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:
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
+ Hopkins Geneticist Gets $17 Million NIH "Roadmap" Grant
+ First Look: Genetic Basis of Sinus Disease and Nasal Polyps
NEWS BRIEFS:
NIH Building at Bayview Celebrated Oct. 12
Reminder: Add New Researchers to Animal Protocols
Animal Care and Use Seminars
New Faculty Orientation Oct. 19
Human Resources Staff Away Oct. 19, 20
Flu Vaccine Update
HONORS AND AWARDS:
Hopkins Alum Shares Nobel Prize
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
10/1/04
Hopkins Geneticist Gets $17 Million NIH "Roadmap Grant
A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins has received a five-year, $17 million grant under the National Institutes of Health's Roadmap for Medical Research to develop new technologies to comprehensively examine proteins' interactions in systems ranging from yeast to human cells.
The grant is one of the first two awarded as part of the NIH's plan to support in-depth study of cells' complex biological interactions from the perspective of proteins rather than genes.
"We're going to develop several key technologies to look at proteins and their interactions, to measure proteins' modifications and see how those change over time," says Jef Boeke, PhD, leader of the project, professor of molecular biology and genetics and director of the HighThroughput Biology Center (HiT Center), a brand new component of the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences at Johns Hopkins. "In the request for applications, the NIH said they wanted to support really new ways of looking at proteins, and we're certainly doing that."
Other key figures in the project, dubbed Networks and Pathways of Lysine Modification, are Boeke, Heng Zhu, Joel Bader, Akhilesh Pandey, Bob Cotter, Phil Cole, Patrick Onyango, Andrew Feinberg, Cecile Pickart, Andre Levchenko, and Jonathan Pevsner, all affiliated with Johns Hopkins; Shelley Berger of The Wistar Institute; and Jorge Escalante-Semerena of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/10_05b_04.html
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
10/8/04
First Look: Genetic Basis of Sinus Disease and Nasal Polyps
In a three-year analysis of more than 10,500 genes, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a starting point to establishing the genetic basis for sinus disease and the growth of nasal polyps, illnesses not well understood despite their prevalence.
The findings, in the Oct. 8 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, could lead to development of targeted gene therapies or other treatments to control these conditions.
"[We found] a host of very interesting leads as to which genes may play a role in controlling this illness and how we might prevent it in the future," says lead author Jean Kim, MD, PhD, assistant professor of otolaryngology.
The researchers conducted a microarray analysis of healthy and diseased sinus tissue from 14 patients. The four most dramatically up-regulated genes included two whose proteins have antibacterial activity. The most down-regulated gene is one known as CC10, whose protein is found primarily in the airways of the lung. While CC10 is thought to be a potent anti-inflammatory, its precise function is not known, notes Bruce Bochner, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/10_08_04.html
J Allergy Clin Immunol 2004 Oct;114(4):783-90.
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0091674904017233
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
NEWS BRIEFS:
NIH Building at Bayview Celebrated Oct. 12 -- The Johns Hopkins Institutions, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the City of Baltimore celebrated their partnership on the start of construction on NIH's new state-of-the-art Biomedical Research Center on Oct. 12. The $250 million, 563,000 square foot center, the NIH's biggest construction project in Baltimore, will occupy 12 acres on the Bayview campus and will house the intramural research programs of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and National Institute on Aging.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/10_07_04.html
Reminder: Add New Researchers to Animal Protocols -- Now that new students and others have arrived on campus, the Animal Care and Use Committee reminds investigators that all persons working with animals must complete online animal care and use training (https://secure.lwservers.net/default.cfm ), be listed on an approved animal research protocol and be enrolled in the Animal Exposure Surveillance Program (AESP). To enroll in AESP call 410-614-1129 or go to 98 N. Broadway, Room 421. To gain card access to animal facilities, individuals also must be listed on an approved protocol. To add an individual to a protocol, complete the Personnel Amendment Form (http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/forms1.html ) and submit it to the IACUC office.
Animal Care and Use Seminars -- On Thursday, Oct. 28 at noon in Ross 403, the Animal Care and Use Committee will present "Semiannual inspections: What Do They Mean for You?" On Thursday, Nov. 4, the IACUC, the Office of the Provost and the Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing will hold a Town Hall Meeting for Animal Research from 9 am until noon in Tilghman Auditorium (Turner Building).
http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/training4.html
New Faculty Orientation Oct. 19 -- The 4th Annual New Faculty Welcome and Orientation will be held Tuesday, Oct. 19, from 8 am until 5 pm in the Tilghman Auditorium (Turner Building). A reception will follow. Meet the leadership of Johns Hopkins Medicine, learn about various services and enjoy lunch. For more information contact Janice Clements, PhD, Vice Dean for Faculty, at facaffairs@jhmi.edu or 410-955-8401.
Human Resources Staff Away Oct. 19, 20 -- The staff of the School of Medicine Human Resources office will be attending the annual human resources conference on Oct. 19 and 20. The office will be open only for picking up and dropping off forms.
Flu Vaccine Update -- Hopkins urges employees to seek flu vaccinations from their primary care physicians or in community settings (visit http://www.maximflu.com for locations, times and dates). Hopkins will reimburse eligible employees with EHP insurance up to $20 of the cost, and those employees should submit a request for reimbursement through the usual EHP claims process. Details for vaccine reimbursement for employees with other insurance plans are being finalized. Hopkins will be and other centers are prioritizing vaccine distribution based on Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations. Under these guidelines, healthcare workers with daily direct patient contact and those employees at risk for exposure to influenza in the clinical laboratory will receive first round priority at Hopkins. Vaccination here is expected to begin at the end of October.
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/flu
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
Hopkins Alum Shares Nobel Prize -- Richard Axel, MD, a 1971 graduate of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, has been named co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Axel, currently a professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Columbia University, shares the award with Linda Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system, which is responsible for the sense of smell.
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/2004/
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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--
