Page 6-Friday, August 14, 1981-The Michigan Daily
Frontier probed by 'U' geneticists

4

(Continued from Page 3)
gel), the researchers can monitor hun-
dreds of proteins spread out on floor-
tile-sized 2-D gel.
The. problem then becomes how to
analyze all these flimsy tile-like gels
which, when stained with dye, are a
mosaic of spots of similar proteins
distributed by charge and molecular
weight.
As senior University medical student
Lewis Sandy, who is temporarily
working in the lab attempting to
analyze differences between gels by
eye, said: "The only way to do a
systematic job on it is to use a com-
puter."
ENTER PART two of the research
project: automated analysis of the 2-D
gels. University Electrical and Com-
puter Engineering Prof. Stanley Ster-
nberg is the principal investigator in
this part of the operation, largely
because of his work at the Environmen-
tal Research Institute- of Michigan,
where he invented and developed the
cytocomputer.
The cytocomputer will be part of the
University's "Computer and Image
Processing Research Network" to be
completed this fall. The serial (step by
step) nature of conventional computers
seems to restrict their usefulness for
image processing, said Sternberg in his
research proposal. The parallel nature
of the cytocomputer allows it to
simultaneously act on a set of

A day's work with the gels

Once inside the Environmental
Research Institute of Michigan,
Michael Skolnick demonstrates his
recent work on part two of Prof.
James Neel's project studying
human cell mutations. Skolnick, a
University Ph.D. candidate in Com-
puter Comunications Science, is
developing the programs to monitor
and compare 2-D gels, which form
the basis for Neel's research.
Skolnick types a few instructions
on his terminal. Soon, three images
of the 2-D gels appear on the video
display screen. Each set of images
represents a section from the gel of
a mother, father and child. These
"MFC trios" are surveyed by the
computer to see if any mutation has
occurred.
A MUTATION in this case would
be a protein expressed the child but
not in either parent.

What Neel has done and is doing in
the first part of the project, is taking
blood samples from placentas to
represent the child. Then he takes
blood samples from the baby's
mother and father. Thus he has the
MFC trio.
Through the 2-D electrophoresis,
the proteins of the blood cells are
depicted on the gel. The idea is to
match the protein spots of the child
to those of the parents.
BECAUSE a mutation would af-
fect the amino acid structure,
resulting in a different electric
charge of the protein, the spot would
be in a different location on the gel.
from the original protein (location is
a function of electrical charge).
In other words, if there is a
hereditary mutation, the 2-D gel of
the child should resemble those of the
parent. If there is a mutation, then

the structure and charge have
changed, and the protein spot
.moves.
SKOLNICK AT ERIM now presses
a few more keys on the terminal.
The computer places-a cross on the
protein spot that appears in only one
of the trio. If it appears in the child it
is called an "orphan spot," and is a
candidate for mutation in the
genetic material of one of the paren-
ts.
Because an average 2-D gel con-
tains between 2,000 and 3,000 spots,
according to Skolnick, the computer
is really needed to analyze the'gels.
(During the fourth year of the
project Neel plans to study 1,000
trios.) Skolnick is currently
developing software to illustrate the
intensity of the protein spots. In this
fashion he can obtain a third fun-
ction-the amount of protein-to
bring it into 3-D.

I

{


operations. This facilitates the
processing of visual images such as the
2-D gels.
ERIM IS currently producing four
cytocomputers, one of which will soon
be delivered to the University. Until

then Neel and his team of researchers
have to drive two miles to the local
research institution (which used to be
part of the University).
The third part of Neel's extensive
research project deals with mutations
in somatic (body) cells. Human
Genetics Prof. Ernest Chu is the prin-
ciple investigator for this project,
which also involves the work of two
professors at Michigan State Univer-
sity-James Trosko and Chia-cheng
Chang, both of the Department of
Pediatrics and Human Development.
CHU EXPLAINED the aim of his
research is to take cells from donors
and grow them in tissue cultures. Then
he will use the 2-D technology to deter-
mine a somatic mutation rate to com-
pare with Neel's germinal mutation
rate from the first part of the project.
"If the mutation rate occurs one in a
million, then that will be recognized"
by the 2-D technology and the image
processing analysis, Chu said.
Rosenblum, now working in the lab,
said that once the 2-D gel manufac-
turing technique is finally perfected,
technicians will run the lab and he and
Hanash will turn to biochemical ap-
plications of the new technology. He
said he is.working with red blood cells,
and that he has already identified a few
proteins on the gels.
HANASH SAID he wants to study the
protein patterns of leukemic white
blood cells, and then monitor both those
leukemia patients who respond to the
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treatment and those who do not.
University Ph.D. candidate Michael
Skolnick said the software he is
developing for Neel's project will also
be useful for the proposed Human
Protein Index. He said he is exploring
many different techniques which he
will report at a conference at the Mayo
Clinic this fall.
The next time you
pick up your car keys and
head for the door, ask
yourself whether a phone
call could save you the
trip-and the wasted
gasoline.
For a free booklet
with more easy tips on
saving energy and money
write "Energy," Box 62,
Oak Ridge, TN 37830.
ENERGY.
We can't afford
to waste it.
Reporters that go
where the story is.
Read the Daily today!

I

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