A once-a-month electronic newsletter of basic, preclinical and translational
research news from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Please forward
freely. Browse back issues of the e-Newsletter in the archive.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
Mechanism of Emotional Memory
More Good News for Broccoli Sprouts
Cilia Sense our Surroundings
NEWS BRIEFS:
Corrine McBride Receives Watkins Fellowship
Carol Greider Wins 2007 Horwitz Prize
Six JHU Researchers Elected to Institute of Medicine
Hopkins Starts Women Scientists Program with College of Notre Dame
Autism Genome Data Released
Six JHU Researchers Named AAAS Fellows
Roger H. Reeves Awarded Grant to Pursue Potential Down Syndrome Treatment
Rick Huganir Awarded Neuroscience Prize
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
10/4/07 Mechanism of Emotional Memory
Events that occur during heightened states of emotion such as fear or anger are imprinted far more strongly in our memories, and neuroscience’s Richard Huganir has identified the likely biological basis. It turns out that norepinephrine, released in the brain during emotional arousal, “primes” neurons to form stronger memories by increasing their synaptic potential. Norepinephrine triggers phosphorylation of the GluR1 glutamate receptor, an event that recruits GluR1 to areas near synapses, providing a strong supply of receptors so the neuron can adjust the strength of the synapse and lock a new memory into place.
Read the paper here.
Read the news release here.
10/22/07 More Good News for Broccoli Sprouts
Sulforaphane, a natural product found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli sprouts, has been shown to have numerous beneficial health effects. Paul Talalay, who identified sulforaphane more than 15 years ago, now has found one more. Studies in both mice and human volunteers demonstrate that a topical application of broccoli sprout extracts can protect the skin from the redness and inflammation caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The sulforaphane extract works by boosting the production of a network of protective enzymes that defend against UV damage, resulting in protection that can last for several days, even after the extract is no longer present on or in the skin.
Read the paper here.
Read the news release here.
10/22/07 Cilia Sense our Surroundings
IGM’s Nico Katsanis and colleagues have uncovered another sensory role for the tiny hairlike organelles known as cilia: They help form our sense of touch. They observed that both genetically engineered mice lacking functional cilia respond more slowly to physical sensations such as hot water exposure or being prodded with a stick. These mice displayed little neuronal activity in their dorsal spinal region, indicating that sensory impulses were not being transmitted properly. Human patients with Bardet-Biedl syndrome, a known ciliopathy, also showed defects in sensory responses, providing yet another clinical manifestation of this disorder.
Read the paper here.
Read the news release here.
NEWS BRIEFS:
10/1/07 Corrine McBride Receives Watkins Fellowship
Cell biology graduate student Corrine McBride is one of six recipients of the three-year Robert D. Watkins graduate research fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology. McBride’s research project, titled “Intracellular targeting of corona virus spike proteins,” is being carried out in the lab of Carolyn Machamer.
10/5/07 Carol Greider wins 2007 Horwitz Prize
Molecular biology and genetics director Carol Greider shares the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize with Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, and Joseph G. Gall of the Carnegie Institution for their work contributing to the understanding of telomeres and their role in cancer and stem cell failure.
Read the news release here.
10/8/07 Six JHU Researchers Elected to Institute of Medicine
Six Johns Hopkins University researchers have been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. Ron Brookmeyer, Ph.D., Frederick M. Burkle Jr., M.D., M.P.H., Aravinda Chakravarti, Ph.D., Kay Dickersin, Ph.D., Andrew Feinberg, M.D., M.P.H., and Lynn R. Goldman, M.D., M.P.H., are among 65 new members nationwide. Election to this prestigious body affirms their remarkable contributions to medical science, health care and public health, as well as to the education of generations of physicians. It is one of the highest honors for those in the biomedical profession.
Read the news release here.
10/16/07 Hopkins Starts Women Scientists Program with College of Notre Dame
The College of Notre Dame and The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have established the Sr. Alma McNicholas Women Scientists Program, which will fund three promising Notre Dame science majors to perform research in laboratories at Johns Hopkins. The students will be selected by application and receive a stipend, supply money, parking passes, and, most important of all, the opportunity to participate in science at one of the finest research facilities in the world.
10/22/07 Autism Genome Data Released
Researchers at Hopkins’ McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine released newly generated genetic data to help speed autism research. The Hopkins data, coordinated with a similar data release from the Autism Consortium, aims to help uncover the underlying hereditary factors and speed the understanding of autism by encouraging scientific collaboration. These data provide the most detailed look to date at the genetic variation patterns in families with autism.
Read the news release here.
Access the data here.
10/26/07 Six JHU Researchers Named AAAS Fellows
Six Johns Hopkins University researchers have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science by their peers. Jef Boeke, Ph.D., Sc.D., Paul D. Feldman, Ph.D., Nirbhay Kumar, Ph.D., Thomas C. Quinn, M.D., Theresa A.B. Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D., and David Valle, M.D., are among 471 new fellows around the world. Election as a fellow honors their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
Read the news release here.
10/31/07 Roger H. Reeves Awarded Grant to Pursue Potential Down Syndrome Treatment
The Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation has awarded a $250,000 grant to Roger H. Reeves of Physiology and the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine. Reeves’ team discovered that injecting a potential drug called SAG, which stands for sonic agonist, can overcome the reduced response to Sonic and cause trisomic brain cells to grow more normally. In fact, injecting SAG only once allows the cerebellum to grow properly through the first third of its development. Reeves and his research team will extend their current studies on SAG to see if its positive effects can improve brain development in mouse models of Down syndrome.
Read the news release here.
10/31/07 Rick Huganir Awarded Neuroscience Prize
Neuroscientist Rick Huganir shares the inaugural Julius Axelrod Prize with David Julius of the University of California at San Francisco for their distinguished achievements in the broad field of neuropharmacology and exemplary efforts in mentoring young scientists. Huganir’s former student, Michael Ehlers, won this year’s Society for Neuroscience young investigator award.
The Axelrod Prize also is awarded by the Society for Neuroscience and is supported by the Eli Lilly Foundation.
Find more Hopkins news here.
