B
otulism generates headlines. Highly lethal in even tiny amounts, it draws attention when it sickens people who have eaten improperly-processed food. Botulism toxin made news in the Persian Gulf War as one of the biological weapons that Iraq was believed to have produced in bulk under Saddam Hussein. The toxin, marketed as Botox® and other brands, has grown to be a $2 billion a year market, thanks to its ability to erase wrinkles from the faces of aging adults. But the story of how botulism came to be the centerpiece of an academic research laboratory in southeastern Massachusetts is also the story of the laboratory’s director, Dr. Bal Ram Singh, a scientist as multi-faceted as the bacteria he studies. A native of India who has lived in the U.S. for nearly 30 years, Singh is ambitious yet humble, competitive yet focused on collaboration. He is a hard science guy who teaches yoga and weaves a yogic philosophy into his chemistry courses. Though the teetering piles of documents that surround him in his office are a testament to his busy life, students and teaching remain his focus. His secretary, Maureen Jennings, enjoys working for him. “He has an open door policy, and there is always a line of students waiting to see him,” according to Jennings.
Spearheading the BRC The seed that germinated into the Botulism Research Center was carried by Singh from Wisconsin to Massachusetts. When he completed his Ph.D. in biophysical chemistry at Texas Tech University in 1987, Singh was recruited by the University of Wisconsin at Madison to develop the field of botulism toxins. There was one small glitch. “I had no idea what it was. I thought it must be some kind of dirt,” admitted the man who subsequently became one of the world’s foremost botulism researchers. Undeterred, he accepted the offer and thus began a long-term relationship between a man and a bacterium. Singh left Wisconsin in 1990 to accept a position at the thenSoutheastern Massachusetts University (SMU) so he could gain teaching experience. “I thought this was a good match,” he said, but he was disappointed there was no Ph.D. program. That changed the following year when SMU became part of the University of Massachusetts system and he was able to develop Ph.D. collaborations with UMass Amherst and UMass Lowell. When Singh first arrived at the North Dartmouth campus, he had little of the equipment he needed and was given only a small lab area that was to be shared with an organic chemistry
Botulism Basic Training Botulinum bacteria live all around
sending messages to muscles. The
us in the soil. That’s not a problem
muscle cells, no longer receiving
because the bacteria – unlike those
messages from the nervous system,
that cause tuberculosis – do not
are paralyzed. People die when the
infect people. It’s when the botuli-
muscles involved with breathing no
num bacteria produce spores that
longer function.
burst and release a lethal neurotoxin that humans encounter trouble.
Illustrations by Kevan Trombly
26
Fall 2011
Dart
There is no treatment for botulism poisoning, only supportive care. If
The toxin is what Dr. Singh calls
symptoms are noted early, anti-toxin
“a very smart protein.” It works like
can be given to block the effect of any
a police SWAT team. When someone
toxin circulating in the blood. People
eats food containing botulinum toxin
experiencing severe symptoms must
or gets spores in an open wound,
be hospitalized and their breathing
part of the toxin finds a nerve cell
assisted with mechanical equipment,
and binds to it like SWAT members
as long as their respiratory muscles
securing the outside of a building.
are paralyzed.
Then another part of the toxin bursts
The symptoms of botulism can
through the cell wall and immobi-
last for many months. This ability
lizes activity inside (just as a SWAT
to persist in human cells is also the
team does). Inside the nerve cell, the
reason the toxin is an effective cos-
toxin prevents the nerve cell from
metic and medical treatment.