Briefs
- FASEB Summer Research Conference honors Dr. Bill Brinkley
- Chan honored by Endocrine Society
- Collaborative SCCOR Created
FASEB Summer Research Conference honors Dr. Bill Brinkley
A summer research conference sponsored by the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology honored Bill Brinkley, Ph.D., senior vice president and dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, and his pioneering work as the "father of the field of mitotic spindle assembly."
The conference, "Mitosis: Spindle Assembly and Function," took place at Indian Wells, Calif., and featured more than 125 participants from the United States and other countries. The highlight of the celebration was a special "Roast and Toast Evening" that featured comments and personal accounts of friends, students and trainees who worked or trained in Brinkley's laboratory over a 45-year period. BCM faculty and students who presented research at the meeting included Dr. Li-Yuan Yu-Lee, professor, Department of Medicine; Dr. Yasuhiro Kurasawa, postdoctoral student, Department of Medicine; Dr. Rebecca MacCorkle, postdoctoral associate, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and graduate students Kimberly Weiderhold, Scott Slattery and Denae Nash, all in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.
Chan honored by Endocrine Society
Lawrence C. Chan, M.B.B.S., D.Sc., is the 2007 recipient of the Endocrine Society's Edwin B. Astwood Award Lecture. This award is presented annually to recognize outstanding research in endocrinology. Chan received the award in June at ENDO 07, the society's annual meeting.
A physician-scientist focusing in molecular endocrinology, Chan has made groundbreaking discoveries in fields from steroid hormone action to lipoprotein/carbohydrate metabolism and diabetes. He developed a gene therapy-induced islet neogenesis strategy for rodents with type 1 diabetes and showed for the first time that a transcription factor leads to the biogenesis of a complete organ (endocrine pancreas) in an adult animal. He also collaborated with scientists from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in developing a fat-ablation protocol for reversing obesity and type 2 diabetes by targeting the removal of adipose tissue. He is now testing his therapies on islet neogenesis and fat ablation in baboons with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Chan is director of the Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism at Baylor College of Medicine, where he is also professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and the Betty Rutherford Chair in Diabetes Research.
Collaborative SCCOR Created
BCM's medicine division of cardiothoracic surgery has partnered with The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and The University of Texas Medical School at Houston to use an $11.6 million grant to research thoracic aortic diseases. This is a five-year interinstitutional grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute that will create the Specialized Center for Clinically Oriented Research in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms and Dissections. The program will be directed by Diana Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Medical Genetics at the UT Medical School at Houston, and co-directed by Joseph Coselli, M.D., professor and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at BCM, and Hazim Safi, M.D., professor and chair of the department of cardiothoracic vascular surgery at The UT Medical School at Houston.
The research funded by the grant will focus on identifying genetic determinants and biomarkers associated with aortic dissections. The grant includes three projects and six related "cores" to support the research activity. Xing Li Wang, Ph.D., professor and director in the Cardiothoracic Research Laboratory at BCM, will lead one of the projects, which will focus on identifying genes that are predictive of the development and progression of thoracic aortic diseases so that patients at higher risk of aortic rupture can be recognized and treated earlier.
