Wu named Fellow by American Association for the Advancement of Science

Contact: Blair Fannin, 979-845-2259, b-fannin@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – Dr. Guoyao Wu, a distinguished professor in the department of animal science at Texas A&M University, has been named Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Wu was recognized for discovery of novel pathways of amino acid nutrition and metabolism affecting intestine, cardiovascular and reproductive tissues impacting health and development of animals and humans.

The association has awarded the distinction of Fellow to 702 of its members this year. They were elevated to the Fellow rank because of their efforts toward advancing science applications deemed scientifically or socially distinguished, according to the association. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold pin Feb. 16 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows Forum during the 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Boston, Mass.

A Texas A&M AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow, Wu’s research crosses both agriculture and human health. One of his specific research areas has been “functional amino acids,” a term coined by him.

His discoveries relate to the essential roles of amino acids, particularly the traditionally classified “nutritionally non-essential amino acids,” which are important in formulating balanced diets for livestock production and human health.

His research is targeted at enhancing efficiencies in food utilization by farm animals toward the production of more and higher quality proteins to help feed a growing world population.

Wu’s discoveries, a result of ‘thinking out of the box,’ he said, are helping find new innovations in solving obesity among the U.S. population as more than 60 percent of U.S. adults are overweight.

He has also done studies on arginine, an amino acid which contributes many positive benefits in embryonic, fetal and neonatal survival, growth and development in pigs, sheep and rats. Arginine also aids in fighting obesity and in treatment of diabetes. Wu has identified this as an important area for expanded research on new amino acids and health.

Wu said that humans need diets with balanced portions of amino acids for cardiovascular and reproductive health.

Wu earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou, a master’s degree in animal nutrition from China Agricultural University, and a master’s degree and doctorate in animal biochemistry from the University of Alberta in Canada. He received his postdoctoral training at McGill University Medical School in Montreal and the Memorial University of Newfoundland Medical School in St. John’s, Canada.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (http://www.sciencemag.org), as well as Science Translational Medicine (http://www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (http://www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals.

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