KCALSI Annual Dinner Registration open,
keynote speaker announced
Participate in the KCALSI’s Annual Dinner Translational Research: Bridging Science & Healthcare on Wednesday evening, April 16, at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center. This is the premier life sciences event attended by more than 800 civic and business leaders, researchers, educators, and physicians. Translational Research creates the connection between discoveries of basic science to the treatment of patients who eventually benefit from those discoveries. KCALSI works with life sciences researchers at every stage of this cycle of science and life, helping to provide a higher quality of life for our citizens. The pharmaceutical industry impacts many aspects of the life sciences. Hear keynote speaker Kenneth I. Kaitin, PhD, Director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development and Associate Professor of Medicine Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Kaitin is an internationally recognized expert on the science of drug development and publishes extensively on factors contributing to the slow pace and high cost of pharmaceutical R&D. Sponsorships, tables and individual tickets are available at: www.kclifesciencesday.org
MU/UMKC researchers study African “miracle plant”
in first clinical trial
Researchers from The International Center for Indigenous Phytotherapy Studies (TICIPS), a center led by the University of Missouri and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, along with Kathy Goggin, associate professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and their teams will conduct a large clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the safety of Sutherlandia in HIV- infected adults in South Africa. Sutherlandia is a plant considered a “miracle drug” in Africa. This is the first time that an African traditional medicine will be the focus of a placebo-controlled, clinical trial study of efficacy and safety. TICIPS researchers hope to have the results of the clinical trial by Fall 2009. For more information, contact: Christian Basi at 573-882-4430.
K-State researchers developing mathematical models to predict spread of epidemics, better ways to mitigate disease
An interdisciplinary team of K-State researchers lead by Caterina Scoglio (associate professor of electrical and computer engineering) and Todd Easton (associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering) are developing mathematical models and simulation software that can predict how and where disease epidemics spread. Called “Epicenter” the simulations model where and when diseases will spread, whether among people, animals, plants or even among computers. What differentiates Epicenter's work from other modeling tools is that this software will run on laptop or desktop computers. Studying how diseases evolve in time is nothing new. Properties are static, but people and animals move. That's why part of the Epicenter research is developing models that can simulate the ways in which people, animals and other mobile vectors interact and spread disease. The models being developed with Epicenter could be used by public health agencies and others who develop emergency plans to deal with epidemics.
Pourquié Lab Links Beta-catenin Gradient
to Process of Somite Formation
The Stowers Institute’s Pourquié Lab has demonstrated the importance of Beta-catenin, a key component of the Wnt-signaling pathway in the process of somite formation. The work has been published on the web site of Nature Cell Biology and will appear in a future print issued. It was conducted using a novel real-time imaging technology.
The Pourquié team tested the importance of Beta-catenin, a protein that functions as the principal mediator of the Wnt-signaling pathway, in the process of somite formation. They showed that a newly identified Beta-catenin protein gradient in the PSM is critical in regulating mesoderm maturation. Real-time imaging experiments also demonstrated that, conversely, the segmentation clock is not caused by graded levels of Beta-catenin protein.
Since joining the Stowers Institute in 2002, the Pourquié Lab has made a number of significant discoveries related to somite development. Somites eventually give rise to the vertebral column, which is malformed in people born with congenital scoliosis. It is believed that some cases of congenital scoliosis are caused by mutations related to the segmentation clock.
Learn more about this work at www.stowers-institute.org/labs/PourquieLab.asp or contact Marie Jennings at 816-926-4015.
Stower’s Baumann Lab identifies elusive telomere
RNA subunit in single cell model
The Stowers Institute’s Baumann Lab has identified the long-sought telomerase RNA gene in a single-cell research model. Their findings have been posted to the web site of the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology and will appear in a future print edition.
Chromosomes shorten with every cell division. In stem cells and in cancer cells, this shortening is compensated by telomerase, an enzyme that adds short repeat sequences to the ends of chromosomes to replenish lost DNA. As telomerase is required for the continued growth of most cancer cells, the enzyme is considered a promising target for new anti-cancer drugs. A correlation between telomere length and a variety of diseases has further intensified interest in understanding telomerase and its regulation.
The RNA subunit of telomerase is of particular interest as it represents one of the two core components of telomerase and provides the template for the short repeats that are added to the ends of chromosomes. The Baumann Lab is working to understand how telomerase is assembled, how it is recruited to chromosome ends, and how its activity is regulated. These efforts may shed light on the sometimes surprising correlations between telomere shortening and stress, smoking, obesity, and a variety of diseases including cancer and coronary heart disease.. The lab is now turning its attention to how and where telomerase is assembled from its components in the cell and what processing it must undergo to become active. Dr. Baumann also is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at The University of Kansas Medical School of Medicine and a Pew Scholar in Biomedical Sciences. Learn more about his work at www.stowers-institute.org/labs/BaumannLab.asp.
