West Virginia University graduate student Stephanie Archer-Hartmann is making history.

The chemistry graduate student from Glenville, who is studying bio-analytical separations, is the second WVU student to be awarded a prestigious national fellowship from the United States Pharmacopeia.

This year, the fellows program has awarded $25,000 to four students to help fund their research in areas relating to standards for drugs and their use.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity, and it is as much WVU’s award as it is mine,” Archer-Hartmann said. “WVU has provided the groundwork for me to do what I am doing now. They have some cutting-edge research happening here that gives both graduate and undergraduate student the change to work together on meaningful projects.”

Archer-Hartmann is conducting research on the recombinant antibodies, or rMAbs, that are used to make drugs that can help treat chronic diseases and cancers.

“The usefulness of such drugs, however, is found to be dependent on the type and amount of sugars decorating these antibodies,” Archer-Hartmann said. “I am developing a new method to analyze these glycans taken from antibodies by effectively separating and characterizing these sugars using bio-relevant materials such as enzymes, lectins, and phospholipids. Doing this would allow for a quick and inexpensive method of monitoring new rMAb-based therapeutics as they are being developed.”

The money provided to Archer-Hartmann will be used to provide one year’s funding, which includes salary, travel pay and funding for research supplies.

USP is a non-profit organization, so the monetary award given to Archer-Hartmann will go through the WVU Foundation. The money will be The USP Fellows Program is nearly 30 years old, and has invested more than $3 million in 226 Fellowship Program awards.

For more information, visit http://www.usp.org/aboutUSP/careers/fellowship.html.

-WVU-

mm/10/08/10

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