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).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Key to Proper Blood Vessel Growth in Eye and Ear Discovered
+ Genetic Mutation Linked to Infant Lung Disease
NEWS BRIEFS:
Young Investigators' Day Celebration April 8
Animal Welfare Lecture April 15
Grant Writing Workshop April 22, 23
Semiannual Animal Research Inspections Set for May 3-14
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Feinberg To Receive 2004 Comet-Walerstein Award
Hopkins Students Honored by Biophysical Society
Barker Named Master of ACP
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Do you have an interesting research finding about one month from publication or presentation? Send manuscripts to Joanna Downer at jdowner1@jhmi.edu or fax to 410-614-8951. Information about awards and honors received by laboratory personnel and others is welcomed also.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
3/19/04
Key to Proper Blood Vessel Growth in Eye and Ear Discovered
Johns Hopkins scientists have uncovered the first cue to the carefully choreographed growth of tiny blood vessels in the eye and ear. Their report, in the March 19 issue of Cell, offers the first proof that nature has site-specific growth signals that could one day be exploited to treat a variety of diseases in which blood vessels -- or the need for new ones -- play important roles.
In their laboratory experiments, the research team discovered that two proteins linked to congenital blindness -- Frizzled-4 and Norrin -- normally interact and signal blood vessels in the developing eye to branch into capillaries. The faulty versions found in some people, however, don't interact correctly, preventing capillaries from forming and leading to one form of familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR) or to Norrie disease.
"The Norrie disease gene was found almost 12 years ago, but until now no one had been able to figure out what the Norrin protein did or how it caused the disease," says Jeremy Nathans, MD, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a professor of molecular biology and genetics in Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "Because the proteins behind Norrie disease and FEVR are parts of the same process, these aren't two diseases, they are really two versions of the same disease."
The growth signal identified by the Hopkins team, led by postdoctoral fellows Yanshu Wang, PhD, and Quiang Xu, PhD, seems to function only in the developing retina, where it promotes capillary formation, and in the inner ear, where it appears to help maintain the capillary network.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/03_19_04.html
Cell 2004;116(6):883-895
http://www.cell.com/content/article/fulltext?uid=PIIS0092867404002168
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
3/24/04
Genetic Mutation Linked to Infant Lung Disease
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Genomic Diversity have discovered a genetic defect associated with a severe and often fatal infant lung disease.
Their findings, reported March 25 in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirm that mutations in the ABCA3 gene lead to a serious lack of surfactant, a mixture of fats and proteins that enables lung expansion and contraction and maintains the low surface tension needed to prevent lung collapse.
Study co-author Lawrence Nogee, MD, a Hopkins neonatologist, speculates that since the ABCA3 gene is related to a family of transporter proteins, the defective ABCA3 protein may shuttle the phospholipids critical for surfactant function into the compartment in the cell where surfactant is stored. "This kind of defective transport could lead to the production of abnormal surfactant, or, alternatively, a mutated ABCA3 gene could fail to transport out lipids toxic to surfactant function," he says.
In the study, researchers identified 21 infants with severe lung disease and surfactant deficiency of unknown causes, but whose family medical histories suggested a genetic basis for their problems. ABCA3 mutations were found in 16 infants, 15 of whom died of their illness. Of the five patients without ABCA3 mutations, three recovered completely and two later died.
