Spring 2013 issue (pdf) - Medical College of Wisconsin

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STAT News and announcements from The Medical College of Wisconsin MCW’s NIH funding rank highest in more than decade The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) was ranked 42nd among the nation’s 136 medical schools receiving National Institutes of Health (NIH) research and training support in fiscal year (FY) 2012. This is the highest rank MCW has received in more than 10 years. The improved ranking moved MCW ahead of the medical schools at The Ohio State University, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Boston University Medical Campus and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Total NIH funding to MCW in FY 2012 was $95,466,833, which is a three-percent increase over FY 2011 and the second-largest NIH base funding amount in school history. The total number of NIH grants awarded to MCW in FY 2012 was 193. Grant funds research on genetics of diabetes Aron M. Geurts, PhD (left) and Yi-Guang Chen, PhD, are leading collaborative diabetes research involving Medical College of Wisconsin and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute investigators. The Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute received a fouryear, $4.3 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to investigate the genes involved in type 1 diabetes. Aron M. Geurts, PhD, Associate Professor of Physiology with MCW’s Cardiovascular Center and Human and Molecular Genetics Center, and Yi- Guang Chen, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics with Children’s Research Institute and the Max McGee National Research Center for Juvenile Diabetes at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, are principal investigators. Type 1 diabetes accounts for approximately five percent of all diabetes cases in the United States, affecting about 1.3 million Americans. Incidence of the disease has risen in recent years. This project will investigate genes on a number of chromosome regions that recent large-scale genetic studies have identified as possibly contributing to the development and progression of type 1 diabetes. MCW researchers were the first to demonstrate zinc-finger nuclease technology and among the first to apply transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) technology for influencing genes. These technologies, which enable the rapid generation of genetically modified models that are time- and cost-efficient, will be used in this study to manipulate genes in an animal model of type 1 diabetes. By discovering which genes are important to the development of the disease, researchers intend to advance understanding of type 1 diabetes and contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches. Twelve state-wide partnership projects receive funding The Medical College of Wisconsin’s Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program (HWPP) will fund 12 new community health projects totaling $4.5 million. Four Impact awards will receive approximately $750,000 each over five years and eight Development awards will receive approximately $200,000 each over two years. Impact awards aim to implement health promotion and disease prevention programs targeting a range of diverse health needs. One of this year’s four Impact projects provides mental health support for veterans while another grant helps create healthy schools to reduce obesity. Of the eight Development awards aimed at program planning and pilot projects, one award focuses on integrating hunger relief and health care efforts to better manage care and nutrition for uninsured and underinsured diabetes sufferers. HWPP is one of three programs within the College’s Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment. Since 2004, HWPP has invested $43.8 million in more than 140 community-academic health improvement projects. Visit mcw.edu/healthierwisconsin for details about the program and the newest funded grants. 4 ALUMNI NEWS Spring 2013
Researcher studies non-alcoholic fatty liver disease The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has awarded a five-year, $7 million grant to a pediatric gastroenterology researcher to investigate the link between intestinal bacteria and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Nita H. Nita H. Salzman, MD, PhD Salzman, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics (Gastroenterology) at MCW and a researcher at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute, will collaborate as PI on the project with an investigator at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. NAFLD occurs when excess fat has built up in liver cells due to causes other than alcohol. This disease may affect up to one third of Americans. NAFLD can progress into non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, in which the liver is inflamed and may ultimately develop cirrhosis. Recent evidence has demonstrated a link between obesity, NAFLD and the makeup of the intestinal microbiome, a vast, complex and delicately balanced ecosystem comprising bacteria, fungi and viruses. The intestinal microbiome plays an important role in human health by preventing infection, contributing to normal immune function and influencing metabolism. Disruption of this ecosystem may lead to abnormal immune and metabolic responses that are hypothesized to be involved in the development of NAFLD. The goal of this study is to investigate the composition of the intestinal microbiome in obese pediatric patients with and without NAFLD to determine whether differences in their intestinal bacteria could relate to the development of fatty liver and liver inflammation in children. Understanding how changes in the microbiome affect the progression of NAFLD may lead to new methods of predicting the disease and novel interventions using prebiotics, probiotics or antibiotics to manipulate the microbiome for prevention or treatment. Braza appointed Chair of PM&R Diane W. Braza, MD ’87, GME ’93, Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), has been named Chair of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation after a national review. Dr. Braza is the physical medicine and rehabilitation residency program director and had been serving as interim chair of the department since October 2011. Prior to assuming the role of interim chair, she served as Medical Director of Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin SpineCare Program. Dr. Braza practices at Froedtert Hospital. She oversees MCW’s physical medicine and rehabilitation programs at Froedtert, the Zablocki VA Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. She joined the MCW faculty in 1992. Alumnus named to new endowed hematology chair Parameswaran Hari, MD, Fel ’04, MS ’06, Associate Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology), has been named the first Armand J. Quick/William F. Stapp Professor in Hematology at MCW. Dr. Hari is an internationally renowned researcher in multiple myeloma, and serves as director of the adult Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at Froedtert Hospital. He is also the scientific director for the plasma cells disorder working committee at the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research. The Armand J. Quick/William F. Stapp Professorship was established this year by MCW from an endowment provided by the late William F. Stapp, MD ’51, and his family to honor the memory of Armand J. Quick, MD, and to provide support to a leader in hematology research and practice. The late Dr. Quick was Chairman of Biochemistry at Marquette University School of Medicine (MCW’s predecessor) from 1944-1964. His research in the fields of blood clotting and the diagnosis and treatment of bleeding disorders brought him international recognition. He is best known for developing the “Quick Prothrombin Time,” a clinical blood test to diagnose bleeding disorders and monitor dosage of anticoagulation therapy that was a critical driver of research in the field and is still used widely. Like our page on Facebook facebook.com/medicalcollegeofwisconsin ALUMNI NEWS Spring 2013 5
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