News & notes
Rapamycin findings among the top science stories for 2009
Two of the world's most influential science journals have cited a Jackson Laboratory research report in their year-end "top 10" lists of the most significant scientific breakthroughs for 2009, across all sciences.
In July, Jackson Laboratory Professor David Harrison, Ph.D., and collaborators reported in the journal Nature that rapamycin, a drug used to prevent organ rejection in human transplant recipients, can significantly extend the life span of mice. It was the first time pharmacological intervention was proven to lengthen mammalian life span.
This research was included in Nature's year-end tally of the top 10 science stories most accessed by their readers. The editors of Science also selected The Jackson Laboratory's report among the top 10 scientific breakthroughs of the year.
The Science editors commented, "It's not Ponce de Leon's vision of the fountain of youth: the secretion of a dirt-dwelling bacterium from Easter Island. But this year researchers showed that the compound, called rapamycin, boosts longevity in mice, the first time any drug has stretched a mammal's life span."
Kill the cancer, not the patient
For cancer patients on chemotherapy, the "cure"—toxic chemo drugs—can be as deadly as the disease itself. Jackson Laboratory Professor Gary Churchill, Ph.D., wants to change that with a radical new approach, supported by a new $1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, to test three chemotherapeutic drugs for toxic effects.
The pharmaceutical industry standard is to use a single mouse strain for testing. Churchill and The Jackson Laboratory are developing a new mouse population that is designed to maximize genetic diversity. Each "Diversity Outbred Mouse" will be genetically unique and, as a whole, the population will approximate the genetic diversity observed in human populations.
"So in terms of the information we're getting, it's almost like testing chemo drugs on every person on earth," Churchill says. "This sets the scene for future, highly reliable screens for cancer patients."
Elissa Chesler joins faculty
The Jackson Laboratory welcomed Assistant Professor Elissa Chesler, Ph.D., to its faculty in September 2009. Chesler previously led the systems genetics group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and served as an adjunct assistant professor in the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Neuroscience Institute.
Chesler works to improve how behavioral traits in mice are associated with complex underlying genetics and genomics. She then applies the data to human behavioral disorders. New tools to build larger genetic reference populations and analyze large data sets, such as the Collaborative Cross that provides genetically diverse but well-defined inbred mouse strains, are vital elements of her research.
"Traits that are easy to measure aren't necessarily the most useful," says Chesler. "I work to devise ways to ensure that mouse models are relevant to the human clinical state. We need to achieve greater precision in identifying how genetic, environmental and historical contributions shape behaviors."
Handel named AAAS Fellow
Mary Ann Handel, Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory, has received the distinction of AAAS Fellow, an honor bestowed by her peers. AAAS, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, is the world's largest scientific society and publishes the prestigious journal Science.
Handel was elected as an AAAS Fellow for "distinguished contributions to the understanding of mammalian gametogenesis and its genes, and service to reproductive biology research, including as Editor-in-Chief of Biology of Reproduction." She joins 531 fellow honorees in 2009 and is the only Mainer on the list.
"This is a most well-deserved honor," says Jackson Laboratory President and CEO Richard Woychik, Ph.D. "Mary Ann is not only a distinguished scientist in her field of reproductive genetics, but she is also a generous mentor and collaborator."
New partnership to battle ALS
Prize4Life is partnering with The Jackson Laboratory in the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease). Harvard Business School student Avi Kremer, who was diagnosed with ALS, founded Prize4Life with fellow students in 2004 to accelerate research for treating and curing ALS by using large inducement prizes.
The Jackson Laboratory will provide the most widely used ALS mouse models, and expert guidance for how to work with them, to researchers participating in one of Prize4Life's $1 million prize contests. Teams competing for the Avi Kremer ALS Treatment Prize are pursuing several approaches, including therapies to replace damaged cells, protein-based therapeutics and small-molecule drugs that interfere with ALS implicated pathways.
The most sought-after ALS mouse models, popularly known as SOD1 mice, are distributed from dedicated supply colonies maintained by The Jackson Laboratory's JAX® Breeding Services.
