science faculty member since 2002, Zhang’s research focuses on the regulation of animal immunity. His research outcomes have led to the development of innovative antibiotic-free strategies for disease control and prevention in both humans and animals.

“The success of his laboratory and the potential for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications have resulted in his research being funded by the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Agriculture and Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, in addition to the university and the statewide Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system,” said Clint Rusk, head of the OSU Department of Animal Science.

Zhang has garnered more than $4 million in research funding while at OSU and has published 46 refereed papers in renowned scientific journals such as Science, Journal of Clinical Investigation, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Infection & Immunity. He serves on the editorial board of three professional journals and is guest editing a special issue for Pathogens, an international open-access journal.

He currently holds a utility patent entitled “Antimicrobial Defensin-Related Peptide and Methods of Its Use” that was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2009. Another Zhang-developed patent entitled “Immune Boosting Dietary Supplements for Disease Control and Prevention” is currently being filed by OSU.

“Given a recent Food and Drug Administration recommendation to withdraw antibiotics from livestock production, there is an urgent need for Dr. Zhang’s patents in the food animal industry,” Rusk said.

A startup company called Altbiotics was formed by OSU in June to exclusively develop and commercialize one of his technologies related to alternatives to antibiotics.

Zhang has received numerous honors at the university and national levels, including the department of animal science’s Tyler Award in 2014, the OSU Sigma Xi Young Investigator Award in 2008 and induction into the National Academy of Inventors in 2012.

His professional affiliations include the American Society for Microbiology, American Association of Immunologists, American Association for the Advancement of Science and American Association of Veterinary Immunologists, among others.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in animal genetics and his Master of Science degree in nutritional immunology from China Agricultural University in 1993 and 1995, respectively. Zhang earned his doctoral degree in immunophysiology from Kansas State University in 1999, and then spent two years as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellow in molecular immunology at Yale University.

Whatley, in whose name the award is presented, was an animal geneticist who became director of the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station and then dean of the division, which is comprised of the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and two statewide agencies: the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station system. Whatley served OSU for 41 years.