KS Bioscience Authority announces $2.5 million
program to attract researchers
The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) announced a $2.5 million initiative to increase research capabilities at Kansas State University. The Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative will bring K-State's unique biosecurity research capabilities to investigators across the nation by offering researchers from academia, the federal government and nonprofit groups a chance to conduct research at K-State's Biosecurity Research Institute and develop solutions to today's biosecurity problems. Under this program, KBA will fund research awards of up to $500,000 to investigators for projects conducted in partnership with Kansas researchers, and that take place atthe Biosecurity Research Institute. K-State's Biosecurity Research Institute is a state-of-the-art facility where investigators will be able to address threats requiring BSL-3 and BSL-3Ag level biocontainment. The institute is designed to accommodate research in a variety of areas including infectious diseases of livestock and poultry, food safety and processing, plant science and the development of plant-based vaccines, insect vector, and basic molecular biology. Full details are available at http://www.kansasbioauthority.org
University of Kansas Hospital board approves
KUMed agreement
The University of Kansas Hospital Authority Board of Directors approved a new affiliation agreement with the University of Kansas Medical Center and Kansas University Physicians Inc. (KUPI) to open a new era of partnership between the three entities.
Among the highlights of the agreement:
- The university and physicians will be in closer alignment with the hospital, with funds to support research, education and the physician practices. The total amount of support climbs from approximately $30 million in Fiscal Year 2007 to an annualized amount of more than $46 million.
- The agreement will put the campus in the best position to achieve NCI designation. The hospital will maintain its successful role in managing patient care in the cancer center and will be the only entity to share the name University of Kansas Cancer Center without modification. The hospital will be a founding member of the Cancer Partners Advisory Board.
- The agreement will create new strength in cardiovascular care, including more fellowships and more funds for heart research.
- There will be more residents, paid for by the hospital, and the hospital will have a greater voice in the residency program.
- The hospital, university and physicians will work more closely together than ever before in joint strategic planning to align the goals of all entities.
For more information, contact Dennis McCulloch at 913-588-5246.
New plant study by Salk Institute for Biological Studies/UMKC researchers reveals layer of the transcriptome
Cells watch over the transciptome—the totality of all parts of the genome that are expressed in any given cell at any given time. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Missouri-Kansas City teamed up to peel back another layer of transcriptional regulation and gain new insight into how genomes work. The study, published in the December 28 issue of Cell, entails how the scientists zoomed in on a specific subclass of transcripts that are under the control of the exosome, a molecular machine in charge of controlled RNA degradation. For more information visit: www.salk.edu/news/news_press_details.php?id=193
MRI part of team to net NIH contract
Midwest Research Institute (MRI) will support and operate a National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases research lab, a contract worth about $15 million. Battelle Memorial Institute is the lead organization that will fulfill the contract at the High containment Integrated Research Facility under construction at Fort Detrick’s National Interagency Biodefense Campus in Frederick, MD. The contract includes options for additional biosafety-related work for MRI that could earn several million dollars in additional revenue.
Parkinson Foundation funds research
and patient care at KUMC
The Parkinson Foundation of the Heartland donated $60,000 to the University of Kansas Medical Center (KUMC) to help fund Parkinson’s research and patient care. The Parkinson’s program at the University of Kansas includes medical and surgical treatments as well as basic and clinical science research efforts. The central core of the program is the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center at KUMC. Recognized as a center of excellence by the National Parkinson’s Foundation, the Center offers diagnostic and treatment services for persons with Parkinson’s disease and related conditions. In addition to the usual medical treatments, surgical interventions for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders are possible and include deep brain stimulation. Patients may also participate in clinical research pertaining to investigational medications.
“We sincerely appreciate community partners like the Parkinson Foundation who are helping us in the fight to improve human health,” said Barbara Atkinson, MD, executive vice chancellor of KU Medical Center. “It is this kind of support that makes many of our research efforts possible, improves our patient care and ultimately leads to better treatments and cures.”
Formed 22 years ago in Kansas City, The Parkinson Foundation of the Heartland has been dedicated, since its inception, to raising awareness of Parkinson’s disease, to finding its cause and cure, and to providing education and support to patients, their families and their care providers.
For more information, contact Bob Hallinan at 913-588-5246.
KU adds animal health-oriented MBA Program
The University of Kansas is expanding its animal health-oriented Master of Business Administration program to accommodate needs of major employers in the area who are considered major players in animal-health products and sciences. In addition to Bayer Animal Health, which was first to take advantage of the program and already has one student enrolled, KU is working with Hill’s Pet Nutrition Inc., Ceva Biomune, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
KS Bioscience Authority names zoonotic
disease expert as “Eminent Scholar”
Juergen Richt, Kansas State University's Regents Distinguished Professor, has been named a 2008 Kansas Bioscience Eminent Scholar. The Kansas Bioscience Eminent Scholars Program is designed to attract distinguished bioscience researchers to Kansas research institutions, along with their research and commercialization activities. An eminent scholar is a relatively new hire and an individual acknowledged as a scholar of distinction by national measures. The honor also comes with roughly $2 million in research funding over the next five years. K-State will match those funds. Richt is an expert in emerging zoonotic diseases, is a veterinary microbiologist who has worked with multiple agents of zoonotic potential--those that can be transmitted between humans and animals, a growing concern for public health.
