Dr. Baochuan Lin, a research biologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Lab for Molecular Dynamics Section of the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering, is the 2011 recipient of the NRL-Edison Chapter Sigma Xi Applied Science Award.
Dr. Lin is citied for her pioneering work in the use of Resequencing Pathogen Microarrays for epidemic outbreak surveillance and establishing a new paradigm for the detection of routine pathogens in clinical samples to include simultaneous surveillance for infections caused by biological warfare agents.
The exceptional ability of the resequencing microarray has been recognized by the scientific community and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency detection and differentiation of the 2009 H1N1 Influenza A Virus, an achievement recognized through a Federal Laboratory Consortium Award in 2009 for Excellence in Technology Transfer.
Dr. Lin's work, which has redefined methods for emerging infectious disease identification, was also selected by the 2010 Better World Report as one of the real-world examples of technologies that directly impact the health, well-being, and overall, quality of life of people around the world.
As a post-doc with the National Research Council, Dr. Lin joined the Naval Research Laboratory in August 2001. She received her doctorate from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1998, in the discipline of biological sciences.
Dr. Lin's past research interest focused on understanding the cause and potential treatments for glycogen storage disease (GSD) - a set of genetic diseases caused by incapacitating mutations in various genes that maintain the homeostasis of blood glucose - and led her to an interest to study satellite DNA replication of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) in 2000 in Australia.
Currently, her research interest is in the development of microarray-based detection system for differentiating common respiratory pathogens and biothreat pathogens and is exploring the effects of organophosphates exposure on liver and neuronal cells through gene expression profiling using DNA microarray.
In 2009, Dr. Lin received the Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for Resequencing Pathogen Microarray and the Edison Patent Award, which was also awarded to her in 2010. She received the NRL Award of Merit for Group Achievement for contributions related to Project Silent Guardian, and in 2006 was awarded the Department of the Navy Top Scientists and Engineers of the year award.