Trainee Award

Judith Laposa has conducted the first study to demonstrate a higher prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among emergency department staff than in the general public. Her research also shows these symptoms sometimes interfere with job performance. Previous studies have focused on victims of trauma, and not those who routinely deal with horrifying events as part of their jobs. Following a life-threatening event, people with PTSD experience ongoing anxiety and intrusive images of the trauma.

Carolyn Green is studying the use of information by regional health authorities in public health policy decisions. Health authorities need high quality information to assess the health care needs of communities and appraise the performance of health care systems. But while health authorities make system-wide decisions that can affect whole populations, authority board members do not rate the information they receive as being adequate or timely. Carolyn is investigating what kinds of information are needed and which technologies can best deliver the information to authorities.

About 37,000 people in BC suffer from panic disorder, a debilitating condition characterized by recurrent panic attacks, intense fear and anxiety. Common symptoms include heart palpitations, sweating, nausea, dizziness, numbness in the extremities, and hot or cold flashes. Panic disorder is also costly to our health care system: two-thirds of patients in Canada have sought psychiatric care, 21 per cent visited emergency departments (sometimes repeatedly), nine per cent saw a cardiologist, and 17 per cent saw a neurologist in an effort to understand their symptoms.

Research has shown that a positive relationship between patients and their health care providers has a significant impact on the success of medical, psychological and drug treatments. The therapeutic relationship has a positive impact on both psychological and physiological factors, such as increasing hope and strengthening the immune system. In addition, the therapeutic relationship may have healing power in and of itself.

Because they have low bone mass, women with osteoporosis are at increased risk of fractures caused by falls. Reducing both bone loss and the risk of falling are essential in helping women prevent fractures. While previous research has shown that regular physical activity can optimize bone health and reduce the risk of falling by improving muscle strength, reaction time, and balance, little is known about what types of exercises are most effective.

Memory difficulties accompany the aging process. Two common examples include reduced ability to recall recent information or events and problems remembering to do something in the future. Programs have been developed to help older adults, including people with Alzheimer's and their caregivers, deal with age-related memory changes. Although most benefit from these programs, not everyone responds equally and some do not seem to benefit at all.

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is on the rise and poses increasing threats to susceptible individuals, including the elderly, children and immunocompromised patients. To develop new and effective therapeutics against these microbial enemies, a thorough understanding of their pathogenic (disease-causing) mechanisms is required. Calvin Yip's research focuses on characterizing the structural components of the bacterial type III secretion system (TTSS). Found in many pathogenic bacteria-including Enteropathogenic E.

Mary Wagner is interested in the fundamental mechanisms that govern a cell's decision to divide, mature or die. Armed with this information, she says, we can gain greater insight into many different diseases where these basic functions are altered. For example, cancer is characterized by uncontrolled cell division, and inappropriate cell death is the hallmark of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and muscular dystrophy. Mary is studying the role of ING (INhibitor of Growth), a protein that helps regulate these basic cell functions.

Current treatments for advanced prostate cancer eliminate the growth-promoting effects of androgens such as testosterone. Unfortunately, while this treatment is initially effective in reducing prostate growth, the usual outcome is an untreatable form of prostate cancer where the cancer becomes androgen-independent (grows without androgens). Steven Quayle is working to isolate the different genes that are expressed (activated) at different hormonal stages of prostate cancer.

The error-free duplication of a multicelled organism's genetic material is critical to its survival. Even small changes in the genetic code during duplication can lead to diseases such as cancer. Equally important to cell division is the error-free transmission of chromosomes to each of the two daughter cells, which depends on the proper regulation of sister chromatid cohesion (the attachment of both strands of newly-replicated DNA to the area of the chromosome called the centromere).

Vascular disease is the largest single cause of death in developed nations, and the incidence of cardiac valvular disease (disease in heart valves) is significant. The first cells to be adversely affected in vascular disease are endothelial cells, located on the inner lining of blood vessels. In the initial stages of vascular disease, there are modifications to the way endothelial cells regulate calcium signaling, an essential part of communication between cells.

Josette-Renée Landry is bringing both computer science and traditional molecular biology techniques to her research into the function of repetitive DNA sequences in the human genome (full collection of human genes). The Human Genome Project, completed in February 2001, revealed that more than 40 per cent of the human genome consists of repetitive sequences whose function remains largely unknown. Studies have suggested that some of these repeats, called retroelements, can influence how genes are expressed (turned on and off).

Proteins called calcium channels regulate how calcium gets into nerve cells. In nerve cells, calcium channels control a variety of normal physiological responses including muscle and heart contraction, hormone secretion and the way neurons transmit, receive and store information in the central nervous system. When too much calcium enters these cells through calcium channels, a number of disorders can result, including congenital migraine, angina, epilepsy, hypertension and stroke.

The bacteria Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) is a major cause of infantile diarrhea, killing an estimated 100,000 children every year. (The bacteria is also closely related to enterohemorrhagic E. coli 0157:H7, which causes hamburger disease.) Most bacteria attach to existing proteins on host cells to cause disease. EPEC inserts its own protein into host cells and then attaches itself to the protein. Annick Gauthier is studying a specialized transport system—called a type III secretion system—that is believed to deliver this necessary protein from the EPEC bacteria into host cells.

Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) triggers a strong immune response in the body, which produces antibodies when it encounters the virus. However, the majority of antibodies naturally produced by the immune system are non-neutralizing, meaning they are unable to provide protection from the virus, or to prevent the eventual onset of AIDS. Alfredo Menendez is contributing to the search for an effective vaccine that would increase the body's production of neutralizing antibodies.