The Gazette

111010

our 41ST year

Covering Homewood, East Baltimore, Peabody,

SAIS, APL and other campuses throughout the

Baltimore-Washington area and abroad, since 1971.

January 17, 2012 The newspaper of The Johns Hopkins university Volume 41 No. 18

Job Opportunities

Notices

Classifieds

SPaCe DISCoVery

Hubble telescope detects one

of the most distant supernovae

yet observed, page 7

DeSTINaTIoN: NaNJING

Chinese language and research

program in technical fields

launches this summer, page 5

I N B r I e f

Trio of Peabody flute concerts; Jhpiego in

Angola; new MUSE platform goes live

C a L e N D a r

Gateway Sciences Initiative Symposium;

Chinese New Year; Blackboard 9.12 12

H O M E W O O D

Continued on page 5

Model rocketry, Appalachian fiddle, Zumba and more

B y G r e G r i e n z i

The Gazette

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... Intersession liftoff

When launching a rocket, don’t fire the ejection charge too soon after thrust phase termination. Why? Well, imagine par-

allel parking at 50 miles an hour, or slam-ming on bike brakes going full speed down-hill. Things could get messy. Don’t ignite the charge too late, either,

unless you want your re-entry parachute to deploy, or be shredded, just feet from reaching Mother Earth. The key to ejection charge timing and flight success lies in a mathematical formula based on Newton’s second law of motion. Students are learning about

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B y F e l i s a n e u r i n G e r K l u B e s

SAIS

The Henry Luce Foundation has awarded a two-year $440,000 grant to Johns Hopkins’ Paul H. Nitze

School of Advanced International Studies to support a program on the study of religion and international affairs. The Global Politics and Religion Initia-tive at SAIS has three main components that will incorporate the study of the interaction between religion and politics

into the school’s existing graduate-level international relations program: new mas-ter’s degree courses, faculty and community research seminars, and executive education training sessions. The initiative’s goal is to foster an appreciation and deeper under-standing of religion and international affairs among students, scholars and practitioners who will shape and influence future policy-making. “We have entered an era when the resur-gence of religion’s influence has caught the majority of scholars and analysts by surprise. Religion, in many cases, appears ready to

SAIS launches Global Politics and Religion Initiative P R O G R A M

A road map to academic leadershipB y G r e G r i e n z i

The Gazette

Today’s rising academic stars could be tomorrow’s deans, department chairs, center directors and pro-

vosts. They just might need a gentle push in that direction. In an effort to provide that nudge,

Johns Hopkins has developed a new intersession program to nur-ture the future leaders of aca-demia and demys-tify the promo-tion process. The four-day course, called

Practicum in Higher Education Administration, is aimed at current graduate students and postdocs who want professional development and to lay the groundwork for leadership roles. It will be held from Monday, Jan. 23, through Thursday, Jan. 26, in the Hodson Hall boardroom on the Home-wood campus. Although geared toward those in Engineering and Arts and Sciences, the course will accept grad students and postdocs from other university divisions if space allows. The program, sponsored by the Office of Graduate Affairs and Admissions, will feature many members of Johns Hopkins’ senior administration, who will share their stories of how they rose through the ranks and climbed the aca-demic ladder, and how they have man-aged the nuances of their roles. Ben Vinson, vice dean for graduate education and for centers and inter-departmental programs in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the course’s facilitator, said that the inten-tion is to expand the horizons of gradu-ate students and postdocs. “We want to prepare them for careers within and outside the academy,” said Vinson, a professor of history. “The course will highlight the evolution of this career path and help participants

Continued on page 4

G R A D U A T E A F F A I R S

New four-day

course is

created for

grad students

and postdocs

displace the spread of 20th-century secular-izing regimes, ideologies and social trends in defining national policy goals,” said Charles Doran, director of the SAIS Global Theory and History Program and of the new initia-tive. “A perfect recent example of this trend,” he said, “is the potent role of the Mus-lim Brotherhood in Egypt, which survived decades of harsh repression while managing to remain politically relevant both by serv-ing as a highly effective opposition to a cor-

roberto Tron, at board, created Introduction to Model rocketry as a way to teach basic engineering and mathematical principles and apply them to a practical, and fun, goal. The class ends later this month with a launch party in Wyman Park.

Continued on page 7

2 THE GAZETTE • August 15, 20112 THE GAZETTE • January 17, 2012

I N B R I E F

Marina Piccinini’s flute students to present series of recitals

Flute students in the studio of Marina Piccinini at Peabody will present the complete Bach flute sonatas in a series

of recitals on Sunday, Jan. 22. The three recitals, at 2, 3:30 and 5 p.m. in Peabody’s Leith Symington Griswold Hall, are free and open to the public. Accompanying them on harpsichord will be faculty members Clinton Adams and Mark Janello and alumnae Bozena Jedrzejc-zak Brown and Qin Ying Tan.

Winter enrollment period is open for CTY testing

The winter enrollment period is open for families with gifted 2nd- to 8th-grade students to apply and test

through the Center for Talented Youth’s Talent Search. Through the Talent Search, parents dis-cover a child’s abilities, and participating students can gain eligibility for CTY’s 2012 summer programs as well as recognition for performance on the tests. Summer programs take place locally at St. Paul’s School (for students completing 2nd through 6th grade), Johns Hopkins (7th through 10th) and other locations within two hours of Baltimore. Tuition remission for children of Johns Hopkins employees is possible, dependent on unit policies. For more information, including options for CTY’s popular online courses, go to www .cty.jhu.edu or call 410-735-6277.

Jhpiego receives $33 million in USAID funding for Angola

The U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded Jhpiego a cooperative agreement of $33

million over five years to implement an initiative called Strengthening Angolan Systems for Health, or SASH. The project will support the government of Ango-la’s Revitalization of Municipal Health Services Strategy, or RMHSS, to ensure that essential health services are available in every health facility in Luanda and Huambo provinces. Jhpiego is the prime recipient, partnered with Management Sciences for Health to carry out this award. The expected project results are improv-ing institutional capacity in management and implementation of RMHSS, with par-ticular attention to health information and human resources for health, and creating a routine quality improvement approach in support of standards-based clinical prac-tices.

Applied Physics Laboratory Michael Buckley, Paulette CampbellBloomberg School of Public Health Tim Parsons, Natalie Wood-WrightCarey Business School Andrew Blumberg, Patrick ErcolanoHomewoodLisa De Nike, Amy Lunday, Dennis O’Shea,Tracey A. Reeves, Phil SneidermanJohns Hopkins MedicineChristen Brownlee, Stephanie Desmon, Neil A. Grauer, Audrey Huang, John Lazarou, David March, Vanessa McMains, Ekaterina Pesheva, Vanessa Wasta,Maryalice YakutchikPeabody Institute Richard SeldenSAIS Felisa Neuringer KlubesSchool of Education James Campbell, Theresa NortonSchool of Nursing Kelly Brooks-StaubUniversity Libraries and Museums Brian Shields, Heather Egan Stalfort

e d i t o r Lois Perschetz

W r i t e r Greg Rienzi

Pr o d u c t i o n Lynna Bright

co P y ed i t o r Ann Stiller

Ph o t o G r a P h y Homewood Photography

ad v e rt i s i n G The Gazelle Group

Bu s i n e s s Dianne MacLeod

ci r c u l at i o n Lynette Floyd

We B m a s t e r Lauren Custer

c o n t r i B u t i n G W r i t e r s

The Gazette is published weekly Sept-ember through May and biweekly June through August for the Johns Hopkins University community by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Baltimore, MD 21231, in cooperation with all university divisions. Subscriptions are $26 per year. Deadline for calendar items, notices and classifieds (free to JHU faculty, staff and students) is noon Monday, one week prior to publica-tion date.

Phone: 443-287-9900Fax: 443-287-9920General e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] the Web: gazette.jhu.edu

Paid advertising, which does not repre-sent any endorsement by the university, is handled by the Gazelle Group at 443-275-2687 or [email protected].

Teens can apply now for JH Summer Jobs Program

Applications are now available for teens interested in working in the Johns Hopkins Summer Jobs Pro-

gram, which is sponsored by the university and health system. The six-week-long paid summer intern-ships, in departments throughout the Johns Hopkins institutions, provide the students with exposure to careers, mentoring and education while they’re developing respon-sibility and gaining experience. Preference for participation goes to Balti-more City residents and students enrolled in Baltimore City schools. Candidates must be at least 15 years old by March 30 and have a passing GPA and a good attendance record. Applications and more information are available online at hopkinsmedicine.org/jhhr/Community/youthprograms.html. For questions, contact Project REACH/Com-munity Education Programs at 410-955-1488 or 410-955-1489.

New Project MUSE combined platform goes live

Project MUSE’s new books and jour-nals combined platform has gone live. More than 14,000 books from 65 uni-

versity presses and related scholarly publish-ers are now available alongside MUSE’s more than 500 electronic journals. Users at libraries that have purchased or subscribed to book collections on MUSE will have immediate full-text access to content from those collections. Highlights include faceted searching, with options to filter results by subject area, author and lan-guage; enhanced browsing by subject area, title or publisher, across books and journals or filtered by content type; and a powerful new hierarchal subject structure.

Three from Peabody to compete in finals of opera auditions

Three Peabody Conservatory stu-dents—Master of Music candidate Jeffrey Gates, a student of William

Sharp’s; and Graduate Performance Diplo-ma candidates Kristina Lewis and Amedee Moore, both students of Stanley Cornett’s—will compete in the Middle Atlantic Region Finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. The event will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washing-ton, D.C. Gates, Lewis and Moore were three of the five winners at the district auditions held Nov. 6 at Wolf Trap, Va. Tickets are available at kennedy-center.org.

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January 17, 2012 • THE GAZETTE 3

B y a u d r e y h u a n G

Johns Hopkins Medicine

Gregg L. Semenza, the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins, is one of two

recipients of this year’s Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award, given by the American Society for Clinical Investigation for their “contribu-tions to the molecular understanding of cel-lular oxygen sensing and cellular adaptation to hypoxia.” Semenza and his co-recipient, William G. Kaelin Jr., of Harvard Medical School, will share the $10,000 honorarium and present the Korsmeyer Lecture at the 2012 joint meeting of the ASCI and the Association of American Physicians, to be held April 27 to 29, in Chicago. Semenza, a pediatrician and geneticist, discovered and characterized hypoxia induc-ible factor 1 alpha, or HIF-1alpha, a gene that encodes a protein that senses oxygen levels in cells. In 1995 he and his team purified and isolated the gene, and they since have discovered major roles for HIF proteins in organismal development and cellular homeostasis. His work showed that HIFs serve as master regulators of the cel-lular oxygen response by turning on genes that help cells adapt to changes in oxygen levels. Semenza’s team has since been at the forefront of translational studies to augment HIF for conditions that require increased oxygen and blood flow, including cardio-vascular diseases, wound healing and organ transplantation, as well as studies of HIF inhibitors to decrease oxygen and blood

Semenza gets American Society for Clinical Investigation award

flow in conditions including cancer, ocular neovascularization and pulmonary hyper-tension. At Johns Hopkins, Semenza is also direc-tor of the Vascular Program in the Institute for Cell Engineering; a member of the McKu-sick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine; a professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Medicine, Oncology, Radiation Oncology and Biological Chemistry; and an affiliate of the Institute for NanoBioTechnology. He is a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and was elected in 2008 to the Association of American Physicians and the National Academy of Sciences and in 1995 to the American Society for Clinical Investigation. He first came to Johns Hopkins as a postdoctoral fellow in 1986 and joined the faculty in 1990.

