Memorial Scientific Conference to Honor Om Bahl

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A memorial scientific conference for the late Om P. Bahl, University at Buffalo professor of biological sciences who conducted the fundamental research that led to the development of the home pregnancy test, will be held from 1-4:30 p.m. May 28 in the Center for the Arts screening room on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

A UB faculty member since 1966 and a former chair of his department, Bahl, who died last December, was best known for his research into the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG. Early-pregnancy tests used today are designed to detect hCG in urine and they are based on the results of Bahl's research in the 1970s that determined the hormone's complete structure.

Scientists will speak at the memorial conference about the impact Bahl had on their lives and research, as well as on the general fields of molecular and clinical endocrinology.

Speakers will include Sathyamangalam V. Balasubramanian, UB assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences; Jack Lippes, UB professor emeritus of gynecology and obstetrics; Steven Birken, senior research scientist at Columbia University; Sylvia Christakos, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at New Jersey Medical School; Irwin Goldstein, associate dean for research and graduate studies at the University of Michigan, and William Moyle of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The Bahl family plans to establish an endowed chair in Bahl's name in the UB Department of Biological Sciences.

For more information about the memorial conference, testimonials and the endowed chair, please contact Sandra Fitzpatrick at saf3@buffalo.edu or Michael Hudecki at hudecki@buffalo.edu.

A reception will be held in the UB Art Gallery in the Center for the Arts immediately following the conference.