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| A MESSAGE FROM DR. HAUPTMAN | home > about hwi > our nobel laureate > message from hauptman | ||||||||
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As
an independent basic biomedical research institute, Hauptman-Woodward
is dedicated to achieving an understanding of diseases at a molecular
level. The knowledge that our basic research provides is often used
by others in the design of new medications, vaccines, and diagnostic
tools. However, the effect of our work is not always immediately
evident, and it is often difficult for non-scientists to see the connections
between basic research and clinical advances. In order to demonstrate
its importance and to allow others to understand the impact of our
work, Dr. Hauptman gave an example of how a tool developed at HWI was
able to improve human health. |
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| The
Importance of Basic Research by Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman |
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| We scientists
at HWI are often asked just what we do and why our work is important.
The easy answer is that we try to improve our understanding of life
processes and, in this way, to improve human well being through better
methods for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. Since
our research is of such a fundamental nature, it is sometimes difficult
to see the connection between our work and the resulting health
benefits. A recent incident provides a dramatic illustration of
just such a connection. It is, of course, well known that antibiotics are the medicine of choice in the treatment of many bacterial infections. Less well known, perhaps, is that the antibiotic vancomycin is the drug of last resort, the one which works when nothing else does. However, during the course of several years, a strain of vancomycin-resistant bacteria evolved with fatal consequences for those infected. Overnight, the development of a modified form of vancomycin needed to defeat the resistant strain of bacteria became a critical priority. However, the pharmacologists working on this problem were confronted with a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. The structure of the vancomycin molecule was unknown and, owing to its complexity, appeared to be unsolvable. Yet, knowledge of its structure was an essential pre-requisite if a successful modification was to be found. Faced with this dilemma, and after many months of failure, the pharmacologists came to HWI, recognized to be the world's leader in this field of biomedical research. Within a matter of days, the computer program Shake-and-Bake, developed at HWI, solved the vancomycin structure; the pharmacologists now had at their disposal the information needed to design the required modification using well-established protocols for the structure-based design of drugs. Here, then, is a recent example of how the internationally recognized expertise of HWI scientists helped to save human lives. It is not inappropriate to stress that the development of the Shake-and-Bake algorithm at HWI was the result of the collaborative efforts of a number of scientists with expertise in different disciplines: crystallography, chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, computer science, and mathematics. It is precisely this collection of scientists with strength in different but related fields, which accounts for our unique character and the worldwide recognition that we enjoy. |
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| 700 Ellicott Street Buffalo, New York 14203-1102 Tel: 716 898 8600 Fax: 716 898 8660 | |||||||||
