SYSTEMS
BIOLOGY: Chemical Toolkit Tests Mitochondria, Reveals Machinery of Drug Effects
A research team led by Vamsi Mootha has developed a chemical toolkit for manipulating
mitochondria in their normal cellular environment. After introducing nearly 2,500
compounds to this platform—many of which are FDA approved—the researchers
immediately discerned new insights into basic mitochondrial function, which in
turn revealed why some commonly used drugs have particular adverse effects. The
findings appeared online Feb. 24 in Nature Biotechnology.
GASTROENTEROLOGY:
Molecular Defender Disarms Gut Bacteria
Resident bacteria in the intestines help digest food, synthesize essential
vitamins, elbow out pathogenic microbes, and direct immune system development.
Surgeon-researchers led by Richard Hodin report in the March 4 Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences that they have a partial molecular
explanation for how the body copes with the trillions of bacteria that
may be beneficial but could pose a threat. A factor released by the fed
gut—but absent from the starving gut—appears to detoxify
bacteria in the intestines and may do more to keep them safely confined
there.
CELL
BIOLOGY: Metabolic Regulator Has Hand in Controlling Vessel Growth
Zoltan Arany (left) and Bruce Spiegelman have discovered that a gene
known to regulate metabolism, PGC-1 alpha, also coordinates
an entire program of new blood vessel construction. In the Feb. 24 Nature,
they show that the gene cues several other genes that help build new
vessels. Without the gene, new vessels fail to form. Regulating angiogenesis
is considered an important but problematic clinical goal for the treatment
of a variety of diseases because of the complexity of the process. This
new pathway is attractive as a potential therapeutic target because it
appears to coordinate a complete angiogenic program.
PUBLIC
HEALTH: The Organ Trade: Right or Wrong?
A symposium at HSPH organized by Daniel Wikler, titled “The Ethics
of the Organ Bazaar,” explored the global trade in organs and
its benefits and perils. One of the speakers referred to this 18th-century
caricature depicting poor people having teeth extracted for a price
to fashion dentures for the rich. Similar moral quandaries remain today.
Copyright 2008 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College