From the Labs
Houston, Texas
Volume 8, Issue 2
March 2009

Briefs

By Ruth SoRelle, M.P.H.

Maletic-Savatic honored with McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award

Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and child neurologist in the Division of Child Neurology at Texas Children's Hospital, has been honored with the McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award.

The funds, a total of $300,000 over a three-year period, will support her research on the metabolomics of the autistic brain. Her goal is to form a multidisciplinary core program with a common goal of finding biomarkers of autism to help diagnose the disorder early and find clues that might help treatment of the affected children.

The McKnight Foundation supports the McKnight Neuroscience of Brain Disorders Award, created in 2000 to encourage innovative efforts to solve the problems of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Annual vaccinations can help prevent flu in long run

Getting the influenza vaccine year after year can provide consistent protection against the virus and its complications, said an expert at Baylor College of Medicine.

"It's important to remember that it's never too late to get the flu shot," said Shital Patel, M.D., assistant professor of medicine-infectious diseases at BCM. Since the influenza virus peaks around January and can last through February or even March, getting the vaccine can also provide protection during these last few weeks.

It's still important to avoid contact with someone who has the flu and to maintain good hygiene to keep from getting the flu, said Patel.

Houston Zoo, Baylor College of Medicine to study elephant virus

The Houston Zoo and Baylor College of Medicine are collaborating on a project to study the elephant herpes virus in an effort to protect elephants in zoos and in the wild from this deadly disease.

"The Houston Zoo is committed to this cause, not only to benefit our own elephants, but elephants throughout the world," said Houston Zoo Director Rick Barongi. "Baylor College of Medicine is a recognized leader in virology research for humans and it is our hope that both elephants and humans will benefit from this study."

The collaboration between BCM and the Zoo was initiated after Mac, a 2-year-old Asian elephant, died of the virus in November. Alan Herron, D.V.M., director of the Comparative Pathology Laboratory in the Center for Comparative Medicine at BCM, called the Houston Zoo's Director of Veterinary Services, Joesph Flanagan, D.V.M. and the two of them discussed how beneficial it would be to appropriately test for the disease and to work to develop a vaccine for it.