Scientific gathering lets medical center researchers show their stuff

Considered among the most important of scientific gatherings, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science showcases researchers from around the world delivering their findings on a wide range of topics. This year’s event in Denver, which took place Thursday through Tuesday, featured five prominent researchers from the medical center.

Cho said the completion of the "first draft" of the human genome sequence has shifted scientists’ attention to the discovery of human genetic variation. Current studies in this area include the examination of the link between genes and disease and the aim to identify genetic variations that contribute to differential effects of drugs, which could lead to the creation of drugs targeted to a specific group of people. Although studies differ in the way they catalogue variation, Cho said they all have the effect of grouping people based on genetic characteristics, often along racial lines, raising ethical and social questions.

Terry Klein: Imagine being sick and your doctor, rather than handing you a bottle of pills, constructs a medicine tailor-made specifically for your illness and genetic makeup. While this scenario remains several years off in the future, the medical center’s PharmGKB (Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base) is working toward that end.

Teri Klein, PhD, director of PharmGKB, discussed how pharmacogenetics research has recently garnered increased public attention due in part to the number of social issues it raises in addition to its scientific implications. Klein focused on the technical and social challenges related to building a genetics database in a symposium called "The Promise of Pharmacogenomics in Medicine."

The appeal of pharmacogenics is enormous, given the potential promise customized medical treatment holds, Klein said. "In the next 10 to 20 years, we’ll have a better idea of how to test for variations in the genes that are involved in drug pathways," she predicted.

Eric Knudsen: Early experiences don’t just change what an animal learns and remembers; these experiences can shape the structure and function of the adult brain.

"Things that an animal learns during an early period of life can alter the brain’s anatomy dramatically," said Eric Knudsen, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Neurobiology. Knudsen presented findings about how early experiences mold the brain of barn owls during a talk titled "The Effects of Early Experience on Brain and Brain Development."

Knudsen’s work takes advantage of the barn owl’s keen sense of hearing. These owls develop a mental map of their world that aligns the auditory world with the visual. When the animal hears a noise at a specific location, a nerve cell in the map region of the brain fires. That same nerve cell fires when the animal sees an object at that location. The animals use this map with deadly accuracy to pinpoint the scratching and squeaking of mice at night. By fitting owls with glasses that actually shift the perceived visual location of a target, Knudsen and his team have shown how mental maps are accurately adjusted based on the auditory world.

Gary Schoolnik: About 2 billion people are infected with tuberculosis worldwide, but most show no symptoms, remaining disease-free for life. However, in 10 percent of these latently infected persons, weakening of the immune system, caused by either illness or age, allows the tuberculosis bacteria to emerge from small lesions in the lung. The resulting coughing and hacking, which can be fatal if untreated, spreads the bacteria to the next generation of unsuspecting hosts.

Until recently no one knew exactly how the tuberculosis bacteria performed its chameleon-like feat or how to stop it. Now researchers have begun to understand how Mycobacterium tuberculosis orchestrates its impeccably timed game of hide-and-seek.

"This is an extraordinarily successful survival strategy," said Gary Schoolnik, MD, professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology. "We’re trying to understand how the host’s immune system induces and maintains this state of latency." Schoolnik made his presentationin a session called "The Future of Functional Genomics II."

Gavin Sherlock: Gene microarrays have become an increasingly important tool in biomedical research, allowing scientists to see complex patterns of gene expression inside particular cells. The result is a better understanding of different types of cancer and other diseases.

But as the number of gene microarrays performed in experiments has multiplied, the task of storing, organizing and analyzing the resulting data has become increasingly daunting. This has spurred the development of microarray databases — sophisticated repositories that not only give researchers a way to safely store their data, but also provide tools to analyze it.

Gavin Sherlock, PhD, director of the Stanford Microarray Database, discussed the history of gene microarray databases and the current movement to establish standards for the open publication and exchange of microarray data. His presentation took place during the AAAS "Databases and Data Sharing" program.

Research conflict-of-interest policies under scrutiny (2/21/01)

Medical center researchers teach old owl new tricks (9/25/02)

Lost genes may be the cause of tuberculosis vaccine's failure (6/2/99)