VESTAVIA HILLS, AL, June 20, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Dan W. Urry, PhD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Urry celebrates many years' experience in his professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes he has accrued in his field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
A celebrated figure in the fields of biophysics and higher education, Dr. Urry has accrued more than 50 years of professional excellence in his areas of expertise. He served as professor of biochemistry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1970 until 1997 (Professor Emeritus in 2005); he served as professor of chemical engineering and material science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus from 1997 to 2000 with protein-based materials from Bioelastics Research Ltd., and also served as a professor of biophysics from 2000 to 2008 at the same university. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Urry served as Director of the Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from 1972 to 1997, as well as in several capacities with such universities as the University of Chicago, the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University. In 1965, as his first independent position, Dr. Urry became a tenured Associate Member of the Institute for Biomedical Research of the American Medical Association, developed the Molecular Biophysics Laboratory of his own design, and was promoted to Full Member in 1969. His having described the first cation-selective trans-membrane channel resulted in being featured on the cover of the August 13, 1971 issue of Medical World News.
Dr. Urry was a visiting professor at the University of Padua in 1977 and the University of Palermo in 1988, and he directed Bioelastics, Inc. (BI), which also functioned as General Partner for Bioelastics Research Ltd (BRL), from 1988 to 2003, and was named the 1987 Distinguished Faculty Lecturer at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. At Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, he served as a Guest Professor (C4, full time) for Winter Semester, October 2000 through March 2001; received The Cátedra Professorship from Fundação Carlos Lloyd Braga in 2002 with an Open (Public) Lecture entitled "What Sustains Life, Contractile Protein Machines and Materials" and seized the opportunity to present 24 hours of lectures from May 2 through June 7, entitled Biomolecular Machines and Materials; accepted Guest Professorships at Kyushu Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Life Science and Systems Engineering for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005, and served as Guest Professor at the Universidade Do Minho, Departamento de Biologia to teach Post-graduate Training Courses for the years 2005, 2007, and 2011. For each professorship, he taught his own rapidly moving research. During 1973-2011, he presented some 560 extracurricular presentations/lectures involving 23 countries.
In preparation for his illustrious career, Dr. Urry studied at the University of Utah, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in Medical Biology receiving Phi Beta Kappa and High Honors in 1960, and earning a Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry in 1964 under the direction of Henry Eyring. He has been affiliated with several industry-related organizations, including as a fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Biological Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, and the Biophysical Society (as a community elected Council Member).
In recognition of his exceptional accomplishments, Dr. Urry has been honored with several accolades throughout his career. The recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Prize for 1979-1980, he was also presented with the Wright A. Gardner Award by the Alabama Academy of Science in 1991. Furthermore, Dr. Urry was named Scientist of the Year by R&D Magazine in 1988, One of 1,000 Most Cited Scientists Worldwide in 1981, and well-placed worldwide as One of the 20 Most Cited Scientists within the discipline of Biophysics in 1982. With abundant appreciation for his coworkers, Dr. Urry achieved some 100 patents worldwide (as counted by a potential buyer of BRL having been associated with a major bank in Portugal) and 28 patents at the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) being well-placed in the 99th percentile by a study from two Departments from Columbia University NYC wherein 17 patents were required for an inventor to be in the 99th percentile for the period studied. To date he has 492 scientific papers with a number of papers in the pipeline.
Key results of the 490 plus publications include: 1) a new understanding of selective monovalent cation transport across cell membranes utilizing peptide carbonyl oxygens lining a trans-membrane pore; 2) a new mechanism for polymer elasticity, i.e., the damping of internal (backbone) chain dynamics on extension and contraction on relaxation (rather than a Random Chain Network Theory), and 3) described a new mechanism for energy conversion, an endothermic inverse temperature transition that drives the diverse protein-catalyzed energy conversions that sustain life, whereby quantified pentagonal rings of water attending hydrocarbons _-_ hydrocarbon association + bulk water. This was first demonstrated by his own de novo-designed (GVGVP)n-based elastic-contractile model proteins and then by natural proteins. (Note: By means of high resolution X-ray crystallography of the protein, crambin, Martha M. Teeter in 1984 was first to observe pentagonal rings of water attending hydrocarbons of protein.)
Married to Kathleen Lake since 1974, Dr. Urry is the proud father of four children and two grandchildren. Looking toward the future, he aspires to continue making strides in the area of molecular biophysics whereby proteins catalyze the energy conversions that sustain life, and the medical and industrial applications of de novo designed elastic-contractile model proteins and thereby influencing the lives of students and colleagues alike while striving to make progress in medical and industrial applications.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Dan W. Urry, PhD, has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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