| January 2005 | Volume 2, Issue 4 |
AN ENDOWMENT AT WORK
Bowen fund supports cutting-edge cell research
Josephine Kress-Bowen’s interest in basic cell research hit close to home when her husband, Charles, was diagnosed with an incurable, degenerative brain condition that ultimately took his life.
To honor him, she worked with the UNT Foundation to create the Charles W. Bowen Research Fund in Network Neuroscience.
“Medical doctors kept telling them that they didn’t have answers – that more research was the only solution,” said Dr. Guenter Gross, Regents Professor of Biological Sciences and director of the Center for Network Neuroscience Research at UNT.
The Bowen fund supports study of the behavior of neurons in networks. Cell research at the center might form the foundation for cures, but Dr. Gross said its applications are far-reaching. The research, in part, focuses on cells and their communication, and the effect that compounds have on those functions.
Gross illustrated the concept by describing the toxins found in a puffer fish. He said that the fish’s poison is neurotoxic – that is, it impairs the cell’s ability to communicate, without destroying the cell. Compounds that destroy a cell are called cytotoxic.
Neurotoxic cell impairment, in some cases, can be reversed as the offending compound is cleansed from the cell. Knowing the exact nature and level of this toxicity might lead to antidotes and, as Gross emphasized, it also might lead to prevention.
He said that an ever-increasing number of compounds are discovered and created – some inadvertently – in many areas of research. For example, pharmacological research benefits from a very specific evaluation of compounds and their effects on cells.
To that end, the center created a device and methodology that electronically “listens” to cell group activity. The multielectrode array enables unprecedented observation of electrical activity in nerve cell networks.
Gross said that with the proliferation of nanoparticles, which are so small that they are difficult to study, the Environmental Protection Agency is requesting more data about their potential toxicity. Gross said that the center’s research will likely be applied to generating some of that data. The center is also developing more effective ways to share its data among different disciplines and facilities, using the Internet and other electronic vehicles.
In a broader sense, the center’s research is relevant in all disciplines where basic information processing is essential. The center outlines five general areas in which its pioneering efforts are applicable: neuronal network biosensors; drug development; environmental and industrial toxicology; medical research; and basic network neurobiology.
Through the collaborative efforts of scientists from a number of disciplines in the life sciences, computer science, mathematics and even music theory, UNT’s center is at the forefront of research in the rapidly growing field of network neuroscience. Gross, 65, said, “It is hard to feel old when there is so much to do.”
In some ways, he said, he believes Josephine Bowen’s belief in the quest for knowledge led her to the center and ultimately, to creation of the Charles W. Bowen Research Fund in Network Neuroscience. She toured the facility, which is dependent on grants and private donations for funding, more than once.
“She is a sharp, generous woman with a keen interest in basic research,” Gross said.
Website updated: February 1, 2005. Website comments or corrections: rsimmans@unt.edu