This is the twice-per-month electronic newsletter for basic, preclinical and translational research news related to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Please forward freely. Direct comments or questions to Joanna Downer, PhD, in the Office of Corporate Communications (4-5105, jdowner1@jhmi.edu).
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IN THIS ISSUE:
*** Peter Agre Wins 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ***
+ Faulty Cilia Behind Syndrome of Obesity, Learning Disabilities
+ Exercise Measures Identify Hidden Heart Disease in Women
NEWS BRIEFS:
Avon Gives $10 Million to Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center
Oct. 17 Grand Rounds Discusses Drug Development Unit
University-Wide Conflict of Interest Training Deadline Oct. 31
Johns Hopkins and ATCC Form Collaboration
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Agre Wins 2003 Chemistry Nobel
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9/6/03
Faulty Cilia Behind Syndrome of Obesity, Learning Disabilities
A team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has discovered that faulty cilia are behind a relatively rare genetic condition whose traits -- taken separately -- are common in the general population.
Studying families with a relatively rare condition called Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS), characterized by obesity, learning disabilities and eye and kidney problems, the researchers discovered a new gene involved. Furthermore, the gene's protein, BBS8, is found only at the base of cilia, providing a cellular mechanism behind the condition, the scientists report in the Sept. 21 advance online section of Nature (in print, Oct. 9).
"We don't know yet how the ciliary defect might lead to obesity or learning disabilities, but the finding provides a new avenue to studying these genetically murky traits," says Nicholas Katsanis, PhD, assistant professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine.
Waving, hair-like projections, cilia help move fluid and mucous around in the brain, lung, eye and kidney, and also can be found sticking out from cells to act like antennae.
Cilia are known to play key roles in mammalian development, creating what's known as left-right asymmetry. In people with BBS, sometimes this asymmetry is reversed. Also, malfunctioning cilia in the back of the eye are known to cause retinal dystrophy and eventual blindness, and ciliary problems in the kidney lead to structural problems in the organ -- two more symptoms of BBS.
However, BBS itself and its other traits -- obesity, learning disabilities, extra fingers, and diabetes -- have never before been linked to cilia.
More Info
Nature 2003 Oct 9;425(6598):628-633
From the Clinic:
9/23/03
Exercise Measures Identify Hidden Heart Disease in Women
A woman's fitness level and the time it takes for her heart rate to return to normal after exercise are more accurate predictors of female heart disease risk than electrical recordings of the heart, according to a national study led by Johns Hopkins researchers. The findings appear in the Sept. 24 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Among nearly 3,000 women ages 30 to 80 who underwent treadmill exercise tests, peak exercise capacity (obtained from the length of time women could exercise during a standard treadmill test) and heart rate recovery (peak heart rate minus heart rate two minutes after exercise) predicted risk of death from heart disease or other causes.
Furthermore, ST-segment depression (a measure of decreased blood flow) on electrocardiogram readings -- used to diagnose hidden heart disease in men -- did not accurately identify women with hidden heart disease.
Overall, after accounting for many risk factors, scientists found that women who performed below average in peak exercise capacity and recovery rate were 3.5 times more likely to die of heart disease than women who were above average. Death risk increased gradually with each level of poorer performance, and researchers noted the difference as early as one year after the treadmill test.
"There is great public health interest in cost-effective and readily available tests that can predict cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic women, since nearly two-thirds of women who die suddenly have no previous symptoms," says Roger Blumenthal, MD, senior study author and Hopkins' director of preventive cardiology.
More Info
Avon Gives $10 Million to Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center -- The Avon Foundation has awarded $10 million to the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins to build a new breast center, support research designed to decrease breast cancer incidence and death rates and fund education and outreach initiatives. It is the largest gift ever to the Cancer Center's breast cancer program. Johns Hopkins is one of only six institutions receiving this level of funding and the only cancer center in the Mid-Atlantic region.
More Info
Oct. 17 Grand Rounds Discusses Drug Development Unit -- The Department of Medicine's Oct. 17 Grand Rounds will include a presentation by Craig Hendrix, MD, associate professor of clinical pharmacology, on "Drug Development Unit: A Resource for Translational Research." The session begins at 8 am in Hurd Hall.
University-Wide Conflict of Interest Training Deadline Oct. 31 -- Individuals who submit private agreements to the Office of Policy Coordination for review and approval, and all individuals proposing arrangements that are subject to review by the Committee on Conflict of Interest must complete the "Conflict of Interest and Commitment" online training module by Oct. 31, 2003. All other University faculty, staff, researchers, students, trainees and administrators (including administrative assistants) must complete the course by Dec. 31. The training module is at https://secure.lwservers.net .
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/research/coi_training_module.html
Johns Hopkins and ATCC Form Collaboration -- In an unusual collaboration, The Johns Hopkins University and the non-profit American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) have established the Johns Hopkins Special Collection, an ever-expanding set of biological materials developed at Johns Hopkins that will now be more readily available to researchers worldwide through ATCC.
More Info
Agre Wins 2003 Chemistry Nobel -- Peter Agre, MD, professor of biological chemistry, has been awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy recognized him for his laboratory's 1991 discovery of long-sought channels that regulate and facilitate water molecule transport through cell membranes, a process essential to all living organisms. Agre shares this year's prize with Roderick MacKinnon, a Rockefeller University scientist who determined the spatial structure of cell membrane channels that control passage of salts. For photos and audio of a press briefing, visit:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/October/031008A.htm
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