School Notes: School of Medicine
January/February 2007

New disease genes found by Yale scientists

Two School of Medicine research teams have identified gene mutations that play a role in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Josephine J. Hoh, associate professor of epidemiology, and colleagues linked a mutation on Chromosome 10 to the "wet" form of AMD, in which an abnormal proliferation of leaky blood vessels in the retina causes blindness. Meanwhile, a group led by Professor of Medicine Judy H. Cho showed that an uncommon variant of a pro-inflammatory gene protects against Crohn's disease, suggesting a promising target for IBD therapies. Both studies appeared in the journal Science.

Weight-lifting risk unveiled

Since reporting in 2003 on a link between weight lifting and tearing of the aorta in five individuals, John A. Elefteriades, professor of surgery, and colleagues have identified 31 others who experienced an internal aortic tearing following heavy lifting. Most were younger than age 50, in good health, and had no prior history of cardiac disease. In the journal Cardiology, the team notes that nearly all of these individuals, a third of whom died, had unknowingly been living with an abnormally enlarged aorta, a condition that occurs in hundreds of thousands of American men. The researchers urge those planning to pump serious iron to be screened for aortic enlargement.

Connecticut awards $7 million to Yale stem cell investigators

Yale fared well in the first group of grants awarded in November by the state of Connecticut from a $100 million fund established last year to promote stem cell research. Yale scientists received $7 million of the $19.78 million allocated by the State of Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee for 21 research projects. Michael P. Snyder, professor of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, received the largest grant, $3.8 million to investigate how human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiate into nerve cells. Haifan Lin, professor of cell biology and director of the Yale Stem Cell Program (YSCP), received $2.5 million to support a new core facility that will accommodate federal funding restrictions on hESC research. Diane S. Krause, associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathology and YSCP co-director, received $856,653 to study a leukemia gene using hESCs.

A new leader for Department of Internal Medicine

With 351 full-time faculty, the Department of Internal Medicine is the medical school's largest department. Founded in 1813, the department has been an exemplar of Yale's tradition of intertwining research with quality clinical care. The faculty scientists have secured $83 million in research funding, and its physicians treat patients at Yale-New Haven Hospital and the West Haven campus of the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. On October 2, the medical school named Jack A. Elias, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Medicine and chief of the section of pulmonary and critical care medicine, as the department's new chair. Elias, a leading authority on the molecular basis of asthma and other lung disorders, has trained more than 50 scientists now working in academia and industry, and he holds seven patents or pending patents based on his research.