Related websitesGregg Semenza: webapps.jhu.edu/ namedprofessorships/ professorshipdetail .cfm?professorshipID=290

Institute of Genetic Medicine: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ geneticmedicine

Institute for Cell engineering: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ institute_cell_engineering

MLK Jr. CoMMeMoraTIoN: Cardiac surgeon Levi Watkins, founder of the annual Johns Hopkins Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration, presented the Ideals award to Martin Luther King III, eldest son of the civil rights leader, who spoke at both the first program and the 30th anniversary event held Jan. 6, and to Johns Hopkins university President ronald J. Daniels.

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As part of first lady Michelle Obama’s Joining Forces initiative, the Johns Hopkins University School of Med-

icine is teaming up with the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Ameri-can Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine to create a new generation of doc-tors, medical schools and research facilities that will make sure our military veterans and their families receive the care worthy of their service. Recognizing veterans’ and their families’ sacrifice and commitment, Johns Hopkins has pledged to mobilize its uniquely inte-grated missions in education, research and clinical care to train the nation’s physicians to meet veterans’ and their families’ unique health care needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. “We are thrilled to partner with the AAMC in this important national effort to help our wounded warriors and their families,” said Edward D. Miller, the Frances Watt Baker, M.D., and Lenox D. Baker Jr., M.D., Dean of the Medical Faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Johns Hopkins has a long and proud history of sup-porting the medical needs of our active-duty armed forces members and veterans, and we as an institution are privileged to pledge our support in this regard.” Together, Johns Hopkins, the AAMC and AACOM are committing to enriching med-ical education along its continuum to ensure that physicians are aware of the clinical challenges and best practices associated with caring for this group; develop new research and clinical trials on post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury to better understand and treat these conditions; share their information and best practices with each other through a collaborative Web

forum created by the AAMC; and grow the body of knowledge leading to improvements in health care and wellness for military ser-vice members, veterans and their families. As part of a broader effort to provide the most advanced medical services and tech-nology to our servicemen, Johns Hopkins is establishing the Military and Veterans Health Institute. An interdisciplinary effort to tap into a wide range of expertise across Johns Hopkins, the institute will serve as a cross-enterprise vehicle to pursue clinical, research and educational partnerships in areas beneficial to both the military and global communities. Johns Hopkins is committed to advanc-ing the standard of care within military medicine and has dedicated attention to many related disciplines, including psy-chological health, regenerative medicine, rehabilitative care, systems engineering, population health and the science of health care delivery. Under contract with the Department of Defense for more than 30 years, Johns Hopkins Health System also serves the military community through the Uniformed Services Family Health Plan, a Department of Defense–sponsored managed care program providing the TRI-CARE Prime benefit to more than 35,000 retired military members and families of active duty service personnel. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of the vice president, created Joining Forces to bring Americans together to recognize, honor and take action to support veterans and military families as they serve their coun-try and throughout their lives. The initiative aims to educate, challenge and spark action from all sectors of society to ensure that vet-erans and military families have the support they have earned. The initiative focuses on key priority areas—employment, education and wellness—while raising awareness about the service, sacrifice and needs of America’s veterans and military families.

SoM joins Michelle Obama to support veterans and families

C O L L A B O R A T I O N

Compared with other factors, calcium test proves key indicator of low risk

B y e l l e n B e t h l e v i t t


If your doctor says you have a negative stress test, or that your cholesterol or blood pressure is normal, how assured

can you be that you’re not likely to have a heart attack in the next seven to 10 years? Assessing traditional risk factors such as age, high blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking and family history can estimate a person’s risk, but the picture is not always clear-cut. Some newer tests can be offered to provide reassurance or guidance about the need for medications or further testing. Michael Blaha, of the Johns Hopkins Cic-carone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, has developed a simple mathemati-cal formula to help doctors calculate their patients’ risks based on a variety of tests, such as a blood test for C-reactive protein, carotid ultrasound and coronary calcium scoring, that are not part of the usual menu of risk factors. The goal was to determine which test, if results were normal, would provide the most reassurance for patients. The study shows that, by far, a test that looks for coronary calcium is the best indi-cator of low risk compared with other tests. Blaha presented the results of the study Nov. 15 at the American Heart Association Sci-entific Sessions in Orlando, Fla. Blaha and his colleagues used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, or MESA, a longitudinal study of more than 6,800 people without cardiovascular disease at enrollment who have been followed for an average of seven years. The researchers com-pared heart attack rates in the study popula-tion with results of tests the individuals had been given to assess their risk. In that way, they could calculate which tests predicted the lowest heart attack risk. They found that a coronary calcium score of zero, meaning no coronary calcium could be seen in heart arter-ies, was, by far, the most reassuring indicator. “None of the other tests, such as C-reac-tive protein, are sensitive enough to reassure patients that they have a very low risk of a heart attack over the next seven years,” Blaha said. “The findings related to coronary artery calcium are important from a public health perspective because they mean we can identify people who do not need further testing or medical interventions for the immediate future.”

Coronary calcium scoring is a CT test that uses about the same amount of radiation as a mammogram to show evidence of cal-cium buildup in arteries feeding the heart. C-reactive protein is a marker of inflamma-tion somewhere in the body that is assessed by a blood test. Carotid ultrasound looks at fatty deposits in arteries or thickening of the artery walls in the neck. According to Blaha’s new model, if a patient is thought to have a 10 percent risk of a heart attack according to the widely regarded Framingham risk scale, and the patient’s calcium scoring test shows zero coronary calcium, his projected risk could be reduced to 3 percent. “That’s a meaningful change in the estimated risk that will influ-ence patient treatment,” Blaha said. Half the people in MESA between ages 45 and 84 had zero levels of coronary calcium. In contrast, for the same group of people whose risk of a heart attack over the next decade was thought to be 10 percent because of traditional risk factors, a low C-reactive protein level only reduced their true risk to 9 percent, according to Blaha’s model. “Therefore,” Blaha said, “finding no coro-nary calcium is a much more robust predic-tor of low risk compared with having low levels of C-reactive protein.” Along the same lines, those with a 10 percent risk of a heart attack based on tradi-tional risk factors, and whose carotid artery test is normal, would see a drop in their risk to 7 percent based on Blaha’s model. Roger S. Blumenthal, professor of medi-cine and director of the Johns Hopkins Cic-carone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, said, “This ingenious mathematical model may provide a useful tool to help phy-sicians assess their patients’ risk. It may also have public health significance in terms of guiding the proper allocation of health care resources, including medications.” Blumenthal says that coronary calcium scoring to assess heart disease risk is analo-gous to a bone density test to assess the risk of bone fracture. “If a 60-year-old woman has a family history of osteoporosis and is thin,” he said, “she may be presumed to be at high risk for bone fractures. A bone density scan would provide a key piece of information about her actual risk and need for medication to lower her risk of fractures. “We don’t prescribe medicine to prevent fractures to all postmenopausal women—only to those who have osteoporosis on the basis of a bone density scan,” he said. “In the same way, coronary calcium scoring can tell us whether or not there is evidence of hardening in the walls of the heart arteries and, there-fore, more accurately determine a person’s risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event.”

Formula developed to reassure patients about heart attack risk


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Continued from page 1

Leadership

conceive of [themselves] as something beyond being a professor or researcher.” The four hour-and-a-half sessions will build on each other, taking participants from departmental to interdivisional leadership roles, with the last day focused on keys to directing programs and centers and chairing a committee. The interactive seminars will help answer such questions as, How does one balance academic life with departmental admin-istration? and What skills prepare one for becoming a dean or provost? Along the way, participants will learn about challenges for administrators, team building, communica-tion, the value of committee membership and the rewards of leadership. “Administration is not always seen in a positive light,” Vinson said. “But these ses-sions will hopefully show what these roles entail and how you can still fulfill your research or academic goals. We don’t want people to be blinded and never give them-

selves the chance to advance upward.” Among the panelists are Jonathan Bag-ger, vice provost for graduate and post-doctoral programs; Andrew Douglas, vice dean for faculty in the Whiting School; William Egginton, chair of German and Romance Languages and Literatures in the Krieger School; Jane Guyer, chair of the Department of Anthropology in the Krieger School; Pablo Iglesias, Academic Council member and faculty in the Depart-ment of Electrical and Computer Engi-neering; Nicholas Jones, the Benjamin T. Rome Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering; Barbara Landau, vice provost for faculty affairs; Ed Scheinerman, vice dean for education in the Whiting Shool; Amy Shelton, director of graduate studies for the Psychology program at Homewood; Gabrielle Spiegel, the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of History; Donald Steinwachs, director of the Health Services Research and Development Center at the Bloomberg School of Public Health; and James Yager, senior associate dean for academic affairs at the Bloomberg School. To register for the course, email Susan Kir-wan in the Registrar’s Office at skirwan1@jhu .edu. For questions, call 410-516-2388.

