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University of Washington School of Medicine
Online News
Vol. 11, No. 4
January 26, 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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW Medicine Web site, visit: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:
* UW Medicine receives $2.5 million in two gifts for Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine
* UWTV program featuring King Holmes, chair of global health, highlights UW's contributions to worldwide fight against HIV/AIDS
* New virus culture system for hepatitis C will help researchers learn how infection replicates in human liver cells
* Faculty and students to play big role in upcoming Western Regional International Health Conference, hosted by the UW
* Faculty members from Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine honored for research and education achievements
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DONORS GIVE $2.5 MILLION TO UW STEM CELL INSTITUTE
The UW has received $2.5 million in two recent gifts for the Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, established last year.
Bill and Marilyn Conner of Kirkland, Wash., have donated $1.5 million to create the institute's first endowed chair. The Conners, who work in the building industry, have long been interested in medicine and medical research. Their family has been touched by many different diseases – pediatric cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and dementia. They donated funds to support stem-cell research because they believe it may impact all of those diseases.
The Conners are longtime supporters of UW Medicine. The couple, along with the late Richard McAbee, a leader in the construction industry, created the first endowed chair at the university. Marilyn Conner has guided a team of volunteers to present an auction for the UW Medicine Friends of Alzheimer’s Research, an event that this year raised more than $250,000.
Just a few days after the Conners made their gift, Michael and Linda Mastro, of Medina, Wash., confirmed their $1 million commitment to the institute. The Mastros wanted to do something meaningful for the community and decided donating to stem-cell research was a way to accomplish that.
Both gifts follow a donation from Orin Smith, retired Starbucks president and chief executive officer, who donated $5 million to the stem-cell program last fall. Smith, a 1965 UW graduate, is chairman of the board for UW Medicine. UW Medicine also received a $1 million anonymous gift last fall for stem-cell research.
Details about stem-cell research at the UW are on the institute’s Web site:
http://depts.washington.edu/iscrm/
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HOLMES LECTURE HIGHLIGHTS UW'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO GLOBAL FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
King Holmes, the William H. Foege Chair of Global Health who heads the recently established UW Department of Global Health, is featured in a new UWTV program called HIV: In Your Global Neighborhood. In his lecture, Holmes discusses the UW's training, education, research, and public health efforts to improve health around the world. The program will be airing in February, and is available now on the UWTV Web site.
Holmes' talk was part of the UWorld Global Lecture Series, a series of panels on the topic of global health, called "A Just Cause: Bringing Health Care to All." Holmes is introduced by William H. Gates, Sr., co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a UW regent.
In the talk, Holmes highlights the UW's contributions to many of the efforts to fight AIDS/HIV around the world, including the Tumaini Project, a clinic in Nairobi, Kenya, providing free medical care for patients with HIV; the International Training and Education Center on HIV (I-TECH), a consortium for training health care workers in countries affected by HIV and AIDS; and Health Alliance International, an organization that builds public health programs in the developing world.
To view the program, visit the UWTV Web site:
http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=7235
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UW RESEARCHERS DEVELOP HEPATITIS C VIRUS CULTURE SYSTEM
UW researchers have opened the way for improved study of hepatitis C virus by devising a novel virus culture system. The new system allows replication of patient-isolated virus in non-transformed hepatocytes, instead of culture-adapted virus strains in transformed cell lines. Their findings appear in the February issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects approximately 170 million people worldwide, including as many as 4 million in the United States. HCV liver disease, which may induce liver inflammation, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma, is the leading reason for liver transplantation in much of the country.
Researchers have had difficulty studying replication of the virus within liver cells, or hepatocytes, because of inadequate virus culture systems. Those systems would allow the virus to infect other cells, but not to replicate for long periods or produce more virus. Other systems allowed scientists to study virus replication in mutated cells, which may not act like human liver cells.
In this study, Nelson Fausto, professor and chair of pathology, and his colleagues turned to a cell culture system using liver hepatocyte cells from aborted fetuses donated to science. They were able to keep the virus replicating in the culture system for two months, allowing them to monitor virus particles infecting new cells. The findings could help scientists better understand how HCV replicates in hepatocytes, the natural target of the virus, and might aid in the development of a vaccine for the virus.
Fausto may be reached at nfausto@u.washington.edu
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UW HOSTS INTERNATIONAL HEALTH CONFERENCE
UW faculty and students will play a big role as the campus hosts the Fifth Annual Western Regional International Health Conference, scheduled for President's Day weekend, Feb. 16-18. The theme for the event is Global Health Through Different Lenses: Reflections, Perspectives, and Visions for the Future. Registration for the conference is still open; students and medical residents can register for $35, and all others for $70.
Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE USA, will give a pre-conference lecture on Friday afternoon. Her talk is free and open to all, but seating is limited. To RSVP, send an e-mail to evanseventrsvp@u.washington.edu
The conference kicks off Friday evening with a keynote address by Jim Yong Kim, a professor in the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. He is chief of the Division of Social Medicine and Social Inequalities at Brigham and Women's Hospital, director of the Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, and chair of the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He was previously the head of the HIV/AIDS program at the World Health Organization.
Several students and faculty from the UW are presenting at the conference. Judith Wasserheit, professor and vice-chair of global health, and Lawrence Corey, professor of medicine and principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network, will serve on a panel discussing HIV vaccine research. UW medical students Whitney Harrington and David Kammer are serving on a panel covering intellectual property and global access to drugs and other health products.
For more information about the conference or to register online, visit:
http://depts.washington.edu/pspgh/lecsem/conf07_index.php
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ORTHOPAEDICS FACULTY MEMBERS HONORED FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Three faculty members in the Department of Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine have been honored recently for their work in research, technology development, and education.
Sigvard T. Hansen, Jr., professor of orthopaedics and sports medicine and director of the Sigvard T. Hansen, Jr., Foot and Ankle Institute at Harborview Medical Center, received the AO Innovation Prize from the AO Foundation in Davos, Switzerland. Hansen was honored for his lifetime achievements and exceptional contributions to the development of new concepts, technologies and treatment options in trauma, reconstructive and orthopaedic foot surgery. The AO Foundation is a nonprofit group dedicated to the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. Hansen may be reached at hansetmd@u.washington.edu
Bruce Sangeorzan, professor of orthopaedics and sports medicine and chief of orthopaedic service and traumatology at Harborview, received the Sustaining Membership Lecture Award from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. The award honors outstanding contributions to medical research. Sangeorzan may be reached at bsangeor@u.washington.edu
Jens R. Chapman, professor of orthopaedics and sports medicine, received the AO Spine North America Educator of the Year Award, after being selected by a group of his peers. Chapman holds the Hansjoerg Wyss Endowed Chair in Spine Surgery, and is chief of spine service at Harborview. He may be reached at jenschap@u.washington.edu
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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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