the BIOTechnologist
Page 1
the
Volume 3 (Spring)
BIOTechnologist
Number 15, 2005
BIOCHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY DIVISION - AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY acsbiot.org (members: bookmark our new website)
Chair Sadettin Ozturk Centocor Chair-Elect Anne Robinson University of Delaware Past Chair Kent E. Goklen Merck Research Laboratories Secretary Jonathan Coffman Wyeth BioPharma Treasurer S. Sam Guhan Amgen, Inc. Editor Robert R. Beitle University of Arkansas Long Range Program Coordinator Erik J. Fernandez University of Virginia Councilors Douglas A. Jaeger Fredrick G. Heineken Sharon Shoemaker Arindam Bose Abbott NSF CIFAR Pfizer Inc.
LETTER FROM THE BIOT CHAIR
Dear Fellow BIOT Members, On behalf of the BIOT Executive Committee (EC), I would like to extend our cordial greetings to those who will be able to attend and join us for the ACS Spring National Meeting in San Diego. Program Co- Chairs Kelvin Lee and Dana Anderson have done an outstanding job putting together an excellent program. There are thirty-four sessions in the technical program this year covering several emerging aspects of biochemical technology. In addition to more traditional sessions in biomolecular engineering (upstream and downstream process development) the San Diego technical program includes sessions on systems biotechnology, synthetic biology, stem cells, and FDA and industrial perspectives. The technical program captures the latest developments in the biotechnology field and identifies the frontiers waiting to be explored by us. A technical program as successful as this one is also due to the dedication and hard work of many volunteers. I would like to recognize the individuals who contributed to the meeting as Topical Area Coordinators and Session Chairs. Thanks to all of you who contributed to the organization of this excellent meeting. In addition to BIOT technical programming, BIOT is cosponsoring a symposium with the Biotechnology Secretariat (BTEC). The BTEC technical program in San Diego meeting focuses on the general area of Frontiers in Biocatalysis. We encourage you to have a look at the BTEC program for the symposia they organized in the areas of Applied Biocatalysis and Biotransformations, Biocatalysis and Biotransformations under Extreme Conditions, Genomic and Systems Approaches to Metabolic Engineering, and Evolutionary Approaches to Biocatalysis and Biotransformations. The success of BIOT programming also depends on the donations it receives from supporting companies. We thank the organizations that have contributed to BIOT over the past year. Financial contributions are used to partially subsidize meeting expenses such as speaker registration and travel support. These contributions are also used for providing (continued, pages 2 and 3)
Alternate Councilors Claire Komives San Jose State U. Mark Marten U. MD Baltimore Co. Dana Anderson Genentech Mark Etzel U. Wisconsin Membership Colette S Ranucci Merck, Inc. Awards Terry Papoutsakis Northwestern University Weichang Zhou Protein Design Labs CHEMTECH Advisory Board Member William Bentley University of MD College Park Program Chairs 2004 Kelvin Lee Cornell Dana Anderson Genentech, Inc.
the BIOTechnologist
some registration support to students and for us to organize special events during the meeting.
