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Barbara Halpern, Research Program Administrator

  • Ms. Halpern is a program administrator for domestic and international activities including the NIH-NSF-USDA-funded International Cooperative Biodiversity Program (ICBG), the NIH Dietary Supplement Research Botanical Center and the Global Institute for Bioexploration (GIBEX).

  • As a researcher in a plant virology laboratory, she supervised the operation and maintenance of the lab while conducting a research project focusing on developing a RT-PCR assay for the rapid, sensitive detection of blueberry scorch virus (BBSCV) and mapping and sequencing the viral dsRNA from a hypovirulent strain of the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Her research is chronicled in several peer-reviewed scientific journals.

  • During her graduate studies in plant pathology, Ms. Halpern also pursued a degree in business administration and shifted her career toward management. For the past ten years, she has been in Dr. Ilya Raskin’s laboratory at the Biotech Center of Cook College, Rutgers University, first as a Laboratory Manager and for the past year as a Research Program Administrator where she manages a large, multi-project plant biochemistry research laboratory, oversees the expenditure of all funding; coordinates all personnel actions; and prepares grant proposals, status reports and fiscal budgets.

Publications

  • A. Poulev, J. M. O’Neal, S. Logendra, R. B. Pouleva, V. Timeva, A. S. Garvey, D. Gleba, I. S. Jenkins, B. T. Halpern, R. Kneer, G. M. Cragg, and I. Raskin. Elicitation, a new window into plant chemodiversity and phytochemical drug discovery. J. Med. Chem., Vol. 46,
    2542 – 2547, 2003.

  • Halpern, B. T., Hillman, B. I. Detection of blueberry scorch virus by reverse
    transcriptase polymerase chain reaction amplification. Plant Dis. 80:219-222, 1996.

  • Hillman, B. I., Halpern, B. T., Brown, M. P. A viral dsRNA element of the chestnut
    blight fungus with a distinct genetic organization. Virology 201:241-250, 1994.

  • Cavileer, T. D., Halpern, B. T., Lawrence, D. M., Podleckis, E. V., Martin, R. R.,
    Hillman, B. I. Nucleotide sequence of the carlavirus associated with blueberry scorch and similar
    diseases. J. Gen. Virol.75:711-720, 1994.

  • Hillman, B. I., Anzola, J. V., Halpern, B. T., Cavileer, T. D., and Nuss, D. L.
    First field isolation of wound tumor virus from a plant host: Minimal sequence divergence from the
    type strain isolated from an insect vector. Virology 185:896-900, 1991.