Assistant Professor Kelly Suter receives prestigious American Physiological Society award

Assistant Professor Kelly Suter (right) receives the APS award

By Christi Fish
Public Affairs Specialist

(May 25, 2010)--Kelly J. Suter, UTSA assistant professor of computational biology in the College of Sciences and the Neurosciences Institute, recently received the 2009 Arthur C. Guyton Award for Excellence in Integrative Physiology and Medicine from the American Physiological Society (APS). Established in 1887, the APS is the nation's premier professional organization for physiology researchers.

Presented annually, the Arthur C. Guyton Award recognizes a pre-tenure investigator for demonstrating outstanding promise in research on feedback control systems, quantitative modeling and integrative physiology. Suter received the award for developing a research program investigating the physiological processes underlying the secretion of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). A hormone secreted in the brain's hypothalamus, GnRH is required for sexual reproduction.

Suter's research targets the GnRH "pulse" generator, the mechanism the brain uses to secrete intermittent bursts of GnRH, which reach their highest levels during adolescence. Her research findings have generated more than two dozen book chapters and scholarly publications including articles in the Journal of Visualized Experiments, The Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Computational Neuroscience.

"When we make progress in science, we stand on the shoulders of giants," said Suter. "Arthur Guyton was a giant, a giant scientist, a giant mentor and a relentless advocate for young people in science. I am humbled to have the work of my laboratory acknowledged in his name."

The American Physiological Society, which sponsors the Guyton award, supports the study of physiology from single cells to whole animals.

"Ultimately, what we learn about physiology and the cellular and neuronal level needs to translate into whole-animal physiology and behavior," Suter said. "This is how basic research leads to improvements in our health and well-being."