Page 2
As usual, we would like to extend our special thanks to Erik Fernandez, our Long Range Program Coordinator, for the success of our technical programming. Erik had been an invaluable member of the Executive Committee, recruiting Chairs for the meetings, mentoring and helping them to succeed. In addition, we would like to thank Mike Betenbaugh who remained actively involved in organizing BIOT activities even after his official duties ended. We are going through many changes in the community and in the industry and we need to evolve and adapt to these changes. BIOT has grown significantly in the last decade and became an essential part of the ACS organization. In the meantime, the biotech community that we serve has evolved in terms of the technology and practices they employ. Consequently, some changes to the BIOT by-laws became necessary. To accomplish this task, the Executive Committee assigned a group of BIOT officers with the task of updating the by-laws. Thanks to the great work of Mike Betenbaugh, Kent Goklen and others, the necessary changes to the BIOT by-laws have been identified and proposed to the Executive Committee. As required by the ACS by-laws, these revisions also have been reviewed by the ACS Committee on Constitution and Bylaws. The committee has approved the changes and suggested additional modifications, primarily to align our by-laws with standard language being implemented by all ACS divisions. The final form of the BIOT by-laws have been submitted to you, the general membership of BIOT, for your review and approval. The American Chemical Society is also aware of the changes in the community and in the industry and ACS has engaged in many activities to identify current challenges for the organization and new opportunities. ACS organized a two-day summit on the Expanding Boundaries of the Chemical Enterprise and Memberships in October 2004. Erik Fernandez and I represented ACS in this summit and we discussed several topics with other ACS division leaders. ACS is in the process of redefining, reinventing, and repositioning the Society. Public perception of chemistry, the role of ACS, globalization, membership, and the integration of ACS divisions were discussed at this summit. BIOT has been active in expanding its boundaries by participating in the activities of other organizations and by co-sponsoring conferences. BIOT has been actively involved in two important conferences, first, as the organizational sponsor for the Recovery of Biological Products Conference Series, and second, as a cosponsor of the Recent Advances in Fermentation Technology (RAFT) conference series. BIOT had been involved in the formation of the Society of Biological Engineering (SBE) and now BIOT has been given a seat on the SBE Advisory Board. SBE was created within the American Institute of Chemical Engineers to serve as an umbrella organization to help increase communication and coordination among the many different organizations serving this area. Professor Daniel I.C. Wang was appointed as the first Chair of the SBE's Managing Board and the BIOT Executive Committee selected Michael Betenbaugh (2003 BIOT Chair) to serve the first two year term on the SBE advisory board. As agreed, BIOT members can have an introductory membership fee of $10, and I encourage you to take advantage of this. I should also mention here that work is in progress to expand BIOT activities to Europe. We have been in contact with the European Federation of Biotechnology and are looking for a possible alliance to support each other’s activities. BIOT membership has steadily increased over the past few years, reaching a total of about 3147 as of the end of October 2004. The level of division representation in the ACS Council is based on memberships and we need to continue our recruitment efforts to have a solid voice in the ACS organization. We thank Colette Ranucci, our Membership Coordinator, for the outstanding job in membership recruitments and I urge all of you to actively go and find new members for the organization. Thanks to Erik Fernandez, the BIOT website has been maintained extremely well and updated regularly. Please visit the website at http://www.acsbiot.org and learn more about our division, our history, our mission, membership requirements, and our activities. The latest update to the website includes the BIOT by-law changes and information on the student travel subsidiary. In addition, you can find the BIOT officer’s manual for BIOT officials. There are some changes in the works to clarify officer responsibility. These changes will be defined and proposals will be submitted to the Executive Committee in 2005 for their approval. I would like to finish my letter with an important message. The activities of BIOT are carried out by volunteers
the BIOTechnologist
Page 3