G

B y d a v i d m a r c h


Working with mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins have successful-ly used a commonly prescribed

blood pressure medicine, losartan (Cozaar), to prevent almost all the lung damage caused from two months of exposure to cigarette smoke. The treatment specifically targeted lung tissue breakdown, airway wall thicken-ing, inflammation and lung overexpansion. As a result of the experiments, efforts already are under way at Johns Hopkins for a clinical trial of the drug in people with smoking-related chronic obstructive pulmo-nary disease, or COPD, the long-term con-sequence of smoking for which, until now, there have been no known potential treat-ments to prevent or repair the resulting lung damage. COPD is the third-leading cause of death in the United States, mostly in people with chronic bronchitis, emphysema or both; some 12 million Americans have been diagnosed with COPD. Funding of the trial is from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the drug’s manufacturer, Merck & Co. “The results of our study in mice suggest that losartan or similar drugs could serve as an effective treatment for smoking-related lung diseases in humans,” said Enid Nep-tune, study senior investigator for the ani-mal experiments. “And because these drugs are already approved for use in the United States as safe and effective treatments for hypertension, incorporating them into our treatment regimen for COPD would be quite rapid,” added Neptune, a pulmonolo-gist and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A report on the study, published Jan. 3 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, is con-sidered a breakthrough discovery, research-ers say, because it is the first to show that a drug already in clinical use can prevent

most of the serious consequences of smoking in an animal test model, preserving both lung structure and function. The study is also believed to be one of the first to extend findings from research on other complex genetic conditions, specifically Marfan syn-drome, for which losartan therapy is also being clinically tested, to probe how such treatments can be applied to other complex diseases that damage the lungs in a similar way. In smoking-related COPD, breathing becomes difficult and progressively worsens, as the small airways and airspaces that con-duct oxygen through the lungs and into the bloodstream become damaged. Airway walls thicken and are more readily obstructed by mucus, and the airspaces lose their elasticity. Pulmonologist Robert A. Wise, a profes-sor at Johns Hopkins who is piloting the clinical studies, said, “It is very exciting that an existing medication has proven capable in an animal model of not only treating the problems of COPD but also of disrupting the biological pathway that precipitated them. If our tests in people prove successful, we could help restore lung health to millions of people who have suffered from tobacco addiction.” Wise says that existing remedies for smok-ing-related COPD are few and mainly con-sist of providing relief of symptoms, such as shortness of breath, coughing and mucus production. Drugs that lower blood pressure also help, and surgery can be done to remove damaged portions of the lung or transplant new lungs. Neptune and Wise began their investiga-tion of losartan after a colleague at Johns Hopkins, Harry “Hal” Dietz, discovered that the medication could potentially treat Marfan syndrome, which results from a single genetic mutation and weakens arter-ies, affecting all major organs, including the lungs. The pulmonary researchers wanted to know if the medication, formally known as

Blood pressure drug prevents smoke-related lung damage in micelosartan potassium, had the same reparative effects on the lungs in other more complex, common and multigenic respiratory diseases, such as COPD. Previous research on losartan, by Dietz and other researchers, had shown that the drug, part of a class of medications called angiotensin II receptor antagonists, blocked the action of a key signaling protein called transforming growth factor beta, or TGF-beta for short. Neptune’s own research showed that TGF-beta levels were elevated in lung tissue samples from smokers with COPD, as well as in the lung tissue of mice with Marfan syndrome. Indeed, Neptune and Dietz’s foundational research in 2003 had shown that TGF-beta neutralizing antibodies prevented develop-mental emphysema in Marfan mice. But until now, Neptune says, no one knew if this biological pathway was simply a conse-quence of COPD or actually drove it. From a translational medicine standpoint, that bit of information was necessary to gauge losartan’s potential in treating the lung disease. “Our research shows two distinct strate-gies to block TGF-beta to prevent cigarette smoke–induced lung injury,” Neptune said. “This suggests that the TGF-beta biologi-cal pathway may be a major contributor to COPD disease progression.” In the new set of experiments, the Johns Hopkins team first confirmed elevated levels of TGF-beta in the lungs of mice exposed to cigarette smoke and in lung tissue samples of eight smokers with COPD. Biochemical analyses showed that smoke-exposed mice had a fourfold increase in TGF-beta signal-ing in their lungs than did mice exposed to indoor air only; in people, TGF-beta signal-ing in the COPD sufferers’ lungs was 25 per-cent greater than in those of nearly a dozen smokers without COPD. Human tissue sam-ples came from the NHLBI’s National Lung Tissue Research Consortium. While continuing exposure to tobacco smoke, some mice were treated with either a low dose (0.6 grams per liter) or a high dose (1.2 grams per liter) of losartan. Another set of smoke-exposed mice was given a neutral-izing antibody to TGF-beta signaling, the same treatment that had been used in Mar-fan mice. Researchers found major improvements in more than a half-dozen measures of lung damage. Airway wall thickness had doubled from smoking in untreated mice but was 50 percent less in those treated with either dose of losartan or with TGF-beta antibod-ies. Losartan-treated mice showed no signs of lung overexpansion or increased collagen deposition, a gauge of TGF-beta activity, and had normal levels of elastin-metaboliz-ing enzymes and protein fragments in their

air sac walls. Measures of oxidative stress, inflammation and cell death were also better in mice given the blood pressure medica-tion. Researchers say that their next steps, beyond the pilot clinical trial, are further experiments on the role played by TGF-beta signaling in COPD and determining who best responds to anti-TGF-beta signaling treatments. Neptune says that this approach represents an early step toward personal-ized or individually specific treatments for COPD sufferers. “Understanding the basic genetic and molecular workings of a disease, in this case Marfan syndrome, has been the key to finding a drug that appears to address a contributing cause for a variety of diseases, including those triggered by such causes as smoking rather than faulty genes,” said Dietz, the Victor A. McKusick Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins. “The essence of transla-tional medicine is to apply the lessons of basic science as broadly as possible to ease human suffering, and this new work advances that cause tremendously,” said Dietz, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Additional funding support for this study was provided by the Grace Anne Dorney Fund for Tobacco-Related Research. In addition to Neptune, Wise and Dietz, investigators from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine involved in this research, con-ducted from August 2009 through June 2011, were co-lead investigators Megan Podowski, Carla Calvi, Shana Metzger and Kaori Misono. Other investigators were Hataya Poonyagariyagorn, Armando Lopez-Mercado, Therese Ku, Thomas Lauer, Sha-ron McGrath-Morrow, Alan Berger, Chris-topher Cheadle, Rubin Tuder and Wayne Mitzner. Mitzner is also a faculty member at the university’s Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Related websitesenid Neptune: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ pulmonary/faculty/division_ faculty/neptune_er.html

robert Wise: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ pulmonary/faculty/division_ faculty/wise_ra.html

‘The Journal of Clinical Investigation’: www.jci.org


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PS-2011 JHU Gazette 11-29 11/29/11 10:28 AM Page 1

B y i a n m a t t h i a s

Krieger School of Arts and Sciences

Johns Hopkins University has launched Johns Hopkins-China STEM, a Chinese language and

research program tailored to the science, technology, engineering and medical professions. Designed for English-speak-ing scholars with a strong foundation in Mandarin Chinese and academic train-ing in engineering or the health sciences, the eight-week program is now accepting applications and will commence this summer at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in Nanjing, China. “Johns Hopkins–China STEM will help to satisfy a growing demand at Hop-kins and around the world for Chinese language training in technical fields,” said Kellee Tsai, vice dean for humanities and social sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, who led the program’s planning process. “Many of the great STEM breakthroughs are now occurring in China, and it is imperative that Eng-lish-speaking researchers and innovators learn to communicate with their Asian counterparts to share this knowledge with the rest of the world. Just as important, many Western advances are yet to reach all corners of the East, due in part to tech-nical language barriers.” Set to begin on June 25, the eight-credit program will immerse students in rigorous language training and expe-riential research trips to laboratories,

JHU launches specialized Chinese language program

hospitals and academic institutions in Nanjing and Beijing. The program will enroll up to 20 scholars in the inaugural session, divided into two courses of study: Chinese for Engineers and Health Sci-ences Chinese. Students will experience a challenging, concentrated curriculum designed by faculty members at Johns Hopkins and leading experts in the field of Chinese language pedagogy. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation and spearheaded by faculty and administrators in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins–China STEM will be supported by and available to students and faculty from across the university and from external institutions. “College and professional school grad-uates with first-rate language training in specialized areas will enter today’s transnational job market with a competi-tive advantage,” said Tobie Meyer-Fong, an associate professor in the History Department, who is one of the program’s planners. “Hopkins-China STEM offers a unique opportunity for students to be at the forefront of a global scientific future.” The Johns Hopkins–China STEM program is accepting applications and admittances to the first class, which will be notified by March 30. Applications are due by March 1, with financial aid priority given to those who apply before Jan. 30. For more information, go to krieger.jhu .edu/chinastem or email [email protected].

B y s t e P h a n i e d e s m o n


Thousands more American senior citi-zens with kidney disease are good candidates for transplants and could

get them if physicians would get past out-dated medical biases and put them on trans-plant waiting lists, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers. The investigators estimate that between 1999 and 2006, roughly 9,000 adults over 65 would have been “excellent” transplant candidates, and approximately 40,000 more older adults would have been “good” candi-dates for new kidneys. None, however, was given the chance. “Doctors routinely believe and tell older people they are not good candidates for kidney transplant, but many of them are if

they are carefully selected and if factors that really predict outcomes are fully accounted for,” said transplant surgeon Dorry L. Segev, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the study being published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. “Many older adults can enjoy excellent transplant outcomes in this day and age,” he said, and should “be given consideration for this lifesaving treatment.” Those ages 65 and older make up more than one-half of people with end-stage renal disease in the United States, and appro-priately selected patients in this age group will live longer if they get new kidneys as opposed to remaining on dialysis, Segev says. The trouble is, he adds, that very few older adults are even put on transplant waiting lists. In 2007, only 10.4 percent of dialysis patients between the ages of 65 and 74 were

Seniors lack access to lifesaving organs despite survival benefiton waiting lists, compared to 33.5 percent of 18- to 44-year-old dialysis patients and 21.9 percent of 45- to 64-year-old dialysis patients. Segev cautions that some older kidney disease patients are indeed poor transplant prospects because they have other age-related health problems. But he says that his team’s new findings, in addition to other recent research, show that new organs can greatly improve survival even in this age group. Segev and his team constructed a statis-tical model for predicting how well older adults would be expected to do after kidney transplantation by taking into account age, smoking, diabetes and 16 other health-related variables. Using those data to define an “excellent” candidate, they then applied the information to every person 65 and older on dialysis during the seven-year study period. The researchers also determined whether these candidates were already on the waiting list. “We have this regressive attitude toward transplantation in older adults, one based on historical poor outcomes in older patients, which no longer holds up,” Segev said. “Anyone who can benefit from kidney transplantation should at least be given a chance. They should at least be put on the list.” Segev says he knows that there is a short-age of kidneys, and that some will question whether scarce organs would be put to better use in younger patients. But Segev’s study predicts that more than 10 percent of

older patients would get kidneys from liv-ing relatives or friends, which would have little impact on the nationwide shortage of deceased donor kidneys. But finding a living donor first requires referral for transplanta-tion. “By not referring older adults for trans-plant, we’re not just denying them a chance at a kidney from a deceased donor, but we’re potentially denying them a kidney from a live donor,” he added. According to research by Segev and his team published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, live kidney donation is very safe for both donor and recipient, and more older adults are donat-ing their kidneys to relatives. Other research done by Segev has shown that older kidney transplant recipients do well with kidneys from older donors, organs that would be rejected for use in younger patients. The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Federation for Aging Research. Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the research are Morgan E. Grams, Lau-ren M. Kucirka, Colleen Hanrahan, Robert A. Montgomery and Alan B. Massie.