Researchers zeroed in on ABCA3 because of other ABC genes' links with human diseases, the cellular location of ABCA3, and ABCA3's already suspected involvement in transporting lipids, says Nogee.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/03_24a_04.html
NEJM 2004;350(13):1296-1303
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/350/13/1296
See also a Perspective on this topic in the same issue:
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/350/13/1278
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Young Investigators' Day Celebration April 8 -- The 27th annual Young Investigators' Day celebration, including a poster session and talks by awardees, is scheduled for 4 pm, April 8, in Mountcastle Auditorium, Pre-Clinical Teaching Building. A reception will follow in the Greenhouse Cafe. For a listing of this year's award recipients, visit:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/YoungInvestigators.html
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/04_06c_04.html
Animal Welfare Lecture 4 pm April 15 -- Marilyn Brown, DVM, director of animal welfare and training at Charles River Laboratories, will give the next talk in the Enhancing Humane Science Lecture Series on Thursday, April 15, from 4 to 5 pm in the Bloomberg School of Public Health building, Room W2008. Her talk, "Animal Welfare: Enhancing a Culture of Caring," will be followed by a reception. The lecture series is sponsored by Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing and the Associate Provost for Animal Research and Resources. For more information contact mprincip@jhsph.edu .
Grant Writing Workshop April 22, 23 -- The JHMI Professional Development Office is offering a two-part workshop to help first-time applicants with writing an NIH or other peer-reviewed research proposal. The first part of the workshop is required for participants and takes place over two days, April 22 and 23. Then, on May 4 or 6 (for faculty) or May 7 (for postdocs), small group sessions will provide opportunities for participants to discuss and receive feedback on their own Abstract and Specific Aims sections. Registration forms are available at the PDO office (2-107, 1830 Building) or by email from JHMIPDO@jhmi.edu .
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/news/news_detail.cfm?id=1783
Semiannual Animal Research Inspections Set for May 3-14 -- The Johns Hopkins Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee will conduct semiannual inspections of all animal care and use areas at all of Hopkins campuses from May 3-14. An inspection schedule will be sent to investigators by email next week. Investigators using animals in research or teaching are expected to have a knowledgeable person available to answer inspectors' questions and should contact Trish Matos at pmatos1@jhmi.edu or 443-287-3738 if they are scheduled to be away during the inspection period. For institutional guidelines on the care and use of animals in research and for a schedule of training seminars, visit http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare .
Feinberg To Receive 2004 Comet-Walerstein Award -- Andrew Feinberg, MD, professor of medicine, oncology and molecular biology and genetics, will be awarded the prestigious Dr. Tovi Comet-Walerstein Award by the C.A.I.R. Institute and Bar Ilan University in June 2004. The award is given to an outstanding scientist whose contribution was unique to basic and/or applied research and was widely recognized as a major breakthrough for future cancer research and treatment. It will be given to Feinberg as a tribute to his outstanding achievement in studying the role of epigenetics in human disease and for pioneering the area of cancer epigenetics.
Hopkins Students Honored by Biophysical Society -- Three Johns Hopkins students were recognized for their research at the Biophysical Society's 48th annual meeting, held in Baltimore Feb. 14-18. Kapil Gupta, a graduate student in chemical and biomolecular engineering, and MD/PhD candidate Shoji Takahashi, of biomedical engineering, were selected by the Membrane Biophysics Subgroup. Guruvasuthevan Thuduppathy, a graduate student in biology, was selected by the Molecular Biophysics Subgroup. The three were among 16 award recipients selected from a pool of 101 student members.
Barker Named Master of ACP -- L. Randol Barker, MD, professor of medicine and co-chief of the division of internal medicine, has been designated a Master of the American College of Physicians, the highest honor bestowed by the organization. Other Hopkins faculty so honored include Drs. Richard Ross, the late Carol Johns, the late Samuel Asper, C. Lockard Conley, John Mulholland, John Bartlett, John Burton and Jack Stobo. Barker and Bartlett are both scheduled to formally accept Mastership April 22 during the convocation ceremony at the ACP's annual meeting.
http://www.acponline.org/journals/news/march04/awards.htm#new
http://www.acponline.org/cme/as/2004/advance/convocation.htm
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Visit the "Research WebNotes" newsletter online:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/webnotes/
For more news from Hopkins, see:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/index.html
Upcoming lectures and seminars:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/faculty_staff/scicalendar.html
Have you or your colleagues been quoted? Check out
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org and click on "News Clips"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
--JHMI--