KCUMB’s Randolph awarded Templeton
Foundation Grant
Richard Randolph, Ph.D., KCUMB assistant professor and chair of bioethics, was among four scientists recently awarded a grant from the Templeton Foundation for a proposal, entitled “The Nature of Ethics and the Ethics of Nature: The Ultimate Reality of the Good, Transcendent and the Flourishing of Life.” Dr. Randolph also presented a paper, entitled “Environment and Health Care: A Case for Greater Collaboration within Christian Bioethics,” during the annual meeting of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities Oct. 18-21 in Washington, D.C.
Warren named KU vice provost for research
and graduate studies
Steve Warren, who served as interim vice provost for research and graduate studies at the University of Kansas, has been named Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. Warren was selected for the research and graduate studies position after a KU search committee conducted a nationwide search. Warren came to KU in 1999 from Vanderbilt University, where he was a professor of special education and deputy director of the John F. Kennedy Center for Human Development, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious mental retardation research programs. For more information, contact Jack Martin at 785-864-7100 or visit http://www.news.ku.edu/2008/january/24/warren.shtml
March of Dimes Awards Stowers’ Ho Yi Mak
with Basil O’Connor Research Award
The March of Dimes Foundation has awarded Ho Yi Mak, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator at Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award. The award of $150,000 over two years supports junior investigators whose work promises insight into the causes of human birth defects. Dr. Mak is the seventh Institute researcher to receive the award since 2003. Dr. Mak is working to identify the genes and mechanisms that govern lipid homeostasis. Using as a model system the nematode C. elegans, whose genome encodes many of the metabolic and signaling pathways that are found in humans, Dr. Mak’s lab investigates how the nervous system communicates with other tissues to control fat storage and how fat is packaged within cells. For more information, contact Marie Jennings at 816-926-4015.
Teva Acquires CoGenesys;
Seeks buyer for St. Joseph veterinary businesses
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire CoGenesys Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company with a broad based biotechnology platform and focused on the development of peptide- and protein-based medicines across broad therapeutic categories. CoGenesys was formed in 2005 as a division within Human Genome Sciences Inc., to focus on early drug development and was spun off as an independent company in 2006.
Brakke Consulting reports that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced it is seeking a buyer for its veterinary businesses—Abic Biological Laboratories Teva Ltd., as well as IVX Animal Health located in St. Joseph, Missouri.
XenoTech granted expansion land by KBA
XenoTech LLC, the Lenexa-based contrct research organization specializing in drug metabolism-related research, will become the second tenant in the Olathe’s 50-acre Kansas Bioscience Park. The Kansas Bioscience Authority will grant up to eight acres and XenoTech will invest nearly $10 million, more than doubling its space by constructing a new 54,000-square-foot company headquarters, laboratories and office space.
KBA launches zoonotic disease initiative;
announces planning grants
The Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) launched a $2.5 million initiative to develop plans to protect people and businesses against the malicious use of animal-borne diseases. The Collaborative Biosecurity Research Initiative (CBRI) aims to support research through developing countermeasures for foreign-animal diseases by strengthening institutional biosecurity capabilities. It will support the licensing of vaccine countermeasures, and provide advanced diagnostic capabilities and threat detection. The CBRI will provide up to $500,000 to investigators working on projects that partner with researchers at State University’s new biocontainment facility, the Biosecurity Research Institute.
Additonally, the KBA also announced planning grants ranging from $180,000 to $200,000 for three new Kansas Bioscience Centers of Innovation. They will focus on drug delivery at KU, plant research at K-State and medical device biomaterials research at KU, Wichita State University and Pittsburg State University.
KTEC names Pipeline Entrepreneurs
Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp’s (KTEC’s) Pipeline fellowship program announced its new “Pipeline Class” of six entrepreneurs. They are: Carlos Antequera (Netchemia); Alfred Botchway (Xenometrics, LLC); Reggie Chandra (Professional Engineering Corp.); Todd Gentry (Inno-Labs); Jeff Jargroves (ProPharma Group Inc); Andrew Hoelscher (Hoelscher Agricultur Development.) Each is entitled to spend a year in a state-financed program designed to cultivate new business startup activity. The program also offers recipients expert assistance with their businesses, cutting-edge education, skill building and networking, as well as access to accomplished mentors and investors who finance early-stage technology companies.
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