Students Receive Fellowships to Study Genetic Diseases

Two students at The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston have each received $20,000 Schissler Foundation fellowships, which have been awarded to GSBS students since 1993.

Doctoral candidates Fariba Behbod and Meredith Moore received the fellowships, which are awarded only to GSBS students involved in researching the human genetics of common diseases.

Behbod, who is in the Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology and is advised by Assistant Professor of Integrative Biology Dr. Robert A. Kirken, explained her work in treating immunodeficiency genetic disease.

"Most people born with this disease die within a year or two of birth," said Behbod. "Their bodies don't produce the `killer cells' necessary to fight infections and diseases, or they produce nonfunctioning cells. Currently, these children are treated with bone marrow treatments and gene therapy. But both of these treatments are problematic - they are difficult, often fail, and carry dangerous side effects."

Behbod is working on identifying the gene responsible for this condition, which occurs in 1 in every 100,000 births. She hopes to develop new therapies which will treat the condition more effectively and with fewer and less serious side effects.

Meredith Moore, who is in the Department of Pathology and mentored by pathology professor Dr. Jeanie B. McMillin, studies the genetic predisposition toward cardiovascular disease. Moore is especially interested in this condition because heart disease runs in her family.

"With cardiovascular disease, the heart stops using fat for energy, and instead uses glucose. That means the fatty acid just sits in the body, contributing to obesity and an unhealthy body. We're hoping to develop a global therapy that will enable us to change this process - in effect, force the body to continue using the fat for energy, rather than the glucose."

The fellowship awards mean the students' advisors can use funds set aside to pay for their graduate students' work in the lab for research and equipment, instead, which helps advance their studies and lead to scientific breakthroughs sooner.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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