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Seeing the Light Upgraded Hematology Facility Opens Doors Joint study shows potential to restore lost vision with light-sensitive molecule UI Hospital dedicates remodeled bone marrow transplant center T he University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System on Oct. 4 cut the ribbon on its newly remodeled 10-bed Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit, which will focus on healing patients with a variety of devastating chronic diseases. The unit is funded in part by a donation from the Perry Family Foundation Gift Fund, which is also supporting stem cell research and an endowment for needy patients so they can afford their treatment and medication. The unit will house a program that's treated more than 600 patients with different types of cancer of the bone marrow, solid tumors and blood disorders such as aplastic anemia and sickle cell anemia. Founded in 1997, the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program at the UI Hospital is well-known throughout the Chicago region for its expertise in blood and marrow transplantation. Treating a wide variety of hematological malignancies and other blood abnormalities, the program also conducts leading-edge translational research to develop innovative strategies for improving the outcomes of these transplants. The transplant program is directed by Damiano Rondelli, MD, also professor of medicine at the college. Rondelli is actively involved in clinical research and is the principal investigator of investigator-initiated Phase I and Phase II studies of allogeneic stem transplant for patients with high-risk leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma, or for advanced myelofibrosis, or sickle cell anemia. (See more about how this program ties into translational research at the college on page 22.) The center's specialists serve a diverse ethnic patient population, providing personalized treatment and care to meet their unique needs. Ongoing research enables clinicians to continue to develop innovative treatment In addition to treating hematological options using stem cell malignancies and other blood abnormaliresources for bone marties, the unit also conducts cutting-edge row and peripheral blood translational research. transplants as well as umbilical cord blood transplants and haploidentical transplants. UI Hospital has one of the few programs nationwide to be accredited after four consecutive inspections by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy. Damiano Rondelli (left, foreground) and donor Jim Perry cut the ribbon on UI Health's newly remodeled 10-bed Blood and Marrow Transplant Unit, well-known throughout the Chicago region for its excellence in patient care. P h o t o s : R o b e r ta D u p u i s D e v l i n 8 | Spr i n g 2 013 V ision lost in degenerative eye diseases such as macular degeneration could be regained, and epileptic seizures reduced, thanks to a light-sensitive molecule jointly developed by researchers at the College of Medicine and at University of California-Los Angeles. Published Oct. 2 in the journal Nature Communications, the research produced retinal cells that were chemically altered so they could take in light—a process that essentially could reverse the effects of macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss for people over 50. Principal investigator David Pepperberg, PhD, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the college and a principal investigator of the study, notes that even after retinal diseases kill the photoreceptor cells that usually David Pepperberg take in light, other cells within the retina remain healthy and could be used. "They remain physiologically capable of receiving signals," Pepperberg told the Chicago Tribune. "We asked, 'Could we make other cells responsive to light and bypass dead photoreceptor cells? Could those other cells function as neurons and become light-sensitive?' We're trying to restore vision lost in macular degeneration." Scientists at the college and UCLA discovered a method of modifying the neurotransmitter known as GABA, which in a healthy eye activates a receptor protein that signals to the nerve cells that they should take in light, Pepperberg says. "We set out with the idea to design a molecule sensitive to light, which can transition toward two possible shapes, one of which can activate the GABA receptor and the other of which cannot," he says. "Making the GABA receptors responsive to light is an important step toward the ultimate objective of being able to have the semblance of vision." The light-sensitive molecule changes its shape as it absorbs different wavelengths of light, Pepperberg says. "When the lightsensitive molecule is present and in active shape, it can bind to the receptor and help activate it," he says.