UW School of Medicine Online News 5-2-08

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University of Washington School of Medicine

Online News

Vol. 12, No. 18
May 2, 2008
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To view an archived version of Online News on the UW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 faculty members Michael Bevan, professor of immunology, and Elizabeth Thompson, adjunct professor of genome sciences, elected to the National Academy of Sciences

* Eight new human genome projects led by UW researchers offer large-scale picture of genetic differences among individuals and find previously unknown human DNA

* UW alumnus William Foege receives 2008 Advancing Global Health Award from Seattle Biomedical Research Institute

* Number of general surgeons per capita has declined since 1981, according to study from WWAMI Rural Health Research Center

* UW Medicine Staff Giving Campaigns encourage faculty and staff to donate to funds at UWMC, Harborview, or the School of Medicine


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UW FACULTY, ALUMNUS ELECTED TO NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Two School of Medicine faculty were elected this week to the National Academy of Sciences. Michael J. Bevan, UW professor of immunology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, and Elizabeth Thompson, UW professor of statistics and adjunct professor of genome sciences and of biostatistics, were among the 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected to the academy in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

Bevan studies the development of T cells in the thymus and in particular how the forces of selection shape the repertoire of antigen receptors. Bevan is also the 2008 recipient of the William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology awarded by the Cancer Research Institute, a non-profit organization that supports medical research. He joined the UW in 1990. Prior to that, Bevan held positions at Scripps Research Institute in LaJolla, Calif., and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He received his Ph.D. in immunology at Mill Hill, London in 1972.

Thompson's research is focused on the development of methods of inference from genetic data. She received her Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Cambridge in 1974, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Stanford University. Thompson joined the UW faculty in 1985, and chaired the Department of Statistics from 1989 to 1994. Prior to joining the UW, she was a fellow and faculty member at the University of Cambridge.

The National Academy of Sciences was developed by Congress in 1863 to advise the federal government on any matter involving science or technology. This week’s election brings the number of active members in the academy to 2,041 and the total number of foreign associates to 397.


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UW-LED CONSORTIUM OFFERS PICTURE OF LARGE-SCALE GENETIC DIFFERENCES AMONG INDIVIDUALS

A nationwide consortium led by the UW has completed the first sequence-based map of structural variations in the human genome, giving scientists an overall picture of the large-scale differences in DNA among individuals. The project gives genome scientists a guide for further research into these structural differences, which are believed to play an important role in human health and disease. The results appear in the May 1 issue of the journal Nature.

The project involved sequencing the genomes of eight people from a diverse set of ethnic backgrounds: four individuals of African descent, two of Asian descent, and two of European background. The researchers created what's called a clone map, taking multiple copies of each of the eight genomes and breaking them into numerous segments of about 40,000 base pairs, which they then fit back together based on the human reference genome. They searched for structural differences that ranged in size from a few thousand to a few million base pairs. Base pairs are one of the basic units of information on the human genome.

Most previous studies of the genome have focused on small genetic variations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms -- changes on the scale of a single base pair. More recent research on the human genome has shown, however, that larger-scale differences may account for a great deal of genetic variation among individuals. Structural variation in the human genome has already been linked to individual differences in susceptibility to conditions like coronary heart disease, HIV, schizophrenia, autism, and mental retardation.

In addition to millions of smaller differences, the researchers identified 1695 regions of structural variation in the genome. They also provided a detailed look at the sequence for 261 regions of the genome, revealing an unprecedented view of the complexity of the genetic differences among different humans. The large-scale differences that the researchers were looking for can come in many forms, such as the deletion of a large swath of DNA, or the insertion of an out-of-place string of genetic code. Others simply appear as a different number of copies of a gene or DNA sequence.

Until now, there has not been a comprehensive study to sequence these variations systematically in multiple individuals. As part of their study, the authors also discovered 525 segments of DNA that were previously unknown to the human genetics community.

