University of Connecticut ||
Spring 2009
Vol. 10, No. 1
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Report on Research
In This Section:Researchers seek to find cause of MS
Researchers seek to find cause of MSExamination of bacterial strain holds promise
Robert Clark, associate professor of immunology at the UConn Health Center, has spent his career studying autoimmune diseases, disorders that can affect nearly all parts of the body when the immune system turns rogue and attacks itself. He is particularly interested in white blood cells known as lymphocytes, or T cells, which play an important role in the immune system. These cells have dual personalities: While they are critical in fighting infections and perhaps tumors, they are also suspected of being significant culprits in autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic neurological disease that affects the central nervous system. “MS is thought to be, at least partly, a T cell attack on the central nervous system,” Clark explains. “When T cells attack, the result is inflammation and destruction.” Most people who suffer from MS experience periodic symptoms. While the disease then goes into a dormant state, recovery from each flair-up is often not complete; hence the potential progressive nature of the disease. “What is unclear,” says Clark, “is whether the immune system is acting appropriately, launching an ultimately destructive attack because of some hidden infectious organism in the central nervous system, or whether it has become unregulated for some reason and is attacking normal self tissue.” For years, Clark had probed this second theory, studying the function of T cells and how they are activated in testing with rodent models. Like many researchers, he pondered what disease-associated viruses and bacteria outside of the central nervous system might trigger the immune system dysregulation and implosion that results in MS. Then four years ago, Clark began to think about the possibility of a hidden cause following a serendipitous conversation with Frank Nichols, a professor of periodontology and researcher of gum diseases at the UConn School of Dental Medicine. In the 1990s, Nichols had discovered that many bacteria, while commonplace in the body and generally benign, produce lipids – fatty compounds – that may cause inflammations in other parts of the body. Nichols has recently found these lipids in the blocked arteries of people suffering from atherosclerosis, suggesting there might be a link between the bacteria and the inflammation leading to arterial damage. Clark and Nichols decided to collaborate on research, funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which now has zeroed in on a single strain of bacteria so commonplace it exists in nearly everyone’s body. Clark and Nichols have discovered that the lipids produced by this bacterial strain can dramatically increase the severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of multiple sclerosis developed for laboratory mice.
“Even when the dose of this compound is extremely low, the impact is significant,” says Nichols. “The importance of these studies,” says Clark, “lies in their potential not only to identify a new mechanism for how autoimmune diseases are initiated, but also to help develop new therapies for those diseases.” Other significant research focused on the cause of MS is being conducted by UConn researchers Rashmi Bansal, associate professor of neuroscience, and Stephen Crocker, assistant professor of neuroscience, whose individual research projects focus on myelin, the protective coating that insulates nerve fibers called axons and is important for efficient transfer of nerve impulses. When myelin is damaged or destroyed by immune attack, nerves cannot communicate with each other and the debilitating consequences of MS begin. The long-term severe disability in MS results as axons that have lost their myelin sheath are also damaged. Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Bansal is examining the role of a protein called Fibroblast Growth Factor, which regulates the cells that produce myelin. Because high amounts of this protein are also found in areas of the nervous system where myelin has been damaged, she suspects that this normal biological factor that has gone awry may be a part of the MS puzzle. Fibroblast Growth Factors send signals to myelin-producing cells through three different receptors. Bansal’s earlier research revealed different results depending upon which receptor was involved. Her research raises important questions upon which a great deal of MS research pivots: Is it good or bad to have Fibroblast Growth Factor present in MS lesions? Is it likely to play a role in repairing myelin damage? Or is it more likely to damage axons? Bansal’s primary research seeks to resolve such questions by using mice that are missing the genes for one or more of the Fibroblast Growth Factor receptors. Crocker’s research – also funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society – studies myelin damage by focusing on a different protein, known as Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1). This protein blocks key enzymes secreted by immune cells that help movement of blood cells into the brain, where they can cause myelin damage and injury to the brain. Crocker and his team are studying the primary functions they believe to be important in TIMP-1. — Jim H. Smith
Madych honored for math research
Wolodymyr Madych, professor of mathematics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, received the 2008 Alumni Association Faculty Excellence in Research Award in Sciences in recognition of his fundamental research in the field of mathematics. Trained in the mathematical area known as classical harmonic analysis, he focuses his research in approximation theory, which has had a deep impact in areas such as artificial intelligence and the Radon transform, which constitutes the mathematical basis for tomography devices such as CAT scanners. In addition to his research, Madych provides academic and mentoring support to his undergraduate and graduate students.
