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 (410-614-5105, jdowner1@jhmi.edu).
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IN THIS ISSUE:
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
+ CrebA Helps Stem Cells Become Secretory Cells
+ New Technology Shows Our Ancestors Ate Everything
NEWS BRIEFS:
Leroy Hood To Give Sept. 29 Lecture
Rum To Head Development, Alumni Relations
Ford To Oversee Clinical Investigations at Hopkins
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Coffey Honored by British Association
IN THE NEWS:
Solomon Snyder in Psychiatric Times
Michael Amey in the Chronicle of Higher Education
Rick Huganir in U.S. News & World Report
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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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7/26/05
CrebA Helps Stem Cells Become Secretory Cells
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered that a single protein regulates secretion levels in the fruit fly's salivary gland and its skin-like outer layer.
Described in the June 15 issue of Development, the finding improves understanding of how cells become specialized for secretion, which is a critical ability of certain glands and cell types in organisms from insects to humans.
The researchers discovered that all of the 34 secretory fruit fly genes they tested were expressed at high levels in the early salivary gland. Furthermore, two transcription factors controlled expression of these genes: CrebA (Cyclic-AMP response element binding protein A) and Fkh (Fork head).
"CrebA is the more immediate factor involved in keeping secretory genes expressed at high levels, and Fork head acts through it," says Deborah Andrew, PhD, professor of cell biology in Johns Hopkins' Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences.
CrebA, or a closely related human gene, might play the same role in certain human cells, too, the researchers say.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/07_26_05.html
Development June 2005;132(12):2743-2758.
http://dev.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/132/12/2743
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8/3/05
New Technology Shows Our Ancestors Ate Everything
Using a powerful microscope and computer software, a team of scientists has developed a faster and more objective way to examine the surfaces of fossilized teeth, a practice used to figure out the diets of our early ancestors.
By using the new technique to compare teeth from two species of early humans, Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus, the researchers confirmed previous evidence that A. africanus ate more tough foods, such as leaves, and P. robustus ate more hard, brittle foods. But the comparisons also uncovered wear patterns suggesting that both species had variable diets, the researchers report in the Aug. 4 issue of Nature.
"This new information implies that early humans evolved and altered their diet according to seasonal and other changes in order to survive," says Mark Teaford, PhD, professor of functional anatomy and evolution at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
The new approach to studying dental microwear, the microscopic pits and scratches on the tooth surface caused by use, offers a more accurate measurement of the surface's appearance. A team of scientists from the University of Arkansas and Worcester Polytechnic Institute developed the software, called "scale-sensitive fractal analysis," to analyze fossilized tooth surfaces through a confocal microscope.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/08_05_05.html
Nature 4 Aug. 2005;436(7051):693-695. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7051/full/nature03822.html
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NEWS BRIEFS:
Leroy Hood To Give Sept. 29 Lecture -- The Fifth Annual William Wallace Scott Research Lectureship will be given by Leroy Hood, President of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA, beginning at 8 a.m., Thursday, September 29, in Hurd Hall. The title of his lecture is "Systems Biology and Predictive Medicine." The lectureship is sponsored by The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute.
Rum To Head Development, Alumni Relations -- Steven A. Rum will lead Development and Alumni Relations for Johns Hopkins Medicine, effective Sept. 1. Currently Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs at the Duke University Medical Center, his title at Johns Hopkins will be Senior Associate Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations for Medicine.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/07_22_05.html
Ford to Oversee Clinical Investigations at Hopkins -- Daniel E. Ford, MD, MPH, has been named Vice Dean for Clinical Investigation at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A professor at both the school of medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Ford will replace Michael Klag, MD, MPH, who will become dean of the Bloomberg School in September.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/08_02_05.html
AWARDS AND HONORS:
Coffey Honored by British Association -- Donald S. Coffey, PhD, was presented with the St. Paul Medal, the highest award presented by the British Association of Urological Surgeons, at their annual meeting held June 27 through July 1 in Glascow, Scotland.
IN THE NEWS:
Solomon Snyder on his career in Psychiatric Times. "Through the Times with Solomon Snyder, M.D.," by Arlene Kaplan, Psychiatric Times, Aug. 9, 2005.
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=167100206
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_08/09/through.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Michael Amey on administrative overhead and federal grants in the Chronicle of Higher Education. "The Ghosts of Stanford," by Jeffrey Brainard, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Aug. 5, 2005.
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i48/48a01601.htm
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_08/05/ghosts.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Rick Huganir on Finnish research on KDI peptide in U.S. News & World Report. "Protein may limit brain and nerve cell death," by Cory Hatch, U.S. News & World Report, July 29, 2005.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/alzheimers_neurological/hb050729a.htm
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_08/01/protein.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
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John Sales contributed to the Research Highlights for this issue.
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--JHMI--
