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:
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
+ Animal Studies: Stem Cells Might Make Biological Pacemaker
+ Jumping Gene Helps Explain Immune System's Abilities
NEWS BRIEFS:
Young Investigators' Day Entries Due Jan. 11
Scientific Heavyweights Speak at Hopkins Jan. 28
Mouse Phenotyping Seminar Jan. 27
Animal Gas Anesthesia Demonstrations Jan. 26
New Animal Research Protocol Forms
Laboratory Animal Technician Courses
Rodent Handling and Surgery Training
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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.
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
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12/20/04
Animal Studies: Stem Cells Might Make Biological Pacemaker
In experiments in the lab and with guinea pigs, researchers from Johns Hopkins have found the first evidence that genetically engineered heart cells derived from human embryonic stem (ES) cells might one day be a promising biological alternative to the electronic pacemakers used by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Electronic pacemakers are used in children and adults with certain heart conditions that interfere with a normal heartbeat. However, these life-saving devices can't react the way the heart's own pacemaker normally does.
In the researchers' experiments, described in the Jan. 4 issue of Circulation, postdoctoral fellow Tian Xue, PhD, inserted the gene for green fluorescence protein into human ES cells, grew the engineered cells in the lab and then encouraged them to become heart cells. The researchers then selected clusters of the cells that beat on their own accord, indicating the presence of pacemaking cells. These clusters triggered the unified beating of heart muscle cells taken from rats, and, when implanted into the hearts of guinea pigs, triggered regular beating of the heart itself.
Since the engineered cells survived and worked properly, other more clinically important genetic engineering of the cells -- such as to control their pace -- also likely to not interfere with the cells' fate, says study leader Ronald Li, PhD, assistant professor of medicine.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/12_20_04.html
Circulation 4 Jan. 2005;111(1):11-20.
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/111/1/11
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12/23/04
Jumping Gene Helps Explain Immune System's AbilitiesA team led by Johns Hopkins scientists has found the first clear evidence that the process behind the human immune system's remarkable ability to recognize and respond to a million different proteins might have originated from a family of genes whose only apparent function is to jump around in genetic material.
"Jumping genes" essentially cut themselves out of the genetic material, and scientists have suspected that this ability might have been borrowed by cells needing to build many different proteins from a specific, single set of instructions -- the key to recognizing a million immune-stimulating proteins. But until now, no jumping gene was known to behave just right.
Writing in the Dec. 23 issue of Nature, the researchers show that a jumping gene called Hermes, still active in the common house fly, creates changes in DNA very much like those created by the process behind antigen recognition.
"Hermes behaves more like the process used by the immune system to recognize antigens than any previously studied jumping gene," says Nancy Craig, PhD, professor of molecular biology and genetics in Johns Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "It provides the first real evidence that the genetic processes behind antigen diversity might have evolved from the activity of a jumping gene, likely a close relative of Hermes."
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2004/12_23_04.html
Nature 23/30 Dec 2004;432(7020):995-1001.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v432/n7020/full/nature03157_fs.html
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NEWS BRIEFS:
Young Investigators' Day Entries Due Jan. 11 -- Applications for awards of the 28th annual School of Medicine Young Investigators' Day are due between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, in Room 501A, Pre-Clinical Teaching Building. The awards recognize basic and clinical research undertaken by applicants while registered as students or postdoctoral fellows. All winners must be present at Young Investigators' Day, April 14, 2005. Download the instructions and coversheet at:
http://www.mbg.jhmi.edu/cv/YID.pdf
Scientific Heavyweights To Speak at Hopkins Jan. 28 -- Scientific luminaries David Baltimore, Stuart Schreiber, John Kuriyan, Cori Bargmann, Mary-Claire King and Sydney Brenner are the featured speakers for a Jan. 28 symposium "Toward the Third New Biology," which will start at 10:30 a.m. in the Wood Basic Science Auditorium. Overflow seating will be available in West Lecture Hall. The speakers will discuss their work and the growing role of chemistry and mathematics in biology research in this celebration of the role of interdisciplinary research in the post-genomic era. The symposium was organized by the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine and the Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences, and is co-sponsored by IGM, IBBS, the Institute for Cell Engineering and the School of Medicine. Email jdowner1@jhmi.edu for the day's schedule.
Mouse Phenotyping Seminar Jan. 27 -- Cory Brayton, DVM, a visiting associate professor of comparative medicine and head of the new rodent phenotyping center, will present "Phenotyping: Nature vs. Nurture; Background Genetics and Environmental Factors," Jan. 27 from noon until 1 p.m. in Ross 403.
Animal Gas Anesthesia Demonstrations Jan. 26 -- The Animal Care and Use Committee is sponsoring two Small Animal Gas Anesthesia Demonstrations to be held Jan. 26 at 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. in Ross 403. Each session will last about an hour. Registration is preferred; e-mail ACUC@jhmi.edu. For more information call Kinta Diven at 443-287-3738.
New Animal Research Protocol Forms -- The Animal Care and Use Committee revised the animal use protocol forms in October 2004. Beginning February 2005, protocols submitted using the old forms will not be accepted. To obtain a current form visit:
http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/forms1.html
Laboratory Animal Technician Courses -- On alternating Fridays, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., the Animal Care and Use Committee presents Assistant Laboratory Animal Technician classes in Phipps Room 340, and Laboratory Animal Technician classes in the Traylor Room 707. The classes constitute a course which continuously cycles, so participants may begin at any point or pick up a schedule and attend those lectures of particular interest. For more information on this series, contact Kinta Diven at 443-287-3743 or kdiven1@jhmi.edu; to register send email to acuc@jhmi.edu.
Rodent Handling and Surgery Training -- The next monthly Rodent Handling Seminar and Lab will be held Jan. 13 starting at 9 a.m. in Ross 403. The next all-day Rodent Surgery Seminar and Lab will be held Feb. 10 starting at 9 a.m. in Ross 403. Subsequent surgery sessions for 2005 are scheduled for April 14, June 9, Aug. 11, Oct. 13, and Dec. 8. For more information on these seminars or to register, email acuc@jhmi.edu or call Trish Matos at 443-287-3744.
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Visit the "Research WebNotes" newsletter online:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/webnotes/
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http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/faculty_staff/scicalendar.html
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--JHMI--
