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:
+ Faulty CD25 Behind Progression of Autoimmune-Induced Heart Damage
+ Key Found to Rod-Cone Distinction
+ TGF-Beta Signal Behind New, Aggressive Aneurysm Syndrome
NEWS BRIEFS:
Elaine Ostrander To Speak at Mar. 7 Symposium
Harvard's Lieberman To Speak Feb. 21
Oligonucleotide Microarray Seminar Feb. 23
New Animal Protocol Forms Now Required
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Young Investigators' Day Awardees Announced
Snyder To Receive National Medal of Science
IN THE NEWS:
David Ginty in Science
Sol Snyder in Newsday
Pere Puigserver in The Scientist
About Peter Agre, in the Baltimore Messenger
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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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1/4/05
Faulty CD25 Behind Progression of Autoimmune-Induced Heart Damage
In a mouse model of autoimmune heart disease, progression of autoimmune-induced heart damage is caused by the failure of key immune cells (CD4+ T cells) to express enough of a surface protein called CD25, Johns Hopkins scientists have found.
The scientists discovered that, in normal mice, extra CD25 triggers the immune cells' death, halting immune-mediated cardiac dysfunction. In mice missing interferon-gamma, however, CD25 levels stay low, CD4+ T cells multiply rather than die, and reversible heart damage progresses to heart failure, the scientists report in the Jan. 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"We wanted to know what normally limits an autoimmune response so that it does not cause irreparable damage to the host," says Noel Rose, MD, PhD, director of the Autoimmune Disease Research Center and a professor of pathology in the School of Medicine and of molecular microbiology and immunology in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "CD25 production is one factor."
PNAS 4 Jan. 2005; 102(1):180-185.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/1/180
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1/5/05
Key Found to Rod-Cone Distinction
Johns Hopkins scientists have uncovered a genetic mechanism that helps create two distinct types of vision-producing retinal cells, called rods and cones. The findings are described in the Jan. 5 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.
During development in mice, man and fish, a transcription factor known as Nr2e3 helps block expression of genes specific to color-detecting cones, allowing the cells become low-light-detecting rods instead, the researchers have discovered. Moreover, the factor's presence in mature rods helps maintain the cells' identity.
Already tied to eye disease in people, Nr2e3 binds to a specific sequence in the DNA, shutting off the associated gene, report the scientists, led by Jeremy Nathans, PhD, a professor of molecular biology and genetics, of neuroscience and of ophthalmology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
J Neuroscience 5 Jan. 2005; 25(1):118-129.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/full/25/1/118
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1/30/05
TGF-Beta Signal Behind New, Aggressive Aneurysm Syndrome
A research team led by Johns Hopkins doctors has discovered that mutations in the genes for TGF-beta receptor 1 and 2 are behind a new aortic aneurysm syndrome that is extremely aggressive and can cause death in early childhood.
In the Jan. 30 advance online section of Nature Genetics, the Johns Hopkins team reports that people with wide-set eyes, a cleft palate or split uvula and a torturous arrangement of the body's blood vessels also have aggressive swelling of the aorta and mutations in either of the TGF-beta receptor genes.
"Because the aorta ruptures so much sooner than one would expect, these patients need to be identified and treated as early as possible and much sooner than is standard medical practice for other causes of aortic aneurysms," says Harry Dietz, MD, director of the William S. Smilow Center for Marfan Syndrome Research at Johns Hopkins, professor in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.
