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RESEARCH
November 2, 2011 Issue 42, Volume 77
LECTURE
Prof pioneers receptor based drugs Speaker
Estrogen hormone used to target cells, treating multiple diseases Love Patel
THE DAILY COUGAR A research team that includes a professor at UH’s Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling is endorsing a new approach to producing drugs that treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. CNRCS director Dr. Jan-Åke Gustafsson’s efforts focus on the study of nuclear receptor transcription factors. These are proteins found within cells that regulate and control the flow
of genetic information. “What makes these receptors particularly interesting is that their activities are regulated by compounds that we can administer to the cell,” Gustafsson said. Gustafsson said this attribute makes receptors “drugable,” which attracts the drug industry to target these receptors. “They are actually acting through the receptors,” Gustafsson said. Estrogen receptors are where Gustafsson’s interest primarily resides. He was involved in the discovery of estrogen receptor beta in 1996 at Karolinska Institute in Sweden, squashing the notion that only one estrogen receptor type — estrogen receptor
alpha — existed. “It turns out that these two receptors have a very interesting relationship that could be described as yin and yang,” Gustafsson said. One of the main qualities of estrogen receptor alpha is that it stimulates proliferation, an increase in cell number by division. This can lead to early stages of cancer if over expressed. However, estrogen receptor beta is “anti-proliferative,” acting as an inhibitor. This is being investigated as a possibility to treat breast, prostate and colon cancer. He said treatment of diseases quite different from cancer is possible. The activation of RESEARCH continues on page 3
Cougars seek out careers
talks US, Turkey politics Event critiques American government by citing similarities, differences Michelle Casas
THE DAILY COUGAR In their struggle for a more democratic nation, Turkey has made numerous advancements throughout the last two decades. The country has been gaining power in multiple areas of international relations, James Harrington said during a Gulen Institute lecture Tuesday at the Conrad Hilton College. “In the last 10 years, maybe 15, progress in Turkey has been just astronomical, both in terms of democracy and as an economic world power,” Harrington said. “And, as we are seeing, in terms of a foreign policy leader in the Middle East.” Harrington, a University of Texas Law School professor and founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project, presented his lecture, “Turkey’s Struggle for Greater Democracy: The Role of Its Legal System, the 2010 Constitutional Referendum, and Individual Rights,”
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tudents crowded the University Center’s Houston Room armed with resumes as they networked with numerous company representatives from companies such as Wells Fargo, Liberty Mutual Group and Mattress Firm at the “Experience Excellence” career fair Tuesday that was hosted by C.T. Bauer Business School. | Robert Z. Easely/The Daily Cougar
TURKEY continues on page 3
UNIVERSITY
Corporation donates money to business, natural sciences Exxon Mobil has made a donation of $86,000 to the University in conjunction with their Departmental Grants Program. The Cullen College of Engineering, C.T. Bauer College of Business and College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics will split the grant, and it will be used to improve the school’s math and science programs as well as offering scholarships.
Exxon Mobil’s grant program has donated more than $112 million to 80 universities nationwide in the last two years — Jennifer Postel
FACULTY
Former football coach to enter Hall of Champions The Fellowship of Christian Athletes has announced that former Cougars head football coach Bill Yeoman will be one of three inductees into the FCA Hall of Champions During his 25-year tenure at
UH, Yeoman led the Cougars to four Southwest Conference championships and helped UH transition from an obscure independent program to a regional powerhouse. Yeoman, who was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2001, has been a member of FCA, the world’s largest sports ministry, for 50 years. Former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy as well as Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach and head coach Tom Landry are all members of the FCA Hall of Champions. — Jennifer Postel
GRAD SCHOOL
School of social work to host graduate school fair UH’s Graduate School of Social Work will be hosting the Houston Idealist Grad Fair at 5 p.m. on Thursday in the Rockwell Pavilion Room at the M.D. Anderson Library. The fair is open to any student considering graduate school. Representatives from local and national graduate schools will be available to answer questions as well as offer information concerning their programs.
Beginning at 6 p.m., an admissions and financial aid question-andanswer session will be held to offer insight into admission requirements and deadlines. The fair is free and open to the public. To RSVP, visit www.idealit.org or e-mail gradfairs@idealist.org. — Jennifer Postel
CORRECTION In Oct. 31’s issue of The Daily Cougar, an article had the headline “History haunts UH parking lot,” it should have read, “History haunts UH-D parking lot.”