 
 |
RESEARCH FINDINGS: Researchers at the School of Medicine have written the final chapter in a story of how certain nerve cells may come to an untimely demise. In the process of learning how the brain chemical DOPEGAL is toxic in people with degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, they have learned more specifically how DOPEGAL causes the death of brain cells. Along with collaborators at Washington University and Cornell University, Saint Louis University researchers examined the way in which the neurotransmitter norepinephrine converts to DOPEGAL and how it is transformed from a life-giving messenger to a cell death-messenger, setting the cell up for suicide. DOPEGAL relays a deadly message to the cell's source of energy, called the mitochondria, that unleashes a cascade of events. During this process, called "apoptosis," DOPEGAL incites the mitochondria into discharging the proteins that initiate the chain reaction leading to cell death. Thus the mitochondria that ordinarily sustain the life of the cell are converted to suicide machines. "We now know the complete story of how cell death occurs in a group of nerve cells in Alzheimer's disease," said investigator William J. Burke, M.D., professor of neurology. "DOPEGAL generates free radicals, which are highly reactive chemicals that open a pore in the mitochondria releasing proteins that trigger cell death."
STUDENT SCHOLARS: Medical student Jay Muller recently won the AMA-ERF Award for overall excellence in clinical research at the National Student Research Forum in Galveston, Texas. Muller conducted his research in the laboratory of Mark Knuepfer (pharmacological and physiological science). Earlier Muller received first prize at the AOA Medical Student Research Forum at the School of Medicine, which gave him the opportunity to present his paper in the national competition. Second prize in the AOA forum went to Ron Yeh; Sarah Jenson received third prize; Daniel Grosu won fourth prize; and Colleen Horan-Panina and Scott Shipley were awarded honorable mentions.
VISITING PROFESSOR: Corporate health care executive Dr. Lawrence Prybil is joining the Saint Louis University Center for Health Care Ethics as a visiting professor. Prybil will take a sabbatical from his position as senior vice president of system direction and policy with the Daughters of Charity National Health System. Prybil joins the center to teach in the doctoral program in health care ethics as well as research ethical questions he has encountered in dealing with joint ventures and selecting candidates for leadership positions in Catholic health care corporations. Prybil holds a doctorate in hospital and health administration from the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa and has served in leadership capacities in Catholic health care corporations for more than 20 years. He has served on several commissions of the Catholic Health Association and the American Hospital Association. "For more than 20 years Dr. Prybil has been one of the persons to whom I refer when I speak about leaders in Catholic health care," said Kevin O'Rourke, OP, director of the Center for Health Care Ethics. "He will add a person of experience and virtue to our Ph.D. program." Dr. Gerard Magill, academic chairman of the doctoral program in health care ethics, agreed with O'Rourke. "The combination of Dr. PrybilŐs academic training and extensive experience in health care will provide a superb stimulus for research and teaching in our interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in health care ethics. We are deeply indebted to the Daughters of Charity National Health System for supporting this unique opportunity to enhance the mission of Catholic health care."
  |