Portland State Magazine Fall 2008

Rethinking malaria Researchers have sought a cure for malaria for more than 50 years, but still the parasite kills between one to three mil– lion people every year-mostly children and pregnant women. Some drugs have temporarily stopped the parasite, bur the one-celled critter always adapts, becoming resistant. How? A major way is an internal "pump" chat quickly learns to recognize and then eject drugs out of the malaria cell. David Peyton, professor of chemistry, has discovered a way to turn off this pump, and since a lot of infectious diseases have the same pumping mechanisms, his approach has the potential for helping rid the world of some serious scourges. Early results are stunning, but Peyton is quick to point out that more testing is needed. "We can cure malaria in mice," he says, but "between here and the goal there's a lot to go wrong." The question is, how to get this potential treatment into the hands of people who can deliver doses to che corners of che world where it's needed. With the help ofIIA, Peyton is parenting the process and establishing DesignMedix, Inc., a startup company chat will finish lab resting, then contract with appropriate partner organizations to complete the testing in animals and humans. Establishing a company allows Peyton to apply for a wider variety of grants, hire scientists, and provide a legal entity for licensing the technology to a pharmaceutical company. Peyton hopes to have the drug ready for human trials in two to four years. "The endgame," he says, "is to do something real with chis research. Something real and good." Sticking points If you've ever painted house trim, you know how important it is to prep the surface. Too smooch and your new paint won't stick. Too rough and the new paint quickly chips off Mingdi Yan does something similar-except char she's work– ing on the nano level-75 rimes smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Yan, professor of chemistry, uses a laser and light-sensitive chemical to change the surface of a material so char one thing will stick to another. This may sound ordinary, bur the range of applications for the technology is vase and exciting. For example, scientists are looking at ways to change the surface properties of implants so the body doesn't reject chem, at how to keep barnacles from growing on ships and subma– rines, and even ways to coat microchips so they can recognize biological materials. "There are so many applications," says Yan, of surface– altering research. "Ir would be a waste to nor pursue chem." Bue Yan, who helped start and run a biomedical company in the 1990s, knows chat spending hours and hours outside the lab for everything from talking with investors to dealing with vendors is not for her. Enter IIA, which helped Yan license an application to Sur– faceSolucionS , a Swiss company. Yan is helping the company find ways to make contact lenses more comfortable through changes in their surfaces. 12 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2008 Licensing helps move Yan's research from the lab to the production line. "I prefer research," says Yan. "Generating new ideas, working with graduate students, publ ishing- chat's my passion." Blueprint for learning While conducting a nine-year srudy of 1,000 Portland area high school dropouts, teve Reder, chairman ofApplied Lin– guistics, and his colleagues discovered something surprising. More than half of the dropouts were trying on their own to improve their reading, writing, or math skills. They had the desire and motivation, but lacked the know– how to reach their goal . One dropout, for instance, wanted to become a doctor, but she didn't realize she had to go to college before med school. Reder figured char if students had a simple online blueprint to help chem reach specific goals, they could apply their desire and motivation with better results. So he developed Learner Web (www.learnerweb.org) , which offers specific, self-paced learner plans. For instance, how to gee a GED or improve your reading or gee the skills for a particu– lar job. Ea.ch seep-by-seep learner plan includes links to online ·