How Old
Are We?
Frank Brown: Dean, College of Mines and Earth Sciences;
Distinguished Professor of Geology and Geophysics
In the human species’ great identity crisis—the need
to understand from whom and where we came—Brown’s work
may help redefine our ancestry. In 1980, paleontologist Richard
Leakey, of the legendary Leakey family, asked Brown to work with
him in the Lake Turkana basin in Kenya, Africa. By chemically analyzing
layers of volcanic ash, Brown determined the order of the layers
put down by ancient volcanic eruptions. An Australian scientist,
Ian McDougall, then dated the age of each layer. From this, Leakey
and his wife, Meave, were able to date some of the oldest human
fossils. In 2001, Meave Leakey announced the finding of a skull
west of Lake Turkana that Brown and McDougall dated to 3.5 million
years. The skull and partial jaw are of a genus and species completely
separate from that of Lucy, the small female skeleton unearthed
in Ethiopia in 1974 that, until now, was considered to be the oldest
living modern human ancestor. It is highly unlikely that each is
our relative—which has raised an interesting familial debate.
Rapid PCR Technologies
Carl Wittwer: Professor of Pathology
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a way to multiply the copies
of a specific region of DNA molecules to produce a viable quantity
to use for testing in a laboratory. In 1988, after joining the Department
of Pathology faculty, Wittwer read an article about PCR and realized
the technique could save a lot of work in the laboratory. But at
the time there were no commercially available PCR machines. He figured
out how to use hot air and capillary tubes to perform PCR. Then,
with his expertise in enzyme kinetics (the rate at which enzymes
work) and using fluorescence detection methodology, he built the
first LightCycler™. The machine changed PCR from something
that took hours to a rapid-fire process that can be monitored in
real time to test for pathogens and diseases in minutes. Laboratories
worldwide use the LightCycler™, which is made by Idaho Technology,
Inc., the company he co-founded. Wittwer’s invention has become
an important clinical assay system worldwide and is used in diagnostic
tests to detect and characterize mutations in disease-related genes.
Computer Imaging
Christopher Johnson MS’84 PhD’90: Director,
School of Computing and the Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute;
Distinguished Professor of Computer Science
From computer visualization so sophisticated that surgeons can
plan complex operations before they take a scalpel in hand, to the
imaging of bioelectrical fields that evaluate the efficacy of external
cardiac defibrillators, Johnson’s wizardry with computers
is showing the full potential of medicine and technology working
together. His vision laid the foundation for the Scientific Computing
and Imaging Institute. SCI was established as a research group in
1994 and became an institute in 2000. Among its four goals: to research
new techniques for scientific visualization and to develop visual
analysis tools that help increase the understanding of complex scientific
data. Operations as delicate and complex as removing tumors have
been planned in advance based on SCI’s imaging capabilities.
Along with medicine and biomedical science, the institute also works
in providing visualization for energy exploration and fire simulation
for the government. As if he isn’t busy enough, Johnson also
holds appointments in bioengineering and physics.
Gene Targeting
Mario Capecchi: Co-Chair, Department of Human Genetics;
Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Biology
“Revolutionize” is a word often used carelessly, but
when describing the impact of gene targeting—or knockout mice
technology—on medical and scientific research, it is precisely
the right word. By learning how to snip out the middle of a mouse
gene and replace it in the mouse chromosome with a modified version,
Capecchi helped shape the way modern medical research is conducted.
He is one of three researchers in the world credited with developing
gene targeting, which allows medical researchers to reproduce mice
with mutations in virtually any gene in order to study diseases
or maladies ranging from cancer, cystic fibrosis, and heart disease,
to diabetes, high blood pressure, and atherosclerosis. Today, gene
targeting is standard practice for medical and scientific research
worldwide.
The Grandmother Theory
Kristen Hawkes: Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Everyone knows grandmothers pass along the most valuable family
possessions: Recipes. Turkey stuffing. Chocolate chip cookies. But
if Hawkes is right, they may be passing along a lot more than originally
thought. Unlike other primates, human females often live three or
four decades past their reproductive years. That anomalous fact
flies in the face of the theory of evolution because natural selection
tends to weed out those traits that don’t favor reproduction.
But after studying the Hadza, a group of hunter-gatherers in northern
Tanzania, Hawkes realized a curious thing: Hadza grandmothers, evidently
extremely healthy and fit into their 60s, were gathering food for
their weaned grandchildren to eat while their own daughters were
breast feeding their youngest children. As Hadza grandmothers feed
older children, the young mothers can breast feed for shorter periods
and bear more offspring. This may help ensure that the genes of
the long-lived grandmothers get passed down to succeeding generations.
