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K-State Today

December 5, 2019

Retirement and farewell reception for Keith Chapes Dec. 12

Submitted by Marcia Locke

The Johnson Cancer Research Center will host a retirement and farewell reception for S. Keith Chapes, interim director of the center and professor of biology, at 3-5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at the center, 1 Chalmers Hall. A short program will take place at 4:15 p.m.

Since November 2016, Chapes has energetically served as the interim director of the Johnson Cancer Research Center — not just keeping it afloat during a transitional time, but helping it thrive and advance in achieving its vision. Among other accomplishments, he enhanced the center's award programs by adding external reviews, directing more support to graduate student researchers, and initiating a Center of Excellence program. He did all of this while also establishing a new home in Colorado.

Chapes joined the Division of Biology as an assistant professor in 1984, and became a full professor in 1999. His research focused on the immune response system. He created macrophage cell lines and studied the mechanisms of activation and killing of cancer cells, as well as the body's immune responses to Ehrlichia chaffeensis. His recent studies examined changes in macrophage function and antibody production during space flight. He had experiments on 13 space shuttle missions and the International Space Station.

Chapes helped administer the Kansas IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence, or K-INBRE, program at K-State for several years, and received its inaugural Joan S. Hunt Distinguished Mentoring Award in 2012. He continues to serve as an officer for the American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology, and on multiple National Institutes of Health study sections.

Friends and associates of Chapes are invited to stop by to enjoy refreshments and honor him for his 35 years of service to K-State and the state of Kansas.