The syndrome-defining traits can have a wide range of severity, and some other abnormalities, including congenital heart and brain defects and skeletal abnormalities such as early fusion of the bones of the skull or curvature of the spine, are seen in some patients, notes lead author Bart Loeys, MD, an instructor in pediatrics and genetic medicine in the McKusick-Nathans Institute.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/01_30_05.html
Nature Genetics (published online 30 Jan. 2005)
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng1511.html
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NEWS BRIEFS:
Elaine Ostrander To Speak at Mar. 7 Symposium -- Elaine Ostrander, PhD, chief of the Cancer Genetics Branch at the National Human Genome Research Institute and a key figure in the canine genome sequencing project, will be the keynote speaker at the Department of Comparative Medicine's First Annual Year-in-Review Research Symposium to be held March 7 from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. in Tilghman Auditorium in the Turner Building. Ostrander will give the John D. Strandberg Lecture, "Your Dog and Its Genome: Inquiring Minds Want To Know!", at 1 p.m. To register for the symposium contact Jane Paradise at 5-9767 or jparadis@jhmi.edu . Breakfast and lunch will be served to symposium registrants. A complete schedule of the day's speakers is online.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/comparativemedicine/news (Scroll down to Upcoming Events)
Harvard's Lieberman To Speak Feb. 21 -- Daniel E. Lieberman, PhD, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University, will present "Evolved to Run: Walking vs. Running in Human Evolution," on Monday, Feb. 21, from 12 noon until 1:30 p.m. in Hurd Hall. The lecture is part of Grand Rounds for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Refreshments will be served. For more information, contact Peggy Foltyn at pfoltyn@jhmi.edu or 410-502-2446.
Oligonucleotide Microarray Seminar Feb. 23 -- The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Microarray Core Facility is sponsoring a seminar on oligonucleotide microarrays from 10 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., Wednesday, Feb. 23, in BRB G-05 (accessible from the Turner Concourse). Ryan Orbus, a product manager with CombiMatrix, will discuss "CombiMatrix' CustomArray: A Flexible, Cost-Effective and Rapid System for Customized Oligonucleotide Microarrays." Register for the seminar by sending an email to seminar@microarray.jhmi.edu .
http://www.microarray.jhmi.edu/seminar
New Animal Protocol Forms Now Required -- The Animal Care and Use Committee revised the animal use protocol forms in Oct. 2004. Effective Feb. 1, protocols submitted using the old forms will no longer be accepted. To obtain a current form visit:
http://www.jhu.edu/animalcare/forms1.html
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Young Investigators' Day Awardees Announced -- The names of students and postdoctoral fellows who will receive research prizes during the 28th Annual Young Investigators' Day at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have been announced. This year's recipient of the Michael A. Shanoff Research Award is Jeffrey S. Han, an MD/PhD candidate in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology graduate program working with Jef Boeke, Ph.D. Han was recognized for his project "L1 Retrotransposons -- Massaging and Manipulating Mammalian Genomes."
Other student awardees are Joseph T. Rodgers, Kara G. Lassen, Christopher L. Brett, David B. Kantor, Luisa Cochella, David Maag, Jr., Vikas Bhandawat, Yanhua H. Huang, Shin Lin and Lisa Philipose. Postdoctoral awardees are Rejji Kuruvilla, Chenghua Gu, Sunil S. Karhadkar, Stephen J. Freedland, Damian B. van Rossum, Natasha E. Zachara and WenYong Chen. All awardees will present their work at Young Investigators' Day, April 14, starting at 4 p.m. in Mountcastle Auditorium.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/YIDWinners
Snyder To Receive National Medal of Science -- Neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, MD, has been named a recipient of the National Medal of Science, the United States' top scientific recognition, the White House has announced. Snyder and the other recipients, including Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Riccardo Giacconi, PhD, will receive the medals in a White House ceremony March 14. Giacconi and Snyder will be the seventh and eighth Johns Hopkins faculty members to receive this honor.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/02_11_05.html
IN THE NEWS:
David Ginty on neural and blood vessel guidance in Science: "The Unexpected Brains Behind Blood Vessel Growth," by Gretchen Vogel, Science 307(5710):665-667. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/307/5710/665
Sol Snyder on ethics rules in Newsday: "New ethics rules for scientists coming," by Jamie Talan, Newsday, Feb. 1, 2005.
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hseth014131513feb01,0,7723900.story?coll=ny-health-headlines
Pere Puigserver on PGC-1 in fat development pathways in The Scientist: "Fat Pathway Clarified," by Graciela Flores, The Scientist, Jan. 31, 2005.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20050131/01/
About Peter Agre, in the Baltimore Messenger: "Peter Agre is not just another Nobel laureate," by Lou Panos, Baltimore Messenger, Jan. 26, 2005.
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_01/28/agre.html
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--JHMI--
