New Line of Attack on a Dreaded Disease

march/april 2011 volume 7, issue 1 Advancing Biomedical Science, Education, and Health Care Kavli neuroscience institute to cast an even wider scientific net Building upon a grant made in 2003 Under the direction of Pasko Duberg Professor of and build ties with researchers at Kav- that established the Kavli Institute Rakic, m.d., ph.d., Kavli Institute Neurobiology at the li Institutes elsewhere. The disciplines for Neuroscience at Yale, The Kavli scientists have conducted influential School of Medicine. expected to contribute to the Yale Foundation has announced that it research on the molecular, cellular, “To achieve this Kavli Institute’s research range from will contribute additional endow- and functional organization of the laudable goal we genetics to psychology, and the insti- ment funds to diversify and strength- cerebral cortex, the part of the brain must embrace a tute will also foster the development en the institute’s interdisciplinary responsible for higher brain functions multidisciplinary of novel concepts and technologies to brain research. such as language and reasoning. approach, using investigate the functional properties Pasko Rakic Since the beginnings of neurosci- The new commitment will enable the most advanced of the living brain. ence research, Yale researchers have the Kavli Institute to expand its technologies in a variety of experi- In addition to providing research excelled in the quest to understand mission to embrace Yale research on mental model systems. It also requires support, the new funds will provide the fundamental mechanisms of the nervous system more broadly, collaboration and frequent exchange support to top Yale graduate students how the human brain develops and drawing on the expertise of the nearly of ideas between scientists of differ- in neuroscience, who will be desig- functions. Such findings from basic 100 neuroscientists working in 20 de- ent backgrounds. All of these will be nated as Kavli Scholars. neuroscience may have profound partments across the Yale campus. cultivated at the Kavli Institute.” “We are very excited by the expand- implications for understanding brain “Understanding the human brain To realize this wider vision, the ed approach to neuroscience research disorders such as autism, schizophre- is considered the ultimate challenge institute’s Steering Committee will the Kavli Institute for Neuroscience at nia, mental retardation, dyslexia, and of science in the 21st century,” says set the institute’s research agenda, Yale is undertaking,” says Fred Kavli, neurodegenerative diseases. Rakic, chair and Dorys McConnell foster scientific collaborations at Yale, founder and chairman // Kavli (page 7) In life and work, New line of attack on a dreaded disease alumnus touched In honor of a friend fighting a brain tumor, countless hearts Turkish financier’s multimillion-dollar gift There could funds genomic analysis of deadly glioblastomas be no greater gratification for Few diseases are as feared, or as deadly, as glioblastoma a physician– multi forme (gbm), the most aggressive and most common scientist than form of brain cancer, which accounts for about 60 percent seeing the fruits of all brain tumors diagnosed in the United States each of his or her own year. Over the past five years, improvements in radiother- research become Donald Baim apy and surgical techniques, and the advent of drugs that an integral part block blood vessel formation in tumors have significantly of medical practice, providing pa- increased survival time in patients with gbm. But despite michael marsland tients with a better treatment than these advances, on average these patients live less than one Yale University President Richard Levin (center) joined neurosurgeon any that had existed before. year after diagnosis. and geneticist Murat Günel (left) and financier Mehmet Kutman (right) The late Donald S. Baim, m.d., One promising avenue for transforming the prognosis at Woodbridge Hall to mark Kutman’s donation establishing the Yale a member of the medical school’s faced by gbm patients is genomic research, which can iden- Program in Brain Tumor Research. The new program will apply genomic Class of 1975 and an internationally techniques to the study of brain tumors, especially glioblastoma multi- tify aberrant genes present in gbm tumors and determine forme, the most common and most aggressive form of brain cancer. renowned innovator in the field of how such genes vary from patient to patient. Recent genetic interventional cardiology, had that sequencing research on gbm has already paid dividends: Research, researchers at Yale School of Medicine will be rare privilege. four new classifications of gbm based on genomic data are bringing the power of the latest genomic techniques to Baim, who died