Medicine@Yale
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November/December 2012 volume 8, issue 5 Advancing Biomedical Science, Education, and Health Care Yale-New Haven and Saint Raphael are “healthier Levin leaves indelible mark on Yale medicine together.” In 2004, when Yale President Rich- working with him, I could join a > Page 3 ard Levin was hoping to recruit Rob- school that was already great and make ert J. Alpern, m.d., as the 16th dean it even greater. He had a vision for the of the School of Medicine, he told school and recognized that it would Alpern during a visit to New Haven require substantial investment that he that the medical school was excel- was willing to commit to.” lent, but should be better, and that he Levin, who has announced that was prepared to make the investment he plans to retire from the presidency with the right person to make it as next June after a 20-year tenure, made great as it should be. good on that commitment, fully in- Alpern had no plans to leave his tegrating the School of Medicine into Newly appointed position as dean of UT Southwestern his vision of Yale’s role in the world in Ob/Gyn chair has Medical School in Dallas, Texas, an the 21st century. institution where he had been on the In his inaugural address in 1993, michael marsland deep roots at Yale During President Richard Levin’s 20-year faculty for 17 years. Levin had emphasized the impor- At the beginning But over the course of many tance of university-based scientifi c tenure, biomedical science has fl ourished at Yale, with unprecedented increases in funding, of October, Hugh e-mails and conversations, Alpern research, and throughout his tenure research space, faculty hires, and the launch of S. Taylor, m.d., recalls, “Rick convinced me that he has pursued a vision // Levin (page 6) novel interdisciplinary institutes. took up his new posts as chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Neuroscientist joins Institute of Medicine Gynecology, Hugh Taylor and Reproduc- Expert on neurobiology of addiction elected to neurobiology and pharmacology, of her work on the molecu- tive Sciences at lar underpinnings of tobacco and alcohol abuse, depression, the School of Medicine and chief branch of National Academies charged with and eating behaviors. “But the overall philosophy—that you of Obstetrics and Gynecology at providing advice on health to policymakers can say something meaningful about molecules in the brain Yale–New Haven Hospital (ynhh). that can inform how we think about the molecular basis With plans that include new cross- “We’re never going to understand all the molecules neces- of behavior—that’s something that’s approachable, and it’s disciplinary clinical programs and sary for an entire behavior,” says Marina Picciotto, ph.d., the worth doing.” translational research, Taylor aims Charles B.G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and professor of The molecules that have attracted most of Picciotto’s to further strengthen an already interest are nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), pro- highly regarded department. teins embedded in nerve cell membranes that are activated “I’m inheriting a department by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, but also respond to with a fabulous reputation and chemicals like nicotine. In addition to a fundamental in- legacy,” Taylor says, noting that volvement in tobacco addiction, nAChRs have been impli- Yale’s past achievements in Ob/Gyn cated in Alzheimer’s disease and in the dysfunctional sensory include major advances in fetal heart processing seen in schizophrenia. monitoring, obstetric ultrasound, Her scientifi c achievements and their relevance to human and in vitro fertilization (ivf). “I’m health received major recognition this October with her very fortunate to have taken on the election to the Institute of Medicine (iom), the arm of the role of chair in a department that National Academies that provides science-based advice on has trained more leaders in the fi eld medicine and health to policymakers, professionals, and the than any other Ob/Gyn department public at large. in the country.” “Marina has made important strides in the area of nico- As a former resident and fel- tine addiction research, and her contributions to our under- low at Yale, Taylor is himself one standing of the many roles played by nicotinic acetylcholine such leader. Colleagues spotted michael marsland receptors have been seminal,” says Robert J. Alpern, m.d., his promise early. Dean Robert J. Marina Picciotto is one of 70 American scientists elected in 2012 to the In- dean and Ensign Professor of Medicine. “She’s a world-class Alpern, m.d., recalls a conversa- stitute of Medicine (iom), “one of the highest honors in the fi elds of health scientist, and I couldn’t be