Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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NADPH oxidase

Providing the potent part of probiotics

A Emory News item on a helpful part of the microbiome focuses on how the same type of bacteria – lactobacilli – activates the same ancient signaling pathway in intestinal cells in both insects and mammals. It continues a line of research from Rheinallt Jones and Andrew Neish on how beneficial bacteria stimulate wound healing by activating ROS (reactive oxygen species).

Asma Nusrat, MD

A idea behind this research is: if we know what parts of the bacteria stimulate healing, perhaps doctors can deliver that material, or something very close, to patients directly to treat intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.

This idea has advanced experimentally, as demonstrated by two papers from Jones and Neish’s frequent collaborator, Asma Nusrat, who recently moved from Emory to the University of Michigan. This team had shown that a protein produced by human intestinal cells called annexin A1 activates ROS, acting through the same N-formyl peptide receptors that bacteria do.

Nusrat told me Friday her team began investigating annexins a decade ago at Emory, and it was fortuitous that Neish was working on beneficial bacteria right down the hall, since it is now apparent that annexin A1 and the bacteria are activating the same molecular signals. (Did you know there is an entire conference devoted to annexins? I didn’t until a few days ago.)

In a second Journal of Clinical Investigation paper published this February, Nusrat and her colleagues show that intestinal cells release vesicles containing annexin A1 following injury. The wound closure-promoting effects of these vesicles can be mimicked with nanoparticles containing annexin A1. The nanoparticles incorporate a form of collagen, which targets them to injured intestinal tissue. Read more

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology, Uncategorized Leave a comment

Old-school medicine: relief of skin irritation with gentian violet

In the September issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Jack Arbiser and colleagues describe the use of gentian violet to provide some relief to a patient who came to the emergency room with a painful skin irritation. Arbiser is a professor of dermatology at Emory University School of Medicine.

A coal-tar dye which is inexpensive and available over the counter, gentian violet was first synthesized in the 19th century. It has been used as a component of paper ink, a histological stain, and an antibiotic or antifungal agent, especially before the arrival of penicillin.

“Clinicians should not forget about gentian violet for immediate pain relief and antibiotic coverage,” the authors conclude in their case report.

Biopsy of the patient's irritated skin shows that the gene angiopoetin-2 (dark brown) is turned on

In addition to its antibiotic properties, Arbiser reports that gentian violet has antiinflammatory effects, possibly because of its inhibition of the enzyme NADPH oxidase and the gene angiopoetin-2.

Posted on September 9, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized 1 Comment

Targeting antioxidants to mitochondria

Why aren’t antioxidants magic cure-alls?

It’s not a silly question, when one sees how oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species have been implicated in so many diseases, ranging from hypertension and atherosclerosis to neurodegenerative disorders. Yet large-scale clinical trials supplementing participants’ diets with antioxidants have showed little benefit.

Emory University School of Medicine scientists have arrived at an essential insight: the cell isn’t a tiny bucket with all the constituent chemicals sloshing around. To modulate reactive oxygen species effectively, an antioxidant needs to be targeted to the right place in the cell.

Sergei Dikalov and colleagues in the Division of Cardiology have a paper in the July 9 issue of Circulation Research, describing how targeting antioxidant molecules to mitochondria dramatically increases their effectiveness in tamping down hypertension.

Mitochondria are usually described as miniature power plants, but in the cells that line blood vessels, they have the potential to act as amplifiers. The authors describe a “vicious cycle” of feedback between the cellular enzyme NADPH oxidase, which produces the reactive form of oxygen called superoxide, and the mitochondria, which can also make superoxide as a byproduct of their energy-producing function.

Read more

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Heart Leave a comment

How to build a distinguished career studying vascular biology

Kathy Griendling, PhD (in green), surrounded by members of her lab

On June 15, 2010, vascular biologist Kathy Griendling delivered the 2010 Dean’s Distinguished Faculty lecture at Emory University School of Medicine.

Some of Griendling’s publications have been cited thousands of times by fellow scientists around the world, making her the lead member of a small group of researchers at Emory called the “Millipub Club.”

With her five children and one grandson watching in the back row, Griendling explained how she and her colleagues, over the course of more than two decades at Emory, have gradually revealed the functions of a family of enzymes called NADPH oxidases in vascular smooth muscle cells. Read more

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized Leave a comment