who give of their own personal time for the benefit of their science and their profession. We thank everyone who has contributed to these efforts over the past year. In particular, I want to thank Kent Goklen (PastChair), Sam Guhan (Division Treasurer), Erik Fernandez (Long Range Program Coordinator), Bob Beitle (Newsletter Editor), Jon Coffman (Secretary), Terry Papoutsakis (Awards Coordinator), and Colette Ranucci (Membership Coordinator). In addition, I would like to recognize Michael Betenbaugh, Fred Heineken, and Arindam Bose for their long-term commitment and for their services to BIOT. And I would like to welcome our most newly elected officers, Anne Robinson (2005 Chair Elect) and Weichang Zhou (Awards Chair). We are constantly looking for enthusiastic individuals who want to get involved in BIOT to maintain and secure our leadership in the community. I can only tell you from my own experience that this will be one of the most satisfying volunteer jobs you will ever have. You can make important contributions to your professional career, to your community and you can have fun at the same time. So please join us, join the team, contribute to the community, and help us to move the organization to the next level. With best wishes, Sadettin S. Ozturk BIOT Chair 2005
A HEARTFELT THANKS…
The BIOT Division thanks the following sponsors for their commitments to the 2005 meeting (as of February 11, 2005)
ACS Chemical Biology Amgen Bayer Healthcare Biogen Idec BioProcess International BioReliance Bristol-Myers Squibb Centocor Eli Lilly Genencor International Medimmune
Genentech Genzyme Invitrogen Laureate Pharma Merck Millipore Novo Nordisk Pfizer Protein Design Labs Wyeth BioPharma YSI
the BIOTechnologist OPEN LETTER TO BIOT (pages 4 and 5)
(From A. L. Demain, Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (R.I.S.E.), Drew University, Madison, NJ) A revolution in industrial microbiology was sparked by the 1954 discovery of the double-stranded structure of DNA by Watson and Crick. The biotechnology revolution did not come immediately but required some 15 years for additional basic discoveries to be made by others in molecular biology/genetics. Then in 1971, the development of recombinant DNA by Berg, Cohen and Boyer at Stanford University and the University of California San Francisco triggered the birth of modern biotechnology. At that time, a physician (Peter Farley), a biochemist (Ronald Cape) and a Nobel Laureate physicist (Donald Glaser) with several others conceived of the commercialization of recombinant DNA technology and established the Cetus Corporation in Berkeley in 1972. I was fortunate enough to be invited to assist the company as consultant along with Joshua Lederberg and Stanley Cohen of Stanford University, and Henry Rapaport of UCBerkeley. Thus begun one of the most exciting adventures that I have ever experienced. The vision of these Cetus founders led to the establishment of a major biotechnology industry, serving the needs of patients throughout the world and revolutionizing the practice of industrial microbiology. Although Cetus is no longer in existence as an independent corporate entity, being incorporated into Chiron Corporation in 1991, it should long be remembered as the founder of modern biotechnology and the developer of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a technique of enormous importance today. Indeed, the PCR principal investigator, Cary Mullis, holds the only Nobel Prize ever awarded to a scientist employed by a biotechnology company. The second major company to be established was Genentech in 1976. Since then, thousands of companies have been established including Amgen, Biogen, Genzyme, Immunex, Centocor, MedImmune, Genetics Institute, Chiron, etc. Many of them invested in modern biotechnology with no clear idea of the future but with the faith that genetics would lead to products that could not even be conceived of at the time; indeed this dream came true in a major way. Today, large pharmaceutical companies have major holdings in some of these companies. Approximately 4400 biotechnology companies exist in the world with total revenues of over $50-60 billion, sales of $40-50 billion and R&D expenditures of over $32 billion. This compares to a 1990 world market of only $1 billion. In the U.S. alone, there are about 15002000 biotechnology companies, employing 160,000 people. The U.S. biotech industry was valued at $450 billion in 2001.
Page 4
Biopharmaceuticals have been the most successful segment of the biotechnology industry. In 2002, over 137 biopharmaceuticals were on the market and 400 were in the clinic against more than 200 diseases (AIDS, cardiovascular, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, anti-infectives, etc.). The annual market for therapeutic proteins in 2002-2003 amounted to $30 billion with a total biopharmaceutical market of $40-50 billion. Among the most well-known products of the modern biotechnology industry are the mammalian polypeptides such as erythropoietin (EPO) with a $7 billion market; human insulin, $4 billion; interferon (Intron A), $1.8 billion; granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF); $2.6 billion; human growth hormone (HGH; human somatotropin), $1.7 billion; interferon-β, $2.1 billion; recombinant hepatitis B vaccine, $725 million; somatotropin, $700 million; Cerezyme (glucocerobrosidase), $700 million; and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), $600 million. Human growth hormone provides an interesting example of the economic potential of biotechnology. Up until 1984, it was produced for abnormally small children from the pituitary glands of human cadavers. It not only was expensive, but was often contaminated with the Creutzfeld-Jacob virus causing death. Genentech’s early effort was to produce this for abnormally small children. It was thought to have a small market of $10 million and was given orphan drug status by the FDA. Today its sales are $1.7 billion, being used for eleven indications including burns. Recombinant glucocerebrosidase (“Cerezyme”) is used for Gaucher’s disease, a genetic illness. Approved in 1994 was human DNase (Pulmozyme) for cystic fibrosis (CF). It was the first new drug in 30 years for CF, a genetic disease that affects 30,000 people in the U.S. Gleevec is active against chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). It also is active against gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) and had sales of $615 million in 2002. Protein antigens for vaccines are made by cloning and expressing
