OCT. 10, 2003 | Arkansas’ dedication of nearly a third of its revenue from the nationwide tobacco settlement to scientific research makes it “one of the most enlightened states,” a California biochemist told the Arkansas Biosciences Institute Oct. 7.

The institute, which receives 28 percent of the biannual appropriations from the state’s tobacco settlement revenue, is a consortium of five research institutions, including the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). Scientists at the institutions are using tobacco funds to launch new research on tobacco-related illnesses and other promising biomedical areas. Barry Holtz, Ph.D., senior vice president of Large Scale Biology Corp. in Vacaville, Calif., praised the consortium for fostering joint research projects. “You should be very proud of yourselves,” he said. Holtz serves on the institute’s scientific advisory committee.

The other members of the ABI are Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute; the Division of Agriculture of the University of Arkansas System; the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and Arkansas State University (ASU).

In the first two years, appropriations of $18 million from the Arkansas General Assembly have enabled the scientists to obtain $33 million in external funding, which ABI director Lawrence Cornett, Ph.D., called “outstanding leveraging.”

Dr. Cornett pointed to collaboration between ABI member institutions on several projects, such as a study by researchers at UAMS and ASU of metal concentrations in over-the-counter herbal compounds.

Researchers from all of the member institutions reported their progress at a symposium in Little Rock this week. Stacie M. Jones, M.D., of the Department of Pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute, described work on potential gene therapy for people with asthma. Basic scientists in the UAMS Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy are collaborating with Dr. Jones on the project. Asthma affects 17 million Americans and is the most common disease of childhood. Exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke aggravates the disease.

Thomas Kieber-Emmons, Ph.D., described his research on vaccines that will give patients better immunity against recurrence of cancer. The biosciences institute has been “instrumental in buying the equipment we need,” he said. Dr. Kieber-Emmons is the Josetta Edwards Wilkins Chair in Breast Cancer Research in the Arkansas Cancer Research Center (ACRC) at UAMS and a professor of pathology in the UAMS College of Medicine.

Dorothy Hatsukami, Ph.D., director of the Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center at the University of Minnesota, delivered the keynote address at the symposium. She also congratulated the founders of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute, commenting that in Arkansas “tobacco settlement money [is] being put to such good use.”

Dr. Cornett introduced the institute’s Science Advisory Committee, including James J. Giovannoni, Ph.D., Cornell University; Mary Lowe Good, Ph.D., University of Arkansas at Little Rock; Rowena G. Matthews, Ph.D., University of Michigan; and Roberto Romero, M.D., Wayne State University, and the Industry Advisory Committee, including Edwin J. Anderson, Ph.D., Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc.; Ellis W. Brunton, Ph.D., Tyson Foods, Inc.; Barry Holtz, Ph.D., Large Scale Biology Corporation; K. Daniel Kennedy, Riceland Foods; and Kathy Brittain White, Ed.D., Horizon Institute of Technology.

Ralph Sanderson, Ph.D., the Drs. Mae and Anderson Nettleship Endowed Chair in Oncologic Pathology in the UAMS College of Medicine and director of basic research in ACRC, and Robyn Hannigan, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental chemistry and geochemistry at ASU, presided over the scientific presentations at the symposium.

 Links on This Page

Arkansas Biosciences Institute: http://www.arbiosciences.org/
Research: http://www.uams.edu/today/2003/082003/vaccines.htm
UAMS, UALR Announce: http://www.uams.edu/today/2003/032003/collaboration.htm

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