WINTER 2003
From the Director's Desk | Faculty on the Road | Grants and Manuscripts | Events
FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK
Happy New Year!
This is the first SCMS newsletter being circulated. We plan to have four of these to share thoughts and information about SCMS.
As you know, after some discussion with the Dean, we now know that the new Chair of HBC&G will also serve as Director of SCMS. The presence of Louise Prakash as liaison and the suggestion that she and (Wayne Bolen, representing SCSB) meet all candidates coming for a first visit (should be around 8-10) should ensure that the chosen individual serves the needs and aspirations of SCMS members.
It came to my attention that in all discussions about SCMS, the one constant descriptor has been the excellence of its science. In order to allow the Center to better flourish I would like the SCMS faculty to consider the concept of having Scholars in Residence for one year. One concept would be to consider the Sealy Center for Molecular Science, already acknowledge as a Center of Excellence, as the appropriate home for one year elective appointments and to include in the mix invitations to truly outstanding scientists from the world at large with interests complementary to our Faculty. One possibility would be one internal and one external Scholar per year. The external candidate, at the level of Academy of Science Member, would work with a UTMB faculty member. Selection would be rigorous. Internal Scholars would not be allowed to repeat the experience. I think the mechanisms for such visiting scientists would not be difficult to implement. I am sure discussion of these proposals will be interesting. Obviously, the SCMS Core Faculty need to be an integral part of this discussion. I think I could obtain the financial support for this venture from the Dean's office.
I hope that within the next few faculty meetings we can receive reports as to the outcome of the recent Research Retreat and the “Townsend Committee” evaluation of basic science departments and centers. While much has been said about the latter, we have yet to see a written report. In fact, I do not believe one has been written.
I trust that exploration of new ventures such as the one here proposed allow the Center to continue to attract excellent scholars and fulfill our mission.
Enclosed in this Newsletter there is also a mission statement that reflects our present status and expresses some of my aspirations for SCMS for the future. Certainly it is a document that will evolve over the coming year.
My best wishes for 2004!
The mission of the SCMS is to develop a comprehensive and in depth understanding of the molecular machinery responsible for biological responses to environmental disruption of homeostasis in environmental insults present in our industrial society, chronic aging, cancer, and trauma. The Sealy Center for Molecular Science (SCMS) is made up of a group of University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) faculty committed to excellence in research. The core faculty of SCMS have brought international recognition to UTMB, and they have been instrumental in attracting high caliber faculty to UTMB. Associated with the Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics (HBC&G) but including faculty from various Departments, SCMS has a rich history in the development of several successful research programs and University Core facilities at UTMB. The SCMS has played a key leadership role in promoting outstanding science at UTMB. As the first of such Centers created at UTMB, SCMS has provided a central site for high-level molecular biology and promoted molecular biology activities across the campus. At its inception, it established an internationally renowned group of DNA repair experts at UTMB. This group had a large role in developing the Sealy Center for Environmental Health and Medicine and the Sealy Center for Structural Biology (SCSB). In addition, SCMS and HBC&G are the homes of the Molecular Science and Genomics Core Facilities at UTMB.
Although the area of DNA repair and mutagenesis has long been recognized as a strength on campus, new perspectives as to the role of DNA damage and repair on stress response cascades that can impact the development of cognitive faculties or the susceptibility and pathology associate with asthma are examples of new translational opportunities based on a firm understanding of the processes associated with DNA damage and repair. Thus, the original research focus on DNA damage/repair and mutagenesis has expanded into areas well beyond the original mission and effort. An increasing number of Satellite Faculty, postdoctoral fellows and staff centered around the SCMS brought about new campus wide efforts focused on the role of oxidative stress responses to environmental influences ranging from the slow chronic insults of aging to more acute insults to the respiratory system of the very young and complemented pre-existing research programs in cellular and organism mutagenesis, aging, signal transduction and the environmental health sciences. The creation of a Biodefense Center focused on the toxic aspects of bioterrorism or the new interdepartmental research effort focused on perinatal ischemia have added new expertise and faculty to SCMS. The result has been a significant increase in collaborative interactions between those associated with the SCMS and other UTMB faculty. This has resulted in significant new extramural funding in the form of NIH RO1 grants and PO grants, but also, in addition to the NIH-NIEHS Center grant, grants from DOE, American Cancer Society, Clayton Foundation, the Robert Welch Foundation, the Shriner's Hospital and Burroughs-Welcome Fund.
Similarly, SCMS based core facilities in genomics and molecular biology have become vital, necessary and heavily used Core Facilities that serve the whole campus. Thus, our faculty have positioned themselves to promote effective, fundable collaborations with multiple, previously established UTMB faculty via the creation of state of the art research/service core facilities, specializing in recombinant DNA technology and protein chemistry, as well as the faculty's organization and participation in multi-investigator research grants. The outstanding quality of research and the service provided through these core facilities offers a wide variety of technical services and support that benefit and enhances the overall effectiveness of numerous research programs at UTMB.
Thus, in contrast to many research strengths, which take years to develop, effective, campus-wide networks that eventually result in multidisciplinary funding, the SCMS has accomplished major bridging efforts, while maintaining internationally competitive laboratories.