the BIOTechnologist
genes coding for surface antigens of viruses, bacteria and parasites. The first subunit vaccine on the market was that of hepatitis B virus surface antigen which is produced in yeast. In recent years, monoclonal antibodies have been the fastest growing therapeutic protein class, reaching a market of $4.0 billion. ReoPro was the first successful therapeutic monoclonal antibody, being approved in 1994 for inhibition of platelet aggregation (blood clotting); it had a market of $384 million in 2002. Enbrel (etanercept), Remicade and the recently-approved Humira (adalimumab) are for rheumatoid arthritis; the first two have markets of $1.5 billion. Remicade is also useful for Crohn’s disease. Rituxan is used for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, achieving sales of $2.8 billion in 2002. Herceptin (trastuzumab) is prescribed for metastatic breast cancer in a subgroup of 25-30% of women suffering from this disease. Sales of Herceptin were $745 million in 2002. Synagis (palivizumab) prevents lower respiratory tract disease caused by the respiratory syncytial virus and was the first monoclonal antibody used for infectious disease; it netted $800 million in 2003. Over 160 monoclonal antibodies were in clinical development in 2002; today, over 20 are on the market. The amazing growth of the biotechnology industry can be seen in the following facts: the industry received only two drug/vaccine approvals in 1982, none in 1983-4, one in 1985, five in 1990, fifteen in 1996, finally rising to 32 in 2000. In 2002, FDA approved 20 new biotechnology products and 25 in 2003. In late stage development were another 370 products and about 30 were awaiting approval. Over 155 biopharmaceuticals including vaccines have been approved by the FDA. The number of patents granted to biotechnology companies rose from 1,500 in 1985 to 9,000 in 1999. A major change in the biopharmaceutical industry is the imminent entry of generic firms. Between 2001 and 2006, biopharmaceuticals with a total market of over $13 billion are going off patent. The first were Novolin and Humalin (human insulin) and Intron A (interferon). In 2003, patents on the following expired: Avonex (interferon 1alpha), Humatrope and Neutropin (somatotropin). The patent expiration date for Epogen (erythropoietin) is 2004. In 2005, Activase (alteplase; TPA) and Protropin (somatotren) patents expire. In 2006, the patent for Neupogen (filgrastim) will expire. Cerezyme/Ceredase (alglucerase) will also lose patent protection during this period.
Page 5
High cell cell density fermentations of bacteria and yeasts have reached levels over 200 g dry cell weight per liter. Mammalian polypeptides are being produced in bacteria and yeasts at a level of 1 to 70% of cell protein and at concentrations as high as 15 g per liter. However, many glycosylated polypeptides cannot be made in bacteria and often mammalian cell cultures are used. In some of these cases, yeasts (especially the methylotrophic Pichia pastoris and Hansenula polymorpha), filamentous fungi or insect cells can be used. Insect cells are sometimes used and can produce as much as 600 mg of recombinant protein per liter. The necessary development of mammalian cell culture was facilitated by prior developments in microbial fermentation technology. Mammalian cell cultures are usually Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells but others have been used, e.g., NS0 murine myeloma cells, baby hamster kidney cells, green monkey kidney cells and human embryonic kidney cells. CHO cell processes have been developed that yield 3-5 g of recombinant protein per liter. The number of investigational new drug (IND) filings for drugs of the pharmaceutical industry has fallen in recent years but this dropoff was balanced by the increase in biotechnology INDs. Between 1997 and 2002, 40% of the drugs introduced into the marketplace came from biotechnology companies. Recently, the five largest pharmaceutical companies have inlicensed 6-10 products from biotechnology or specialty pharmaceutical companies yielding 2880% of their revenues. Molecular biology has been the major driving force in biopharmaceutical research. Although the industry has mainly dealt with production of natural proteins in recombinant organisms, today it encompasses ribozymes, antisense molecules, monoclonal antibodies, gene and cell therapy, genomics, proteomics, pharmacogenomics, drug delivery, combinatorial chemistry and biology, developmental biology, high throughput screening and bioinformatics.. It is clear that genetic engineering of microbes and other forms of life has made major impacts in the world and have changed the face of medicine and industry.
