The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Sidney Altman and the clinical long haul

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Apr 27, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sidney Altman and the clinical long haul

Sarah Hiddleston

Even the time for testing depends on funding and human resources, says Nobel prize winning scientist

— Photo: R. Ragu

The CURe trail: Nobel laureate Sidney Altman delivering a lecture in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: The 1989 Nobel prize winner in Chemistry Sidney Altman may have found a way to make diseases without current cures bend to the capacities of medicine through genetically engineering their DNA, the man himself told an awestruck audience at the Vivekananda Institute of Tropical Mycology on Saturday.

But it could be another 15 years before we see any practical application in the public domain because of the time required for testing, and even that depends on funding and human resources, Professor Altman clarified.

The key to Professor Altman’s work is in fooling the messenger enzyme responsible for the reproduction of cells with inserted genetic coding. He detailed how research on an enzyme resident in the e-coli bacteria commonly found in the gut could be used to target the pathogenic bacteria of the bubonic plague, tularaemia, Malta fever and anthrax, all of which find a mention on the U.S. Centres for Disease Control’s list of potential bio-weapons. He also explained how the same process had been used to inactivate influenza strains, herpes and HIV.

The challenge is how to use this genetic instruction manual in clinical therapy—while thus far researchers have had considerable success by injecting the code into the tails of mice, at the moment the quantity needed for humans would be impractical without clinical modification, Professor Altman said. While some tissue cells in the laboratory had decreased in growth, Professor Altman’s laboratory is not yet sure of the specific effects of this chemical modification on the genes he is interested in. But aerosols or inhalers, such as those commonly used for asthma, could be one way forward and look promising for combating avian flu.

“Science exploding”

While his words clearly impressed the Indian audience, the enthusiasm for his particular field of science in India has also struck him. “Science is really exploding here. There have always been excellent Indian scientists throughout history, and many of them have prospered outside India. But in the last 5-10 years, the government has put a lot of money into science here, and so certainly in the field of biomedical science, there has been a lot of progress,” he told The Hindu.

The crucial factor for encouraging innovation is education, he says, from toddlers up, and in all fields. Financial support and secure patent systems are others. But the most important thing, according to him, is to engage in science because you love it and not just to win a prize.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu