RALPH ALBRECHT SORENSEN

Professional Experience:

  • 2005: Visiting Scientist, Bielefeld University, Germany; Professor Ursula Eichenlaub-Ritter, Sponsor.
  • 1997 to 2004: Coordinator of Advising for Medicine and the Allied Health Professions, Gettysburg College
  • 1996 to present: Professor, Biology Department, Gettysburg College.
  • 1990 to 1997: Chairman, Biology Department, Gettysburg College.
  • 1985 to 1996. Associate Professor, Biology Department, Gettysburg College.
  • 1977-1985. Assistant Professor, Biology Department, Gettysburg College.
  • 1986-1988. Visiting Summer Research Associate, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC.
  • 1981-1986. Visiting Instructor, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, NC.
  • 1984. Visiting Assistant Research Biologist, Laboratory of Radiobiology, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; Professor Roger A. Pedersen, Sponsor.
  • 1974-1977. Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, De Paul University, Chicago, IL.
  • 1972-1974. Research Fellow, Departments of Physiology and Anatomy, Harvard Medical School, Drs. John D. Biggers and Dr. Paul M. Wassarman, Sponsors.
  • 1970-1972. N.I.H. Predoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, Yale University, Professor Clement L. Markert, Sponsor.
  • 1967-1970. U.S.P.H.S. Trainee, Department of Biology, Yale University.

Education:

  • June 1967. B.A. in Zoology, University of California, Riverside. Member, Phi Beta Kappa. Graduated with High Honors (magna cum laude).
  • June 1969. Masters of Philosophy in Biology, Yale University.
  • June 1972. Ph.D. in Biology, Yale University. Ph.D. Dissertation: "Problems in Oocyte Maturation and Early Development in the Mouse," Dr. Clement L. Markert, Advisor.

Additional Training:

  • Summer Participant, 1968. Summer Course in Marine Embryology, Bermuda Biological Station for Research. Dr. H.E. Lehman, Director.
  • Summer Participant, 1974. N.S.F. Summer Workshop: Molecular Techniques in Developmental Biology, University of California, San Diego. Dr. Stephen Howell, Director.
  • Participant, 1980. National Science Foundation Chautauqua: Immunobiology. Dr. Richard Goldsby, Instructor.
  • Summer Participant, 1990. Monoclonal Antibodies Laboratory and Intensive Hybridoma Workshop, Hood College, Frederick, MD.
  • Summer Participant, 1995. Developmental Biology Teaching Laboratory, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, ME. Dr. Leland Johnson, Director.
  • Participant, 1997. National Science Foundation Chautauqua: Promoting Reflective Thinking in Science Classes. Dr. David Finster, Instructor.

Awards and Honors:

  • Gettysburg College Distinguished Teaching Award, May 20, 2001.

External Grants:

  • National Science Foundation, I.L.I. Program. "Modernization of Laboratory Instruction in Cell Biology and Genetics," (with Kazuo Hiraizumi). $36,296 (matched by Gettysburg College funds), April 15, 1989-September 30, 1991.
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Undergraduate Biological Sciences Initiative. "Proposal for Support of a Biochemistry Program," (William Parker, Chemistry, co-principal investigator). $850,000, August 1, 1992-July 31, 1997.

Conference Activities:

  • July 1975. Participant, Gordon Conference on Gametogenesis, Plymouth, NH.
  • June 1976. Discussant, Workshop on Ovarian Follicular Development and Function, University of California, Santa Cruz.
  • July 1980. Participant, Gordon Conference of Genital Tract Secretions, New London, NH.
  • Aug. 1984. Participant, Gordon Conference on Gametogenesis and Embryogenesis, Andover, NH.

Professional Societies:

  • North Eastern Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NEAAHP)
  • Phi Beta Kappa. President, Iota of Pennsylvania, 2000-2002.
  • Alpha Lambda Delta. Honorary Member.

Invited Seminars:

  • Molecules and Medicine Seminar Series, Hanover General Hospital, Hanover, PA.
    • "The Molecular Biology of Interleukin-2" April 9, 1991
    • "The Immunology of Tumor Rejection" June 11, 1991
    • "Immunoglobulin Genes" August 13, 1992
    • "Human and Humanized Monoclonal Antibodies" March 10, 1992
    • "Abzymes: Antibodies as Enzymes" July 7, 1992.
    • "The Biological Roles of Nitric Oxide: Say NO to Drugs" October 13, 1992
    • "Managing Transplant Rejection with FK506" March 16, 1993
    • "Antibody Classes/Immunoglobulin Isotypes" November 9, 1993
    • "Chromosomal Translocations and Leukocyte Tumors" March 7, 1994.
  • "Approaches to Cell Lineage Analysis in the Sea Urchin Embryo," Dickinson College, 1986
  • "Active Maturation-Promoting Factor Is Present in Mature Mouse Oocytes," National Research Institute for Family Planning, Beijing, People's Republic of China, June 2, 1989

Papers Presented to Professional Societies:

  • "Cinemicrography of Mouse Oocyte Maturation Utilizing Nomarski Differential-Interference Microscopy," Society for the Study of Reproduction, 1971
  • "The Utilization of Lactate in Mouse Oocyte Maturation and First Cleavage," Society for the Study of Reproduction, 1972
  • "Protein Synthesis in Oocytes from Juvenile Mice," American Society for Cell Biology, 1974.
  • "Active Maturation-Promoting Factor Is Present in Mature Mouse Oocytes," Society for Cell Biology, 1984.