the BIOTechnologist A REMINDER FROM THE PETERSON
AWARD COMMITTEE (Contributed by M. Menon) We thank Invitrogen (Gibco Cell Culture) for their continued sponsorship of the Peterson Award which acknowledges student accomplishments. Several students compete each year during poster and oral presentations. The 2004 meeting winners were: Mr. Brian M. Baynes Department of Chemical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Advisor: Professors Daniel I. C. Wang & Bernhardt L. Trout Mr. Kaushal Rege Department of Chemical Engineering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Advisor: Professor Steven Cramer
Page 6
(www.acsbiot.org), social events to promote member interactions, reduced rate publications, as well as a Divisional Newsletters to provide key information about the division, its meetings, membership, and other relevant topics. Support the BIOT division!
Celebrating 30 years of membership are Anthony Tietz Francis Verhoff
COUNCILORS REPORT
(Contributed by F. Heinekin, A Bose) Philadelphia August and December 2004 Arindam Bose, Doug Jaeger, Sharon Shoemaker, and Fred Heineken attended the Council Meeting for BIOT. Councilors elected members to three Council Committees: the Committee on Nominations and Elections, the Council Policy Committee and the Committee on Committees. The Council approved three petitions. One petition expanded ACS Membership requirements to include precollege teachers of chemistry. A second petition approved February 15th as the annual deadline for Division Annual Reports, which is consistent with the due date for Local Section Annual Reports. The previous deadline for Division Annual Reports was March 15th. A third petition authorized the use of electronic balloting for ACS elections. This generated a lot of discussion. There was concern about traceability of results if a recount is needed, and the possibility of fraudulent voting. Additional information on the details for electronic balloting is to be provided to the Council by the Committee on Nominations and Elections. There was a 30-minute discussion of Multidisciplinarity Opportunities for Chemists and Chemical Engineers. Opportunities mentioned included Nano-Science, Chemical Biology, BioPharma, Computational Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, and Engineering. (continued, page7)
A SECOND REMINDER FROM THE
PETERSON AWARD COMMITTEE BIOT usually awards at least five travel stipends in the amount of $500 to help students get to the meeting. See the division web page for information.
A NOTE TO BIOT MEMBERS
(Contributed by C. Rancucci) We thank our members for their continued support of the BIOT division. In recent years, we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of female members in the division, especially over the past 10 years. We’ve also seen a diversification in the background of our members – as 30% of our members are in the field of chemical engineering, 45% are in the field of chemistry, and 25% are in other areas. Approximately 35% of our members have PhD’s in the field of chemistry, 30% have Bachelors degrees, and 10% have Masters Degrees (remaining 25% are unspecified). BIOT continues to strive to provide a forum for exchange of ideas and information among academic and industrial researchers in biotechnology…In addition to providing outstanding technical programs at ACS National meetings, the society also provides other benefits such as a website with the most up to date information regarding the division
the BIOTechnologist
The Council Meeting adjourned at approximately 11:30 am. Division Councilor’s Caucus Fred continues to serve on a Division Councilor’s Subcommittee looking into Division Councilor representation on the Council. Currently, the Council consists of Local Section Councilors (80%) and Division Councilors (20%). ACS wishes to broaden the multidisciplinarity of Chemistry, and the global activities of ACS as indicated in the new ACS Strategic Plan. It is thought that the Divisions are doing most of this and should have a larger percentage of the Council’s composition. The basic question boils down to asking how the ACS Membership is best represented on the Council. Addressing this question may require new thoughts on the composition of the Council. International Activities Committee (IAC) Fred Heineken continues to serve on the IAC as a Full Member, and participates on the Inter-Society Communications and Meetings Subcommittee. Fred is a member of a Task Force looking into how ACS can participate in the first European Chemical Congress scheduled to meet August 2730, 2006 in Budapest, Hungary. Fred is encouraging a strong component of Biochemical Technology for this Meeting and perhaps the participation of BIOT. The Fall 2006 Meeting for ACS is scheduled for September 10-14, 2006 in San Francisco. Fred also serves on a Task Force to come up with a new Mission Statement for the IAC. Budget and Finance Arindam Bose attended the winter meeting of the Society Committee on Budget & Finance December 3-4, 2004 in Arlington, VA. The yearend 2004 financial performance of ACS was expected to be favorable to budget. More importantly, all the metrics that were previously established to ensure prudent financial management were going to be met. The budget for 2005 was reviewed and approved. The advance member registration fee for the 2005 National Meetings was set at $295 in compliance with the Council endorsed fee escalation formula. The Committee also voted to reimburse Divisions for any moneys spent for programming at PACIFICHEM 2005 - provided there was excess of revenue over expenditures for that meeting.
