Integrative Graduate
Education and
Research Traineeship

Highlight

IGERT LifeChips trainee discovers a new biomarker

IGERT Trainee, Van Luu, preparing to share his research findings at the poster session during the 3rd International Symposium on LifeChips

Projects:

IGERT: Life Chip

Institution:

University of California at Irvine

Primary Strategic Goal:

Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.

Secondary Strategic Goal:

Learning: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Achievement/Results

Van Luu, a trainee from the NSF-funded LifeChips Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship at the University of California, Irvine has discovered a biomarker for activated B cells and certain types of lymphomas. “The Lifechips program has really opened up my perspectives on using multidisciplinary approaches. Anytime I hear of a new technology, such as tissue engineering or microfluidics devices, I try to think of ways to utilize the technology in an experiment,” Luu says. Van works with Drs. Peter Hevezi and Albert Zlotnik in the department of Biophysics and Physiology. The recently discovered molecule, named BAAM (B cell associated activation marker), is a new member of the tetraspanin family that was selected by the microarray database of gene expression in over 100 different human tissues and cell types. This bioinformatics approach that utilizes a database was able to screen for unique genes that are highly restricted in B cells. Researchers confirmed the expression on a protein level using western blotting and validated the transcription using RT-qPCR. The molecule was also found in certain activated types of B cell lymphomas and showed high expression in Hodgkin lymphoma. This new biomarker can be used in antibody targeted therapy for these lymphomas. A provisional patent for this new treatment has been found and these finding will be published in the Journal of Immunology soon. Van credits the LifeChips IGERT for changing his perspective of research.

Address Goals

Biomarkers may serve as important early screening tools for relevant human diseases that require early diagnosis for effective treatment. In addition to the detection of markers for disease, biomarkers can be used as targets for the specific destruction of diseased cells. This discovery advances knowledge in a field that can potentially cure fatal diseases. The publication of these results will educate the scientific world on the importance of biomarkers and this promising discovery.