2006
MILESTONE
75 YEARS OF VISION: THE LASTING GIFT
CLINICAL SCIENCES
ON JANUARY 1, the Department of Clinical Sciences becomes a UT Southwestern academic department. Previously, it was the Center for Biomedical Statistics and Clinical Science. Milton Packer, MD, Director of the Center, is named Chairman. The change in department status is prompted by a $9.7 million training grant award from National Institutes of Health.
MILESTONE
THE ALZHEIMER’S Disease Center (ADC) is one of 32 centers funded by the National Institute on Aging to evaluate patients and conduct scientific research into the cause(s) of Alzheimer’s disease.
ALZHEIMER’S
IN MARCH, UT Southwestern researchers find that pressureinjecting the gene responsible for producing the protein amyloid-beta 42 (shown in the artist’s rendering at left) causes test mice to make antibodies that greatly reduce the protein’s buildup in the brain. The accumulation of amyloid-beta 42 in humans is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. “The whole point of the study is to determine whether the antibody is therapeutically effective as a means to inhibit the formation of amyloid-beta storage in the brain – and it is,” says Roger Rosenberg, MD, Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center.
LEADERSHIP
HUTCHISON
On April 21, special federal funding officially establishes a Gulf War syndrome research center at UT Southwestern. The landmark five-year, $75 million appropriation is a result of legislation sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
MILESTONE
ROBOTIC SURGERY
UT Southwestern surgeons become the first in North Texas to perform robotically assisted laparoscopic gastric bypass and colon-resection surgeries.
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RECOGNITION
NATIONAL RANKING
UT SOUTHWESTERN continues to rank among the top 10 American institutions in three of the six biomedical fields assessed in an independent analysis of scientific research impact by the journal ScienceWatch. Only four institutions – Harvard, Stanford, UC San Diego, and UC San Francisco – appear in more biomedical categories than UT Southwestern. The medical school ranks first in the country in biology and biochemistry; seventh in neurosciences and behavior research; and eighth in molecular biology and genetics.