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).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Scientists Uncover a Genetic Mutation Behind "Dwarf Eye"
+ Research Shows Where Brain Interprets Pitch
NEWS BRIEFS:
Leroy Hood To Give Sept. 29 Lecture
100+ Women Professors Gala Nov. 1
Hopkins Team Gets Doris Duke Grant
IN THE NEWS:
Daniel Bendor in Nature
Akhilesh Pandey in the Baltimore Sun
Aravinda Chakravarti in The Scientist
Roger Reeves in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8/23/05
Scientists Uncover a Genetic Mutation Behind "Dwarf Eye"
Working with an Amish-Mennonite family tree, Johns Hopkins researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute have discovered what appears to be the first human gene mutation that causes extreme farsightedness.
The researchers report that nanophthalmos, Greek for "dwarf eye," a rare, potentially blinding disorder, is caused by an alteration in a gene called MFRP that helps control eye growth and regulates the organ's shape and focus. The study is described in the July 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The MFRP protein is only made in a tiny portion of the human eye, and it can alter eye refraction, or focus," said Olof Sundin, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Wilmer Eye Institute. "We hope this protein holds the key to unlocking not only nanophthalmos, but other forms of farsightedness and nearsightedness as well."
All human eyes have a slight degree of farsightedness at birth. As a child grows and gains more visual experience, the eye adjusts its focus by growing, which changes the distance between the lens and the retina, the light-detecting layer of cells at the back of the eye. Once the retina is the right distance from the lens, a largely unknown mechanism causes the eye to stop growing.
Due to natural genetic mutations, some eyes continue to grow beyond this point, causing nearsightedness. Other mutations cause the eye to stop growing too soon, causing farsightedness. In the case of nanophthalmos, a mutation in MFRP completely wipes out the function of the protein coded for by the gene, the researchers report.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/08_23_05.html
PNAS July 5, 2005; 102(27):9553-9558.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/27/9553
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8/25/05
Research Shows Where Brain Interprets Pitch
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a discrete region of the monkey brain that processes pitch, the relative high and low points of sound, by recognizing a single musical note played by different instruments.
Given the similarities between monkeys and man, humans may have a similar pitch-processing region in the brain too, which might one day help those with hearing and speech problems. The paper appears in the Aug. 25 issue of Nature.
By recording the activity of individual brain cells as monkeys listened to musical notes, the scientists identified single neurons, located in what they've called the brain’s pitch center, that recognize a middle-C as a middle-C even when played by two different instruments.
"Pitch perception is such a basic function of human and animal auditory systems, yet its source has remained elusive to researchers for decades," says Xiaoqin Wang, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering and of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "The discovery of a pitch-processing area in the brain solves an age-old mystery of auditory research."
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/09_06_05.html
Nature 25 Aug. 2005;436(7054):1161-1165.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7054/full/nature03867.html
See also a News & Views on this topic in the same issue:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7054/full/4361093a.html
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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.
100+ Women Professors Gala Nov. 1 -- The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland is celebrating the promotion of more than 100 women to the rank of Full Professor since its founding in 1893. All are invited to the celebration, which will include a day of scientific lectures by internationally acclaimed women scientists including a keynote address by the co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Linda Buck. To review the program and to register for the event, visit:
http://100womengala.onc.jhmi.edu/
Hopkins Team Gets Doris Duke Grant -- An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has been selected to receive a $2.25 million, five-year grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to develop a practical test to predict a person's risk of colon cancer based on detecting improper imprinting of a growth-promoting gene called insulin-like growth factor 2 or IGF-2. Heading the project is Andrew Feinberg of Johns Hopkins. Other key investigators are Marcia Cruz-Correa of the University of Puerto Rico; Frank Giardiello, Elizabeth Platz, Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and Hengmi Cui of Johns Hopkins; and Ben Wilfond of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Also collaborating on the project are Edward Giovannucci and Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/09_09b_05.html
IN THE NEWS:
Daniel Bendor on the brain's recognition of pitch in Nature. "Brain cells tune in to music," by Roxanne Khamsi, News@Nature, Aug. 24, 2005.
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_08/25/brain.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Akhilesh Pandey on the sequencing of the chimpanzee genome in the Baltimore Sun. "Scientists finish genetic map of chimpanzee," by Dennis O'Brien, the Baltimore Sun, Sept. 1, 2005.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.chimp01sep01,1,5505281.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/06/
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Aravinda Chakravarti on the genetic and epigenetic changes in human embryonic stem cell lines in The Scientist. "Embryonic stem cell lines unstable," by Charles Choi, The Scientist, Sept. 6, 2005.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050906/01
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/07/embryo.html
And in the Washington Post, Nature and other news sites:
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/06/
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Roger Reeves on Down syndrome's potential link to fighting cancer in the Wall Street Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Down syndrome may hold clues to fighting cancer," by Amy Dockser Marcus, the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 6, 2005.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05249/566474.stm
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/07/down.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
John Sales contributed the Research Highlights for this issue.
Find "Change" and "Basics" online from a Hopkins computer:
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/change
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
Find other news stories about Hopkins at:
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org and click on "News Clips"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
--JHMI--
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).