Hawkes, a former chair of the Department of Anthropology and member
of the National Academy of Sciences, published her findings in the
journal Nature this year to widespread acclaim—and controversy.
Magnetic Plastics
Joel Miller: Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
From telephones to televisions to cars, magnets are indispensable
to the machinery of modern life. But the kind Miller has become
internationally recognized for aren’t the ferrous-metal variety
most people know. The polymer magnets he produces at room temperature
are easier to make, retain their properties at higher temperatures,
and remain stable in air, which suggests they may be suitable for
a variety of applications, including as memory-storage devices and
magnetic shielding. These new polymer magnets are made of vanadium
and other materials. Miller and his Utah colleagues also are collaborating
with a group of Ohio State researchers on a new kind of plastic
that shows promise for use in magnetic computer memory—spintronics—and
would allow electrons to store and transfer twice as much data.
Data could also be stored permanently and would be almost instantly
accessible, meaning no more lengthy boot-up time.
Mass Spectrometer Analysis
James Ehleringer: Distinguished Professor of Biology
By weighing the atoms of chemicals with a mass spectrometer, and
then comparing the ratios of various isotopes, Ehleringer can determine
the origin of just about any substance in the world with 95 percent
accuracy. That’s not good news for drug cartels, counterfeiters,
or terrorists. He can determine whether heroin was grown in South
America or Southwest Asia, or if cocaine was cultivated in Peru
or Ecuador. In cocaine, for example, the ratio of nitrogen-15 (a
rare isotope) to nitrogen 14 (a common one), reveals the type of
soil the coca plant was grown in and, ultimately, where that soil
is located. In the mid-1990s, Ehleringer helped link counterfeit
money to terrorists on the move by identifying the isotopes of rainwater
that grew the cotton used to make the funny money. The isotopes
proved to be unique to the climate of Eastern Europe. Ehleringer’s
method is so accurate that the Drug Enforcement Administration has
asked for his help in tracking international drug dealers.
HIV/AIDS Research
Wesley Sundquist: Professor of Biochemistry
Sundquist has dedicated his research to unlocking the structural
basis of how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, assembles and escapes
from cells, a process known as “budding.” Along with
other U researchers, he has identified and characterized a key protein
that helps HIV escape from cells. Without this protein, Tsg101,
HIV cannot leave cells and spread in the body. In his other major
area of research, Sundquist studies the proteins Matrix and Capsid,
which are key organizers of HIV. By looking at their three-dimensional
structures, he hopes to understand how these proteins help assemble
the virus core. Because drugs bind to proteins, identifying and
understanding proteins is critical for developing drugs to attack
HIV. With three out of four HIV patients in the United States resistant
to at least one drug, and 15 percent of new HIV infections drug-resistant,
finding new drugs is paramount in fighting HIV, according to Sundquist.
Thermoacoustic Devices for Refrigeration
Orest Symko: Professor of Physics
Even computers get overworked, which means circuits become overheated.
Symko is developing environmentally clean devices that create refrigeration
to cool overheated electronics by taking advantage of the relationship
between sound and heat. Sound is created by rapid oscillations in
air pressure. Temperature goes up as air compresses and pressure
rises. When pressure drops, air expands and cools. Symko is making
mini-refrigerators from sound. The refrigerators, as small as a
half-inch long and with few moving parts, use air or other simple
gases that don’t pollute. Ultrasonic pulses of air are pushed
in one direction through a barrier inside the mini-refrigerator,
intensifying as it moves through the body of the device. This causes
one side of the barrier to be warm and the other side to be cool,
creating an effect much like a refrigerator. Because the noise is
ultrasonic, people can’t hear it. Devices small enough to
cool circuits in laptop computers, or just about any electronic
device, can be manufactured.
The Utah Artificial Vision System
Richard Normann: Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual
Sciences
What once could only be imagined may soon be reality: blind people
will have sight. But vision won’t come through the optic nerve
and the eye. It will be relayed through the visual cortex of the
brain, and Normann’s singular focus will play a large role
in this accomplishment. The Utah Artificial Vision System includes
a pair of glasses equipped with a hidden micro-video camera that
changes light into electrical signals; a processing system that
converts the electrical signals into patterns of stimulation for
the brain; and a power source that is neatly carried in a shirt
pocket. The system also includes an implanted multichannel stimulator,
with data and power delivered through a telemetry link. Central
to the system is the Utah Electrode Array (UEA), which comprises
625 microelectrodes implanted in the brain’s cortex to stimulate
neurons to create scoreboard-like “vision.” The goal
is for the individual to be able to navigate without the help of
a guide dog or human being and to be able to read printed text.
—Phil Sahm BS’78 is a writer in the Office of Public
Affairs for the Health Sciences Center. |