Related websiteComprehensive Transplant Cen-ter at Johns Hopkins: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ transplant

rupt secular regime and by joining the newly revitalized democratic platform.” SAIS Dean Jessica P. Einhorn added, “This generous grant from the Luce Foun-dation will allow us to advance scholarly research on religion in different national contexts while preparing students to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world.” The first new GPRI course, to be offered this semester, is Heaven on Earth: Conflict, Democracy and the Growth of Religious Toleration. Students will explore whether religious toleration is more likely within the framework of democracy, and if democ-racy nurtures religious toleration. Two other proposed courses will address religion and international relations, and religion, politics and policymaking. This year, SAIS will begin hosting peri-odic faculty and community seminars on religion and politics, involving scholars from SAIS and other Johns Hopkins divisions as well as experts from other area universities and the surrounding policy community in a dialogue about the role of religion in the


SAIS historical and modern forms of government, particularly democracies. The third GPRI component will be a series of executive education training ses-sions targeting professionals in the U.S. government, military, nonprofit organiza-tions, media and business. The course work will focus on how the interaction between religion and politics affects current policy issues. The Luce Foundation also supports SAIS’ International Reporting Project, which, as part of its mission, provides several fellow-ships to journalists reporting overseas on topics of religion. IRP fellows will play a role in the Global Politics and Religion Initiative, providing insights from their on-the-ground reporting trips to participants in the courses and training sessions. SAIS received the grant through the foun-dation’s Henry R. Luce Initiative on Reli-gion and International Affairs. Announced in June 2005, this initiative aims to deepen understanding of religion as a critical but often neglected dimension of national and international policies and politics. Established in 1936, the Henry Luce Foundation seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities. G



B y l i s a d e n i K e

Homewood

A team of Johns Hopkins astrophysicists using NASA’s Hubble Space Tele-scope has detected a distant Type Ia

supernova, the farthest stellar explosion that can be used to measure the expansion rate of the universe. The supernova is the remnant of a star that exploded 9 billion years ago. The sighting is the first finding of an ambitious survey that will help astronomers place better constraints on the nature of “dark energy,” a mysterious repulsive force that is causing the universe to fly apart ever faster. The object, nicknamed SN Primo, belongs to a special class called Type Ia supernovae, which are bright beacons used as distance markers for studying the expansion rate of the universe. Type Ia supernovae most likely arise when white dwarf stars, the burned-out cores of normal stars, siphon too much mate-rial from their companion stars and explode. The study has been accepted for pub-lication in The Astrophysical Journal, and the results were presented Jan. 11 at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas, by first author Steven Rodney, a postdoctoral researcher in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Phys-ics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University. Teaming with Rodney was lead investigator Adam Riess, a professor of phys-ics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins and a 2011 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of dark energy. According to Rodney, SN Primo is the farthest Type Ia supernova whose distance has been confirmed through spectroscopic observations. A spectrum splits the light from a supernova into its constituent colors. By analyzing those colors, astronomers can confirm its distance by measuring how much the supernova’s light has been stretched, or red-shifted, into near-infrared wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe. The supernova was discovered as part of

measure a drop in the number of superno-vae, then it could be that it takes a long time to make a Type Ia supernova,” Rodney said. “Like corn kernels in a pan waiting for the oil to heat up, the stars haven’t had enough time at that epoch to evolve to the point of explosion. However, if supernovae form very quickly, like microwave popcorn, then they will be immediately visible, and we’ll find many of them, even when the universe was very young. But each supernova is unique. It’s possible that there are multiple ways to make a supernova.” If astronomers discover that Type Ia super-novae begin to depart from how they expect them to look, they might be able to gauge those changes and make the measurements of dark energy more precise. When Riess and two other astronomers discovered dark energy 13 years ago—the finding for which they shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 2011—they used Type 1a supernovae to plot the expansion rate of the universe. The Hubble Space Telescope is a proj-ect of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center man-ages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

For images and more information about the study, visit: www.nasa.gov/hubble

adam riess: www.stsci.edu/~ariess

physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/people/ faculty/riess_adam.html Steven rodney: www.pha.jhu.edu/~srodney/ srodney/Home.html

Hubble detects one of the most distant supernovae yet observed

a three-year Hubble program to survey far-away Type Ia supernovae, enabling searches for this special class of stellar explosion at greater distances than previously possible. The remote supernovae will help astrono-mers determine whether the exploding stars remain dependable distance markers across vast distances of space in an epoch when the cosmos was only one-third its current age of 13.7 billion years. Called the CANDELS+CLASH Super-nova Project, the census uses the sharpness and versatility of Hubble’s Wide Field Cam-era 3 to look in regions targeted by two large Hubble programs: Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey (CANDELS) and the Cluster Lensing and Supernova Survey with Hubble (CLASH). “In our search for supernovae, we had gone as far as we could go in optical light,” Riess said. “But it’s only the beginning of

what we can do in infrared light. This dis-covery demonstrates that we can use the Wide Field Camera 3 to search for superno-vae in the distant universe.” The supernova team’s search technique involved taking multiple near-infrared images over several months, looking for a supernova’s faint glow. Once the team spot-ted SN Primo in October 2010, the scien-tists used the camera’s spectrometer to verify its distance and to decode its light, finding the unique signature of a Type Ia supernova. The team then re-imaged SN Primo periodi-cally for eight months, measuring the slow dimming of its light. By taking the census, the astronomers hope to determine the frequency of Type Ia supernovae during the early universe and glean insights into the mechanisms that detonated them. “If we look into the early universe and

These three images taken by NaSa’s Hubble Space

Telescope reveal the emer-gence of an exploding

star, called a supernova. Nicknamed SN Primo, the exploding star belongs to a special class called Type Ia supernovae, which are

distance markers used for studying dark energy and the expansion rate of the

universe. The top image shows part of the Hubble

ultra Deep field, the region where astronomers were looking for a super-

nova blast; the box shows where the supernova is later seen. The bottom left image is a close-up

of the field without the supernova. a new bright object, identified as the

supernova, appears in the image at bottom right. N

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Intersession

this gravity-based equation, and ignition systems, thrust and re-entry, in Introduc-tion to Model Rocketry, one of dozens of academic and personal enrichment courses on the schedule for Intersession 2012 at the Homewood campus. The Intersession program began on Jan. 9 and runs until Jan. 27. Roberto Tron, a fifth-year graduate stu-dent in Electrical and Computer Engineer-ing, created the model-rocketry course as a way to teach basic engineering and math-ematical principles and apply them to a practical, and fun, goal. Tron calls model rocketry “the small cousin” of space rocketry, but it shares many interesting aspects with its real-world coun-terpart. Classes will cover both practical and theoretical topics such as laws of motion, launchers and launching systems, dynamic stability, payloads, motors, glider recovery and altitude determination.

“I’ll give them a mathematical model to predict how the rocket will move and how high it will go,” said Tron, a native of Torino, Italy, who moved to the United States for graduate study in 2007. “They’ll also learn about rocket manufacturing, anal-ysis and design.” Tron, a latecomer to rocketry, picked up the sport only last year. He’s notched five launches with two rockets to date, test flights conducted on his in-laws’ farm in Vermont. Tron says he wishes he had more time to practice his new hobby. “The test flights went without major hic-cups,” Tron said, “except for one where after flying over 600 meters, the rocket had to be recovered from a tree.” The one-credit course filled up quickly, with 20 students registered. The students—not all future rocket scientists—represent multiple majors, including Near Eastern studies, public health studies, chemistry, mechanical engineering and others. The kit rockets they’ll assemble will be made mostly of wood or plastic, and weigh less than 1.5 kilograms. Students have some leeway on rocket sizes and motors, although Tron wants to keep them within an accept-

able—and safe—range. The kits must be skill level 1 or higher, and the rockets must not be able to travel much more than 400 meters. At the end of the course, Tron plans a launch event at a Wyman Park field, just north of the Homewood campus, where the students will shoot off their rockets—and, if their ejection charge calculations are accu-rate, have them safely touch down with the aid of a parachute. The list of more-Earth-bound winter Intersession courses includes a Near Eastern Studies offering called The Archaeology of Beer; a music class titled Tunes for Toons; Film and Media Studies’ Killer Cool: Samu-rai/Gunfighter/Hitman; and many others, both traditional and quirky. Each Intersession period also features an array of noncredit Personal Enrichment classes offered through the Office of Stu-dent Life. This year’s schedule includes Introduction to the Rubik’s Cube, Ballroom Dance, Dancing Like Jane Austen, Break-dance Fundamentals, Introduction to Play-ing the Appalachian Fiddle, Zumba Fitness, Beginning Conversational Swahili, Yoga for Beginners, Introduction to Digital Photog-

G

raphy and the ever-popular Wine Apprecia-tion (for students 21 and over). The Personal Enrichment courses, which can run from three days to three weeks, are taught by students, staff and professional instructors. The academic classes are typically taught by graduate students and young faculty. Jane Rhyner, coordinator of the Personal Enrichment program for the past 26 years, said that each year she tries to find a good mix of classes that will interest the Home-wood community. “I put out notices in October telling the campus I’m looking for instructors,” said Rhyner, who is the director of the Mat-tin Center and Levering Hall. “I want the classes to be leisurely and fun, and fairly nonacademic.” More than 260 people registered for the 20-plus personal enrichment courses this year, with hundreds more signed up for the academic courses. Whether it’s launching a rocket or gliding on the dance floor, there seems to be some-thing for everyone. Some Personal Enrichment classes still have openings; for information, go to www.jhu.edu/intersession.

among this year’s Personal enrichment classes: rubik’s Cube, Introduction to Playing the appalachian fiddle (center, instructor Ken Kolodner) and Zumba fitness.

