By Cathleen Rineer-Garber, Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences

deCODE-ing the Genetic Mystery

Why are some people more susceptible to infectious diseases than others? Why do some people have negative reactions to vaccines, while most other people respond very well?

Scientists have pondered these questions for years. Now, through a partnership between DeCODE Genetics, Inc., a genomics research company based in Iceland, and two of New Mexico’s leading research organizations—the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and the National Center for Genome Research—the answers to these questions may finally be revealed.

With a $24 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, deCODE will lead the five-year project that will combine the unique strengths of all three organizations.

Using its population approach and unmatched genetic resources, including an Icelandic genealogical database that extends back more than 1,000 years, deCODE will conduct genome-wide scans to search for genes involved in susceptibility to tuberculosis, influenza and other bacterial infections, and will also look for adverse reaction to smallpox vaccine.

According to Rick Lyons, Associate Professor and Director of Biodefense at the UNM Health Sciences Center, who will lead UNM’s efforts in this project, studying these diseases is important because they are common infectious diseases. “In the long-term, this type of research will be particularly important to New Mexico because we have a number of emerging infectious diseases, such as hanta virus and plague in our state.

“This is an excellent opportunity for us to apply cutting-edge technology to the infectious disease problems in New Mexico, and the entire country. We can expand our program and our knowledge,” said Lyons, adding that through the grant UNM will receive new equipment to decipher protein components made by cells in the disease process.

Although a partnership between Iceland and New Mexico may seem unusual, Michael Young, Senior Vice President for Business Development at deCODE, says it makes perfect sense to him. “Although I work for an Icelandic company, I’ve lived in New Mexico for 30 years and have spent a good part of that time promoting the biotech industry here,” said Young. “over the years, I’ve learned of the outstanding capabilities that exist here and have made many contacts.” It is through these contacts, he said, that he heard about Lyons.

“It immediately became clear to me that Lyons was a world-class expert in infectious diseases,”said Young, and after meeting R. Philip Eaton, MD, executive Vice President for Health Sciences at UNM, Young knew he had come to the right place. “He (Eaton) made a huge impression on me because of his positive, open attitude,” said Young. “In my experience, universities can often be difficult to work with.”

With Lyons’ expertise and Eaton’s refreshing attitude, Young said UNM was exactly what deCODE was looking for in a partner on this project. Although deCode can provide the population-based data, they do not have the laboratory experience or the ability to handle infectious agents.

Scientists at deCODE will identify people who, based on family history and other indicators, seem more susceptible to TB and the flu. Blood samples from those people will be shipped to Lyons and his team at UNM, where they will expose the blood cells to infectious agents and record the responses.

This information will then be sent to Santa Fe, where scientists at NCGR will provide bioinformatics resources to make study information and results available to the scientific community, allowing researchers to query and visualize the results of the project via the Internet.

According to Young, deCode, UNM and NCGR came together at exactly the right time. “It was harmonic convergence,” he said. “The federal government needed work to be done and with NCGR doing the bioinformatics, UNM doing the functional validation, and deCode providing the genetics piece, we had exactly what NIAID needed.” This was confirmed when the federal agency, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, awarded the grant to deCode.

“It’s clear that the capability exists in New Mexico. The researchers are as good–if not better–than anywhere else and the open, positive attitude of UNM, NCGR and the state government is an added benefit,” said Young. “In order to properly convert technology to consumer products, we need to have commercial knowledge and academic strength. We have both here.”


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