Fall 2001
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For several years headlines have trumpeted the work of DNA researchers as they have made one advance after another in the long march toward mapping and sequencing the 30,000 genes now believed to make up the human genome. Achieving that goal marked a milestone in the history of science. The next great advance in understanding how humans function—and how some of our most deadly diseases may be stopped—will likely be a natural extension of this work and take place in the closely related disciplines of genomics and proteomics.
"Genomics and proteomics are the yin and yang of twenty-first century biomedical science," says Tom Stevens, a UO professor of chemistry and the director of the Institute of Molecular Biology. "Using our knowledge of both of them together we can come to a very advanced understanding of the whole organism."
Not only has the burst of research in the area of genomics yielded the genetic blueprint for humans, it has also led to the sequencing of genomes for important model species used extensively in biomedical research (for example yeast, fruit fly, worm, zebrafish, and mouse). The genomes of additional organisms are being sequenced at an increasing pace.
"Now we are exploring further, we are finding out how the elements detected in the genome of a given species affect the development and health of members of that species. That is the heart of genomics and proteomics," Stevens says. "And UO researchers are focusing a lot of attention on this area. We're working hard to develop a first-class genomics and proteomics facility here on campus."
One of the key contributors to this research effort at UO is biologist Roderick Capaldi, whose laboratory is at the forefront of one promising and rapidly advancing frontier of biomedical research.
"Our work is focused on basic questions of how cells function—specifically, how they make energy and use it," Capaldi says.
The energy production powerhouses in cells are called mitochondria. Mutations of the DNA inside mitochondria are believed to cause a variety of severe ailments, such as neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.
Doctors have long studied these devastating diseases, but only now are researchers discovering links between the maladies and mitochondrial malfunction. Advances made in Capaldi's laboratory have caught the attention of a San Diego-based pharmaceutical company, MitoKor, with which the university has entered into a licensing agreement. MitoKor will now develop clinical and therapeutic applications based on the discoveries made in Capaldi's laboratory together with the contributions of several other academic research groups.
Capaldi is one of about twenty professors who are members of the Institute of Molecular Biology, the area where much of the genomics and proteomics work at the UO is centered (another dozen researchers are conducting closely related genomic research). Stevens says that the group will likely benefit from the recent hiring of half a dozen extremely talented researchers.
"Our new faculty members are on the forefront of functional genomic and proteomic analysis and will be playing a central role as we make an increasingly large contribution to biomedical understanding," Stevens says.
He adds that the new faculty will complement the expertise of the existing faculty and help create a critical mass of research capability likely to lead to further advances.
"The level of complexity at which we are understanding development is truly amazing," he says. "We now have a 'whole organism' view of how the interconnections of life work out. I expect to see this result in a revolution in patient care in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, and other diseases. This is only the tip of the iceberg."