From the Labs
Houston, Texas
Volume 6, Issue 10
December 2007

Briefs

BCM awarded NIH grant to continue vaccine research

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded $23.7 million over seven years to Baylor College of Medicine for the continuation of its Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit.

BCM is one of eight institutions this year to receive the vaccine unit designation. The units address pressing national and international public health needs by investigating vaccines and therapies for infectious diseases other than AIDS. Wendy Keitel, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular virology and microbiology at BCM, has served as the principal investigator of the BCM vaccine unit since 1995. NIAID expects the new units to carry out more clinical trials in large populations and to test the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in specific vulnerable populations, such as infants and the elderly.

Baylor has been home to a VTEU from 1968 to 1999 and 2002 to present, and has tested numerous vaccines, including vaccines for prevention of pneumonia, whooping cough and anthrax. BCM investigators also participated in clinical trials that led to licensure of the nasal spray influenza vaccine.

Beaudet honored for human genetics research

Arthur Beaudet, M.D., chair and professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine, has been awarded the American Society of Human Genetics Allan Award.

The award recognizes substantial and far-reaching scientific contributions to human genetics over a sustained period of scientific inquiry and productivity. Beaudet focuses his research on the role of epigenetics in human disease with a particular emphasis on genomic imprinting and diseases associated with mental retardation and autism.

The ASHG established the award in 1961 in memory of William Allan, one of the first American physicians to conduct extensive research in human genetics. Beaudet will address participants at the annual meeting. A manuscript of this presentation will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics.

DeBakey Excellence in Research awards announced

The 2007 Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Awards have been presented to four Baylor College of Medicine researchers.

These awards recognize significant and outstanding research accomplishments. This year's recipients are Adam Antebi, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology; Brendan Lee, M.D., Ph.D., professor of molecular and human genetics; Zhou Songyang, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology; and David Spencer, Ph.D., associate professor of immunology.

Each scientist described his award-winning research at a presentation seminar and each received an Excellence in Research medallion from Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., and an unrestricted fund in support of their research programs.

BCM researchers named national Ellison scholars

Two Baylor College of Medicine researchers are among 18 nationwide to be selected as Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholars in Aging.

The awards to Ronald Davis, Ph.D., professor of molecular and cellular biology at BCM, and Adam Antebi, Ph.D., associate professor in BCM's Huffington Center on Aging, provide as much as $150,000 annually for four years to study various aspects of aging.

The Ellison Medical Foundation is the brainchild of Lawrence J. Ellison, the founder and chief executive officer of Oracle, the software corporation specializing in information management, and Dr. Joshua Lederberg, the Nobel Prize winning biologist. In the area of aging, it supports basic biomedical research relevant to understanding lifespan development processes and age-related diseases and disabilities.