A dinosaur that was discovered in 2017 by a team that included an IUP biology professor has been named in part in honor of an IUP graduate and molecular biologist.
Dr. Shundong Bi was part of the team that discovered the remains of an armored dinosaur in the Yuxi region of the Yunnan province of China, with research on the remains starting in 2019. Earlier this year, the team announced the official name of the dinosaur: Yuxisaurus Kopchiki. The second part of that name may be familiar to people in and around IUP, as Bi said that Kopchiki was in honor of Dr. John J. Kopchick to commemorate his contributions to biology and IUP.
(Images courtesy of IUP)
Kopchick, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 1972 and his Masters in 1975, is currently a professor of molecular biology at the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar at Ohio University, and is the co-inventor of the drug Somavert, which combats a growth hormone disorder. IUP’s College of Natural Sciences Building was named in honor of Kopchick and his wife, Char, a 1973 graduate and assistant dean of students at Ohio University.
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