The Wellcome Trust Review 1999 a Selection of Research Projects and Major Initiatives 1 F H !©

The Wellcome Trust Review 1999 A selection of research projects and major initiatives 1 f H !© The Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Wellcome (1853-1936), the founder of the Wellcome Trust, stated in his will that his The Director charity should support "scientific research which may 3 Changing times Michael Dexter conduce to the improvement of" the physical conditions of mankind".Today, the Trust funds a great diversity of biomedical research in the UK and overseas, SCIENCE FUNDING and supports active programmes in science communication and research in the history of / Viral paralysis medicine.This year©s Wellcome Trust Review samples O Japanese paralytic syndrome just a few of the many excellent projects funded by A new clinical variant of a common viral infection the Trust, and examines how research discoveries Tom Solomon and insights in differing fields can broaden our understanding of the human body in health and disease, an understanding that will underpin the healthcare advances of the next century. JT\ Cell traffic 10 Coats of many colours: Transporting proteins around the cell Margaret S Robinson Thalassaemias 14 In the blood: Thalassaemias in South-East Asia David Weatherall ©A I* 40 ChiChild development I \J HapHappy families?: Non-traditional families and hildren©s well-being Susan Goiombok A A Tuberculosis Bone adaptation II The persistent plague: New strategies for tackling 18 Taking the strain: Bones, exercise and oestrogen tuberculosis Douglas Young Lance Lanyon ©"J "*) Neurodevelopment Segments and eyes: Building the hindbrain and visual system Andrew Lumsden and William Hams Upsetting the balance: Tuberculosis in 48 South Africa Albert Beyers, Paul van He/den ond Nulda Beyers Wound healing r-MEDICINE, SOCIETY AND HISTORY Health scar story: Wound healing and ageing Malaria in East Africa Gillian Ashcmft 54 Roll back malaria: The history of malaria and its control in twentieth-century East Africa Blood pressure Mary \ Dobson, Robert A/I Snow and A pressure situation: The control of blood 32 Maureen J Malowany pressure John Mullins Edinburgh "} / Campylobacter 58 The Trojan horse: The B.ochemical Laboratory The full Campy: The genome of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh 1921-1939 sequence of a food-borne Mike Bo/foot, pathogen Julian Forkful/, Chris Lowrence Ban Barrell, Julian Ketley ond Stew Sturdy and Brendan Wren Theatre 62 Staging science: Theatre, debate and schools Peter F/nego/d ©"i v THE DIRECTOR Chan times Medicine and biomedicalresearch are never static. Constant advances in technology and techniques ensure that researchers must adapt to ensure that they stay ahead of the field. That they do so successfully is apparent in the breakthroughs that come every year in our understanding of the human body and of the microorganisms that wage war against our immune systems. This issue of the Wellcome Trust Review covers only a fraction of the Trust-funded research in the UK and overseas, but highlights how modern genetics underpins and drives forward research across a broad span of fields. The genome revolution Only a decade ago, sequencing DNA was a laborious, manual process, and discovering the code tor a single gene was a masterful piece of work. Today, automation and powerful computers have revolutionized the process, enabling the sequences of thousands of genes to be available to all, over the Internet. With the first drafr of the human genome to be completed by spring 2000, and the fine detail by 2003, the next challenge will be to make use of" this vast resource of information. Above: Dr Michael Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust. As has been the case in much of biomedicme, research on Left: Segmentation in the microbes is leading the way. The completed genome chick embryo hindbrain. sequence of the bacterium Camfiylobiicter jejtini has brought together six UK groups into a consortium using powerful new techniques to discover why it is a leading cause of food poisoning. In London, Professor Douglas Young is using THE DIRECTOR products of these genes work together to influence the development of such complex systems. Effecting change Despite the efforts of the research and medical communities, problems and pitfalls often arise. In the case of the worldwide eradication campaigns - so successful in removing the scourge of smallpox - little is straightforward. The mass vaccination of children against polio in South- East Asia has not reduced the incidence of paralysis to the extent expected, and Dr Tom Solomon©s work in Vietnam has uncovered a hidden role of Japanese encephalitis virus in such paralysis. In the case of the campaign against malaria. Dr Mary Dobson and colleagues in Oxford and Kenya look back over the last 50 years to ask why the promised eradication has yet to yield results in Africa. Some Above: Mycobocterium luberoilos/s, which causes TB. of the obstacles have been man-made, but most are due to the genome sequence of Mycvbacteriiini tiilwmilmi in the the changing characteristics of the malarial parasite and its