2009: A year of discovery
| Date: December 15, 2009 |
January: Blocked protein prevents lupus in mouse model. Jackson Laboratory Professor Derry Roopenian and his laboratory, with collaborators at the National Institutes of Health, reported that a mouse model that ordinarily develops lupus, but bred without a specific protein receptor, stays healthy and exhibits none of the symptoms of the disease.
Related: A voice for lupus
February: Jackson launches "do-it-yourself" sperm cryopreservation kit. Critical technology for preserving and recovering mouse strains moved out of the laboratory and into the hands of researchers, as The Jackson Laboratory introduced the first "do-it-yourself" kit to freeze and conserve mouse sperm. The innovation allows researchers around the world to cost-effectively cryopreserve novel mouse strains in their own laboratories without the cost and infrastructure necessary for long-term storage.
March: Board member makes $1 million challenge gift to The Jackson Laboratory. Geneticist and author Weslie Janeway of New York, a member of The Jackson Laboratory's Board of Trustees, made a $1 million "challenge gift" to the Laboratory for the recruitment and support of new scientists working to understand the genetic basis of human disease. The challenge gift, intended to encourage $1 million in matching gifts from other donors, will be used to pay for faculty starting salaries, lab equipment and experiments.
April: The Jackson Laboratory--West moves to larger Sacramento site. The Jackson Laboratory expanded its footprint in California, home to the world's greatest concentration of biomedical researchers, moving its JAX--West facility from West Sacramento to a newly renovated, 85,000-square-foot space in Sacramento.
Related: California research agency grants $3.4M to JAX--West
May: New approach promises greater success for predicting drug safety. Scientists at The Jackson Laboratory, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and other institutions reported a new approach to testing drugs for potential toxicity. Testing acetaminophen, the commonly used NSAID, on 40 different mouse models revealed several gene variations associated with toxic reactions. These variations, not found in the standard drug testing process, matched those in human patients experiencing adverse reactions to the drug.
June: A lethal cancer knocked down by one-two drug punch. Jackson Laboratory researchers identified a gene involved with the inflammatory response that could hold the key to treating or even preventing chronic myeloid leukemia, a lethal cancer. The researchers showed that a combination of drugs knocked out CML in mouse models of the disease.
July: Jackson researchers extend lifespan of aging mice with transplant drug. Jackson Laboratory Professor David Harrison and collaborators reported that rapamycin, a drug used to prevent organ rejection in human transplant recipients, can significantly extend the lifespan of mice. Harrison's team fed rapamycin to mice late in their life--600 days of age--and extended their lifespan by 9 to 14 percent, making rapamycin the first pharmacological intervention proven to lengthen mammalian lifespan.
August: Jackson Laboratory breaks ground on new research facility. The Jackson Laboratory broke ground Aug. 5 for a new research facility. Funded with $4.7 million from the Maine Technology Asset Fund, the new building will expand the institution's capacity to conduct research and development and partner with Maine companies in related commercialization activities, as well as increase space to import new mouse models of human disease.
September: In patented process, The Jackson Laboratory "freezes" genetic variation in mice. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded The Jackson Laboratory a patent for a process that effectively prevents random change or "genetic drift" in its inbred mouse colonies. The Laboratory's Genetic Stability Program literally freezes genetic variation in its tracks by rebooting the production colonies with frozen embryos or gametes from specially prepared stocks every five generations.
October: Jackson Laboratory scientist wins Shaw Prize, "Nobel of the East." Jackson Laboratory Professor Emeritus Douglas Coleman, Ph.D., a pioneer in obesity and diabetes research, shared the prestigious Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Friedman of Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The $1 million prize, issued by the Shaw Prize Foundation of Hong Kong, is widely regarded as the "Nobel of the East."
November: Kill the cancer, not the patient: New testing approach could make chemotherapy safer. With a new two-year, $1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, Jackson Laboratory Professor Gary Churchill and collaborators are launching a radical new approach to testing three chemotherapeutic drugs for potential toxic effects. Instead of working with one hybrid strain of mouse, as is the pharmaceutical industry standard, the team is developing a new mouse variety that is designed to maximize genetic diversity, enabling researchers to home in on the gene variations associated with toxic reactions to cancer drugs in mice and humans.
December: Jackson researchers identify essential factors in brain organization. A Jackson Laboratory research team led by Associate Professor Robert Burgess showed that two proteins, called DSCAM and DSCAML1, are essential to the proper arrangement of neuronal circuits in the retina. The finding could light the way to understanding a wide range of neurodevelopmental defects, including Down syndrome, Tourette's syndrome, autism and schizophrenia.
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Phone: 207-288-6058 (journalists only)
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