AUGUST 2008

The Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute provides this news brief for civic, corporate, political and scientific leaders to update you on the progress of the life sciences initiative in the Kansas City area. To unsubscribe, please contact Terri Bogina at 816-753-7700.

• KCALSI’s One Medicine: One Health
  Symposium a success
• KU earns grant to aid researchers in identifying genetic disease risk
• K-State researchers awarded nearly $1 million to test remedies, link between E. coli and distillers’ grains
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awards grant for Bi-state Nursing Workforce Innovation Center at UMKC
• The University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center report results of clinical trial for “Blood Substitute” PolyHeme®
• K-State-developed rapid test for pathogens could be used to detect diseases used in bioterrorism
• KCUMB holds commencement for MS in Biomedical Sciences
• KU-led collaborative lands $10 million grant for protein structure research

KCALSI’s One Medicine: One Health
Symposium a success

Nearly 100 professionals took part in KCALSI’s second annual symposium held in conjunction with the Central Veterinary Conference . KCALSI worked with the veterinary schools of its key stakeholders--the University of Missouri and Kansas State University—to offer the free research symposium, affording members of the medical, veterinary and public health communities to hear experts present on topics relevant to the One Medicine: One Health initiative. National speakers included Dr. Lisa Conti, Director, Division of Environmental Health of the Florida State Health Department and luncheon keynote by Dr. David E. Swayne, of the USDA’s Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory. Regional speakers included: Drs. David G. Renter, and Ludek Zurek, from K-State and Drs. John R. Middleton and Jeff W. Tyler, from MU.

KU earns grant to aid researchers in identifying genetic disease risk

University of Kansas professor, Stuart J. Macdonald, received nearly $2.5 million in federal funding to study the genetic control of traits that affect crop yield, human disease risk and drug response. The new grant will provide the research community with a multifaceted set of resources and tools to efficiently identify genetic factors that cause trait variation in the fruit fly. Results will help guide the design and interpretation of future studies that seek to identify variations in those genetic factors as they relate to human disease risk. Macdonald heads the five-year project funded by the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health. More info

K-State researchers awarded nearly $1 million to test remedies, link between E. coli and distillers’ grains

A research team headed by Kansas State University E. coli O157:H7 expert T.G. Nagaraja has been tapped by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the connection between feeding distillers' grains and increased E. coli 0157:H7 populations in cattle and assess strategies to reduce the presence of the naturally occurring pathogen in the animals.

The $939,220 National Research Initiative in Food Safety grant will be used to look at ways to reduce the amount of E. coli O157:H7 present, such as administering a probiotic, an experimental vaccine and feeding brown seaweed, a plant shown to have an effect in reducing E. coli O157:H7 prevalence in cattle. Also, they will study whether feeding varied amounts of the distillers' grain or making it dry or wet has an effect on the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 detected in the feces.

Distillers' grains are a byproduct of ethanol produced from cereal grains that are used in cattle feed. They are rich in fiber, energy and protein.

For more information, contact Cheryl May at
785-532-6415.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awards grant
for Bi-state Nursing Workforce Innovation Center
at UMKC

The Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas and the REACH Healthcare Foundation were awarded a $250,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to help create a center aimed at improving nursing. The Bi-State Nursing Workforce Innovation Center will be housed at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing and will focus on innovative measures to address the nursing shortage and improve patient outcomes.

The grant is one of 10 awarded nationwide this year as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future initiative. The initiative is in the third year of a five-year commitment to invest $10 million in partnerships to improve the nursing shortage.

In its first two years, the center will survey local hospitals and clinics about work environment issues, create a Clinical Scene Investigator Academy to provide education and technical support, and conduct a regional conference on nursing work force innovation.

The University of Kansas Hospital and Medical Center report results of clinical trial for “Blood Substitute” PolyHeme®

The Level I Trauma program at The University of Kansas Hospital, along with the Human Subjects Committee of the University of Kansas Medical Center, report that the national clinical trial for the blood substitute PolyHeme® failed to show a significant benefit to patients. In the trial, PolyHeme® did not present apparent harm to the patients, but failed to show that it was a significant improvement in treating trauma patients in the field in comparison to the standard care of saline solution.

This study enrolled patients who were at risk of dying from severe trauma and blood loss, and was conducted at 32 Level I trauma centers in 19 states. The study began locally in December 2005 and ended in August 2006.

In the local study, Wyandotte, Douglas and Leavenworth Counties provided community consent to participate in the trial. Ambulances in those counties carried PolyHeme® to treat critically injured and bleeding patients who qualified under the study’s protocols.

For more information, contact Bob Hallinan at
913-588-5246.

K-State-developed rapid test for pathogens could be used to detect diseases used in bioterrorism

Because dangerous diseases often spread faster than they can be identified in the laboratory, K-State researchers have developed a test to reduce diagnosis detection time from days to hours. K-State researchers, Sanjeev Narayanan and Greg Peterson, developed the test recognizing that most

human and animal infections are caused by a mixture of pathogens. Should the country be attacked with biological weapons, the new test will help in quickly identifying all of the bacterial pathogens used. Their testing uses a device called a DNA spotted microarray to seek out the specific genetic markers that set one pathogen apart from another and determine antibiotic resistance. They

have analyzed the DNA from hundreds of pathogens and synthesized DNA probes for the specific genetic sequences that set each pathogen apart. So far, they can detect as many as 557 genes, making it possible to screen for 40 different species of bacteria, 1,200 serotypes of Salmonella, five common serotypes of E. coli, and resistance to the 45 most common antibiotics used to treat human and animal illnesses caused by these pathogens.

Narayanan said the next step will be to develop a test that indicates how much of a pathogen is present indicating the severity of an infection. For more information, contact Cheryl May at 785-532-6415.

KCUMB holds commencement for MS in
Biomedical Sciences

Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences conferred its third class of Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences. KCALSI president, Dr. Bill Duncan, was the keynote at the KCUMB College of Biosciences’ Commencement, July 29. Dr. Duncan’s remarks focused on the need for “physicians who are also researchers…as they not only “treat patients, but…can be involved in the cure.” He also urged graduates to put down deep roots in the region and take advantage of the expanding life sciences climate. The degree, Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences, was conferred on 24 candidates.

KU-led collaborative lands $10 million grant for protein structure research

The COBRE in Protein Structure and Function, a collaborative University of Kansas-led program for health-related basic research in protein structure and function will continue for another five years, thanks to a $10.1 million grant awarded recently by the National Institutes of Health. The COBRE in Protein Structure and Function focuses on identifying and understanding cellular proteins responsible for normal cell functioning, and cell dysfunction in diseases. To develop therapeutic remedies for those diseases, it’s necessary to understand the proteins involved.

The COBRE in Protein Structure and Function, one of 80 Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence in 23 states, is directed by Robert Hanzlik, a professor of medicinal chemistry on KU’s Lawrence campus.  Other institutions participating in the grant are KU Medical Center, Wichita State University and Kansas State University. The COBRE receives administrative support from KU’s Higuchi Biosciences Center and additional funding from the KU Center for Research and the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation.

The renewed grant was supported in part by the National Center for Research Resources’ Institutional Development Awards Program, which helps build research infrastructure to enhance institutions’ research capacities and competitiveness for NIH grants. For more information, visit National Center for Research Resources or the KU News Release.

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