Campus Team Finds Retardation Gene
Researchers at UCSD’s School of Medicine have identified a gene that causes a malformation in the cerebellums of pediatric patients, leading to a form of mental retardation known as a Joubert syndrome related disorder.
The team, in collaboration with scientists at Italy’s Mendel Institute, studied an Italian family with several individuals that had the disease. Within the family, which was made up of two parents who were second cousins, researchers located a new genetic interval and the presence of a gene that encodes a protein affecting cerebellum development.
JSRD is a group of syndromes associated with the absence of the middle part of the cerebellum. The disease also causes poor balance, organ damage, jerky eye movements, mental retardation and autism.
The most prominent characteristic of JSRD is the “molar tooth sign,” so named because the brain bases of patients with the disease take on the shape of a tooth.
Stem Cell Conference Comes to UCSD
A free conference called “Social Justice and Stem Cell Research” will be held at UCSD on May 13 in Center Hall, marking one of the biggest public gatherings focused on stem cell research since the passage of Proposition 71 in November 2004.
The conference will feature many prominent scientists, including cellular and molecular medicine professor Larry Goldstein, who was one of the authors of Proposition 71 and also testified before the U.S. Senate in 1999 to advocate embryonic stem cell research.
Other speakers include bioengineer and award-winning author Wesley Smith, UCSD sociology professor and bioethics expert John Evans and University of Wisconsin law and bioethics professor Alta Charo.
Freshmen at High Risk for Chlamydia
Freshmen under the age of 20 at several colleges across the southeastern United States had a 70 percent greater risk of developing chlamydia infections than students who were between 20 and 24 years of age, according to an Emory University School of Medicine study.
The study featured screenings of 789 students at health centers in 10 colleges in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.
Because many of the colleges in the study are historically black, the majority of students screened were black, and more than half of the students tested were female.
The study was conducted to determine whether freshmen were entering college with chlamydia or becoming infected while in college, and the next step will involve introducing more chlamydia awareness outreach programs.