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Discovery may give clues on disease development and need for earlier screening

B y e l l e n B e t h l e v i t t


After a 20-year quest to find a genet-ic driver for prostate cancer that strikes men at younger ages and runs

in families, researchers have identified a rare inherited mutation linked to a significantly higher risk of the disease. A report on the discovery, published in the Jan. 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, was led by investigators at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the University of Michigan Health System. The research team found that men who inherit this mutation have a 10 to 20 times higher risk of developing prostate cancer. Although accounting for only a small fraction of all prostate cancer cases, the dis-covery may provide important clues about how this common cancer develops and help identify a subset of men who might benefit from additional or earlier screening. This year, an estimated 240,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with pros-tate cancer. “This is the first major genetic variant associated with inherited prostate cancer,” said Kathleen A. Cooney, a professor of internal medicine and urology at the Uni-versity of Michigan Medical School, one of the study’s two senior authors. “It’s what we’ve been looking for over the past 20 years,” added William B. Isaacs, a professor of urology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medi-cine, the study’s other senior author. “It’s long been clear that prostate cancer can run in families, but pinpointing the underlying

genetic basis has been challenging, and previous studies have provided inconsistent results.” For this study, the researchers collabo-rated with John Carpten at the Trans-lational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix, who used the latest technology to sequence the DNA of more than 200 genes in a human chromosome region known as 17q21-22. Cooney, working with Ethan Lange of the University of North Carolina on the Uni-versity of Michigan Prostate Cancer Genet-ics Project, was the first to identify 17q21-22 as a region of interest. Researchers started with samples from the youngest patients with prostate cancer in 94 families who had participated in studies at Michigan and Johns Hopkins. Each of those families had multiple cases of the disease among close relatives, such as fathers and sons, or brothers. Members of four families were found to have the same mutation in the HOXB13 gene, which plays an important role in the development of the prostate during the fetal stage and its function later in life. The muta-tion was carried by all 18 men with prostate cancer in these four families. The researchers collaborated with Jian-feng Xu and Lilly Zheng at Wake Forest University to look for the same HOXB13 gene mutation among 5,100 men who had been treated for prostate cancer at either Johns Hopkins or Michigan. The mutation was found in 1.4 percent, or 72, of the men. It turned out that those men were much more likely to have at least one first-degree relative, a father or brother, who also had been diagnosed. The researchers also looked for the mutation in a control group of 1,400 men without prostate cancer, and only one of those men carried the mutation. In addi-tion, the researchers studied men who were specifically enrolled in studies of early-onset or familial prostate cancer.

Found: Major gene mutation associated with prostate cancer risk “We found that the mutation was signifi-cantly more common in men with a family history and early diagnosis compared with men diagnosed later, after age 55, without a family history. The difference was 3.1 per-cent versus 0.62 percent,” Cooney said. Study co-author Patrick Walsh, a profes-sor of urology at Johns Hopkins and one of the pioneers in prostate cancer treatment, said, “We had never seen anything like this before. It all came together to suggest that this single change may account for at least a portion of the hereditary form of the disease.” In the 1980s, Walsh was one of the first to publish a study showing that the risk of prostate cancer was higher among men with close relatives who also had the disease. The researchers say that with further study, it may be possible one day to have a genetic test for inherited prostate cancer in much the same way that tests are available to look for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations that greatly increase a woman’s chance of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer. “We need to continue studying this vari-ant and look at larger groups of men,” Isaacs said. “Our next step will be to develop a

mouse model with this mutation to see if it causes prostate cancer. Future DNA sequencing may also identify additional rare variants that contribute to prostate cancer risk in families.” This particular mutation was found in families of European descent, while two dif-ferent mutations on the HOXB13 gene were identified in families of African descent. Since only seven of the 94 families studied were of African descent, more research will be required before the significance of those mutations is known. African-American men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer at younger ages and to have a more aggressive form of the disease. Cooney says that patients with questions about prostate cancer screening, particularly if the disease runs in their families, are encouraged to speak with their doctor. Additional authors from Johns Hopkins are Charles M. Ewing, Kathleen E. Wiley, Sarah D. Isaacs, Dorhyun Johng, Guifang Yan, Marta Gielzak and Alan W. Partin. The research was supported by the Patrick C. Watsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund and the National Institutes of Health.

B y v a n e s s a m c m a i n s


Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that DNA changes in a gene that drives the growth of a form of

lung cancer can make the cancer’s cells resistant to cancer drugs. The findings show that some classes of drugs won’t work, and certain types of so-called kinase inhibitors such as erlotinib may be the most effective at treating non–small cell lung cancers with those DNA changes. Some kinase inhibitors block a protein known as EGFR from directing cells to multiply. In their paper published online Nov. 20 in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, the researchers describe the molecular details of how some cancer drugs work. “Some anti-cancer pharmaceuticals that we showed to be ineffective made it to clini-cal trials because they appeared to prevent the EGFR protein from sending growth signals,” said Philip A. Cole, the E.K. Mar-shall and Thomas H. Maren Professor of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences and department director at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “But we found that different forms of EGFR protein reacted in unexpected ways, and by sorting out these forms in advance, we may be better able to determine which drugs will be better candidates for future clinical trials,” Cole said. The researchers found that not all EGFR protein variations responded to the same drugs that normal EGFR protein did. The scientists note that non–small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease, generally results from DNA changes in the EGFR gene, which normally controls cell growth. The genetic changes cause uncontrolled cell growth, the hallmark of cancer. “Many clinical trials that used cetuximab and lapatinib were unsuccessful,” Cole said, “and our findings suggest why they failed and why erlotinib succeeded.” The new discoveries were prompted by an effort to learn which drugs would work best in non–small cell lung cancer linked to EGFR protein alterations. To start, the researchers first tested cetuximab, a mono-clonal antibody that prevents growth factors from binding EGFR. Cetuximab is currently used to treat head, neck and colon cancers, but researchers believed it could be a treat-ment for lung cancer, too. They added the drug to purified EGFR

protein—both normal and two altered ver-sions that have been implicated in lung cancer—and measured the protein’s activ-ity. Normal EGFR had a rate of growth-stimulating activity 100 times less when treated with cetuximab. Both altered EGFRs had much higher rates of growth-stimulating activity, 200 times more than normal EGFR when treated with cetuximab. The research-ers concluded that while cetuximab does dampen the activity of normal EGFR pro-tein, it does not significantly reduce the altered EGFR activity, which is not enough to stop cells from growing. Because cetuximab was unsuccess-ful at blocking altered EGFR activity, the researchers tested kinase inhibitors—lapa-tinib, an FDA-approved breast cancer drug, and erlotinib, a drug currently used to treat non–small cell lung and pancreatic cancers. The researchers added different concentra-tions of lapatinib and erlotinib to the puri-fied normal and altered EGFR proteins and measured the drugs’ effectiveness. Both erlo-tinib and lapatinib reduced normal EGFR activity, but lapatinib did not block altered EGFR activity. Erlotinib did appear to pre-vent altered EGFR from working, similar to the way it reduced the normal EGFR protein activity. This led the Johns Hopkins team to conclude that erlotinib is a better drug treat-ment for non–small cell lung cancers that are associated with altered forms of EGFR protein. At Johns Hopkins, one of the senior inves-tigators of the new study, Daniel Leahy, pio-neered the procedure to isolate the EGFRs and another, Zhihong Wang, performed the experiments. Other authors of the paper, also from Johns Hopkins, are Patti Longo, Mary Katherine Tarrant, Kwangsoo Kim and Sarah Head. Funding for this study was provided by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Related websitesPhilip Cole: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ pharmacology_molecular_ sciences/faculty/bios/cole.html

Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ pharmacology_molecular_sciences

Study helps predict which lung cancer drugs most likely to work


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B y a l y s s a v e t r o

Bloomberg School of Public Health

Chris Beyrer, director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the Bloomberg School of Public

Health and director of the Johns Hop-kins University Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program, will receive an honorary doctorate in health science this week from Chiang Mai University in north-ern Thailand. The award will be given by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn during the Jan. 19 commence-ment ceremonies. Beyrer, a professor with joint appoint-ments in the Bloomberg School’s depart-ments of Epidemiology, International Health, and Health, Behavior and Society, has extensive experience in international collaborative research and training pro-grams in HIV/AIDS, infectious disease epidemiology, HIV and STI prevention research, HIV vaccine preparedness and human rights. He co-chairs the Injecting Drug Use Working Group of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and serves on the Scientific Advi-sory Board for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. As director of the Johns Hopkins Univer-sity Fogarty AIDS International Training and Research Program, Beyrer has provided fellowships for more than 1,400 interna-tional scholars in HIV/AIDS prevention, research and treatment. He also served from 1992 through 1997

Beyrer to receive honorary doctorate in Thailandas field director for the Thai PAVE and HIVNET studies, which were based in the Chiang Mai province, and has focused much of his research on the epidemiology of HIV in Thailand and Southeast Asia. He is the author of the 1998 book War in the Blood: Sex Politics and AIDS in Southeast Asia and is currently conducting projects in Thailand, China, Burma, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Russia. Beyrer serves as an adviser to numerous organizations, including the Public Health

Program of the Open Society Institute, the Institute for Asian Democracy, the Asia Society’s Social Issues Program and the HIV Vaccine and Prevention Trials Networks. He has served as a consultant to the World Bank Institute, the World Bank Thailand Office, the Office for AIDS Research at NIH, the Levi Strauss Foundation, the U.S. Military HIV Research Program, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advance-ment of Military Medicine, the Royal Thai Army and numerous other organizations.

B y m a r K G u i d e r a


Monitoring Internet search traffic about influenza may prove to be a better way for hospital emergency

rooms to prepare for a surge in sick patients than waiting for outdated government flu case reports. A report on the value of the Internet search tool for emergency depart-ments, studied by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine over a 21-month period, is published in the Jan. 9 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The researchers reported a strong correla-tion between a rise in Internet searches for flu information, compiled by Google’s Flu Trends tool, and a subsequent rise in people coming into a busy urban hospital emergency room complaining of flulike symptoms. For the study, the researchers tracked and reviewed Google Flu Trends data for Balti-more City along with data on people seek-

ing care in the separate adult and pediatric emergency departments at The Johns Hop-kins Hospital from January 2009 to October 2010. Richard Rothman, an emergency medicine physician and researcher at the Johns Hop-kins University School of Medicine and the senior investigator on the study, says that the results show promise for eventually develop-ing a standard regional or national early warn-ing system for frontline health care workers. Rothman and lead study investigator Andrea Dugas recently hosted in Baltimore a national conference of experts to discuss the implications of their findings. In the long term, Rothman says, the Johns Hopkins team hopes to develop a highly reliable flu surveillance model that all emergency departments could use to reason-ably predict a spike in the number of flulike cases. Such a system, he says, could help emergency department directors and senior administrators prepare by beefing up staffing or opening up patient annexes.

