Neurology:
Huntington's Defects Manifest Far from Damaged Brain Tissue
Public Health:
Sugary Drinks Raise Risk of Obesity, Type 2 Diabetes
Neuromuscular Research:
Action Uncovered in Mutant Protein's Link to Nerve Cell Death in ALS
Leadership
Brugge Named Chair of Cell Biology
Knipe to Lead Graduate Program in Virology
Armenise Program:
Postgenome Technology Illuminates Cancer Biology at Eighth Armenise Symposium
Protein Reveals How a Growing Axon Steers
Genetic Variation Among People May Be Ten Times Higher than Previously Thought
Compound Fends Off Stroke Damage
Novel Drug Design Apporach Aims at Resistant Bacteria
Integrated Gradaute Program Created in Life Sciences
Innovators of Tomorrow
Center to Probe Immune Tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes
SPORE Grant Awarded in Ovarian Cancer Research
Broad Breaks Ground for New Building
Named Professorships Approved
In Memoriam:
Edward Frank
Cultural Competence May Limit Stereotyping
CDC Overhauls Organization, Shifts Toward Preparedness
Integrated Graduate Program Created in Life Sciences
A new program at Harvard will unite nine existing graduate programs in the life sciences, drawing from the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, HMS's Division of Medical Sciences, HSDM, and HSPH. The reorganization, which occurred in July, creates the Harvard Integrated Life Sciences Program (HILS) and will increase coordination among individual courses of study, allow student mobility and faculty collaboration, and encourage programmatic versatility. The move was prompted by the rapid development of new fields in life sciences and the increased cooperation among researchers.Christopher T. Walsh, the Hamilton Kuhn professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at HMS, is heading the executive committee that is overseeing administrative issues. "I look forward to chairing the executive committee of the HILS program to facilitate graduate training in life sciences across the whole of the University, including the evaluation of current and proposed doctoral programs," he said.
Innovators of Tomorrow
On July 23, Boston Latin student Francesca Morency hosted a tour of her Children's Hospital Boston lab for (left to right) Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, Boston mayor Thomas Menino, and James Mandell, CEO of Children's. The lab tour was part of Innovation Day, which showcased nine high school summer science programs hosted by HMS and its affiliates. Morency and the more than 140 other students at the program and barbecue on the Quad sported T-shirts emblazoned with "Innovators of Tomorrow." She was working in the lab of assistant professor Jordan Kreidberg as part of Project Success, an HMS program offering high school students mentored summer research experience. This year, Project Success had 20 Boston- and Cambridge-area students under the supervision of 17 HMS faculty members. The nine-week program culminated with research project presentations on Aug. 19, during which the students described their work. State representative Gloria Fox presented each student with a certificate of completion. In addition, on behalf of the Biomedical Science Careers Program, executive director Lise Kaye gave Bernice Fedestin, a rising senior at Brighton High School, the John R. Moore Scholarship Award in recognition of her commitment and dedication to succeed in science.
Center to Probe Immune Tolerance In Type 1 Diabetes
 Peter Van Etten, president and CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), joined Diane Mathis in announcing the creation of the JDRF Center for Immunological Tolerance in Type 1 Diabetes at HMS, which Mathis will codirect. (Photo by Stephen Peiser) |
SPORE Grant Awarded in Ovarian Cancer Research
The National Cancer Institute has given an $11 million Specialized Project of Research Excellence (SPORE) award to the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center to study five projects related to ovarian cancer. Principal investigator Daniel Cramer, HMS professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Brigham and Women's, said, "Our mission is to investigate the full range of prevention, detection, and treatment of ovarian cancer." The SPORE team will also include clinicians and researchers from BWH, DFCI, HMS, HSPH, and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Broad Breaks Ground for New Building
HMS and Broad Institute faculty members (left to right) David Altshuler, Todd Golub, and Eric Lander, the founding director, along with founder and director of Harvard's Institute of Chemistry and Cell Biology Stuart Schreiber, assisted in the groundbreaking for the new home of the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute at 7 Cambridge Center on July 14. The building, slated to open in 2006, is part of a $300 million Broad Institute initiative bringing together MIT, Harvard, and the Whitehead Center for Biomedical Research. Sixty percent of the 220,000-square-foot building will be devoted to lab space for 600 scientists and technical workers, who will conduct research in structural genomics, chemical biology, medical and population genetics, and clinical medicine. "This building," said Lander, "will further our organizational mission to enable the kinds of collaborative projects that cannot readily be accomplished within ... individual laboratories and to empower scientists through access to cutting-edge tools."
