Advances

Advances gives a glimpse of the many significant research projects at the university. Tell us about your discoveries. E-mail: wisweek@news.wisc.edu.

Transplant drug advance could reduce complications
University researchers have taken a big step forward toward freeing transplant patients from the powerful, and sometimes harmful, drugs they now take to keep their bodies from rejecting new organs.

Researcher and transplant surgeon Stuart Knechtle says a 24-patient pilot study shows 23 patients went off dialysis after transplant. All but four patients used only one daily anti-rejection drug, rapamycin, and no steroids or calcineurin inhibitors.

“This study is a significant step forward, in that it will vastly improve the quality of life for transplant patients if these initial results last for many years,” says Knechtle, an expert on immune-suppression research and professor of surgery at the Medical School.

Transplant recipients who receive new organs typically take a steroid, such as prednisone, and other drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent rejection. But the drugs can cause complications such as heart disease, kidney failure and diabetes.

Studies of cell pathway to benefit ag, medicine
University scientists have begun a major effort to comprehend a poorly understood mechanism that keeps cells working smoothly. They are studying the main pathway that cells use to remove proteins they no longer need or want.

“There is nothing that goes on in a plant or animal that is not touched by this pathway,” says Richard Vierstra, a molecular biologist who is leading the research. “When it isn’t running correctly, it can lead to diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and numerous cancers. What’s even more surprising is that we didn’t know that this mechanism existed until recently.”

The National Science Foundation recently awarded Vierstra and colleagues at four other institutions a four-year, $3.3 million grant to conduct the research. The ultimate goal is to modify the pathway to benefit agriculture and medicine. For example, it may be possible to develop plants that resist viral diseases, Vierstra says. Or scientists might be able to block the inflammation associated with arthritis, or the muscle wasting that occurs when people are bedridden.

How the ancients played
It wasn’t all shot-putting on Mount Olympus. From waging war to gambling, writing poetry to making pottery, denizens of the ancient world amused themselves in particularly rich and varied ways, says Alex Pappas, a Ph.D. candidate in classics.

Ancient play in all its guises will be the subject of the second annual graduate students’ symposium in classics Feb. 22-23. The symposium, “Trivia Pursuits? Games and Game Playing in the Ancient World,” will examine various ancient amusements and what they meant to those players on their respective playgrounds, and what they might mean for us moderns.

“We chose the subject of play because we wanted a topic that would be interdisciplinary, and attract participants from a wide range of disciplines,” Pappas says. The symposium will draw presenters from across the United States and Europe.

Patricia A. Rosenmeyer, professor of classics, will deliver the keynote address Friday, Feb. 22, at 2:45 p.m. The next day, presenters will address play in battle, pottery-making, children’s games, word games, playful relationships between scholars and courtesans, and more. In conjunction with the symposium, the Memorial Library will present an exhibit of rare books, “Playing With the Ancients,” in the ninth-floor Special Collections Department. Schedule, information: 262-2041.