Publications:

  1. Sorensen, R. A. 1972. "The Utilization of Lactate in Mouse Oocyte Maturation and First Cleavage." Biology of Reproduction 7:139.
  2. Sorensen, R. A. 1973. "Cinemicrography of Mouse Oocyte Maturation Utilizing Nomarski Differential-Interference Microscopy." American Journal of Anatomy 136:265-276.
  3. Erickson, G. F. and R. A. Sorensen. 1974. "In Vitro Maturation of Mouse Oocytes Isolated from Late, Middle, and Pre-Antral Graafian Follicles." Journal of Experimental Zoology 190:123-127.
  4. Wassarman, P. M. and R. A. Sorensen. 1974. "Protein Synthesis in Oocytes from Juvenile Mice." Federation Proceedings 33:1412.
  5. Sorensen, R. A. and P. M. Wassarman. 1976. "Relationship between Growth and Meiotic Maturation of the Mouse Oocyte." Developmental Biology 50:531-536.
  6. Sorensen, R. A. 1978. "Cloning and Maternal Inheritance." (Letter to the Editor) Science 200:998.
  7. Sorensen, R. A. 1979. "Comments on the Control of Oogenesis in Mammals." In: Ovarian Follicular Development and Function, A. R. Midgley and W. A. Sadler, editors. Raven Press: New York. pp. 375-377.
  8. Sorensen, R. A. 1984. Review of "Cells into Organs: the Forces that Shape the Embryo" by J. P. Trinkaus. Bios 55:161-162.
  9. Sorensen, R. A., M. S. Cyert, and R. A. Pedersen. 1985. "Active Maturation-Promoting Factor Is Present in Mature Mouse Oocytes." Journal of Cell Biology 100:1637-1640.
  10. Sorensen, R. A. 1991. "Allergy." In: Magill's Survey of Science: Life Science, Frank N. Magill, editor. Salem Press, Inc.: Pasadena, CA. Vol. 1:58-64.
  11. Sorensen, R. A. 1991. "Antibodies." In: Magill's Survey of Science: Life Science, Frank N. Magill, editor. Salem Press, Inc.: Pasadena, CA. Vol. 1:112-118.
  12. Sorensen, R. A. 1991. "Cell Cycle and Control of Cell Division.: In: Magill's Survey of Science: Life Science, Frank N. Magill, editor. Salem Press, Inc.: Pasadena, CA. Vol. 1:353-360.
  13. Sorensen, R. A. 1991. "Fertilization." In: Magill's Survey of Science: Life Science, Frank N. Magill, editor. Salem Press, Inc.: Pasadena, CA. Vol. 3:969-976.
  14. Sorensen, R. A. 1993. "Constructing an Undergraduate Major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology." Institutional Strategies for Enhancing Undergraduate Science Education. Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
  15. Sorensen, R.A. and N. Novak. 1996. "The Use of Michaelis-Menten Kinetics in Cell Biology and Physiology Teaching Laboratories." Biochemical Education 24(1):26-28.
  16. Hanyak, K., R.A. Sorensen, and A.R. Cavaliere. 1997. "An SEM Study of Leukocyte Extravasation in the Mouse Spleen." Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences 70(3):118-122.
  17. Sorensen, R.A. "100 Annotated Microbiology Web Sites," Appendix in: Microbiology: Diversity, Disease, and the Environment, Abagail A. Salyers and Dixie D. Whitt. 2001. Fitzgerald Scientific Publishing.
  18. Sorensen, R.A. "25 Annotated Microbiology Web Sites," Appendix in: Biology: Scientific Process and Social Issues. Garland Allen and Jeffrey Baker. 2001. Fitzgerald Scientific Publishing.
  19. Sorensen, R. A. 2002. "The Inducible Immune System: History of the Development of Immunology as a Component of Host-Parasite Interactions," Chapter 5 in: Infection, Resistance, and Immunity, Julius Kreier, editor. Taylor & Frances.
  20. Sorensen, R. A. 2002. "The Inducible Defense System: Antigens," Chapter 6 in: Infection, Resistance, and Immunity, Julius Kreier, editor. Taylor & Frances.
  21. Sorensen, R. A. 2002. "Specific Host Resistance: The Effector Mechanisms," Chapter 9 in: Infection, Resistance, and Immunity, Julius Kreier, editor. Taylor & Frances.
  22. Eichenlaub-Ritter, U., U. Winterscheidt, E. Vogt, Ying Shen, H-R. Tinneberg, and R. Sorensen. 2007.“3-Methoxyestradiol Induces Spindle Aberrations, Chromosome Congression Failure, and Nondisjunction in Mouyse Oocytes.“ Biology of Reproduction 76:784-793.

Updated 4/25/2007