Named Professorships Approved
The following named chairs were appointed in April.
Charles Czeisler
Frank Baldino, Jr., PhD Professor of Sleep Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Czeisler is chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine at BWH; codirector of the Division of Sleep Medicine, HMS; and an affiliate faculty member in both the Program in Neuroscience at HMS and the Health Sciences and Technology Program at HMS and MIT. Czeisler has 30 years of experience in the field of basic and applied research on the physiology of the human circadian timing system and its relationship to the sleep-wake cycle. He has many accomplishments in the field of chronobiology, including the first demonstration of the synchronization of human circadian rhythms by light.
David White
Gerald E. McGinnis Associate Professor of Sleep Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
White's research addresses the mechanisms controlling and maintaining ventilation during sleep, the motor control mechanisms of the upper airway musculature, and the pathogenesis of disorders of breathing during sleep. He also studies hormonal, gender, and aging influences on these processes. In addition, he directs and participates in a multidisciplinary clinical program caring for patients with a range of sleep disorders. White is the director of the Sleep Disorders Program at BWH and the medical director of Sleep HealthCenters.
Joan Miller
Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Miller is the chief of ophthalmology at MEEI and chair of ophthalmology at HMS. She is a retina specialist providing medical and surgical care for patients and is an internationally recognized expert on macular degeneration. Her research interests focus on ocular neovascularization, particularly as it relates to macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, including the role of growth factors, the development of anti-angiogenic therapy, and photodynamic therapy. Miller and colleagues were among the first to demonstrate the importance of a growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), in the development of ocular neovascularization and the potential use of drug therapies targeting VEGF.
The following professors were named emeritus in March.
Steven Matthysse
Professor Emeritus of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry
McLean Hospital and HMS
Matthysse's career as a psychologist began with training in mathematics and theoretical physics. His research was devoted to applications of mathematics in neuroscience and psychiatry. In particular, he worked on mathematical and statistical genetics and on computational analysis of networks of realistically modeled brain neurons. Matthysse was associated with the Mailman Research Center and the Laboratory of Psychology at McLean Hospital and contributed to the dopamine hypothesis of antipsychotic drug action and to genetic models for the transmission of schizophrenia. He is retiring from research in order to write about philosophical theology.
Richard Kitz
Henry Isaiah Dorr Professor
Emeritus of Research and Teaching in Anesthesia and Anesthetics
Harvard Medical School
Kitz is the anesthetist-in-chief emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology codirector emeritus, HST master emeritus, and HMS faculty dean emeritus for clinical affairs. His research focuses on design, synthesis, and testing of novel compounds used as molecular probes and potential drugs; patient safety and standards of care; and the regulation and economics of medical care.
The following professor was named emeritus in July.
Joseph Schildkraut
Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry
Massachusetts Mental Health Center
Schildkraut is the founding director emeritus of the Neuropsychopharmacology/Psychiatric Chemistry Laboratory at MMHC. His research on the biochemistry and neuropsychopharmacology of the affective disorders (depressions and manias) has elucidated the role of catecholamines in the mechanisms of action of antidepressants. His research also showed that subtypes of depressive disorders could be differentiated biochemically on the basis of catecholamine metabolism. Schildkraut's recent work has addressed the problem of delay in the clinical actions of antidepressants; he and colleague John Mooney of HMS developed a heuristic hypothesis for the delay and were awarded a patent on this work.
In Memoriam
Edward D. Frank, an HMS assistant clinical professor of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, passed away on April 12 at age 86.
Frank graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1938 and earned his MD from New York University School of Medicine in 1942. In 1942 and 1943, he did his internship at Beth Israel Hospital prior to serving as a captain in the Army. He was stationed for two winters at Camp Canol in the Yukon serving as a physician and surgeon to workers building the Alaska Highway on the McKenzie River. He was also assigned to the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tenn., where he provided medical care to civilians working on atomic weaponry.
Frank returned to Beth Israel in 1946 and completed his residency in surgery. He specialized in peripheral vascular disease and did pioneering research on the treatment of septic shock. While teaching at HMS, he maintained a clinical practice in Brookline for 30 years. Frank retired in the mid-1980s after nearly 40 years at HMS and BID.
He leaves three daughters, Jane Siewers, Susan MacCallum, and Maggie O'Connor, and two grandchildren. Contributions can be made to the Howard A. Frank and Edward D. Frank Surgical Fellowship fund at BID, Surgery Department, 110 Francis Street 9D, Boston, MA 02115.