Contents
Drug Discovery
Neuroscience
Public Health
Research Briefs
Bulletin
Forum
Related Sites
WebWeekly
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StudenTalk
Harvard Medical School
March 11, 2005
DRUG DISCOVERY: Computer Screening Uncovers Compounds Against ALS
HMS researchers have made a discovery that they believe could lead to promising
therapies for inherited forms of the muscle-crippling disease amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Familial ALS tends to be characterized
by the appearance of dense jots of mutant protein in motor neurons of the spinal
cord. Using a computer-based method for matching molecules to specific targets—dubbed
in silico screening—Soumya Ray identified a set of virtual compounds
that when synthesized and tested in actual lab dishes, prevented the mutant
protein SOD1 from clumping. The findings by Ray and his colleagues appear in
the Feb. 14 online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
NEUROSCIENCE: Optic Nerve Regrown in Mice
The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) has a remarkable ability to store
memories and maintain complex connections, but the tradeoff is that it cannot
regenerate
after injury as the nervous system can in lower vertebrates. Researchers have
been
hunting
for ways to help the CNS regain properties of self-renewal.
In
the
March Journal of Cell Science, a team led by Dong Feng Chen reports
that it has engineered mice to fully regrow damaged optic nerves for the first
time. Yet
this milestone is still only a step in what has proved to be a tortuous exploration.
PUBLIC HEALTH: Stats Tool Puts
Health Disparities on the Map
Money may not buy happiness, but it can buy health. From infancy to senility,
evidence shows, the risk of disease and early death is directly proportional
to people’s income, employment, and education. A new study from Nancy Krieger
and her HSPH colleagues, appearing in the February American Journal of Public
Health, demonstrates that a person’s home address turns out to be a good
stand-in for the powerful health effects of socioeconomic resources.