Message from Warren S. Browner, MD, MPH

In the last 10 years, we have seen an “information explosion,” particularly in the biomedical sciences where the number of publications including new, “online journals” has grown exponentially. The Research Institute has experienced a recent growth spurt of its own. Since the beginning of 2001, several new investigators have been recruited to our scientific ranks. Four of these scientists are featured in this issue of California Pacific Currents.

Nowhere has our knowledge of human biology grown as rapidly as in the neurosciences. During the recent “decade of the brain,” millions of dollars have been dedicated to understanding how the brain works and how its normal processes go awry in ailments such as Alzheimer's Disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, schizophrenia, and others. This issue of Currents contains two examples of scholarly activity representing investigation at the ends of the laboratory-clinical research spectrum. At the basic laboratory science level, Eric Beattie, PhD, studies how nerve cell activity in the brain might be modulated after trauma to protect the brain from further injury; at the clinical end of the continuum, Kenneth Laxer, MD, applies the science of brain imaging to the diagnosis and treatment of seemingly intractable epilepsy.

Tom Musci, MD, and John Muschler, PhD, are both interested in cellular development. Dr. Musci's field is that of genetics. Building on an interest in cellular differentiation — how embryonic cells differentiate into our various organs and tissues — Dr. Musci is now working to advance diagnostic imaging techniques and medical management of birth defects, before and after the baby is born. Dr. Muschler, a breast cancer researcher, studies the role of the extracellular matrix, a barrier that normally limits the expansion of cells, in the progression and metastases of cancer.

This is an exciting time for scientists. New technologies have led to major advances in biology and medicine. Our laboratories are humming, and the Research Institute is poised for a decade of increasing productivity and influence in the scientific community.

Warren S. Browner, MD, MPH
Scientific Director, Research Institute
Vice President, Academic Affairs

2002 Currents Articles