News Archive, 2003

Dr. Charles P. Emerson, Jr. Named as Director of Boston Biomedical Research Institute
WATERTOWN, MA-September, 2003-Dr. Charles P. Emerson, Jr. will become Director of the Watertown, MA based Boston Biomedical Research Institute on September 2, 2003. Dr. Emerson will be joining the Boston Biomedical Research Institute after a very successful nine years as Professor and Chair of the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also served as Director of the Penn Center for Developmental Biology starting in 1999.

Dr. Emerson comes to the Boston Biomedical Research Institute with more than thirty years of research, educational and academic administrative experience at other research organizations, including UPenn, University of Virginia and Fox Chase Cancer Center. Dr. Emerson's research focuses on studies of muscle regulatory genes that control the formation of muscle stem cells and coordinate the expression of muscle proteins during embryonic development. His research interests will build upon current areas of strength at Boston Biomedical Research Institute in muscle and structural biology, and emerging areas in cell and developmental biology. Research conducted at the independent, non-profit Boston Biomedical Research Institute has relevance to a wide range of diseases including cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases, cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Emerson commented, "I am very much looking forward to joining and leading the excellent research faculty at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute. Independent research institutes such as Boston Biomedical Research Institute provide scientists unique opportunities to pursue individual and collaborative research without many of the academic constraints, institutional pressures and distractions common at large research universities."

For more information contact:Virginia Sullivan, Associate Director of Development & Public Affairs, Boston Biomedical Research Institute: Tel: 617-658-7711, Fax: 617-972-1760, email: sullivan@bbri.org

BBRI Scientist Presents Research on Fertility at an International Symposium Convened by the Institute of Medicine
WATERTOWN, MA-July, 2003—On July 15-16, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies convened an International Symposium on New Frontiers of Contraceptive Research. The symposium brought together expertise from many areas including contraception, basic reproductive biology, new technologies, product development, behavioral science, and international health. The objective was to bring new concepts and analytical frameworks to the discussion of contraceptive research and development.

One of the invited speakers at the symposium was Dr. Ruben R. Gonzalez of BBRI. Dr. Gonzalez discussed his research on leptin, which is a hormonal protein, much studied for controlling obesity, that may in different guise be the key to an anti-implantation contraceptive. Besides regulating food intake, leptin also regulates implantation and placentation. Exogenous addition of leptin restores fertility to leptin-deficient mice. OB-R, leptin’s receptor, increases in the endometrium during the menstrual cycle secretory phase. In subfertile women, endometrial OB-R and leptin decrease. Dr. Gonzalez is studying a leptin peptide antagonist (LPA2) that binds OB-R without activation signal transduction. His hypothesis is that blocking OB-R will block implantation of the early embryo into the endometrium. Link to The Scientist for full story.

Watertown High School Students Receive Scholarships from Boston Biomedical Research Institute
WATERTOWN, MA-May 2003--Watertown based non-profit, Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) recently awarded $2,500 scholarships to two outstanding science students at Watertown High School planning to continue their scientific studies in college.