President's Message

FEATURES

Making the Rounds in
South Jersey
Patients benefit when teams of professionals work together. On the University’s Stratford campus, these ”new“ health care teams are not so brand new anymore.

Spanning the Biology– Technology Bridge
A young graduate student in the UMDNJ–NJIT Biomedical Engineering Doctoral Program is already making his mark researching bisphosphonates, commonly prescribed for osteoporosis and cancer, and also advocating for Newark’s high school students.

Studying City Life
Students in the Urban Health Systems Doctoral Program have the advantage of tapping into the expertise at three major Newark schools: UMDNJ-School of Nursing, Rutgers–Newark, and NJIT.

Engineering New Cells for the Injured Brain
Doctoral student Nolan Skop – collaborating with his faculty mentors from NJIT and UMDNJ’s New Jersey Medical School and Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences — jumps head-first into what may be the toughest research challenge of our time.

A Neighborhood’s New Health Outlook
The Jordan & Harris Community Health Center in the Ironbound section of Newark follows sick patients “every step of the way” and trains community health workers how to reach fellow residents with tips on living healthier lives.

When I Grow Up
The Health Science Careers Program, launched almost 20 years ago by the School of Health Related Professions, introduces high school students to a broad spectrum of career possibilities in health care and gives them a leg–up in getting there.

A Pipeline to Dentistry
If you think you may want to be a dentist, but you’re just not sure, UMDNJ–New Jersey Dental School welcomes high school and college students to come on site and “practice.”

DEPARTMENTS

Amazing Science
UMDNJ researchers continue to make notable contributions to the world of science with discoveries that are moving more quickly from the laboratory into daily life.
More Brain Breakthroughs
Cognitive Therapy in MS
The Female Advantage
Autism Findings in New Jersey
Learning the Business of Science
Zeroing in on a New Therapy
Epilepsy and Cataracts: the Missing Link
Grant Addresses Hospital Delirium
Your Neighborhood and Your Health
Amazing Science Awards
Standing Up To Cancer
Two Students Win AMA Grants
Science Advances in Spinal Cord Injury
Truly Remarkable Proteins
The Eye as Window to the Heart in Blacks with Diabetes
Restoring the Tumor Suppressor Function of Mutated p53 Protein
Grand Challenges TB Biomarkers Grant
Titanium Debris May Cause Inflammation of Artificial Joints
Massage for Osteoarthritis of the Knee
Starvation Can be Deadly
Detecting Parkinson’s Disease Earlier
HIV Infection and Geography
Hibernation and Cardiac Arrhythmias
$1.3M Awarded for Blood-Based Biothreat Tests
Promising Vaccine Regimen for Pancreatic Cancer
The Impact of Exercise and Nutrients on Colorectal Cancer

A Day in the Life of a Liver Transplant Team
With more than 1,000 transplants to its name, the University Hospital liver transplant program, launched in 1989, has been a major success story.

Five Questions with Carolyn Burr
This nurse educator and activist is determined to bring perinatal transmission of HIV in New Jersey down to zero.

Focus on Jobs
The reputation of UMDNJ’s new program to train occupational therapy assistants has even preceded its birth.

Update
News from all the UMDNJ campuses.

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Amazing Science

Truly Remarkable Proteins


THE TEAM BEHIND THIS "SENSATIONAL" RESEARCH: (FRONT ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT) TIBOR ROHACS, ELEONORA ZAKHARIAN, CHIKE CAO, DOREEN BADHEKA AND ISTVAN BORBIRO; (BACK ROW, L TO R): YANN BIKARD, VIKTOR LUKACS AND YEVGEN YUDIN.

SCRUB YOUR TEETH with mentholated toothpaste and the cooling sensation is palpably there. Your teeth and gums feel cold. Eat chili peppers and the resulting heat in your mouth and right down your throat is unmistakable. Right? Not so fast‚ says Tibor Rohacs‚ MD‚ PhD‚ associate professor‚ pharmacology and physiology. These sensations are much more complicated than you might think. That menthol action is not really physically cold. And the actual temperature inside your mouth doesn't go up as a result of eating extra hot chilis. What you are experiencing is from activation of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels‚ the cold sensor TRPM8 (also activated by the menthol) or by heat sensor TRPV1 (also turned on by things like capsaicin‚ the active component of chili peppers‚ and a number of other pain–producing stimuli).

"TRP channels are indeed fascinating and even though the abbreviation stands for transient receptor potential‚ some people prefer to think that the letters stand for ‘truly remarkable proteins' instead." Rohacs is obviously one of those people. He has been awarded more than $2 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other sources for his TRP research‚ which began when he was a post–doctoral fellow at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City back in 1998. Since 2005‚ his lab at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School has been studying temperature and pain sensation‚ with a long–term translational goal of finding new ways to design a better pain medication. "We are going to stay at the more basic science or molecular level for now but the main treatments currently available for pain fall short‚" he says. "Sometimes‚ anti–inflammatories are not strong enough while the opiates‚ which can be quite strong‚ are addictive. This is why there has been quite a lot of interest in TRP channels."

TRPs are involved in a variety of important biological processes. "Their function is remarkably diverse‚" explains Rohacs‚ who was born in Hungary and earned both his MD and his PhD at Semmelweiss University of Medicine in Budapest. TRPs are involved in temperature sensing‚ mechanosensation (the body's response to mechanical stimuli as well as the physiological foundation for the senses of touch‚ hearing and balance)‚ vision‚ taste‚ calcium and magnesium transport across epithelial cells‚ apoptosis (cell death) and calcium signaling by hormones and neurotransmitters.

They are part of a much larger group of proteins‚ ion channels‚ that are basically responsible for all the electrical activities of the cell and they sit right in the plasma membrane. "Our laboratory mainly focuses on TRPV1‚ activated by heat and capsaicin and TRPM8‚ the cold and menthol sensitive channel." And his team is studying the mechanism behind desensitization or why these reactions are transitory. Capsaicin has been used as a topical analgesic for a long time. Apply it to the skin and after an initial burning sensation‚ it provides relief from pain. And the same sort of action exists for reactions to cold. "It is well known that we adapt to moderately cold temperatures with the same temperature feeling less cold over time‚" he says. The Rohacs team wants to know why desensitization occurs. "We are using various electrophysiological and molecular techniques to study the regulation of the TRP channels by a biologically important component of the plasma membrane known as PIP2."

Puzzles like this one keep Rohacs coming back into the lab. "I went to medical school but decided to go into research because you are always facing new problems and solving puzzles. I like putting the pieces together." Married to a medical researcher at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia‚ this father of two has found America "the most welcoming place for foreigners." His wife is also from Hungary but they both "like the opportunities here in the U.S. and the openness of the society. If you work hard‚ you can succeed."
— Maryann Brinley