Google Flu Trends: Warning system for emergency departments Rothman and his team found that the correlation between Internet searches and patient volume was most pronounced when researchers reviewed data showing a rise in search traffic for flu information and the number of children coming into the Johns Hopkins pediatric emergency room with what doctors call influenzalike illness. Although the science and medical com-munities have generally accepted that a rise in flu search queries on Google Flu Trends corresponds with a rise in people reporting flulike symptoms, the Johns Hopkins team is believed to be the first to show that the data strongly correlate with an upswing in emergency room activity. Currently, emergency departments, hospi-tals and other health care providers rely on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flu case reports provided during flu season, October to May, as a key way to track out-breaks. However, the researchers say that those traditional reports, compiled using a com-

bination of data about hospital admissions, laboratory test results and clinical symp-toms, often are weeks old by the time they reach practitioners and hospitals; thus, they don’t provide frontline health care workers with a strong tool to prepare day to day for a surge in flu cases, even as the flu is spreading in real time, Rothman notes. Google Flu Trends, on the other hand, col-lects and provides data on search traffic for flu information on a daily basis by detecting and analyzing certain flu-related search terms. The company says that the search queries, when combined, are good indicators of flu activity. Users of the free service can narrow their data reports to geographic regions, time frames and other denominators. Other members of the study team, funded by the National Center for the Study of Pre-paredness and Catastrophic Event Response at Johns Hopkins University, are Yu-Hsiang Hsieh, Scott R. Levin, Jesse M. Pines, Dar-ren P. Mareiniss, Amir Mohareb, Charlotte A. Gaydos and Trish M. Perl.

Fewer children required hospitalization following a drowning incident over the last two decades, according to a

new study by the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. According to the study, pediatric hospi-talizations from drowning-related incidents declined 51 percent from 1993 to 2008. The rates declined significantly for all ages and for both genders, although drowning-related hospitalizations remained higher for boys at every age. Hospitalization rates also decreased sig-nificantly across the United States, with the greatest decline in the South. Despite the steep decline, the South still experienced the highest rate of pediatric hospitalizations for drowning. The study will be published in the February issue of Pediatrics and is avail-able now on the journal’s website. Drowning is the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death of children ages 1

to 19 in the United States. For every pediat-ric drowning death, another two children are hospitalized for nonfatal drowning injuries. “We found a significant decline in the rate of pediatric drowning hospitalizations, which is consistent with documented decreases in pediatric deaths from drowning,” said lead study author Stephen Bowman, an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, part of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Our findings provide evidence of a true decrease in drowning-related incidents rather than simply a shift toward more chil-dren dying before reaching a hospital.” The authors note that over the study time period, important public and private efforts to reduce the risk of drowning in children have been promoted, such as installation of four-sided pool fencing, the use of personal flotation devices and the endorsement by public health authorities of childhood swim

Fewer children require hospitalization after drowning incidentslessons. Reductions in bathtub drowning hos-pitalizations, most common among children younger than 4, may be a result of targeted injury prevention efforts aimed at parents and caregivers of young children that encourage vigilance in supervision and offer education on the risks of infant bathtub seats. “Continued funding and support for these efforts offer the potential to further reduce drowning hospitalizations in children,” Bowman said. Drowning accounts for more than 1,000 pediatric deaths and more than 5,000 related injuries annually in the United States. Total lifetime costs associated with drowning were estimated to exceed $5.3 billion in 2000, including $2.6 billion for children ages 0 to 14 years. To document the trends, the study authors used data from the 1993–2008 Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, sponsored by the Agency

for Healthcare Research and Quality. Support for this study was provided by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through a grant to the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy, and through support from the National Institutes of Health/National Center for Research Resources Clinical and Translational Research grant UL1RR029884 (Arkansas Translational Research Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences). —Alicia Samuels


B U L L E T I N B O A R D

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H o m e w o o d

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51186 Sponsored Project Accountants

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50312 Regulatory Specialist II50522 Administrative Coordinator50869 Research Assistant50870 Research Program Manager

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In addition to considering these opportunities, candidates are invited to search a complete listing of openings and apply for positions online at jobs.jhu.edu.

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410-243-1216105 West 39th St. • Baltimore, MD 21210

Managed by The Broadview at Roland ParkBroadviewApartments.com

• Large airy rooms• Hardwood Floors• Private balcony or terrace• Beautiful garden setting• Private parking available• University Parkway at West 39th St.

2 & 3 bedroom apartments located in a private park setting. Adjacent to JohnsHopkins University Homewood Campus and minutes from downtown Baltimore.

Woodcliffe Manor ApartmentsSPA C I O U S G A R D E N A PA RT M E N T L I V I N G I N RO L A N D PA R K

B y e K a t e r i n a P e s h e v a


Johns Hopkins Children’s Center endocri-nologist Scott Blackman has been induct-ed into the Society for Pediatric Research,

one of the most coveted selections in aca-demic pediatrics. Honored for his original research in the genetic and molecular under-pinnings of diabetes, Blackman is one of 138 members elected to the society this year. The society’s mission is to encourage young investigators—those under 50 years of age—to pursue research in pediatrics that has the promise to improve child health worldwide, as well as to promote collabora-tion with fellow scientists from other aca-demic institutions.

Hopkins endocrinologist elected to Society for Pediatric Research

Blackman’s research interests include identifying the molecular basis of diabetes in general and pinpointing gene variants specific to a form of diabetes commonly seen in children and adults with cystic fibrosis. “Scott’s research has already offered some fascinating new clues that hold definite therapeutic promise for patients. This honor could have not gone to a more deserving physician-scientist,” said Sally Radovick, director of Pediatric Endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Blackman received his medical degree and his doctorate in molecular physiology and biophysics at Vanderbilt University, and completed his residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric endocrinology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

B y e K a t e r i n a P e s h e v a


A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, Vander-bilt University and elsewhere have

demonstrated that high blood pressure and anemia together put children with sickle cell disease at serious danger for symptomless, or “silent,” strokes, although either condition alone also signaled high risk. The results are part of an ongoing National Institutes of Health–funded inter-national multicenter trial, believed to be the largest study of its kind to date in children with sickle cell disease, or SCD. A report on the findings was published online Nov. 17 in the journal Blood. In the study, brain MRI scans revealed that nearly a third (31 percent) of 814 chil-dren, ages 5 to 15, had suffered silent strokes. None of the children had a history of stroke or seizures, and none showed overt stroke signs at the time of the study. Extremely rare in children overall, stroke is a common neurologic complication in children with sickle cell disease, a genetic disorder marked by the “sickling,” or bend-ing, of the red blood cells that store and dis-tribute oxygen in the body. The misshapen blood cells cause anemia and also clog tiny blood vessels, causing pain, tissue damage and stroke. A stroke can occur when a blood vessel in the brain bursts or leaks (hemor-rhagic stroke) or be caused by oxygen depri-vation (ischemic stroke), the predominant kind of brain injury in children with SCD. Overt strokes lead to sudden dramatic symp-toms, including excruciating headaches, one-sided paralysis of the face or body and loss of speech or vision. Silent strokes, by contrast, cause none of these overt symptoms but do cause subclinical brain damage, can lead to learning disabilities and put children who have them at risk for overt strokes and repeat episodes of silent strokes. The new findings underscore the need to identify early signs of anemia and high blood pressure because they are modifiable risk fac-tors, the researchers say. The findings also may pave the way for new therapeutic tar-gets for SCD, which affects nearly 100,000 Americans. “Silent strokes are typically seen in older adults, and these findings give us additional insight into why they tend to occur so

often in children with sickle cell disease,” said senior study investigator James Casella, director of Hematology at the Johns Hop-kins Children’s Center. To analyze the interplay between silent stroke and blood pressure and anemia, researchers looked at children’s medical his-tories, neurological exams and levels of hemoglobin, the oxygen carrier of red blood cells. Anemia—defined by low levels of hemoglobin—and high blood pressure drove up the risk separately and incrementally, but the combination of the two carried the highest risk. Children with the highest systolic blood pressure (above 113) and the lowest hemoglobin (below 7.6 g/deciliter) had a nearly fourfold risk of silent strokes compared with children with the highest hemoglobin and the lowest blood pressure. As blood pressure went up and hemo-globin down, so did the risk of stroke, the researchers found. Incremental changes in hemoglobin and blood pressure corresponded to changes in risk. Children who had the lowest hemoglobin had more than twice the risk of silent stroke, compared with children with the highest hemoglobin levels. Chil-dren with the highest systolic blood pressure had 1.7 times the risk of silent stroke, com-pared with children with the lowest blood pressure. The risk was particularly high in a tiny subset of children—those diagnosed with hypertension, or persistently elevated blood pressure. In this group, 83 percent (five of six) had suffered silent strokes. The exact cascade of metabolic events lead-ing to a silent stroke remains unknown, but the researchers believe that anemia is the key. All children with SCD are anemic, result-ing in lower oxygen in the blood. To cope with this chronic anemia, children and adults with SCD develop a compensatory mecha-nism in which the brain vessels dilate to improve blood flow and allow more oxygen. In this context, the investigators suspect, even moderate blood pressure elevations can exact further toll on the brain vessels and—when exacerbated by anemia—lead to stroke. “Our findings underscore the importance of correcting anemia, at least partially, and may thus lay the groundwork for primary prevention of silent stroke,” said principal investigator Michael DeBaun, of Vanderbilt University, the lead author on the current report. J.J. Strouse, of Johns Hopkins, was co-author on the report.

High blood pressure, anemia put sickle cell kids at risk for strokes


Classifieds M A R K E T P L A C E

Classified listings are a free ser-vice for current, full-time Hop-kins faculty, staff and students only. Ads should adhere to these general guidelines:

• Oneadperpersonperweek.A new request must be submitted for each issue. • Adsarelimitedto20words, including phone, fax and e-mail.

• WecannotuseJohnsHopkins business phone numbers or e-mail addresses.• Submissionswillbecondensedat the editor’s discretion. • DeadlineisatnoonMonday, one week prior to the edition in which the ad is to be run.• Realestatelistingsmaybeoffered only by a Hopkins-affiliated seller not by Realtors or Agents.

(Boxed ads in this section are paid advertisements.)Classified ads may be faxed to 443-287-9920; e-mailed in the body of a message (no attach-ments) to [email protected]; or mailed to Gazette Classifieds, Suite 540, 901 S. Bond St., Bal-timore, MD 21231. To purchase a boxed display ad, contact the Gazelle Group at 443-275-2687.

PLaCINGaDS

aParTMeNTS/HouSeS for reNT

Brewers Hill, rehabbed 2BR, 2.5BA TH, gourmet kitchen, fin’d bsmt, deck, no pets, avail Feb 1. $1,850/mo. 410-303-1214 or [email protected].

Canton/Fells Point (603 S Patterson Park), 2BR, 2.5BA renov’d RH, 1,500 sq ft, CAC, hdwd flrs, expos’d brick, extra rms, laundry, rooftop deck, walk to park. $1,650/mo. [email protected].

Charles Village, newly renov’d 1BR apt in safe, quiet neighborhood, 1st flr, hdwd flrs, new cabinets. $900/mo incl heat, water. [email protected].

Charles Village/Waverly, furn’d 1BR apt, avail Feb through summer, off-street prkng. $700/mo. 530-263-8257.

Deep Creek Lake/Wisp, cozy 2BR cabin w/full kitchen; call for wkly or wknd rent-als. 410-638-9417 or [email protected] (for pics).