Page 7 BIOT DIVISION AWARDS
During the ACS meeting, several division members will be honored. Paul Schimmel PERLMAN award Scripps Research Institute California Paul is the Ernest and Jean Hahn Professor of Molecular Biology and Chemistry. Prior to joining Scrippt, he held the John D. and Cathrine T. MacArther Professorship in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at MIT. Excluding abstracts, the publication output of the Schimmel Laboratory exceeds 400 papers since 1980. Wei-Shou Hu University of Minnesota JOHNSON award
Wei-Shou holds the title of Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science. His areas of expertise include tissue and metabolic engineering. Wei-Shou was the Chair of the Food, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, and Bioengineering Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Jeffrey Hubbell ETH (Zurich, Switzerland) GADEN award
Jeffrey is a Full Professor in Biomedical Engineering, and currently is the Director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at ETH. His area of expertise in biomaterials, and is specifically interested in the use and biological recognition of polymers for tissue and wound applications. Frances Arnold GARVIN/OLIN award California Institute of Technology Frances holds the Dick and Barbara Dickinson Professorship of Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry. Her research areas include protein engineering, directed evolution, and biocatalysis. Erik Fernandez University of Virginia VAN LANEN award
Erik is one of the driving forces behind BIOT. His research activities are aimed at improving the recovery of biologicals. Receiving the Van Lanen Award for service highlights the side of Erik which no doubt also led to several teaching awards at UVA.
B a y e r C o r p o
the BIOTechnologist BIOT “CHEAT SHEET” FOR SAN DIEGO
(Contributed by Kristl Nelson)
Page 8
Biochemical Technology (BIOT) Division: Events and Meetings 2005 Spring National Meeting
March 13 - March 17- San Diego, CA
Sunday, March 13, 2005
Perlman Lecture Paul Schimmel, Scripps Institute 5:30 pm – Room 30 A/B “From Basic Biomedical Research to Biotechnology” BIOT Reception 6:45 pm Hornblower Yacht Buffet Dinner Cruise San Diego Marriott Marina, Gate 3, Dock F
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Elmer Gaden Award Jeffrey Hubbell, ETH 11:30 am – Room 30 A/B “Synthetic Extracellar Matrices for In Situ Tissue Engineering” Future Programming Meeting 5:30 pm – Room 29D Come contribute ideas for and get involved with future programming. Pass the word to all those who may be interested.
Monday, March 14, 2005 Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Francis P. Garvin and John M. Olin Medal, Frances Arnold, California Institute of Technology 11:30 am – Room 30 A/B “Evolutionary Approaches to Biocatalysis & Biotransformations” BIOT Poster Session and Social Hour 6:00 - 9:00pm Sails Pavilion BIOT Divisional Business Meeting 6:30 pm –Room 29D All BIOT members are encouraged to participate. Marvin L. Johnson Award Wei-Shou Hu, U. of Minnesota 11:30 am – Room 30 A/B “Cultivating, Modeling and Engineering Cells” BIOT Executive Committee Meeting 6:00 pm – Room 29C Sci-Mix Poster Session 8:00 pm Sails Pavilion
ONE FINAL NOTE
Arnold Demain, the author of the Open Letter to BIOT, is a member of the National Academies of Science of the United States, Mexico, and Hungary. Formerly of Merck and Co. Inc., he is a Fellow in Microbial Biotechnology at R.I.S.E. (Drew University). Arnold’s letter is based on an article he recently published in ChimicaOggi (2004). Thanks to Arnold for volunteering this year!
Please consider writing an open letter to the BIOT community. We are interested in individuals who are able to provide prospective and would not mind sharing their insight. If interested please contact Robert Beitle at rbeitle@engr.uark.edu.