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
IN THIS ISSUE:
+ Scientists Uncover a Genetic Mutation Behind "Dwarf Eye"
+ Research Shows Where Brain Interprets Pitch
NEWS BRIEFS:
Leroy Hood To Give Sept. 29 Lecture
100+ Women Professors Gala Nov. 1
Hopkins Team Gets Doris Duke Grant
IN THE NEWS:
Daniel Bendor in Nature
Akhilesh Pandey in the Baltimore Sun
Aravinda Chakravarti in The Scientist
Roger Reeves in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8/23/05
Scientists Uncover a Genetic Mutation Behind "Dwarf Eye"
Working with an Amish-Mennonite family tree, Johns Hopkins researchers at the Wilmer Eye Institute have discovered what appears to be the first human gene mutation that causes extreme farsightedness.
The researchers report that nanophthalmos, Greek for "dwarf eye," a rare, potentially blinding disorder, is caused by an alteration in a gene called MFRP that helps control eye growth and regulates the organ's shape and focus. The study is described in the July 5 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The MFRP protein is only made in a tiny portion of the human eye, and it can alter eye refraction, or focus," said Olof Sundin, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Wilmer Eye Institute. "We hope this protein holds the key to unlocking not only nanophthalmos, but other forms of farsightedness and nearsightedness as well."
All human eyes have a slight degree of farsightedness at birth. As a child grows and gains more visual experience, the eye adjusts its focus by growing, which changes the distance between the lens and the retina, the light-detecting layer of cells at the back of the eye. Once the retina is the right distance from the lens, a largely unknown mechanism causes the eye to stop growing.
Due to natural genetic mutations, some eyes continue to grow beyond this point, causing nearsightedness. Other mutations cause the eye to stop growing too soon, causing farsightedness. In the case of nanophthalmos, a mutation in MFRP completely wipes out the function of the protein coded for by the gene, the researchers report.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/08_23_05.html
PNAS July 5, 2005; 102(27):9553-9558.
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/102/27/9553
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
8/25/05
Research Shows Where Brain Interprets Pitch
Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a discrete region of the monkey brain that processes pitch, the relative high and low points of sound, by recognizing a single musical note played by different instruments.
Given the similarities between monkeys and man, humans may have a similar pitch-processing region in the brain too, which might one day help those with hearing and speech problems. The paper appears in the Aug. 25 issue of Nature.
By recording the activity of individual brain cells as monkeys listened to musical notes, the scientists identified single neurons, located in what they've called the brain’s pitch center, that recognize a middle-C as a middle-C even when played by two different instruments.
"Pitch perception is such a basic function of human and animal auditory systems, yet its source has remained elusive to researchers for decades," says Xiaoqin Wang, PhD, associate professor of biomedical engineering and of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences. "The discovery of a pitch-processing area in the brain solves an age-old mystery of auditory research."
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/09_06_05.html
Nature 25 Aug. 2005;436(7054):1161-1165.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7054/full/nature03867.html
See also a News & Views on this topic in the same issue:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v436/n7054/full/4361093a.html
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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.
100+ Women Professors Gala Nov. 1 -- The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland is celebrating the promotion of more than 100 women to the rank of Full Professor since its founding in 1893. All are invited to the celebration, which will include a day of scientific lectures by internationally acclaimed women scientists including a keynote address by the co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Medicine, Linda Buck. To review the program and to register for the event, visit:
http://100womengala.onc.jhmi.edu/
Hopkins Team Gets Doris Duke Grant -- An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has been selected to receive a $2.25 million, five-year grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to develop a practical test to predict a person's risk of colon cancer based on detecting improper imprinting of a growth-promoting gene called insulin-like growth factor 2 or IGF-2. Heading the project is Andrew Feinberg of Johns Hopkins. Other key investigators are Marcia Cruz-Correa of the University of Puerto Rico; Frank Giardiello, Elizabeth Platz, Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and Hengmi Cui of Johns Hopkins; and Ben Wilfond of the National Human Genome Research Institute. Also collaborating on the project are Edward Giovannucci and Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2005/09_09b_05.html
IN THE NEWS:
Daniel Bendor on the brain's recognition of pitch in Nature. "Brain cells tune in to music," by Roxanne Khamsi, News@Nature, Aug. 24, 2005.
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_08/25/brain.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Akhilesh Pandey on the sequencing of the chimpanzee genome in the Baltimore Sun. "Scientists finish genetic map of chimpanzee," by Dennis O'Brien, the Baltimore Sun, Sept. 1, 2005.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.chimp01sep01,1,5505281.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/06/
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Aravinda Chakravarti on the genetic and epigenetic changes in human embryonic stem cell lines in The Scientist. "Embryonic stem cell lines unstable," by Charles Choi, The Scientist, Sept. 6, 2005.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050906/01
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/07/embryo.html
And in the Washington Post, Nature and other news sites:
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/06/
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
Roger Reeves on Down syndrome's potential link to fighting cancer in the Wall Street Journal and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "Down syndrome may hold clues to fighting cancer," by Amy Dockser Marcus, the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 6, 2005.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05249/566474.stm
http://www.jhu.edu/clips/2005_09/07/down.html
(Must be at a Hopkins computer to access this page.)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
John Sales contributed the Research Highlights for this issue.
Find "Change" and "Basics" online from a Hopkins computer:
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org/change
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
Find other news stories about Hopkins at:
http://www.insidehopkinsmedicine.org and click on "News Clips"
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
--JHMI--
