Award Will Help People with Paralyzed Arms and Hands

The National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health has awarded a three-year grant of $125,000 a year to Xindong Liu,  Ph.D., to develop techniques to control neural prostheses that will eventually aid arm and hand movements in paraplegics. Dr. Liu is a research associate in HMRI's Neural Engineering Laboratory. He is collaborating on this project with laboratory director  Douglas B. McCreery, Ph.D..

For thirty years HMRI researchers have been developing microelectrode arrays for implantation in various parts of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves to control bladder evacuation in paraplegics, restore some sight and hearing, control epilepsy attacks and relieve tremors of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Liu is expanding the laboratory's expertise and adding another application for this important technology.

Migrating Lymphocytes: Good News, Bad News?

A collaboration between HMRI's neural prosthesis and experimental immunotherapy programs has scientists studying a phenomenon that could turn a potential problem with one patient's therapy into a method of effectively treating another's malady.

In the Neural Engineering Laboratory, histological examinations showed the tips of some implanted brain microelectrodes had accumulated lymphocytes at the interface of electrode and neural tissue following stimulation. Non-stimulated implanted microelectrodes did not seem to have this problem. The bad news: Buildup of cells around an electrode tip could interfere with the desired effect of a neural prosthesis. For William Agnew, Ph.D., and his team it raised the question of what causes the lymphocytes to aggregate around electrodes, and whether the phenomenon is reversible or controllable. The good news:  Lymphocytes are immune cells. For Marylou Ingram, M.D., it suggested that under some circumstances the phenomenon might be exploited to guide such immune cells to a location where they could be therapeutic.

Human Genome Spells Changes for the Future of Medicine

Recent announcements in the medical and public media have reported that a working draft of the sequence of the human genome, the genetic blueprint for a human being, is now complete. This comes about as the culmination of the efforts of over 1000 scientists from the public and private sectors working together for over a decade.

Altadena Guild Donates $33,000 to Support Huntington Medical Research Institutes

The Altadena Guild of Huntington Hospital on Friday, June 2 presented a check for $33,000 to HMRI Executive Director William Opel, Ph.D., and Board president William G. King III to support pioneering research programs in cancer, heart and neurological disease. The funds represented proceeds from the 49th annual home tour, "A Window of Memories," which was held on May 7.

Leo Bullara's Stimulating Career in Neural Engineering

Leo Bullara, physicist with the Neural Engineering Laboratory, has spent his 34 years at HMRI designing and developing various types of electrodes as parts of neural prosthetic systems to be implanted in the brain, spinal cord or nerves of the central and peripheral nervous system.

In 1970, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a three-year contract to HMRI to develop safe but effective nerve stimulation measures and to look into electrically stimulating the occipital cortex of the brain, with the hope that a blind person could be provided with crude "form" vision. Volunteer blind patients or patients having injuries in the area of the visual cortex of the brain were implanted with small disc electrodes (Figure A) in this and other laboratories. While sight was not restored, valuable information was obtained and some patients were able to detect crude images, such as numerals or letters, from electrically pulsed electrodes. Critical data on the physiology and anatomy of the visual cortex were obtained and laid the groundwork for future studies. After the first clinical trial it was apparent that extensive work was needed in many areas for effective and safe stimulation of neural tissue. "Leo Bullara's ingenuity and skill have contributed greatly to HMRI's progress and leadership in this area, including NIH research contract renewals which continue to the present," says HMRI Executive Director William Opel, Ph.D.

William D. Hacker Leaves Generous Bequest to HMRI

Pasadena native William D. Hacker made modest donations to HMRI each year for nearly three decades. His last gift was in February 1999 ó until recently, when his nephew Richard Buck announced of a bequest of more than $3.3 million to HMRI from the Hacker estate.

Executive Director William Opel, Ph.D., said, "This gift is a remarkable memorial to Mr. and Mrs. Hacker, an outstanding example of individual philanthropy for the future benefit of countless others, and will help to perpetuate HMRI's mission to make the best in medicine even better."

Researchers Focus on Molecular Makeup of Headache

Severe frequent headaches ó especially migraines, cluster migraines, monthly hormonal headaches in women, and those caused by stress and tension ó can ruin peoples' lives, break up marriages and limit careers. Some 25 to 30 million Americans suffer from such maladies. Although these serious headaches  are not life threatening per se, neurologists and neuroscientists for the last several years have begun to take their cause and treatment seriously. Medicine may now be at a point where investigators can look at diseases that affect the quality of life, in addition to those that threaten life itself, according to research physicians who recently spoke at a meeting of HMRI's Medical Research Council.

New Technology Promises Advances Against Neurological Disorders

Thanks to the generosity of local individuals, the community-based Pasadena Foundation and the Norris Foundation, HMRI has purchased special mass spectrometry equipment at a cost of more than $200,000. It will be used in the Molecular Neurology Laboratory to analyze the abnormal proteins in the spinal fluid of patients with neurological disorders.  This improved capability will lead to increased understanding of such conditions as Alzheimer's disease, depression, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis and headache.

Rotarians Help Launch Neurology Studies

The Rotary Club of Pasadena recently made a $2,500 grant to Huntington Medical Research Institutes for computer equipment for the Molecular Neurology Laboratory.  Laboratory Director Michael Harrington, M.D., accepted the check at a June 14 luncheon.   "The goals of your organization are a great benefit to society and we are delighted to support your program," said Rotary Grant Committee chairman John Jepson. 

HMRI Mentors Biotech Students at Pasadena City College

For the past two years, students in the Biological Technology Program at Pasadena City College (PCC) have been learning and honing their cell culture laboratory skills at HMRI under the direction of Marylou Ingram, M.D., and Ozkan Yazan, M.S.

Wendie A. Johnston, Ph.D., is director of PCC's biotechnology program. In order to learn what specific laboratory skills her students would have to master to enter "the real world" of biotechnology she spent a sabbatical year working in a variety of academic and industrial laboratories across the country. She praised the HMRI labs and the local cooperative effort, saying, "Using HMRI's lab facilities enables our students to be trained with high biotechnical standards and learn to work as a team, leading to a smooth and productive transition into the workplace."