unexpectedly guiding the development of more precisely targeted thera- better understand brain tumors, with a particular focus on in 2009 at age 60, served as chief pies, as well as personalized approaches to treatment based gbm and related illnesses. medical and scientific officer at Bos- on the genetic makeup of a given patient’s tumor. “Mehmet Kutman’s generous support for Yale’s genom- ton Scientific Corp. bsc( ), a global Last year’s launch of the Yale Center for Genomic Anal- ic research will spur the effort to find new treatments for developer, manufacturer, and mar- ysis (ycga) placed the School of Medicine at the forefront patients whose lives are threatened by these brain cancers,” keter of medical devices, since 2006. of genomic sequencing research. Now, with a $12 million, says Yale President Richard C. Levin. Despite his relatively short four-year multi-year gift from Turkish financier Mehmet Kutman, The new program will be directed by Murat Günel, m.d., tenure, Baim was greatly beloved m.b.a., to launch a new Yale Program in Brain Tumor Nixdorff-German Professor of // GBM (page 7) and admired by // Baim (page 7) Non-Profit Org. inside this issue 1 Church St., Suite 300, New Haven, CT 06510-3330 U. S. Postage www.medicineatyale.org 2 Lifelines paid Deputy Dean Carolyn Slayman takes the New Haven, CT long view—and keeps a cool head. Permit No. 526 3 A century of progress The Yale Child Study Center celebrates 100 years of research and compassionate care 4 Synthesizing success Decade-long race to make an anti-cancer compound in the lab is won by Yale chemists also Advances, pp. 3, 5 Out & About, p. 4 Grants and Contracts, p. 6 lifelines Advocate for the mentally ill backs young scientists Three of Carolyn Slayman’s grandparents, and both In January, the National Alliance parents, were teachers, an for Research on Schizophrenia and influence that steered her Depression (narsad), the lead- toward academics. After earning her ph.d. in the Rock- ing charity providing funds for efeller University laboratory research on psychiatric illness, an- of Nobel Prize winner Edward nounced that 10 School of Medi- Tatum, a postdoctoral stint cine scientists had won narsad at Cambridge University, Young Investigator awards. The and a brief tenure at Case Western University, Slayman awards—which provide up to joined the School of Medi- $60,000 over two years to “the cine faculty in 1967, rising most promising young scientists through the ranks to be the conducting neurobiological re- medical school’s first female search” relevant to understanding department chair, and the first woman to be named a mental illnesses including schizo- deputy dean. phrenia, mood disorders, bipolar disorder, autism, and anxiety dis- Carolyn Slayman orders such as obsessive-compul- terry dagradi sive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder—went to: Jessica A. Cardin, ph.d. Taking it in stride Assistant professor of neurobiology Silvia Corbera, ph.d. Deputy dean is stalwart In 1995, Slayman became the first lent of 300 complete human genomes Postdoctoral associate in psychiatry woman appointed as a deputy dean per month, “opening up thinking in Douglas J. Guarnieri, ph.d. in a whirlwind of change at the medical school, and she came ways people couldn’t have begun to Associate research scientist in psychiatry in biomedical research well-prepared, having also been the first imagine even a few years ago.” Imaging Jason K. Johannesen, ph.d. woman to head a department when she techniques, from microscopes that bring Assistant professor of psychiatry Many awards and mementos, collected was named chair of the Department of a cell’s individual proteins into view to Roger J. Jou, m.d., m.p.h. over decades in science and academia, Human Genetics (now Genetics) in 1984. scanners that map out functions in the Clinical fellow in the Child Study Center line the office shelves of Carolyn W. Slayman has witnessed a sea living human brain, have transformed Janghoo Lim, ph.d. Slayman, ph.d., but one stands out: change in the status of women in the scientific landscape. And through it Assistant professor of genetics a certificate from the Bob Bondurant science and medicine since the late all, once-impenetrable walls between Ruth Sharf, ph.d. School of High Performance Driving for 1950s, when she enrolled at The Rocke- fields and departments have tumbled Postdoctoral associate in psychiatry excellence in skid control. feller University for doctoral studies. In down, as research became an increas- Megan V. Smith, dr.ph., m.p.h. Slayman visited the Arizona school those days, each entering class at Rock- ingly multidisciplinary endeavor, “driven,” Assistant professor of psychiatry on a corporate field trip, donning a full- efeller, hand-picked by

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