search for new vaccines against the bacterium that is the vector, the mosquito. single largest killer in the world today. Such work is key in regions such as the Western Cape Province of South Africa, The structure of society is also undergoing change. With where tuberculosis is rife. Yet the fight against tuberculosis sophisticated technology helping couples with fertility must not focus on the bacterium alone - in the Cape, problems and single or lesbian women to have children, Professor Albert Beyers and colleagues have found that Professor Susan Colombok is investigating the development other factors, such as infection with intestinal parasites, also of children with non-traditional family backgrounds - with reduce the effectiveness of the hodys immune response to encouraging results. At the other end of the age spectrum, M. tuberculosis. diseases of the elderly are becoming more prevalent as the population itself ages. Professor Lance Lanyon and Genetics research is not only about sequence hunting. With colleagues at London LIniversity©s Royal Veterinary College genetic diseases likely to become an increasingly important are investigating how physical strain - such as exercise health burden in the developing world, Professor Sir David helps to strengthen the skeleton and protect against Wcatherall and colleagues at Oxford are investigating the osteoporosis and bone fracture. At Manchester, Dr Gillian frequency and effects on health of the thalassaemias in Ashcrort is looking at the decline in the rate of wound South-East Asia. In Edinburgh meanwhile. Professor lohn healing that comes with old age, often causing chronic Mullins and colleagues are using cutting-edge genetic wounds to develop but, paradoxically, reducing the amount manipulation techniques, allied to classic physiology, to of scarring that results. unravel how the body controls blood pressure. Now and then Cell biology and neuroscicnce have already gained much If the genome revolution is upon us now, an equally from the new technologies of the l l)9()s. The ubiquity of the significant revolution occurred 70 years ago and the face Internet, with its freely available online databases, enabled of medical education and research in the UK universities Dr Margaret Robinson and colleagues at Cambridge to might have looked very different had the events then forge important collaborations with researchers in the USA, transpired differently. Drs Mike Bartoot, Chris Lawrence pushing ahead her research on the transportation systems and Steve Sturdy discuss the role of the Rockefeller inside the cell. The research teams led by Professors Andrew Foundation in the Biochemical Laboratory at the Royal Lumsden and William Harris, examining the development Infirmary of Edinburgh, and the events that helped to of the chick hindbrain and frog eye, respectively, have found bring fully professional academic medicine to the UK. a. plethora or genes involved in each of these most delicate of processes - now the challenge is to determine how the Dr Michael Dexter, Director of the Wellcome Trust 93U TOM SOLOMON The WHO©s programme to eradicate polio by the year 2000 has had Japanese many successes, but there have been difficulties and controversy over the clinical diagnosis of polio. In Vietnam, Dr Tom Solomon and colleagues have paralytic found that many children who were thought to have polio were actually infected with a completely unrelated virus - Japanese encephalitis virus. syndrome A new clinical variant of a common viral infection nthused by the successful eradication of smallpox in the 1970s, in 1988 the World Health Organization E (WHO) embarked upon a global programme to eradicate polio. Polio was considered a suitable target lor eradication because poliovirus is found only in humans, and a cheap and effective vaccine is readily available. Polio viruses infect and destroy nerve cells in the front of the spinal cord (anterior horn cells) that transmit impulses to muscles, making them contract. With the destruction < these anterior horn cells, the muscles are paralysed and become floppy (flaccid) and wasted. Thus polio patients typically suffer from acute flaccid paralysis of the legs ©- and/or arms. The campaign launched by the WHO has consisted, in essence, of mass vaccination (with live oral polio vaccine),1 Anterior and disease surveillance: all new cases of acute flaccid horn cell paralysis are reported, poliomyelitis is diagnosed clinically (motor and then confirmed virologically by culturing the virus neuron) from the stool. Soon after the campaign began there was some controversy, particularly about the clinical diagnosis of polio. Whilst some authorities suggested this was a straightforward diagnosis, others argued that most polio patients may not have polio at all. In Vietnam, where Dr Tom Solomon and colleagues have been studying patients with central nervous system Right: At risk from poliovirus: the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord, which transmit impulses to muscles. Left:The regions affected by Japanese encephalitis virus. infections since 1994, the polio eradication campaign his team had a lucky break.

Load more