prouder of her election to the Insti- tion some years ago with Charles and medicine [recognizing] individuals who have demonstrated outstand- tute of Medicine.” Lockwood, m.d., Taylor’s prede- ing professional achievement and commitment to service” according to the iom website. Part of the National Academies, the iom’s mission is “to pro- Picciotto began studying nAChRs as a postdoctoral fellow cessor as chair, now dean of the vide unbiased and authoritative advice to decision makers and the public.” in the lab of Jean-Pierre Changeux, ph.d., at // IOM (page 6) College of Medicine // Taylor (page 7) Non-Profit Org. inside this issue U. S. Postage 1 Church St., Suite 300, New Haven, CT 06510-3330 2 Lifelines www.medicineatyale.org paid Joan Steitz, celebrated researcher, New Haven, CT forceful advocate for women in science. Permit No. 526 3 The body out of balance New study of inflammatory bowel disorder reveals roots in defense against bacteria. 5 Giving the heart a hand New procedure helps those with weakened hearts get through challenging surgery. also Advances, pp. 3, 5 Out & About, p. 4 @YaleMed f /YaleMed lifelines Medical school alumnus awarded a Nobel Prize Brian K. Kobilka, m.d., a 1981 graduate of the As lauded for her advocacy for women scientists as for medical school her own research, Joan Steitz and professor of has been a leader among molecular and women faculty at the School cellular physiol- of Medicine and contributed ogy and of medi- to the infl uential National Academy of Sciences report Brian Kobilka cine at Stanford “Beyond Bias and Barriers,” University School on the status of women in of Medicine, has won the 2012 Nobel science and engineering. She Prize in Chemistry. He shares the recently won the Vanderbilt prize with Robert J. Lefkowitz, Prize in Biomedical Science for her “stellar record of re- m.d., of Duke University Medical search accomplishments and Center, for their work on sensors . her mentorship of women lodged in the cell membrane known in science.” as G-protein-coupled receptors (gpcrs). Joan Steitz terry dagradi Kobilka and Lefkowitz’s work has contributed greatly to our un- derstanding of the ways cells sense and respond to their environment— “But you’re a woman . ” about half of all medications achieve their effects through gpcrs. Breaking down barriers, But the summer before she was to University, one of the “big, burning At Duke in 1968, Lefkowitz start, Steitz worked in the cell biology questions” in molecular biology was began using radioactively labeled sidestepping bias to build lab of Joseph G. Gall, ph.d., at the Uni- how the cell’s protein-making machin- hormones to identify their receptors, a bright career in science versity of Minnesota (a Yale alumnus, ery determines where on a strand of and soon unveiled the β-adrenergic Gall would later join Yale’s faculty), messenger rna (mrna) to begin trans- receptor, which binds adrenaline at Lining a shelf in the office of Joan A. and “got so excited about it that I lating its message into proteins. the cell surface and sets off a bio- Steitz, ph.d., is a row of champagne decided I wanted to continue doing The lab’s other postdocs, all men, chemical cascade inside the cell. bottles, each label signed in a rite of research and discovering how things shied away from this problem because In the 1980s, Kobilka joined passage by graduate students when work. I didn’t care if I was ever in a the probability of obtaining an answer, Lefkowitz’s lab as a postdoctoral fel- they completed their doctoral work in position that the men would be in.” especially in two years’ time, was low. Together, Kobilka and Lefkow- Steitz’s lab, almost all of whom moved In 1963, Steitz entered Harvard’s slim. “I’m never going to have a job itz isolated the gene that codes for on to faculty positions or careers in graduate program in biochemistry and anyhow,” Steitz recalls thinking, so she the β-adrenergic receptor. After industry. It may seem unremarkable molecular biology graduate program, took it on. She soon had the answer, noticing the gene’s similarity to a to today’s students that the bottles the sole woman in a class of 10. She which she published in a now-classic light-sensitive receptor in the retina, added from recent years are signed by recalls that when she approached 1969 paper in the journal Nature. they found that both were members roughly equal numbers of women and a scientist about doing her thesis Steitz did “get a job”—at the of a large family of receptors, now men, but Steitz knows that the labels research in his lab, which did similar School of Medicine in 1970, where recognized as gpcrs, that play a carrying women’s signatures mark just work to that she did in Minnesota, she has since accumulated a long list role in a variety of vital functions the beginning of a challenging road.