The research is now moving in the direction of identifying specific genetic and molecular differences between the MRL and other mouse strains. Such differences may ultimately lead to the identification of candidate drug compounds for improved healing in a broad array of injuries and disease.

In addition to first author Leferovich and senior author Heber-Katz, the other Wistar authors on the study are Khamilia Bedelbaeva, Stefan Samulewicz, and Xiang-Ming Zhang. Authors Donna Zwas, M.D., and Edward B. Lankford, M.D., Ph.D., with the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, performed the functional studies.

The research has been generously funded from its inception by the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation, a private foundation based in Mount Kisco, NY. Recently, the work has also received substantial funding from the F.M. Kirby Foundation in Morristown, NJ, and the National Institutes of Health.

The Wistar Institute is an independent nonprofit research institution dedicated to discovering the causes and cures for major diseases, including cancer and AIDS. The Institute is a National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center - one of the nation's first, funded continuously since 1968, and one of only 10 focused on basic research. Founded in 1892, Wistar was the first independent institution devoted to medical research and training in the nation. Since the Institute's inception, Wistar scientists have helped to improve world health through the development of vaccines against rabies, rubella, rotavirus, and cytomegalovirus and the identification of genes associated with breast, lung, prostate and other cancers.

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Contact: Franklin Hoke
hoke@wistar.upenn.edu
215-898-3716
The Wistar Institute
6-Aug-2001