Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Daniel Flaherty, Chip and Jane Rutledge Early Career Associate Professor in the College of Pharmacy at Purdue University, has been named a Fulbright U.S. Scholar by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Flaherty received the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award in Antibiotic Drug Discovery to Australia for the 2024-2025 academic year. As part of this Fulbright award, Flaherty will be conducting research as a visiting scholar in the laboratory of W. Alexander Donald at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
Flaherty’s lab is a global leader for development of bacterial carbonic anhydrase inhibitors for antibiotic drug discovery against drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Enterococcus species.
While in Australia, Flaherty will leverage Donald’s expertise in proteomic method development to investigate changes to the bacteria’s protein expression and metabolism upon treatment with inhibitors developed in the Flaherty lab. The research will provide new information on the role carbonic anhydrases play in bacterial physiology and their value as antibiotic drug targets.
“This research will help us determine how our antibiotic molecules are affecting the bacteria on a cellular level,” Flaherty said. “We will be able to learn more about the mechanism of action that can be applied for future development of antibiotics.”
Additionally, Flaherty said his time abroad will present opportunities both personally and professionally.
“It is an honor to be recognized as a Fulbright Scholar,” he said. “Professionally speaking, this award will open doors for international collaboration and for sharing our science with researchers in the oceanic region. Personally, in line with the Fulbright mission, having the opportunity for my family to serve as ambassadors of the U.S. and integrate into another culture will be extremely rewarding.”
The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award is recognized by the National Research Council and Purdue University’s offices of the President and Provost as one of the prestigious national and international awards for faculty recognition.
“The Purdue College of Pharmacy is pleased to have Dr. Flaherty’s research accomplishments recognized by the Fulbright Program,” said Eric Barker, Purdue’s Vice President for Health Affairs and the Jeannie and Jim Chaney Dean of Pharmacy. “Dr. Flaherty’s groundbreaking research has the potential to lead to therapeutics that improve the lives of people worldwide. He is very deserving of this prestigious honor.”
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has awarded more than 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and scientists opportunities to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Fulbright alumni have achieved distinction in many fields, including 60 who have been awarded the Nobel Prize, 88 who have received Pulitzer Prizes, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.
Over 800 individuals teach or conduct research abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program annually. In addition, over 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Student Program participants—recent college graduates, graduate students, and early career professionals—participate in study/research exchanges or as English teaching assistants in local schools abroad each year.
In the United States, the Institute of International Education implements the Fulbright U.S. Student and U.S. Scholar Programs on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit fulbrightprogram.org.
