W elcome to Insight Welcome to the Fall 2003 edition of Insight. In this edition we introduce you to the fi ve new members of the College’s leadership team: Drs. David Lee, Paul Lunn, Barbara Volume 30 Number 2 Sanborn, Jeffrey Wilusz, and John Zimbrick. They bring with them valued wisdom and Fall 2003 experience as the College moves into a new era of scientifi c endeavor, teaching, and outreach. We welcome them and wish them the best of luck in their new positions. You’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about the College’s research pro- grams and new grant projects that will enable further investigations into important global diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, leprosy, and prion-related diseases. The emphasis in this edition of Insight is on the College’s biomedical research programs and how they relate to the overall mission of the College. We also honor several faculty members who recently have received prestigious awards for their work in teaching and research. These honors and awards refl ect the overall excellence of the faculty at the College, and we congratulate the recipients – Drs. CCollegeollege ooff VVeterinaryeterinary MMedicineedicine Ray Whalen, John Belisle, and Edward Dudek – on their achievements. aandnd BBiomedicaliomedical SSciencesciences We welcome your questions and comments on Insight and its contents. If you’d like to get in touch with us, please send your correspondence to: Insight Correspondence Offi ce of the Dean W102 Anatomy/Zoology College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Cover photo: Colorado State University Students take advantage of new Fort Collins, CO 80523-1601 hardware and software in the College’s You can e-mail Insight comments to Paul Maffey, Director of Development for the Anatomy Laboratory to enhance their College, at [email protected]. We also invite you to visit us at our Web site studies. The new technologies are at www.cvmbs.colostate.edu. ■ designed to complement traditional methods of teaching anatomy – dissection and textbook readings and renderings – while giving students improved tools to aid in the study and retention of anatomical course work. T able of Contents Insight is published two times per year by the College Message from the Dean ............................................................................................. 3 of Veterinary Medicine and Virtual Reality Goes to the Dogs in Anatomy Lab ....................................................... 4 Biomedical Sciences, Colorado New Leadership Team Set to Continue College’s Tradition of Excellence .................... 6 State University, and produced by Publications and Printing. Biomedical Research Programs Set CVMBS Apart ...................................................... 9 Editor/Writer: Carol Borchert; Research Update ...................................................................................................... 10 Photographers: Charlie Kerlee, Colorado State, City of Hope Researchers Use Phenomenon of RNA Interference to Bill Cotton; Improve Resistance to HIV Infection in Human Cells ........................................ 13 Production: Sandy Thode; CVMBS Faculty Members Receive Honors ................................................................ 15 Production Coordinator: Class Agent Survey Shows Strong Support for Veterinary School.................................15 Margaret Taunt. Visit us on the Web at www.cvmbs.colostate.edu 2 M essage from the Dean Dear Friends, effective vaccine and treat- During the past year, we have wit- ment programs. You can read nessed a variety of new and old diseases more about this program and coming to the fore, including Severe get an update on other innova- Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), tive research enterprises in a West Nile virus, and monkey pox. These, related story looking at some combined with previously existing dis- current research at the College ease threats, make us very aware of the (see page 10). continuing danger infectious diseases The College also is home pose to human populations worldwide, to an innovative HIV research including here in the United States, program that is looking at where we sometimes can feel removed changing stem cells to make from the diseases that threaten the rest the body’s immune system of the planet. resistant to HIV infection (see At the College of Veterinary Medicine related story on page 13). and Biomedical Sciences, we are heavily HIV/AIDS remains a pandemic invested in research programs that of most frightening propor- address the diseases posing the greatest tions. Worldwide, 65 million Dr. Lance Perryman threat to humankind today – tuberculo- people are HIV-positive. United sis, cancer, HIV/AIDS, arthropod-borne Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that has been shown to give macaque mon- infectious diseases, and more. Our there are 5 million new cases of HIV keys protection from Ebola after one newer studies in prion-based diseases each year. In 2002 alone, approximately injection. Scientists from the Vaccine are beginning to answer questions that 3.1 million people died of HIV/AIDS. Research Center of the National Institute fi ve years ago hadn’t even been asked. When President Bush visited Africa this of Allergy and Infectious Diseases believe We are active in West Nile research and summer, we saw the face of AIDS on our the vaccine will be safe and effective in vaccine development. Although we are televisions. The United States has com- humans as well, offering immunity in as most well-known for our work in veteri- mitted $15 billion over the next fi ve years little as four weeks after vaccination. nary medical research, our biomedical to fi ght AIDS in Africa. It will help, but Breakthroughs such as this do not programs are actually the larger of our our battle is just beginning. happen easily. Science must develop two areas of expertise. What is perhaps At the College, we also house the understanding to the point at which such unique to this College is how our dual Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Dis- an event is possible. This only happens focus – veterinary medicine and bio- eases Laboratory (AIDL). As West Nile through persistence, years of research, medical sciences – enhances the quality virus once again took over headlines this basic and applied scientifi c studies, and of both programs by bringing together summer, we were reminded of the intri- a bit of luck. At the College of Veterinary experts and resources which, when cate relationship between humans and Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, we combined, are able to fi ght enemies of the mosquitoes with which they share the are proud to be a part of the global sci- the body with the powers of the mind. earth. Researchers at AIDL not only study entifi c community that is bringing hope The College is home to the Myco- diseases transmitted by arthropods, they to people the world over in the form of bacterium Research Laboratory, which also study the arthropods themselves to improved medicine, better vaccines, and has carved a global niche for itself as see if they can unlock a door that one lives fi lled with joy instead of suffering. a center of excellence in tuberculosis day will lead them to alter mosquitoes As supporters of the College, each of you and leprosy research. In 2003, tuber- so they are not capable of spreading is a part of that as well. ■ culosis claimed the lives of two million disease. people. Worldwide, two billion people It seems at times that the diseases Best Regards, are infected with the bacterium that are getting ahead of us and we can do causes tuberculosis. Researchers at the little to stop the death and destruction laboratory are working at many levels that comes in the wake of a major out- to understand M. tuberculosis, assay- break, but we are making progress. In Lance Perryman, D.V.M., Ph.D. ing drugs used in the treatment of TB, August, scientists announced they had Dean, College of Veterinary Medicine and collaborating with scientists from developed a high-speed vaccine for and Biomedical Sciences around the world to develop more the dreaded Ebola virus. The vaccine 3 V irtual Reality Goes to the Dogs in Anatomy Lab The study of anatomy always has tional materials like posed a unique set of problems for stu- plastinated organs,” dent and teacher alike. Two-dimensional said Dr. Ray Whalen, a images can hardly reveal the complexity Professor in the Depart- of anatomical structure, while carting ment of Biomedical Sci- around dissected specimens for review ences and technology of material is hardly sanitary or desir- coordinator for the able. At the College’s Anatomy Labora- Anatomy Laboratory. tory, students now have a third option “Dissections are the – the use of virtual anatomy on portable best way to learn anat- software that enables students to review omy, but once you’re anatomy in a three-dimensional environ- done, it’s not easy to ment. reproduce the material. Virtual anatomy is part of an over- If you forget something all program to bring technology into from a dissection, it’s the Anatomy Laboratory – technology diffi cult to regain that that creates an innovative and effective knowledge.” learning environment in which students Dr. Whalen and are better able to discern anatomical a team of veterinary structures, commit details of anatomy students began to work The virtual canine software allows students to view images of to memory, and retrieve information for on a software program canine anatomy in three-dimensional, multilayered detail. review at their convenience. to