OMRF scientist to present keynote address at national conference

OKLAHOMA CITY, October 5, 2009 – Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation scientist Robert Floyd, Ph.D., has been chosen to present the keynote address this week at the 55th annual meeting of the Radiation Research Society in Savannah, Georgia.

Floyd is the Merrick Foundation Chair in Aging Research and heads the Experimental Therapeutics Research Laboratory at OMRF. A member of OMRF’s scientific staff since 1974, he has pioneered the development of ultrasensitive methods to assess the formation of highly reactive oxygen molecules in the body.

Floyd’s work has led to the creation of experimental compounds targeted at treating a variety of health problems. Most recently, his collaborative research has led to the formation of Onconos, LLC, a biotechnology company that is developing anti-cancer therapeutics, and Otologic Pharmaceutics, which has developed a novel approach to preventing and treating hearing loss.

His research has earned him the Glenn Foundation Award in Aging Research and the Discovery Award from the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

Formed in 1952, the Radiation Research Society is a national coalition of scientists that seeks to advance radiation research in all areas of the natural sciences. Through the creation of interdisciplinary networks, it aims to form collaborations among physicists, chemists, biologists and physicians to study the properties and effects of radiation.

OMRF is a nonprofit research institute dedicated to understanding and developing more effective treatments for human disease, focusing on such critical research areas as heart disease, cancer, lupus and Alzheimer’s disease.

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