Ednor Gardens, 3BR, 2BA charmer in his-toric neighborhood nr JHU/JHMI, inlaid hdwds, sunrm, new appls, no smoking/no pets. $1,350/mo. [email protected].

Ellicott City, spacious 3BR, 2.5BA TH on corner, new windows, kitchen/dining area, fin’d walkout bsmt, deck/patio, Centennial high school zone. $1,875/mo. 410-979-9065 or [email protected].

Essex, 2BR, 1BA condo in secure bldg, water view, laundry in unit, rent or rent to own. $900/mo (unfurn’d) or $950/mo (furn’d). 410-322-2168 or [email protected].

Federal Hill, architect-renovated 2BR, 1.5BA TH, roof deck w/harbor view, hdwd flrs, pets OK. $2,300/mo. 410-472-4702 or [email protected].

Fells Point, spacious 2BR, 1BA condo in PS25 building in the heart of the city, 14' ceilings, hdwd flrs, granite counters, stainless steel appls, mins to Hopkins shuttle stop, pets welcome. $1,698/mo. 410-952-8045.

Glen Burnie, studio apt, BA, kitchenette, W/D, 12 mi to campus, must be car owner. 443-799-7530.

Hamilton Ave (at Walther), 2BR, 1BA apt, 1st flr. $750/mo. 301-538-3819.

Harbor East, lg, luxury 1BR, walking dis-tance to Carey Business School, 3-month lease, avail March 1. $2,136/mo incl prkng. 917-951-1440.

Inner Harbor, beautiful, new 1BR condo in luxury apt bldg, hdwd flrs, stainless steel appls, W/D in unit, balcony, reserved garage prkng spot, 24-hr doorman, pool, gym, mins to JHH. 305-469-4663 or absrini@gmail .com.

Mt Washington, sublet 2BR apt in beautiful wooded area nr campus, conv to downtown, avail end of Jan to May, meditative energy, lots of light, W/D, dw, microwave, DSL, WiFi, Netflix, community fitness center, rent discounted in exchange for cat care. $850/mo + utils. 410-764-3494.

Ocean City (137th St), 3BR, 2BA condo,

steps from the beach, lg pool, 2 prkng spaces, short walk to entertainment and restaurants. 410-544-2814.

Owings Mills Newtown, 2BR, 2BA condo, 3rd flr. $1,300/mo. 609-647-9386 or [email protected].

Patterson Park/Highlandtown, 3BR, 1.5BA RH, huge kitchen w/new stainless steel appls, hdwd flrs, updated master BA, backyd w/privacy fence, CAC, blks to shuttle stop, no pets allowed, refs req’d. $1,400/mo. 410-218-4708 or [email protected].

Remington (29th St), 2BR, 1BA TH w/kitchen, living rm, bsmt, fenced yd, no pets/no smokers, 5-min walk to Homewood campus. $900/mo + utils. 443-859-7287 or [email protected].

5BR executive home avail, furn’d or unfurn’d, rent or rent to own, convenient to Baltimore. 410-259-8879.

Beautiful 1BR apt across from park, 2nd flr of TH, priv entry, 10-min drive to JHH/Homewood campus, unfurn’d, 1-yr lease. $550/mo incl heat. Paula, 410-868-2815 or [email protected].

HouSeS for SaLe

Fells Point (300 blk S Durham St), 3 stories, new front and rear masonry work, nice yd, nr JHH. $175,000. Dorothy, 410-419-3902.

Gardenville, 3BR, 1.25BA RH, new kitchen and BA, CAC, hdwd flrs, fenced, mainte-nance-free yd w/carport, club bsmt w/cedar closet, quiet neighborhood, 15 mins to JHH. $120,000. 443-610-0236 or [email protected].

Owings Mills New Town, 2BR condo nr metro station. www.4409silverbrook.info.

Rodgers Forge (74 Dunkirk Rd), 3BR, 2BA EOG, thoroughly updated, to be listed in February. $309,000. 443-691-6014.

rooMMaTeS WaNTeD

Nonsmoker wanted for furn’d 700 sq ft BR in 3BR house in Cedonia owned by young F prof’l, bright, modern kitchen w/convection oven, walk-in closet, landscaped yd, lg deck, free prkng, public transportation to JHU, wireless Internet incl’d. $550/mo + utils. 410-493-2435 or [email protected].

F nonsmoker wanted for 1BR in 2BR W University Pkwy apt, share w/Hopkins alumna, AC, heat, hot water, 5 mins to cam-pus, no pets. $540/mo + 1/2 elec. [email protected].

M nonsmoker wanted for 2BR apt in Tow-son (695 at exit 28), quiet and safe, 1BR and 1BA avail. $535/mo incl water (elec, Inter-net not incl’d). [email protected].

Nonsmoker/mature prof’l wanted for fully furn’d 2BR, 1BA condo in Tuscany/Canter-bury area, nr JHH shuttle, hdwd flrs, stacked W/D, balcony, pref 1-yr lease. $800/mo + utils (flat monthly rate of $50 for Internet, AC, heat, water, gas and elec). 202-957-6094.

Mature F wanted to share 2BR, 1BA apt w/married prof’l from Delaware. $575/mo incl utils, cable, Internet. 302-724-0044.

F nonsmoker bedspacer wanted to share condo in Washington Hill (98 N Broadway) w/grad student, adjacent to Church Profes-sional Building, walk to JHH/shuttle. $450/mo + utils. [email protected].

$100. 443-804-1927 or royallwhitaker@ gmail.com.

Glass-top table, 36" square by 15"H. $50. [email protected].

Dell Inspiron 8100 and 8200, w/dock sta-tions, $130 and $150; Toshiba Satellite L25, $100; eMachine 330 w/monitor, $70; HP ScanJet 4570c scanner, $50; 13" and 21" Sony TVs w/HDTV antenna and digital converters, $60 and $120; NuWave cooker, $60; bread maker, $30; rice cooker, $25; Belgian waffle maker, $15. 410-812-9267 or [email protected].

SerVICeS/ITeMS offereD or WaNTeD

Looking for a tutor for 10-yr-old focusing on spelling and reading. Tracy, [email protected].

Live-in nanny avail, caring, responsible former teacher, years of experience, refs avail. Olya, 443-831-7807 or [email protected].

Certified personal and career coach com-mitted to helping young professionals achieve their potential. 410-375-4042 or [email protected].

European family (2 postdocs + infant) needs 2BR apt, furn’d/unfurn’d, in Mt Ver-non, Charles Village or Fells Point, mid-Jan or Feb for 2-3 yrs. 410-236-9840 or [email protected].

Pet-sitting/dog-walking offered, experi-enced w/animals, refs avail. Seema, 240-377-6416.

Looking for a carpool from Homewood to Bayview campus, wkday mornings from now to March, reaching Bayview between 7 and 9am (depending on your schedule), non-smoker, passenger only. [email protected].

Piano lessons offered by Peabody doctorate, great teaching experience, all levels/ages welcome. 410-662-7951.

Friday Night Swing Dance Club, open to public, great bands, no partners necessary. 410-663-0010 or www.fridaynightswing.com.

Tutor: all subjects/levels; remedial, gifted; help w/college counseling, speech and essay writing, editing, proofreading. 410-337-9877 (after 8pm) or [email protected].

Licensed landscaper avail for fall/winter lawn maintenance, yard cleanup, leaf/snow removal, trash hauling. Taylor Landscap-ing LLC. 410-812-6090 or [email protected].

Transmission repairs, rebuilt or used, 20% discount for all JHU faculty, staff, students and employees, free estimate. Bob, 410-574-8822.

French tutor w/MAT available. 443-691-1412.

Seeking experienced, long-term nanny to care for 2 young children nr Homewood campus. 773-396-4852 (cell) or [email protected].

Share 2BR, 1BA waterfront apt in Balti-more County, W/D, 12 mi to E Baltimore campus. $900/mo ($450/ea) + sec dep + heat and AC. [email protected].

Sublet: 1BR w/priv BA in 2BR Butchers Hill apt, hdwd flrs, roof deck, prkng, furn’d/unfurn’d, now through June, timing flex-ible. 781-249-5269.

CarS for SaLe

’89 Chevy Silverado pickup, 4x4, rebuilt motor, new tires. $2,400. John, 443-750-7750.

’03 Jeep Liberty Sport, 3.7L, 4WD, Md insp’d, in great cond, 114K mi. $6,500. 443-791-1799 or [email protected].

’06 Toyota 4Runner SR5, V8, white, sun-roof, tow hitch, roof racks, orig owner, new tires/brakes, scheduled service done at the dealer, in excel cond, 68K mi. $19,000. [email protected].

’05 Mazda 6 sedan, just serviced, new tires, in excel shape, 48K mi. $8,850. 410-948-0789.

’03 VW Passat GLX wagon, manual V6, silver w/black leather, heated seats, sun/moonroof, alloy wheels, Md insp’d, orig owner. $4,500. 410-502-4822.

’07 VW Passat, black, leather, DVD, Navi, CD, MP3, clean, up-to-date on mainte-nance, 115K mi (highway). $9,500. 804-504-1202 or [email protected].

ITeMS for SaLe

TI-83 Plus graphing calculator, $25; TI-89 titanium graphing calculator, $50; long-track speed skates, men’s size 36, Dark Star blades, $75; Panasonic 20" color TV (not a flat screen), $20; Sony Trinitron 13" TV (not flat screeen), $25. 410-542-0409 or [email protected].

Oil-filled heaters (3), inkjet printer, por-table canvas chair, sand beach chairs (2), keyboard case, 100W amplifier. 410-455-5858 or [email protected].

iPod nano, 6th generation, black, brand new, never used, w/clip, shake shuffle, FM transmitter, touch display, many other fea-tures. Best offer. grogan.family@hotmail .com.

Alfred Dunner pull-on pants, size 10 regu-lar, black, new. $20. 410-522-7546.

Upright piano, Kohler and Campbell. $750/best offer. Kiani, 443-722-9807.

Motorcycle gear: Women’s lined leather jacket, size XS, $125; women’s Milwaukee boots, #7, $85; 12-volt battery charger, $55; all in excel cond. [email protected].

Hotpoint, white refrigerator/freezer, 18 cu ft, automatic icemaker and defrost, 4 yrs old, buyer picks up. $225. 443-803-7401 or [email protected].

Mattress, box spring and frame, like new.

WYMANCOURTJustRenovated!

HICKORYHEIGHTSA lovely hilltop setting

on Hickory Avenue in Hampden!

