UAB Magazine Online Archive
Proteins in Space
Crystal Quest
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After 13 days and 221 orbits, Larry DeLucas returned to Earth with more than 300 crystal samples, which helped lay the groundwork for dramatically improved drugs for diseases from AIDS to diabetes |
It was a small step for man, but a giant leap for protein science when UAB researcher Larry DeLucas, O.D., Ph.D., shot into orbit aboard the space shuttle Columbia on June 25, 1992. DeLucas—the first optometrist in space—conducted experiments on protein crystal growth that were an important step in the drug discovery process for treating AIDS and other devastating diseases.
Crystallizing proteins allows scientists to study their structures in three dimensions using X rays—and thereby gain a greater understanding of their biological function and roles in various diseases. UAB has long been a leader in the field; in 1985, UAB biochemist Charles E. Bugg, Ph.D., founded the UAB Center for Macromolecular Crystallography, and it was Bugg who made the NASA connections that started DeLucas on his journey for the stars.
Urban Education
Building a Better Teacher
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Donna Jones, a recent graduate of UAB's Urban Teacher Enhancement Program, at Birmingham's Robinson Elementary School |
In some Birmingham-area school districts, up to a quarter of new teachers leave within the first three years, frustrated by crowded classrooms, inadequate funding, and other challenges. The problem is echoed in urban areas throughout Alabama, but UAB’s Center for Urban Education has developed an innovative solution: the Urban Teacher Enhancement Program (UTEP). The initiative, which is unique in Alabama and one of the few in the United States, actively recruits education students, second-career seekers, and school paraprofessionals with the traits proven to succeed in urban schools. In addition to UAB’s core teacher-training curriculum, UTEP students learn classroom-tested strategies in courses team-taught by School of Education professors and master teachers working in urban school districts. After graduation, mentors from those schools continue to help young teachers thrive in their chosen career.
Endoscopy
Easier to Swallow
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The original prototype of Basil Hirschowitz's fiber-optic endoscope is now in the Smithsonian Institution. |
For patients in the 1950s and earlier, endoscopy must have felt something like sword swallowing. Back then, endoscopes—the illuminated devices that allow physicians to peer inside the body’s cavities—were straight, rigid, and metal. But in 1954, Basil I. Hirschowitz, M.D., threw the field a curve, adapting the new technology of fiber optics to create a flexible endoscope that offered a better view for physicians and more comfort for patients. He brought the revolutionary device to Birmingham in 1959, perfecting it and utilizing it regularly for the first time at University Hospital. In the half-century since, Hirschowitz’s endoscope has completely changed how physicians around the world diagnose and treat patients, becoming the standard tool for visualizing virtually every body cavity.
Diabetes
Outracing an Epidemic
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Members of the Diabetes Trust Fund board at the groundbreaking ceremony for UAB's diabetes hospital in 1970. |
In 1973, UAB opened the first public, university-affiliated diabetes hospital in the United States. Today, Birmingham is still the place to find the latest ideas in diabetes research and care. UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center brings together researchers whose discoveries are paving the way for new treatments—and, potentially, a cure. The center’s work is especially important as the diabetes epidemic continues to grow in Alabama, which has the nation’s fourth highest rate of the disease.
Last year the National Institutes of Health designated UAB as one of only six Diabetes Research and Training Centers (DRTC) in the country. UAB’s DRTC concentrates on metabolic and vascular research, which is essential to preventing and controlling diabetes and its complications.
