Science Article
September
5, 2002
Basic scientists host workshop on Bursa of Fabricius Oct. 4-6
The center will host a workshop on Experimental Models from the Bursa of Fabricius beginning Friday evening, Oct. 4, through Sunday morning, Oct. 6. Talks will be held in Pelton Auditorium and the Sze conference rooms.
Speakers include international experts in the development and application of targeted gene deletion/mutation in the DT40 cell line, and in other aspects of normal and neoplastic avian B-cell biology.
The workshop is open to faculty, students, postdocs and staff who register by Sept. 15. Late abstracts will be accepted only for the poster session. The fee is $10 for center attendees, with an added $35 fee for a banquet Saturday evening at Lowell-Hunt Catering on Fairview Avenue North across from the Day Campus.
Drs. Paul Neiman and Alanna Ruddell of the Basic Sciences Division and Dr. Jean-Marie Buerstedde of the GSF Institute for Molecular Radiobiology, Munich are organizers.
Registration forms can be turned in to Lori Blake, A2M-015. Questions about the scientific program should be directed to Neiman, pneiman@fhcrc.org, and inquiries about administrative arrangements should be directed to Marcea Kato, mkato@fhcrc.org.
New programming course in Perl offered this fall for biologists
An introductory programming course, "Perl for Biologists," will be offered for biologists.
The course consists of six classes from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the last two weeks of September, in a computer instruction room in the Yale Building. It is limited to 30 students and costs $50.
Dr. Carlo Maley, staff scientist in Dr. Brian Reid's laboratory, and Dr. Jason Stewart, a bioinformatics consultant at Open Informatics Consulting, are instructors.
The course was developed in response to center biologists who have expressed an interest in learning how to program. Some are considering a career in bioinformatics, some simply want to increase their tool set, and others just want to communicate better with bioinformaticians.
The course was designed for biologists who have never programmed before. The goal is to give students the skills that will allow them to automate some of the ways in which they access and handle data in the lab.
The course also will introduce techniques for modeling biological data and processes. The first five lectures and practice sessions will cover the basics of programming in Perl. The last lecture will introduce biologists' tools already created in Perl.
The first half of each class will be a lecture with examples. The second half will be hands-on practice sessions for the students with instructors in the room to answer questions.
For more info, visit: http://rite.fhcrc.org.
Anajane Smith wins ASHI award
Anajane Smith, manager of the Clinical Immunogenetics Laboratory in the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, has been named a Scholar Award winner by the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogentics (ASHI).
Smith was chosen based on an abstract submitted for presentation at the 28th Annual meeting of the society to be held Oct. 19-23 in Nashville. She will be presented with the award and a $300 gift at the meeting.
Clinical Immunogenetics Laboratory staff determine the tissue types of Alliance patients who will undergo bone-marrow or stem-cell transplants as well as those of potential donors. The degree of tissue type matching has a significant impact on the success or failure of a transplant.
Smith's abstract, entitled "Detection of an acquired mutation in an HLA-A*03 allele impairing gene," describes research into the subtle genetic alterations that affect an individual's tissue type.
For more info, visit: http://www.ashi-hla.org/.
Six Huntington's papers explore molecular basis of disease
The Hereditary Disease Array Group, a consortium of center scientists and other researchers, published six papers last month with new findings on the molecular basis for Huntington's disease, a progressive neurological disease.
The papers are part of the group's two-year research that drew together more than 50 scientists from 19 universities to study how the mutant Huntington's disease gene causes brain cells to die by affecting other biological pathways.
The researchers used microarrays, the so-called gene chips that allow the simultaneous evaluation of thousands of genes at once, to scan the entire genome in search of the precise defects associated with the disease. The findings may help researchers devise new therapies.
Dr. Jim Olson, investigator in the Clinical Research Division, coordinates the group.
"Had we done these experiments independently, it would have taken a decade to sort out the findings," he said. "By cooperating, working on a standardized technology platform and sharing data from day one, we were able to complete the studies in a rapid time frame."
Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive deterioration of cognitive processes and memory, as well as the gradual development of involuntary movements in all parts of the body.
Since the Huntington's disease gene was discovered in 1993, scientists have sought to understand how resultant changes in the protein "huntingtin" cause neurodegeneration. Researchers have generated models of the disease in mice, yeast, fruit flies and isolated brain cells by introducing the mutant form of the gene.
Two years ago, these researchers joined forces and, organized by the Hereditary Disease Foundation, created the array group. The group's goal was to create a database to reveal the biological pathways affected by the mutant Huntington's disease gene. To speed research and get the most comparable results possible, the scientists standardized experimental methods.
Each paper, all of which were published in the Aug. 15 issue of Human Molecular Genetics, reports a different aspect of the discoveries, including:
Based on these findings, studies are testing drugs that may prevent the mutant disease protein from altering the expression levels of other critical genes. Pre-clinical studies are being conducted in the same models used in the group's research with the hope that some of the drugs will reach human clinical trials in the next five years, Olson said.
The studies were funded primarily by the Hereditary Disease Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
Rivkin Center to host symposium on ovarian-cancer research Sept. 19-20
More than 200 researchers, medical clinicians and patients convene Sept. 19-20 for the fourth Biennial Ovarian Cancer Research Symposium. The free event at Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research at Swedish Medical Center examines the latest and most innovative research in ovarian cancer and will address issues in the research and treatment of this disease.
Speakers will represent the center, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Harvard University and the Food & Drug Administration. Topics include ovarian-cancer treatment, risk assessment and management, screening, prevention, pathology, novel therapies and molecular markers.
Panelists will debate whether early detection reduces mortality rates in ovarian cancer. Important to the debate is the proteomics work of Dr. Emanuel Petricoin of the Food & Drug Administration and National Cancer Institute. Seattle researchers work with Petricoin's team to validate results.
Physicians, researchers, women affected by ovarian cancer and the public are invited. The symposium requires registration. For the schedule and to register, visit: www.marsharivkin.org/events/symposium.
