Dr. Paul R. Wade, professor of zoology and physiology and of human medicine at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, has been named the 91探花School of Medicine?s 15th Science in Medicine WWAMI lecturer. He will give a presentation, “Serotonin in the Second Brain: Functions of Serotonin in the Enteric Nervous System,” in Seattle on Oct. 20.

Wade?s research suggests that serotonin, a neurotransmitter, communicates between neurons up and down the colon so that a coordinated constriction and relaxation occurs to move waste down. By altering serotonin levels in colon specimens in his lab, he and colleagues have recorded changes in the rate of motility.

Evidence that further suggests serotonin is important in the colon, Wade explains, is that patients who take Prozac — a drug that increases serotonin levels in the central nervous system — frequently experience gastrointestinal dysfunction, such as diarrhea or constipation.

In 1997, Wade moved from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City to become the founding instructor in human anatomy and embryology for the University of Wyoming’s WWAMI Program.

WWAMI is the regional medical education program of the 91探花School of Medicine. It is named for the participating states of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho.

The medical school established the Science in Medicine WWAMI Lecture in 1985 to honor a regional faculty member and provide an opportunity for the speaker to interact with colleagues in Seattle.

Dr. Susan G. Marshall, associate professor of pediatrics at the 91探花 (UW), has been named assistant dean for curriculum at the 91探花medical school. Pending 91探花Board of Regents’ approval, the appointment is effective Sept. 1.

Marshall has been an attending physician in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine at Children’s Regional Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle since 1985 and was associate director of the Cystic Fibrosis Clinical Center from 1994 to 1996. She is co-director of the 91探花medical school’s pediatric clerkships, pediatric resident advisor and a career counselor for junior and senior medical students.

Marshall’s previous research interest has been improving clinical care for patients with cystic fibrosis. In her new position, she hopes to study ways to improve teaching and learning for both faculty and students.

Her initial priorities include gaining a clear understanding of how the current medical school curriculum is working for students and faculty at the medical school’s teaching sites in the five-state region of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho — the WWAMI states.

“I look forward to the challenges of participating in the comprehensive curriculum review proposed by Dr. Paul Ramsey [ 91探花vice president of medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine] and enhancing the school’s already outstanding educational experience for our students,” said Marshall.

Faculty members and medical students participated in the decision to offer Marshall the position. She was chosen out of an extremely talented and qualified field of finalists, said Dr. D. Daniel Hunt, associate dean for academic affairs at the 91探花medical school.

Marshall began at the 91探花in 1980 with an internship in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, followed by a residency and fellowship. She joined the 91探花medical school faculty in 1985 as a clinical instructor.

Marshall received a bachelor of science degree in 1976 from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Public Health and an M.D. in 1980 from UCLA School of Medicine.

91探花 bioengineering researchers are using the latest microfabrication techniques to develop and test miniature devices that may revolutionize the way blood is analyzed in critical care situations.

These microdevices — modules, filters and optical detectors — bypass current steps in blood analysis such as centrifugation, a process that requires blood samples to be sent to labs where the lighter and heavier molecules are separated with centrifugal force.

The module researchers are testing is constructed of Pyrex, a heat- resistant glass, and silicon wafers. Molecules in blood flowing into the module are separated as they pass through an H-filter, so-called because it consist of miniature channels etched into one of the silicon wafers in the shape of the letter H. As the molecules separate, they are read by optical detectors attached to one side of the module.

“You cannot shrink a device and expect it to work the same way it did at full size. But at small sizes, new types of devices can be made that don’t function at the large scale,” said lead investigator Dr. Paul Yager, a 91探花professor in the Center for Bioengineering.

Researchers are converting these microdevices into larger instruments about the size of laptop computers that will be able to analyze blood in situations that call for immediate diagnoses.

Yager first began designing the technology with support from Senmed Medical Ventures, a Cincinnati, Ohio, medical technology company, and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Department of Defense9s central research and development organization.

The project has another grant pending with DARPA that would allow researchers to specifically look at how the devices identify chemical and biological warfare agents.

Steve Gailar, director of venture projects for Senmed, said he and his colleagues see a number of commercial applications for the technology. Indeed, on the basis of Yager9s research, they have started a new company, Micronics, through which they will continue to support the project.

“We feel the Yager work will have a significant impact on bringing these diagnostics to the patient level,” Gailar said.

Micronics expects to grow eventually into a full operating company, including manufacturing and research and development facilities, in the Seattle area.

The microdevices produce less waste and are less costly than their centrifuge counterparts in labs; they require only very small blood samples and less use of costly reagents, substances used to produce chemical reactions in blood in order to detect other substances. They are being equipped to transmit information electronically to remote clinicians and databases.

In ambulances, helicopters, hospitals and elsewhere, these microdevices would constitute portable stat labs that could aid physicians in making immediate determinations, said Yager. They could be used to identify antigens in blood that result from tumors and infections.

At the heart of the project are miniaturization techniques called microfabrication being used in the Microfabrication Lab at the Washington Technology Center, a state facility established on the 91探花campus in 1983 to foster and commercialize university research of benefit to Washington companies.

Special equipment in the Microfabrication Lab is allowing scientists to etch miniature channels of different depths into silicon wafers and bond Pyrex to silicon wafers in order to form hermetically sealed channels.

The team working on the project has grown to include researchers from the 91探花Center for Bioengineering, the departments of Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering, and the Department of Laboratory Medicine in the School of Medicine.