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DCRI proteomics technology fights disease Editor's note: The following information was reformatted and edited from the October issue of the Children’s Hospital newsletter, Kids Connection. As the Rosetta Stone for the pediatrics field, the study and treatment of infectious diseases embodies the direct connection between clinical care and basic science.   MUSC’s pediatric infectious disease specialists provide inpatient and outpatient services for children with acute and chronic infections and immune deficiency syndromes. Collaboration with general pediatricians and subspecialty pediatricians is a hallmark of this division, and now with the Darby Children’s Research Institute (DCRI), collaboration with basic scientists just got better.   Since joining MUSC Children’s Hospital in 1991, George Johnson, M.D., Pediatric Infectious Diseases director and medical director of the MUSC Pediatric HIV Team, promoted several HIV-related research studies, trials, and programs on campus, and was instrumental in bringing them to MUSC.   “A lot of children develop infections as complications of or related to the treatment of their primary disease,” Johnson said. “For example, a patient might develop an infection from an indwelling catheter or from chemotherapy treatments. Or perhaps a child is admitted with a fever and it’s not clear what’s wrong with her. We help sort out the causes and determine the appropriate treatments so these children receive the best care possible.”   The numerous projects include treatment trials for HIV medication for children, vaccine studies and other anti-viral treatments for the Herpes virus, the CMV virus, and anti-bacterial treatment studies. The division is part of an ongoing herpes simplex virus vaccine trial for adolescent and young women, as well as the neonatal herpes virus infection studies coordinated out of the University of Alabama.   Johnson works closely with Sandra Fowler, M.D., pediatric infectious diseases specialist, who recently received Institutional Review Board approval for a new research project collecting normal spinal fluid samples from children having lumbar punctures for diagnostic reasons.   Her plan is to analyze spinal fluid proteins to define parameters of inflammation, which could then be used to help translate the use of new compounds discovered in the DCRI into clinical trials in children with brain inflammatory conditions, such as encephalitis and brain tumors. By reaching out to DCRI collaborators and utilizing the Proteomics Center, Fowler sets an example for pediatric physicians on what it means to join forces with basic scientists to improve patient care.   “We are an active resource for the medical community, both local and statewide,” Johnson said. “All of it ensures that the children who come to MUSC Children’s Hospital receive the safest, most effective and up-to-date medical care that we are able to give.” DCRI Proteomics Center Proteomics refers to the study of the proteins produced by any given species, tissue samples (normal or diseased), blood, plasma, serum, or cell line. Proteomic analyses aim to determine the overall set of proteins involved in normal cellular physiology or altered by a disease process, and involve a series of procedures that allow the identification of any protein that may be relevant to any disease.   Advances in machine learning and pattern recognition rendered single biomarker identification a special case of a more general (and accurate) identification of meaningful patterns of biomarkers (proteomic profiles). Proteomic analysis promises to unlock the mystery of many diseases affecting children and to devise new treatments to improve children’s health.   If research involves the study of proteins, proteomics approaches may be applicable. The MUSC Mass Spectrometry Facility offers protein identification services. E-mail scheykl@musc.edu or bethard@musc.edu for more information.   Certain mass spectrometry-based proteomic approaches, while MUSC is well-equipped for those particular approaches, are not provided on a service basis yet by the Mass Spectrometry Facility. Currently, investigators using these methods are doing so via their graduate students or postdoctoral fellows working in the facility. To discuss how these approaches might be applied to your research, e-mail knappdr@musc.edu, director of the MUSC Proteomics Center.   For individuals looking for help with 2D gel methods, John Baatz, Ph.D., director of the MUSC Gel Proteomics Facility, can help. This facility offers 2D gel services ranging from consultation to actually running gels for you, including differential expression gels (the DIGE method). For links to the Web pages of the various proteomics facilities at MUSC, visit http://www.proteomics.musc.edu.     Friday, Nov. 4, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.