Eminent Faculty named for energy research
Six top alternative energy researchers associated with the state’s Eminent Faculty Program have joined the School of Engineering, including the new director of UConn’s Global Fuel Cell Center. The Eminent Faculty Program provides $4 million in state funding to create a public-private partnership designed to attract researchers skilled in commercialization and technology transfer to UConn to promote economic development and enhance training of energy workers and entrepreneurs in the state. The program also allows UConn to purchase equipment for their laboratories. As part of the partnership, three major Connecticut energy companies – UTC Power of South Windsor, the Northeast Utilities Foundation of Hartford and FuelCell Energy of Danbury – contributed a combined $2 million as an industry match. “The Eminent Faculty Program has given Connecticut the opportunity to provide national leadership in the development of sustainable and environmentally sound energy alternatives,” says UConn President Michael J. Hogan. “This new research team in sustainable energy will build upon the strength of UConn’s Global Fuel Cell Center and bolster Connecticut’s emerging alternative energy industry.” The six faculty members, who hold appointments in the School of Engineering, bring with them a diverse array of expertise and experience. Among the institutions represented in their collective backgrounds are Westinghouse Electric, FuelCell Energy, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the NASA Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing. The initiative is also expected to help Connecticut meet the state’s goal of reducing fossil fuel consumption by 20 percent and replacing it with clean or renewable energy sources by 2020. The six faculty are:
New ‘quicker picker-upper'
Steven L. Suib, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and his former graduate student, Jikang Yuan, Ph.D. ’07, collaborated with colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create the membrane, which was the subject of a report in the scientific journal Nature. The material used in the study, which was initially developed at UConn by Yuan, is a membrane or paper that can be recycled many times and has applications in oil recovery and the filtering and purification of water.
Choi studies fire suppression in space
A research experiment developed by Mun Y. Choi, dean of the School of Engineering, is being conducted aboard the International Space Station. Choi has been working on the issue of combustion and fire suppression in space since 1994. The first phase of this current research – which he is conducting in conjunction with NASA, Princeton, the University of California-San Diego and the University of California-Davis – will investigate the behavior of isolated fuel droplets under microgravity conditions. The second phase will investigate flame extinction, soot formation and radiative heat transfer. “Fire behaves much differently in microgravity environments than it does on Earth,” says Choi. “On Earth, smoke rises from the flames, but aboard a space shuttle, it would disperse in all directions because of the absence of buoyancy. This makes locating the source of the fire and extinguishing it much more difficult.” Quenching a fire in space requires new methods that will not only put the fire out efficiently, but also prevent harm to astronauts in the enclosed environment, Choi says. “We’re evaluating different gases that are able to extinguish a fire in that environment, such as helium or carbon dioxide, that will get the job done without causing respiratory problems for those on board,” he says. “There is an urgency to ensure that astronauts are protected from fire and to develop better methods of putting fire out.”
Developing a 'nose' to 'sniff out' explosives
A multidisciplinary team of researchers headed by engineering professor Yu Lei is working to develop an electronic “nose” system to detect explosives. These UConn scientists hope their effort will lay the groundwork for a hand-held unit that could be used by officials to inspect the luggage of passengers boarding a plane, for example, or mounted on a small robotic vehicle to “sniff out” land mines. With a three-year grant of almost $800,000 from the National Science Foundation, a team led by Lei, an assistant professor of chemical, materials and biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering, hopes to develop real-time arrays of ultra-sensitive sensors that can sniff out even trace quantities of explosives. Other UConn researchers include Christian Brückner, an associate professor of chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Ali Gokirmak, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering; Krishna Pattipati, a professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Yushan Yan, professor of chemical and environmental engineering at University of California-Riverside. The researchers are focused on developing the science behind a miniaturized sensing device capable of detecting potential explosives with greater speed, selectivity and accuracy than ever before. They envision a device that will accurately and quickly distinguish and identify compounds commonly found in explosives. Lei and his team hope the project will help the nation attain a greater level of security in a variety of venues, including airports, bus terminals and post offices.
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UConn scientists have helped to create a membrane made from an interwoven mesh of nanowires that can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil, allowing it to absorb industrial discharges from seawater.
