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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 3
January 19, 2007
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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW Medicine Web site, visit:
http://www.uwmedicine.org/Global/NewsAndEvents/somnews/index.htm
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This week’s news:
* Multi-center study uncovers lethal secret of 1918 influenza virus
* UW Departments of Microbiology and Genome Sciences top their fields in research productivity, according to rankings reported in the Chronicle of Higher Education
* David Pierson in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine honored by American Thoracic Society
* UW researchers discover mechanisms related to zebrafish tissue regeneration
* Residents and faculty in Department of Surgery honored for educational achievements
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STUDY UNCOVERS A LETHAL SECRET OF 1918 INFLUENZA VIRUS
In a study of non-human primates infected with the influenza virus that killed 50 million people in 1918, an international team of scientists has found a critical clue to how the virus killed so quickly and efficiently. The group was led by University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka, and includes Michael Katze, professor of microbiology at the University of Washington, and his colleagues here.
Writing in the Jan. 18 issue of the journal Nature, the team reports how the virus unleashes a severe immune response that destroys the lungs in a matter of days, leading to death. The work suggests that it may be possible in future outbreaks of highly pathogenic flu to prevent deaths through early intervention, and it proves that the virus was different from all of the other flu viruses currently studied.
The new study, conducted at a BSL-4 laboratory at the Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, utilized the 1918 flu virus, which has been reconstructed by researchers using genes obtained from the tissues of victims of the great pandemic.
By infecting monkeys with the virus, the team was able to show that the 1918 virus prompted a deadly respiratory infection, much like how victims died in the original pandemic. Researchers found that the immune response prompted by the virus seems to derail the body's typical reaction to viral infection and instead unleashes an attack by the immune system on the lungs. As immune cells attack the respiratory system, the lungs fill with fluid and victims, in essence, drown.
The mechanisms that contribute to the lethality of the virus were uncovered by UW researchers using functional genomics, a technique in which they analyze the gene functions and interactions. Learning more about the virulence mechanisms of the 1918 flu virus may help researchers understand how to keep a similar virus from causing such a severe immune response. These findings, combined with an earlier mouse-based study led by Katze, suggest that the host immune response is out of control in animals infected with the virus.
The same excessive immune reaction is characteristic of the deadly complications of H5N1 avian influenza, the strain of bird flu present in Asia and which has claimed nearly 150 human lives but has not yet shown a capacity to spread easily among people.
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UW MICROBIOLOGY AND GENOME SCIENCES TOP THEIR FIELDS IN NEW RANKINGS
The UW School of Medicine's Departments of Microbiology and Genome Sciences have both been ranked at the top of their fields in a new index from Academic Analytics, released last week in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The index rates faculty productivity in various categories, such as grants and awards, book and article publication, and citation of previous work.
The rankings are new this year, and are funded partly by the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Academic Analytics, a for-profit company, rated several thousand doctoral programs in more than 100 fields and disciplines based on data from 2005.
The rankings were reported in the Jan. 12 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle also reported that the rankings are somewhat controversial due to the methods used in constructing them. Academic Analytics uses university Web sites to compile lists of faculty members, which are then double-checked by individual departments. Since about half of the universities and colleges did not check the faculty lists, those may not be entirely accurate representations of each department's faculty.
In analyzing faculty productivity, the company uses Scopus, a journal publication and citation index, to check publication records; Amazon.com and the Library of Congress database for book publishing data; granting agency Web sites for faculty grant awards; and organization Web sites for other awards and honors.
For more information or to see the rankings, visit the Chronicle of Higher Education article:
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i19/19a00801.htm
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AMERICAN THORACIC SOCIETY HONORS DAVID PIERSON
David Pierson, UW professor of medicine and medical director of respiratory care at Harborview Medical Center, has been selected by the American Thoracic Society to receive its 2007 Distinguished Achievement Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to fighting respiratory disease through research, education, patient care or advocacy. It will be presented at the society’s international conference in May.
Pierson has published widely on aspects of mechanical ventilation and ICU care, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other areas of respiratory care. He serves as editor in chief of Respiratory Care Journal. Last year he received the Jimmy A. Young Medal for lifetime achievement from the American Association for Respiratory Care.
Pierson may be reached at djp@u.washington.edu
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RESEARCHERS DISCOVER PROCESSES UNDERLYING ZEBRAFISH REGENERATION
UW researchers have discovered some of the genes and cell-to-cell communication pathways that enable zebrafish to restore their tail fins. The findings could provide insight into how scientists might one day be able to promote regeneration of damaged cells and tissues in humans.
Developmental biologists know that a particular kind of cell-to-cell communication, called Wnt/Beta-catenin signaling, regulates the fate of stem cells that develop as an embryo forms. A signaling cascade lets each cell know which type of cell to become and where it should form in the embryo. These signals also tell stem cells in adult organisms what functions to undertake.
In the Dec. 21, 2006, online edition of the journal Development, UW researchers report on laboratory evidence that suggests that Wnt/Beta signaling also promotes the regeneration of tail fins in zebrafish. Another, distinct signaling pathway activated by a different kind of Wnt protein called Wnt5b, turns down the genes that are turned on by Wnt/Beta-catenin, impairs cell proliferation, and inhibits fin regeneration. Fish that have a mutant Wnt5b protein regenerate missing tails very quickly. Too much of another protein, Wnt8, also increases cell proliferation in the regenerating fin.
Cristi Stoick-Cooper, a graduate student in the multidisciplinary Neurobiology and Behavior program at the UW, and Gilbert Weidinger, now of the Technical University of Dresden (TUD), Germany, were first co-authors of the study. The research was done in the lab of Randall T. Moon, professor of pharmacology, director of the UW Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, and investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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SURGERY RESIDENTS AND FACULTY HONORED FOR EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
Three members of the UW Department of Surgery have been recognized for their educational achievements.
Giana Davidson, a general surgery resident, received the Henry Harkins Award, which recognizes a medical student who has completed outstanding clinical work on the surgical services and demonstrated a strong interest in pursuing surgical training.
Avery Nathens, a former faculty member at the UW, surgeon at Harborview, and researcher at the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center, received the Faculty Teaching Award. The award is given in memory of John K. Stevenson, a longtime faculty member and acting chair of the department. It honors teaching excellence and dedication to resident education, and is decided by secret ballot among the residents in the general surgery program.
Daniel Anaya, former chief resident in the UW Department of Surgery, received the David Tapper Resident Teaching Award. This award honors a chief resident who has demonstrated outstanding performance in the teaching of medical students and junior residents.
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Online News is published by Health Sciences/UW Medicine News and Community Relations.
Justin Reedy, editor:
206-685-0382, jreedy@u.washington.edu
Online News is copyright 2007. All rights, including electronic redistribution, are reserved.
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