Dr. Bassa wins Wagner Award

The prize was created to honor Wagner for his work at the journal and is sponsored by scientific publisher Elsevier, which awards 500 euros to the first author of the winning paper and a certificate to each co-author. Bassa and colleagues’ article, “Rhodiola crenulata induces an early estrogenic response and reduces proliferation and tumorsphere formation over time in MCF7 breast cancer cells,” was chosen from among nine articles that reached the final round, out of 2,263 submitted overall to Phytomedicine.

The study relates to the safety of Rhodiola crenulata root extract, and in particular to the assessment of possible risk to women with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer cells who use Rhodiola-based preparations to relieve mild to moderate depression. The journal said, “Prof. Wagner personally and the editorial board of Phytomedicine warmly congratulate Dr. Bassa and all co-authors of this study with their success.”

Sallie Schneider, director of the Biospecimen Resource and Molecular Analysis facility at Baystate Medical Center, an adjunct faculty member in the Veterinary and Animal Sciences Department and a scientist at Pioneer Valley Life Sciences Institute where the research was conducted, was Bassa’s advisor and is senior author of this paper. She says, “This particular research line started as a teaching opportunity for the Baystate-Springfield educational partnership program, which supports training of inner city high school juniors for a summer research experience. Lotfi took a stronger mentoring role for these summer students and decided to finish up the research as part of his thesis studies. The result was a very nice manuscript, which may ease concerns about the safety of this extract for some women. I am very proud of Lotfi. He developed into a caring teacher/mentor and a critical researcher. I am particularly delighted that this work was honored with this award.”