The SCMS aims to develop research programs of an outstanding quality commensurate with the biological challenge present in responses to the disruption of biological homeostasis by trauma, aging and disease. To that end, goals and objectives are:
The SCMS is composed of 5 Core Faculty working with a larger group of Satellite and Associated Faculty and staff throughout UTMB. The Center is administered by J. Regino Perez-Polo, Center Director ad interim.
It is the goal of the SCMS to maintain the ongoing successful research partnerships with the SCSB and the NIEHS and to build new partnerships with the Sealy Cell Biology Cancer Center and other UTMB Departments. The SCMS will remain at the core of the research and educational mission of the Department of Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics. The outstanding quality of the basic science effort at the SCMS will be a key component of the translational initiative being developed at UTMB.
S. Mitra :
October 28, 2003
Dissertation Defense
October 13 - 18, 2003
Attend study section for NIH in Washington, D.C and speak at the NIA DNA Repair
Meeting in Leesburg, VA
October 8 - 10, 2003
Attend study section for NIH, Stony Brook, NY
L. Prakash:
October 15 - 16, 2003
Meet with colleagues and discuss research, University of Texas A&M, College
Station
Tadahide Izumi:
November 12 - 15, 2003
NIH Study Section in Silver Springs, MD
Rolf Konig-Grants
2-1-02 to 1-31-05 Department of the Army, PC010427; A novel vaccine for prostate cancer. Co-Principal Investigator, 15% effort and salary, $375,000 (total cost $558,750); P.I.: W. Robert Fleischmann, Ph.D.; Microbiology & Immunology.
7-1-03 to 6-30-08 NIH 1 R01 ES11584-01A1; Mechanisms of TCE-mediated autoimmunity. Co-investigator, 20% effort and salary, $1,150,000 (total cost $1,698,800); P.I.: Ghulam A. S. Ansari, Ph.D.; Pathology.Rolf Konig-manuscripts
R. König, X. Shen, R. Maroto, and T. L. Denning (2002) The role of CD4 in regulating homeostasis of T helper cells. Immunol. Res. 25:115-130.
R. König (2002) Interactions between MHC molecules and co-receptors of the TCR. Curr. Opin. Immunol. 14: 75-83.W. Zhou and R. König (2003) T cell receptor-independent CD4 signaling: CD4-MHC class II interactions regulate intracellular calcium and cyclic AMP. Cell. Signal. 15: 751-762.
T. L. Denning, H. Qi, R. König, K. G. Scott, M. Naganuma, and P. B. Ernst (2003) CD4+ Th cells resembling regulatory T cells that inhibit chronic colitis differentiate in the absence of interactions between CD4 and class II MHC. J. Immunol. 171: 2279-2286.
R. König and W. Zhou (2003) T lymphocytes. In “Handbook of Cell Signaling” (R. Bradshaw and E. Dennis, eds.), vol. 3 pp. 545-553. Elesevier Academic Press, San Diego.
R. König and W. Zhou (2004) Signal transduction in T helper cells: CD4 co-receptors exert complex regulatory effects on T cell activation and function. Curr. Issues Mol. Biol. 6: 1-16.
M.L. Dodson-Manuscripts
Meador, M.G., Rajagopalan, L., Lloyd, R. Stephen, and Dodson, M.L. Role of His16 in Turnover of T4 Pyrimidine DImer Glycosylase. J. Biol. Chem. in final stage of revision, 2004.
Dodson, M.L., McCullough, Amanda K., and Lloyd, R. Stephen. The Hurdles of BER Glycosylase Substrate Recognition. DNA Damage Recognition, Yoke W. Kow, Wolfram Siede, and Paul Doetsch, eds., Marcel Dekker, Ince. To appear in spring, 2004.Tapas K. Hazra-Manuscripts and Reviews
Thiviyanathan, V., Somasunderam, A, Hazra, TK., Mitra, S., Gorenstein, D.G 2003. Solution structure of a DNA duplex containing 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine opposite deoxyguanosine. J.Mol.Biol, 325, 433-442
Dou H, Mitra S, Hazra TK. 2003. Repair of oxidized bases from DNA bubble structures by human DNA glycosylases NEIL 1 and NEIL2. J. BioI. Chern (in press)
Bhakat, KK., Izumi,T., Yang, SH., Boldogh, I., Hazra, TK., Mitra, S. 2003. Acetylation of human AP- endonuclease 1 (APE1 /Ref-1) and repression of the parathyroid hormone gene. EMBO J. (in press)
Commentary
Hazra TK, Izumi T, Kow YW, Mitra S 2003. The discovery of a new family of mammalian enzymes for repair of oxidatively damaged DNA, and its physiological implications. Carcinogenesis, 24: 155-157
Review
Izumi T, Wiederhold L, Roy G, Roy R, Jaiswal A, Bhakat KK, Mitra S,. Hazra TK. 2003 Mammalian DNA Base Excision Repair Proteins: their interactions and role in repair of oxidative DNA damage, Toxicology (in press)