Department of Biology

The International Society of Chemotherapy for Infection and Cancer has awarded Karen Bush, a professor of practice in biotechnology in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington, with the Hamao Umezawa Memorial Award.

The Hamao Umezawa Memorial Award is the society's highest award. It is given to honor an individual researcher, scientist, or clinician who has made outstanding contributions in the field of antimicrobial chemotherapy.

The award is sponsored by the Microbial Chemistry Research Foundation of Japan; the foundation's director will present the award to Bush at the ISC’s upcoming International Congress of Chemotherapy for Infection in Taiwan in November. In addition to a monetary award, certificate, and medal—Bush will be honored as being the first female recipient in the history of the award. Upon accepting the award, Bush has agreed to present a keynote lecture at the congress.

Bush returned to Indiana University in 2009 to teach in the graduate program in biotechnology. Her current laboratory at IU has focused on characterizing resistance mechanisms to beta-lactam antibiotics in enteric bacteria.

Studies from the Bush lab have alerted health care facilities in the greater Indianapolis area to the need for increased infection control to minimize the risk from carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae ("CRE"); these pathogens have been deemed by the CDC to pose an Urgent Threat to the health care community. Her lab is also collaborating with several pharmaceutical companies to characterize the antibacterial activity of new investigational drugs against these resistant bacteria, providing information that is shared with the FDA in the drug approval process. Two of the agents tested, Zerbaxa® and Avycaz®, have recently gained FDA approval to treat infections caused by many antibiotic resistant bacteria.