Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine Receives $1.6 Million Gift

The W. M. Keck Foundation has awarded the Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine $1.6 million for research on regeneration that will help researchers study fundamental questions about the mechanisms of regeneration in amphibians.

The ultimate significance of these insights, according to David L. Stocum, Ph.D., director of the center and professor of biology, lies in their potential to develop pharmaceutical therapies for spinal cord and limb injuries that would improve quality of life and restore economic independence.

If these pharmaceutical miracles are brought to fruition, the state’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund will deserve part of the credit. A 21st Century Fund grant kick-started the center’s program to move its research into the drug discovery pipeline, and it helped to leverage future grants from Keck and other national funders.

The center’s recent successes to attract significant funding (from Keck and others) is evidence of how the state’s investment in academic research is fueling economic growth.

Quantum Dot Resarch Creates Interest Among Scientists

The American Chemical Society prepares quarterly lists of the most widely accessed articles in each of its premier journals. The second most accessed article in Chemistry of Materials for the period of April-June 2006 was the article on “quantum dot synthesis” by professors Christoph Naumann, Ph.D., and Eric Long, Ph.D., both of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology.

Quantum dots are highly fluorescent nanoscale-sized solid particles that are finding more applications as imaging probes in the burgeoning field of nanomedicine. Due to their sheer brightness and high photostability, quantum dots have the ability to act as molecular “beacons.” When attached to compounds or proteins of interest, quantum dots allow researchers to track movements within biological media or whole organisms, significantly impacting the way medical professionals study, diagnose and treat diseases.

The work of Naumann and Long will make quantum dot technology more accessible.

Quantum dot materials are costly and inconvenient for biomedical laboratories, as synthesis requires high-temperature techniques. The new synthesis developed at IUPUI makes use of room temperature sonochemistry to generate quantum dots that span the full range of colors in the visible spectrum. According to Naumann, this new, low temperature procedure may also facilitate the large-scale synthesis of quantum dots and allow inclusion of temperature sensitive materials in the synthesis procedure itself.

This is very exciting research—the kind of research that will lead to improvements in medical diagnosis and to further breakthroughs in fundamental science. To view the article, visit ACS Publications.

Blazer-Yost Laboratory Goes International

Associate Professor Bonnie Blazer-Yost, Ph.D., and Ph.D. student Charity Nofziger presented research at an international meeting in Catanzaro, Italy last fall. Blazer-Yost is a co-organizer for the kidney and liver disease conference that brought the IUPUI researchers together with scientists from universities in Italy and Germany, as well as other parts of the United States.

The Blazer-Yost laboratory in the Department of Biology is part of an international consortium developing animal models which can be used to study a variety of liver and kidney diseases. As part of these consortium studies, Blazer-Yost and two graduate students, Nofziger and Aaron West, have performed collaborative research in both German and Italian universities in the past two years. An International Development Grant from IUPUI enabled the researchers to travel to Europe for these studies and, therefore, to become a formal part of the consortium. Currently, the IUPUI lab is hosting two visiting scientists from Italian universities.

The Blazer-Yost laboratory is investigating how hormones regulate salt and fluid balance by effects in the kidney. Their studies have direct medical relevance to hypertension, metabolic syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, congestive heart failure and cystic fibrosis.

One aspect of this research which has the potential to affect the treatment of many people is the investigation of the role of insulin in stimulating salt and water reabsorption. Blazer-Yost hypothesizes that the increased circulating insulin which is found in metabolic syndrome positively regulates sodium retention and is one of the major factors in the development of hypertension, which is a clinical correlate of metabolic syndrome.

The Blazer-Yost laboratory is working with GlaxoSmithKline on one of the side effects of their TZD class of insulin sensitizing agents.

It is important to understand the basic physiology of salt and water rentention because these contribute to the development of high blood pressure, a disease affecting more than half the U.S. population aged 50 and older.