| Above
and beyond
Researchers
say center's
opportunities for collaboration,
latest
technology will take research to the next level
By Tom O'Connor
Dan Monaghan,
Ph.D., maintains a low profile on the UNMC campus.
 Like most
basic researchers, Monaghan is seldom in the limelight. He goes about
his business each day seeking to find answers to how brain cells
communicate
with one another. A neurobiologist, Monaghan is all too familiar with the
complexities of the brain. But he keeps grinding away, looking for answers,
searching for
clues.
Basic researchers
are like blood donors. What they do is not glamorous, but the work
is absolutely essential to the world of health care. They
seek to
uncover the "why" and "how" in science. Without basic
research, most clinical research breakthroughs would never occur.
Basic
research provides answers that can move research to the next level,
where – hopefully – it can help benefit all of us.
A professor
of pharmacology, Monaghan is a 1978 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He earned his doctorate at the University of California-Irvine
in 1985.
"When I first started graduate school, we really didn't know much about
how most brain cells communicate with each other," Monaghan said. "We
really couldn't study it or do much about it." That changed
in the mid-1980s, with the discovery that glutamate was the chemical
that was released by most brain cells and initiated
much
of the
brain's activity.
"This
was a major breakthrough of basic research," Monaghan said. "We
needed to know the underpinnings of the brain – what makes it
work. This led to all sorts of advances. We were able to discover many
other things about
the brain, such as mechanisms of learning and memory and how neurons
communicate, and important insights into what happens in epilepsy and
neurodegenerative
diseases
such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's."
 |
Tony
Sambol |
According
to Tony Sambol, coordinator of the Special Pathogens Lab at the Nebraska
Public Health Laboratory housed at UNMC, "Basic research is
like the space program. Many people wonder why we do it, but it is
absolutely necessary
because
it helps us to eventually find cures to diseases and develop new testing." Monaghan
is one of two UNMC researchers to be included on the list of "highly
cited" scientists worldwide. These are individuals
whose names turn up on the scientific papers referenced
by other scientists.
The other
UNMC person on this list is Dr. Byers Shaw Jr.,
who started the medical center's liver transplant program
in 1985
and now serves
as professor
and chairman
of the department of surgery.
For Monaghan
and the more than 50 other UNMC scientists who will have labs in the
Durham Research
Center, the
facility will have
a huge impact.
"Over the past 20 to 25 years, research has been taking on a bigger role
at UNMC," Monaghan said. "It's important that we upgrade our infrastructure,
so that we can recruit more people.
"The
Durham Research Center will change the dynamics of the medical center.
With more than 100 labs in the same building, it
will make us a major player in the research arena. It will make UNMC
much more attractive to the post doctoral
and research students being recruited here and give
them quality space in which to perform research. The 90-year-old research
buildings (we now have on campus)
just don't excite them a whole lot."
From the
scientist's perspective, the Durham Research Center will bring
together researchers
in a collaborative
environment
that
should lead
to more interaction
and discovery.
"We'll have focus groups working on each of the different floors," Monaghan
said. "The idea is to get people working on the same problem clustered
together and to build large multi-disciplinary groups. Right now, we have researchers
spread all over campus in 11 different buildings.
 |
| Iqbal
Ahmad, Ph.D. |
"Research
feeds on collaboration. It helps us discuss problems and in developing
solutions to these problems.
Research has become much more technical, and the technology available
in the Durham Research Center will help us generate new
ideas."
These sentiments
were echoed by Iqbal Ahmad,
Ph.D., associate
professor
of ophthalmology.
"You
don't do research in isolation," Ahmad said. "With the Durham
Research Center, we will
be basically in a sea of ideas. Cross talking. Trouble shooting. No
doubt about it, it will increase the length and breadth of our
research."
For some
UNMC scientists, the Durham Research
Center
represents
an escape
from antiquated
laboratories.
 |
| Charles
Murrin,
Ph.D. |
"The facility is state-of-the-art," said Charles Murrin, Ph.D., a professor
of pharmacology. "Our
group is coming out
of a 1913 building
(Poynter Hall) with
1960s laboratories.
Those are 40-year-old
labs. For us, the change
to new
space is a huge thing.
"But, it's not just a beautiful facility. It's also a well-organized facility.
Things are much more
convenient for all the researchers. Plus, you won't have to walk that far to
interact with other scientists. One other thing the facility
will bring is an outstanding
animal research area. This will be vital to our research endeavors."
Ultimately,
research is what sets academic
medical
centers
such as
UNMC apart
from community
hospitals.
 |
Sam
Cohen, M.D., Ph.D.
|
"Research is a big winner for UNMC," said Sam Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., professor
and chairman of pathology and microbiology. "It
brings to our institution
high quality faculty,
who in turn provide
leading edge education
to our students and
outstanding clinical
care to our patients.
"Attracting top-notch faculty to Omaha is a major benefit for all Nebraskans.
Now, instead of leaving
the state for complicated medical procedures such as transplants, they can stay
here and get the best possible care."
Don Leuenberger,
UNMC vice chancellor for business and finance, agrees that the Durham
Research Center will make a difference.
'The
building will have an immediate impact on the state.'
–
Don Leuenberger
Vice Chancellor, Business & Finance
|
"Biotechnology
and biomedical research have been identified as the emerging growth sectors
of the U.S. economy in the future," he said. "The Durham Research
Center will have many benefits for Nebraskans. One of the foremost benefits
is that it will be key in allowing the medical center to produce the
scientists of the future – the trained workforce that will allow
Nebraska to compete in the biotechnology field."
Leuenberger
is especially proud that the center was built without any state tax appropriations.
Private donations accounted for nearly all the building's $77 million
cost, with $2.5 million in federal funding making up the difference.
"The
building will have an immediate impact on the state," Leuenberger
said. "We will be hiring 300 new employees to work in the building.
These will be scientists, post docs, lab techs, maintenance and other
workers.
"We will
be recruiting more scientists to fill the building, and with them, will
come more grant money. Most importantly, the state will benefit from
the results of the research done at the Durham Research Center in better
care for cancer, heart disease and other conditions. It will truly impact
the health and well-being of Nebraska."
In fiscal
year 2002-03, UNMC researchers brought in more than $55.8 million in
research grants and contracts.
"This
research money is a major economic force in the state," Leuenberger
said. "When you bring in money from outside the state, it is new
money that is infused into the state's economy. In the past 20 years,
we know that our bone marrow/stem cell and solid organ transplant programs
have brought more than $1 billion of new money into the state through
patients from around the world coming to Nebraska for their transplants."
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