2 BD units from $760 w/Balcony - $790!

Shown by appointment 410.764.7776www.BrooksManagementCompany.com

Beech Ave. adj. to JHU!Studios - $595 - $630 1 BD Apts. - $710-740

2 BD from $795

12 THE GAZETTE • January 17, 2012

J A N . 1 7 – 2 3

Calendar C o L L o Q u I a

fri., Jan. 20, 2 p.m. “The Fuku-shima Dai-Ichi Accident and Lessons Learned for Emergency Response in the U.S.,” an Applied Physics Laboratory colloquium with Randolph Sullivan, Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Parsons Auditorium. aPL

D I S C u S S I o N / T a L K S

fri., Jan. 20, 6:30 p.m. “Early Byzantine Pilgrimage Art,” a SAIS African Studies Program discussion with Gary Vikan, direc-tor, Walters Art Museum. For information, call 202-663-5676 or email [email protected]. Rome Auditorium. SaIS

G r a N D r o u N D S

Wed., Jan. 18, noon. “TB in Prisons and Jails: Public Health Challenges and Strategies,” Public Health Practice grand rounds with RAdm Newton Kendig and Sarah Bur, Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Public Health Training Center and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (A live webcast will be available at www.jhsph.edu/maphtc.) W1214 SPH. eB

S e M I N a r S

Tues., Jan. 17, noon. “A Human-Centered Geo Visualiza-tion Framework to Improve Pub-

lic Health Decision Making,” a Health Policy and Manage-ment faculty candidate seminar with Ashish Joshi, University of Nebraska Medical Center. 688 Hampton House. eB

Tues., Jan. 17, 4 p.m. “Func-tional Integration of Large ncRNAs in the Molecular Cir-cuitry Controlling Cell State,” a Biology special seminar with Mitchell Guttman, MIT. 100 Mudd. HW

Wed., Jan. 18, 10 a.m. “Mul-tiple Metal Exposures and Kidney Outcomes in Korean Lead Work-ers,” an Environmental Health Sciences thesis defense seminar with Rebecca Shelley. W7023 SPH. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, noon. “Immune Privilege and Metabolism: Two Newly Identified Properties of Blood Stem Cells,” a Physiology seminar with Alec Zhang, UT Southwestern Medical Center. 203 Physiology. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, 1:30 p.m. “Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms of Multidrug Toler-ance and Persistence: How Bugs Escape Drugs,” a Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry seminar with Richard Brennan, Duke University. 701 WBSB. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, 3 p.m. “Ex -ploring the Epigenetic Instability of Cancer,” a Biomedical Engi-neering seminar with Winston Timp, SoM. 709 Traylor. eB (Videoconferenced to 110 Clark. HW)

Wed., Jan. 18, 3 p.m. “Metabol-ic Programming in Rat Offspring by Perinatal Maternal Diet,” a Pediatric Endocrinology seminar with Kellie Tamashiro, SoM. Mar-burg Conference Room. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, 3 p.m. “Investi-gating Therapeutic Strategies for Disorders of the Histone Machin-ery,” an Institute of Genetic Medi-cine seminar with Hans Bjorns-son, SoM. G-007 Ross. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, 4 p.m. “Dig-ging for Nature’s Dirty Secrets: Exploring the Bacterial Terpe-nome,” a Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences seminar with David Cane, Brown University. West Lecture Hall (ground floor), WBSB. eB

Wed., Jan. 18, 4 p.m. “Detect-ing Evolution in Experimental Ecology: Diagnostics for Missing State Variables,” a Biostatistics seminar with Giles Hooker, Cor-nell University. W2030 SPH. eB

Thurs., Jan. 19, 12:15 p.m. “Common Addictive Behaviors Among Today’s Youth and Young Adults,” a Mental Health fac-ulty candidate seminar with Silvia Martins, SPH. B14B Hampton House. eB

Thurs., Jan. 19, 1 p.m. “Taste Recognition in Drosophila,” a Neuroscience research seminar with Kristin Scott, University of California, Berkeley. West Lecture Hall (ground floor), WBSB. eB

Thurs., Jan. 19, 1:30 p.m. “Helicopter Emergency Medical

Services for Adults With Major Trauma,” a Graduate Training Pro-gram in Clinical Investigation the-sis defense seminar with Samuel Galvagno. E2527 SPH. eB

Thurs., Jan. 19, 4 p.m. “T Cells: Unexpected Players in the Mecha-nism of Action of PTH,” a Center for Musculoskeletal Research sem-inar with Roberto Pacifici, Emory University School of Medicine. Sponsored by Orthopaedic Surgery Research. 5152 JHOC. eB

Mon., Jan. 23, 12:15 p.m. “A Neural Mechanism for Learning Temporal Expectancies,” a Carn-egie Institution Embryology semi-nar with Marshall Shuler, SoM. Rose Auditorium, 3520 San Mar-tin Drive. HW

Mon., Jan. 23, 1 p.m. “Can-cer Inflammation and Immune Responses in Pancreatic Carci-noma in Mice and Humans,” an Immunology Training Program seminar with Robert Vonderheide, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Tilghman Audito-rium, Turner Concourse. eB

S P e C I a L e V e N T S

Wed., Jan. 18, 5:30 p.m. 2012 Chinese New Year Reception with remarks by Huang Chengfeng and Jason Patent, co-directors of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Spon-sored by the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. To RSVP, phone 202-663-5800 or email [email protected]. Kenney Auditorium, Nitze Bldg. SaIS

S y M P o S I a

fri., Jan. 20, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Gateway Sciences Initiative Symposium—Teaching Excellence in the Sciences, featuring keynote pre-sentations by Freeman Hrabowski III, UMBC; Jo Handelsman, Yale University; Eric Mazur, Harvard

University; and David Botstein, Princeton University; JHU stu-dent panel, poster session and faculty brainstorming sessions. For more information, go to web.jhu.edu/administration/provost/GSI/symposium.html. Hodson Hall. HW

W o r K S H o P S

The Center for Educational Resources sponsors a series of workshops on the Blackboard 9.1 interface. The training is open to all faculty, staff and TAs in full-time KSAS or WSE programs who have administrative respon-sibilities in a Blackboard course. To register, go to www.bb.cer.jhu .edu. Garrett Room, MSE Library. HW

• Wed., Jan. 18, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. “Blackboard Communication and Col-laboration.”

• Thurs., Jan. 19, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. “Assessing Stu-dent Knowledge and Manag-ing Grades in Blackboard.”

• Mon., Jan. 23, 10 a.m. to noon. “Getting Started With Blackboard.”

(Events are free and open to the public except where indicated.)

aPL Applied Physics LaboratoryBrB Broadway Research BuildingCrB Cancer Research BuildingeB East BaltimoreHW HomewoodJHoC Johns Hopkins Outpatient CenterKSaS Krieger School of Arts and SciencesNeB New Engineering BuildingPCTB Preclinical Teaching BuildingSaIS School of Advanced International StudiesSoM School of MedicineSoN School of NursingSPH School of Public HealthWBSB Wood Basic Science BuildingWSe Whiting School of Engineering

CalendarKey

Initiative designed toreplicate success of recent clinical trial

B y s t e P h a n i e d e s m o n


Building on the success of recent Johns Hopkins research showing that obese participants were able to lose sig-

nificant weight and keep it off for two years using telephone coaching and a specially designed website, Johns Hopkins Medicine is collaborating with Healthways to help bring the innovative weight-loss program to many more who could benefit from it. Johns Hopkins and Healthways, a global health and well-being improvement com-pany, have developed Innergy, a commer-cially available version of the call center–directed weight-loss program pioneered and studied by Lawrence J. Appel, a professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The results of the study were published in November in the New England Journal of Medicine. Under the agreement between the two parties, Johns Hopkins will advise Healthways on the design and implementation of Innergy, con-tinuously evaluate the program and oversee future enhancements. In addition, several

Johns Hopkins faculty members will serve on Innergy’s scientific advisory board. Healthways will be responsible for the sale and delivery of Innergy to physicians and health systems, employers, health plans and governments. Healthways is a provider of special-ized programs to help people maintain or improve their health and well-being and, as a result, reduce overall health care costs. “This collaboration with Healthways reflects our commitment to providing health solutions to the marketplace that are solidly based on the best science,” said Patricia M.C. Brown, president of Johns Hopkins HealthCare, the managed care and popula-tion health arm of Johns Hopkins Medi-cine. “Through our participation, we will be advancing the objectives of Johns Hopkins Medicine to foster intellectual discovery, develop innovative care delivery models and improve human health.” Obesity is an important and growing public health problem in the United States, where one in three adults is obese and thus at increased risk of mortality, especially from car-diovascular disease. Obesity by some estimates costs the United States more than $250 bil-lion a year in health care and lost productivity costs, and is rising by $50 billion per year. In the POWER (Practice-Based Oppor-tunities for Weight Reduction) trial, Appel and his colleagues found that roughly 40 percent of obese patients enrolled in the

JHM collaborates with Healthways on weight-loss programtelephone-based weight-loss program lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, an amount associated with real health ben-efits, such as lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol and better diabetes control. Par-ticipants received weekly phone calls from health coaches for three months and then monthly thereafter. They also were encour-aged to regularly sign in to an interactive website with tools to track weight and provide regular feedback by email. Another arm of the trial used in-person instead of telephone coaching, with similar results. As part of the POWER trial, Healthways developed the data collection and interven-tion websites, provided the lifestyle coaches who delivered the intervention over the phone and provided unrestricted funds in support of the trial. “In most weight-loss studies, there is a lot of emphasis on frequent, in-person counsel-ing sessions, but from a logistical perspec-tive, in-person interventions are challenging for both patients and counselors,” Appel said. “Patients start off strong but then stop attending in-person sessions. The tel-ephonic coaching and Web-based program, on the other hand, is convenient to indi-viduals and can be done anywhere. Obesity is a major national public health problem, and Hopkins’ expertise in this program can hopefully have a tremendous positive impact on this growing problem.” Frederick L. Brancati, a professor of medi-

cine and chief of the division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says that the findings of the POWER trial are exciting because they show a practical way to keep the weight off for a long period of time. “Most other studies show maximal effect at six months, but few demonstrate mainte-nance over one year, let alone two years, as in POWER,” said Brancati, who was involved in the trial. “Our objective now is to share this proven tool with thousands more who struggle with their weight. Historically, the translation of population health science to practice can take many years to accomplish. With this collaboration, we will quickly be able to make this intervention available to large numbers of people who can benefit.” Commenting on the collaboration and its objective, Ben Leedle, president and CEO of the Tennessee-based Healthways, said, “We believe that Innergy now offers a proven solution to the obesity challenge, particularly given the recent decision of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide reimbursement for physician-directed weight-management counseling services. We are pleased to be able to offer this scientifically validated program to so many more people who can benefit from it.” Johns Hopkins receives financial com-pensation from Healthways in the form of royalties and fees for its contribution to the Innergy program.

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research program