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279  Probing Cellular Basis of Health
     Medical Tribune - 25th Anniversary  May 8, 1985

     In the last 25 years, the major concern of medical science and
the public it serves has shifted from infectious disease to a host
of killers with little understood pedigrees -- genetic and
immunological -- that are pushing researchers to the limits of their
knowledge in the search for solutions.  Today's priority health
problems such as heart disease, cancer and psychiatric illness, are
rooted deeply in the molecular and cellular structure of the human
organism, a thousand times more complex than the microbes we have
as targets in infectious disease.  Our hopes for major advances in the
control of these killers depend on broadening our knowledge in the
most fundamental biological disciplines, in particular the study of
DNA, identified as the genetic material by Rockefeller scientists
40 years ago, and proteins.  Almost everything we attempt in rational
medicine is connected with the structure and behavior of the
approximately 100,000 categories of human proteins and the myriad
genes which order their production.

     Until about 10 or 15 years ago, our methods enabled us to make
only crude guesses at the ordering of these master molecules of life.
Today, news of DNA pervades the stock market and the science sections
of the newspapers.  The news reflects the confidence and energy of
investigators who are rapidly developing new biological tools to
obtain more and more profound insights into the processes underlying
disease mechanisms.

     In the words of Lewis Thomas, "a good many of the mysteries are
beginning to look penetrable".  No prophecy can be safe: but all of
the crucial disease threats to human life are now within the reach
of fundamental molecular and cellular investigation.

     This sort of investigation is precisely the main core of the
scientific program at The Rockefeller University and its hospital.
The hospital this year marks its 75th anniversary as the nation's
first clinical research center.  More than 15 laboratories are doing
research relevant to cancer.  Their multidisciplinary effort focuses
on the biochemical and molecular functions of the cell, the influence
of heredity, and the role played by environmental factors.  One of
the most important steps forward in cancer research in the past decade
was the identification of cancer genes--oncogenes, a discovery to
which Rockefeller scientists contributed.

     Research related to heart disease is conducted in approximately
10 laboratories where scientists are studying cholesterol metabolism,
arteriosclerosis, and behavioral factors contributing to heart
disease.  They are also seeking the causes of irregular actions
of the heart and methods of treating and preventing them.

     A third of the University's 55 laboratories are at work on
problems related to the neurosciences.  As this research advances
our knowledge of the brain, scientists hope it also will yield clues
to the prevention and treatment of psychiatric disorders and diseases
of the brain and nervous system.  A current animal behavior study at
Rockefeller is revealing tantalizing insights into the mechanism of
nerve regeneration.

     Other laboratories are carrying on the University's rich
tradition in immunology, studying immune deficiency and such disorders
as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.  The science of immunogenetics
was essentially born at Rockefeller.  Research also is directed to
the effects of stress on the immune system and to the key cells of
immunity.  The structure of immunoglobulin, the central molecule of
the immune system, was first elucidated at the institution 20 years
ago.

     This far-from-complete summary of research projects related to
the major medical problems of the day attests to The Rockefeller
University's continuing commitment, extending back to its founding in
1901 as the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, to building
the base of rigorous scientific knowledge essential to practical
health advances.  As the war on infectious and parasitic diseases
has taught us, the human benefits from a scientifically informed
strategy are incalculable.

     No account of today's major challenges to medicine would be
complete without noting that one new concern is a very old one.
As Legionnaires' disease and other outbreaks warn us, we have not
seen the last of the threats to health from microbes.  Most virus
infections still defy systematic treatment.  Parasites are still
the most serious scourges in vast areas of the world.  Here, too,
Rockefeller scientists are engaged -- in the unfinished business
of bacteriology, virology, and parasitology.  One of the most
significant achievements was the development of a method for
culturing the human malaria parasite in vitro, a prerequisite to
producing a vaccine.

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