The project can serve as a sound resource for the science community, the researchers said, since they have preserved the many segments of DNA used for the project. As new genomes are studied, someone might find a new sequence or new area of variation, and the researchers can revisit that particular segment of DNA to study it more closely.

The project was led by Evan Eichler, UW associate professor of genome sciences and an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In addition to Eichler, several UW researchers in the UW Departments of Genome Sciences and Medicine were involved, including Jeffrey Kidd, a graduate student in genome sciences, and Maynard Olson, professor of medicine and genome sciences and director of the UW Genome Center.


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FOEGE RECEIVES ADVANCING GLOBAL HEALTH AWARD FROM SBRI

UW School of Medicine alumnus William Foege, senior fellow at the Gates Foundation, has received the 2008 Advancing Global Health Award from the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute. The award honors people with connections to the Puget Sound area who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to improving health around the world. It was presented this week at SBRI's annual Passport to Global Health Celebration.

Foege earned his medical degree from the UW and a master's in public health from Harvard. He worked in the U.S. Public Health Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and was one of the public health leaders who helped eradicate smallpox. He served as director of the CDC under President Jimmy Carter, and later directed the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving global health. In 2006, the UW honored its alumnus by naming a new building on the south end of campus the William H. Foege Building, home of the Departments of Genome Sciences and Bioengineering.

Foege has also recently received Research!America's 2008 Raymond and Beverly Sackler Award for Sustained National Leadership. The award honors the nation's top advocates for medical and scientific research. Research!America is a not-for-profit public education and advocacy alliance working to make health research a higher national priority.


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NUMBER OF GENERAL SURGEONS AROUND THE COUNTRY IS DECLINING

The number of general surgeons per capita in the United States has declined significantly since the early 1980s, according to a new UW-led study published last week in the Archives of Surgery, a journal published by JAMA. The number of general surgeons per 100,000 Americans has dropped 25 percent over that period, the study found, raising a concern that there may not be adequate numbers of general surgeons to care for the growing elderly population.

General surgeons play important roles in our health-care system, the researchers wrote. In rural areas, general surgeons provide surgical backup for primary-care physicians and help keep small hospitals financially viable. Urban general surgeons provide trauma and other services that surgical sub-specialists may not offer.

The study, led by Dana Christian Lynge, associate professor of surgery, involved a review of the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfiles from several periods dating back to 1981. The researchers found that the number of active general surgeons fluctuated from 17,394 in 1981, to 17,922 in 2001, to 16,662 in 2005. Since the country's population has increased by nearly 70 million people from 1981 to 2005, the ratio of general surgeons to population has dropped from 7.68 to 5.69 surgeons per 100,000 people. Urban areas saw a greater decline, with the ratio dropping more than 27 percent, compared with a 21 percent drop in rural areas.

The authors suggested that surgeons, their professional organizations, and those entities responsible for training should take steps to address the decline in the ratio of general surgeons to population.

The study was supported by the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center, a UW center studying health issues in the five-state region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.


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UW MEDICINE LAUNCHES STAFF GIVING CAMPAIGNS

UW Medicine Development has launched this year's Staff Giving Campaigns, an annual effort to encourage staff and faculty members from across the system to give donations in support of the UW Medicine mission. The campaigns run from May 1 to May 15.

Employees at Harborview and UW Medical Centers and the UW School of Medicine can donate directly online or through the mail, and can also set up a payroll deduction for as little as $2 per pay period. Donations can be made to any fund of an employee's choice, and the donations are tax deductible. The campaigns are held each spring, but donations are accepted throughout the year.

For more information about the Harborview, UWMC, or School of Medicine campaigns, visit:
http://depts.washington.edu/meddev/staffcampaigns/index.php


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Justin Reedy, editor:
206-685-0382, jreedy@u.washington.edu

Online News is copyright 2008. All rights, including electronic
redistribution, are reserved.

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