From the Labs
Houston, Texas
Volume 8, Issue 1
February 2009

Briefs

 

BCM neuroscientist receives international Eppendorf-Science award

The notion that memories can be turned on and off with a flick of a switch is the basis for the award winning research of Mauro Costa-Mattioli, Ph.D. assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

Costa-Mattioli is being honored with the prestigious Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology for his work identifying a single molecule that when modified can affect memory.

His findings are outlined in his winning essay titled "Switching memories ON and OFF" that can be found in the current publication of the journal Science.

Costa-Mattioli’s recruitment to Houston was supported by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation. He joins a growing memory research community in the Department of Neuroscience and in the new Mitchell Center for Brain Aging and Dementia and the Center for Memory and Learning at BCM.

The Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology acknowledges the role of neurobiology in advancing the understanding of the functioning of the brain and the nervous system. It is awarded annually for the most outstanding neurobiological research by a young scientist.

Zoghbi receives HHMI Collaborative Innovation Award

Huda Y. Zoghbi, M.D., professor of molecular and human genetics and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at BCM, recently received the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Collaborative Innovation Award to fund the identification of genes that decrease the amount of misfolded proteins contributing to neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer and Parkinson’s disease.

Zoghbi, also a professor of pediatrics, neurology and neuroscience at BCM, will collaborate with Juan Botas, Ph.D., associate professor of molecular and human genetics at BCM, Thomas Westbrook, Ph.D., assistant professor of biochemistry at BCM, and Harry Orr, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota.

The research team will use genome-wide screens, a technology used by Westbrook in his cancer research. It allows them to screen whole genomes to find potential targets that inhibit the misfolded proteins.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is awarding a total of $10 million to eight teams of scientists, including the team led by Zoghbi. The goal is to allow groups of scientists to devote substantial time and energy to pursuing collaborative research. The award is intended to encourage both HHMI investigators and scientists outside HHMI to undertake projects that are new and so large in scope that they require a team of collaborators with a range of expertise.

Multi-million dollar award makes BCM home to Eisenberg Center

More than $6.8 million over two years has been awarded to Baylor College of Medicine in Houston from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, making it the new home for the national John M. Eisenberg Clinical Decisions and Communications Science Center.

The Eisenberg Center was created in 2003 to help translate complex scientific information gathered and created by AHRQ into short, plain language materials. The information is used by consumers, clinicians and policymakers to help make decisions about health care.

"The Eisenberg Center gives Baylor College of Medicine a significant opportunity to work with AHRQ to enhance the understanding and use of scientific evidence in health care and to advance translational science," said Michael Fordis, M.D., founder and director of BCM’s Center for Collaborative and Interactive Technologies. Fordis will serve as principal investigator and director of the Eisenberg Center.

The Eisenberg Center also develops electronic tools for improving physician and patient participation in decision-making about health care. These tools may include interactive web sites, online publications, clinical decision support, e-mails or downloadable pamphlets for use in doctor’s offices.

The Eisenberg Center serves as the single national center for translation and dissemination of the AHRQ research conducted under the Effective Health Care Program including 14 Evidence-Based Practice Centers, 13 centers in the Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions about Effectiveness Network, and 14 Centers for Education and Research on Therapeutics.

"Since it was created in 2005, the Effective Health Care program has made great strides toward generating an important body of comparative effectiveness research to benefit patients, clinicians and policymakers," said Jean Slutsky, director of the AHRQ’s Center for Outcomes and Evidence. "We’re very excited that the Baylor College of Medicine will help build on that work and disseminate the results of these research projects."