PSU Magazine Summer 1990

Protein Discovery Packs Muscle A PSU researcher's study of calcium is bringing new understanding to muscle disease and cancer therapy. By Chris Normandin J onathan Abramson, professor of physics at Portland State is elated . Long years of in vestigating the role calcium plays in muscle contracti on has opened an unexpected doorway. Hi s recent di scovery of the protein that triggers the re lease of calcium in ske letal muscle wi ll mean better understanding of di seases such as muscular dystrophy. It also has ramifications fo r new research in heart disease and cancer therapy. Abramson's research foc uses on ske letal muscle contraction, spec ifica lly as it involves calcium release. Muscles contract whe n calcium is released from a specialized membrane in the musc le cell called the sarcopl asmic reticulum . When the musc le relaxes, the ca lci um is pumped back into the membrane for storage. PSU 10 "A lot is already known about how ca lcium causes mu scle to contract and how the calcium gets pumped back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum ," sa id Abramson. "We also know severa l compounds that stimul ate and inhibit the calc ium release process. "'What we haven't understood until now is what triggers the ca lcium to be re leased in the fi rst place . How does the communication go from the surface of the ce ll membrane into the spec iali zed membrane and then trigger calci um re lease?" The answer came recently as Abramson concl uded a five-year Establi shed In ves– tigator Fellowship funded by the American Heart Assoc iation. He di scovered a class of compounds that reversibl y trigger the re lease of calcium from the sarcopl asmic reticulum . As a consequence of thi s research, he was also able to identi fy the protei n which is responsible for transporting calcium across thi s membrane. "It"s like hav ing a key to a door. The protein is the lock which unlocks upon rece iving the proper message, letting the calcium out to tri gger contraction," said Abramson. The significance of thi s discovery could be immense, according to Abramson. "I believe the more we understand about the process going on in thi s membrane system , the better we can understand what happens when we have muscle that doesn't fun ction properl y, as with muscle inj ury and di sease. This can apply to heart di sease as well , because the properties of ske letal and cardiac muscle are very similar. " Abramson's search for the elusive calcium-re lease protein spans close to a dozen years and includes more than 45 published articles on the subject. And , like many scientific di scoveries, it is based on mostly hard work and a little good luck. After fi ni shing hi s undergraduate degree in science at City College of New York in 1968 , Abramson went on to complete a master's and doctorate in physics from the Uni versity of Rochester, New York . ·'[ started out in hi gh-energy accelerators, but I had a friend in physiology who was doing things that interested me more. My problem was , here I was ready for a post-doctoral fellowship , and I wanted to do it in a fi eld unrelated to my research background in physics. " By acc ident , or luck , or whatever xou want to call it, I got a few minutes of time with the cha irman of the biophys ics department at Rochester. I attempted to persuade him that I would be of value to Dr. Jo1wthan Abrahamson in his PSU /aborato1)'.