 Basic Medical Sciences
| Welcome |
News and Events |
| Welcome to the Department of Basic Medical Sciences of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific (COMP) at Western University of Health Sciences. With fourteen faculty members and state-of-the-art research facilities, the department acts as a core provider of educational and research programs in the basic medical sciences, serving COMP students and the university community. We invite you to browse our website for detailed descriptions of our programs, news, seminars, and future plans. |
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Dr. Manal A. Swairjo joined the department of BMS in August, 2006. She has come as an assistant professor of biochemistry. She was formerly a staff scientist at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, where she took a bioinformatic, molecular and structural approach to studying transfer-RNA biogenesis and links to human disease. Since joining the department, Dr. Swairjo has taught in two COMP courses, set up her X-ray crystallography laboratory in the University Research Center and is currently conducting several research projects with the help of a student and several collaborators. Details of her ongoing research program can be found at her web page http://www.westernu.edu/xp/edu/
comp/faculty-swairjo.xml.
A recent interview with Dr. Swairjo in the university's alumni magazine Western View can be found at http://wsprod.westernu.edu/wu/
newsreleases/nr_detail.jsp?id=2880
Two BMS faculty members were honored by the graduating DO class of 2006 at their commencement ceremony and graduation banquet held in May, 2006, at the Pasadena Hilton Hotel. Drs. Jeff Felton and Donald Walters each received an award in appreciation of their special contributions to the class' educational experience at WUHS and "for helping shape the DO Class of 2006 into well-rounded, competent and compassionate physicians". Dr. Felton received the Patch Adams Award for the "Most Humorous Faculty" and Dr. Walters received the very first "F.Y.I. Award" for his efforts in keeping students and alumni informed of new developments in drug therapy.
The research article "Cannabinoid-induced hyperphagia: Correlation with inhibition of proopiomelanocortin neurons?," describing new and exciting results from the laboratory of COMP physiology professor Edward Wagner Ph.D., has been accepted for publication in Physiology and Behavior. The article is authored by Jennie Ho (laboratory technician), Jeremy Cox (second-year osteopathic medical student) and Edward Wagner (principal investigator) and will appear in the July, 2007 issue of the journal.
Dr. Katherine Mitsouras joined the department of BMS in April 2007 as an assistant professor of biochemistry. She has completed her graduate studies and postdoctoral training at UCLA School of Medicine and department of Human Genetics where she studied gene expression during the Epstein-Barr virus lytic cycle and helped develop microarray technology for genome-wide detection of alternative splicing events, with applications in brain cancer treatment. Dr. Mitsouras will be teaching during the biochemistry module of the Molecular & Cellular Basis of Medicine in Fall 2008. Her research interests include using post-genomics approaches to identifying regulatory circuits controlling the cellular transcriptome and understanding their role in the development and progression of disease. |
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| Featured Research Project |
 Dr. Xiaoning Bi
Lysosomal dysfunction and abnormal autophagic activity participate in neurodegeneration in brains of Npc1--/-- mice.
Niemann Pick type C (NPC) disease is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations of NPC1 and NPC2 genes. Progressive neurodegeneration is a fatal characteristic of NPC, but its underlying mechanisms are still poorly understood. In the present study, we determined the potential association of alterations in lysosomal function and autophagy with neurodegeneration in Npc1-/- mice during early postnatal development. Brain levels of lysosomal cathepsin D were significantly higher in the mutant than in wild-type mice. Increases in cathepsin D were associated both spatially and temporally with intracellular cholesterol
 Autophagy in Purkinje
accumulation and neurodegeneration. Furthermore, levels of protein ubiquitination were higher in endosomal/lysosomal fractions of brains from Npc1- /- mice than from wild-type mice. Increased protein ubiquitination was associated with increased endosomal/ lysosomal localization of mitochondrial markers, actin, and GSK-3B, suggesting enhanced autophagic activity. In agreement with this notion, conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II, a widely accepted marker of autophagy, was significantly higher in brains of mutant than wild-type mice. Finally, electron microscopic examination revealed the existence of autophagic vacuole-like structures in brains from Npc1-/- mice. |
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