TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | a p r i l 2 0 1 5 38 SHORT TAKES Designing a Better Way to Study Stomach Flu Did you know that a 25-year-old woman has a 30% chance per month of getting pregnant… but after age 39, this drops to 5%? At Houston IVF, we can help you plan now for a future family. Your eggs are preserved and available later when you are ready to start a family. Younger eggs allow you to realize the possibility of age-related, improved pregnancy outcomes. This may also be a good option for women prior to starting cancer treatment. Call and schedule an initial consultation to discuss Fertility Preservation with one of Houston IVF's specialists. Not YET? You know you want to have a family someday, but not right now. Not a Houston IVF patient Dr. Timothy N. Hickman I Dr. Laurie J. McKenzie I Dr. Katherine K. McKnight 713.465.1211 I HoustonIVF.net All of the physicians at Houston IVF are Board Certified in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. HIVF.2014_Ads.8.7.14.added_line.indd 1 10/20/14 5:54 PM R ice University bioengineers are teaming with colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to apply the latest tech- niques in tissue engineering toward the study of one of the most common and deadly human illnesses—the stomach flu. The bacteria and viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis often come from contaminated food or water and result in cramps, nausea, diarrhea and vomit- ing. In medical terms, these pathogens fall under the heading of "human enteric disease," and while they may be com- mon, they can also be deadly. Diarrheal diseases still account for about 17 per- cent of worldwide human deaths each year, and they are the second-leading killer of children five and younger. One roadblock to studying enteric pathogens like human rotaviruses and E. coli is that the organisms behave dif- ferently in humans than they do in ani- mals typically used in medical research. Stem cell research has led to recent breakthroughs in the development of more realistic cell culture models, but there's room for improvement. "Infectious-disease labs that study enteric disease need better models that faithfully simulate the physiology of the intestine," said Rice tissue engi- neering researcher Jane Grande-Allen, Ph.D., the Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering. "This organ contains multiple types of cells that are arranged in complex patterns, and these tissues are constantly on the move. They contract and expand all the time, and we suspect some pathogens take advantage of that motion to mount their attacks." Thanks to a $5.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Grande-Allen and colleagues at Baylor and MD Anderson are embarking on a five-year program to create a bioreactor that more closely simulates the com- plex tissues and dynamic movements of the intestinal track. "This kind of problem can only be solved with teamwork because it requires expertise in enteric dis- ease, cell biology, tissue engineering, bioreactor design and more," said Baylor's Mary Estes, the Cullen Chair of Molecular and Human Virology and principal investigator on the grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "No single institution has all of that expertise, but thanks to the resources in the Texas Medical Center, we have assembled a team that is uniquely qualified to meet this challenge." Grande-Allen said the team's five- year goal is to deliver a simple, easy-to- use and relatively inexpensive system that could be easily implemented by any infectious disease lab. — Jade Boyd, Rice University No single institution has all of that expertise, but thanks to the resources in the Texas Medical Center, we have assembled a team that is uniquely qualified to meet this challenge. — MARY ESTES, PH.D. Cullen Chair of Molecular and Human Virology at Baylor College of Medicine

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