Intercom

Volume2/1988_August03UNIVERSITY OF UTAH HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER New Radiobiology Facility Marks Transition in Research It's a time of new beginnings for the University of Utah School of Medicine's radiobiology division, internationally known for its expertise in bone biology as well as basic radiation cancer research. The division has moved into a new building and also is marking a transition from whole- animal cancer studies to molecular- cellular cancer research, according to Scott C. Miller, Ph.D., associate director of the division. The division's original building, adjoining the Animal Resources Center, has been remodeled and a new laboratory building, a large animal research facility, has been built during the past year. Of the $2.5 million cost for the 24,000- square-foot project, $1.25 million was allocated from the Eccles Human Genetics Research Building Scott C. Miller, Ph.D., Beth Bowman and Louis St. George, Ph.D., Funds since the new genetics building at work in the bone cell biology laboratory in the new radiobiology facilities. (continued on back) Employee Craft Fair Slated for December Now is the time to sharpen the knitting needles, start stuffing the teddy bears, painting dolls, carving wood, designing jewelry or whatever else will showcase your talents. University Hospital's Patient/Customer Service Department is coordinating an Employee Holiday Craft Fair slated December 1-2 in the Wasatch Spectrum cafeteria. The fair will give Health Sciences Center employees a chance to buy handcrafted gift items in time for the holiday season. Employees and members of their immediate families (as defined for benefits purposes) can reserve booth space in the fair. Booth space will be limited. Individuals applying for booth space in the fair will be expected to donate 15 percent of gross sales and one craft item. The donated items will be used as door prizes for those who make purchases at the craft fair. Proceeds from the booth participants will be donated by University Hospital to the Utah Hospital Association's fund-raising drive for Mali, Africa. The UHA is raising money to complete a clinic in the drought- stricken country. All Utah hospitals are contributing to the project. The employee holiday craft fair is being organized by a committee including: Susan Herodes and Sharon Murphy, x 7660; Jo Kriynovich, x 2867; Paula Nafus, x 3879; Abe Bakhsheshy, x 2200; Evelyn Donston, x 7387; Cheryl Henson, x 2253; Kathy Solomon, x 2579; Jeanne Thornton, x 2826; Leroy Schuring and Delores Shaum, x 2283. If you want to reserve booth space, contact Patient/Customer Services at x 7660. Clinical Library Now Offering Online Request Service Physicians and other clinical staff who use the Hospital's Hope Fox Eccles Clinical Library can now request information without having to go to the library. The new service allows Health Sciences Center staff to use the HELP system, University Hospital's patient information system, to request a patient-related MEDLINE search from the clinical library. University President Chase N. Peterson will meet with staff at 3 p. m. Thursday in Skaggs Hall Auditorium. This is the second of five meetings scheduled to provide staff with an opportunity to discuss issues of concern with Peterson. Tomorrow's meeting is one of two The option, ELEC CLIN MED LIB INFO REQUEST ( E- CML), is available on the nursing menus of the HELP system and allows staff members to electronically ask the library to conduct a search of the MEDLINE database. The request prints out in the clinical library, where a librarian will fill the request and attach the article or printout to the patient's chart. scheduled at the Health Sciences Center to accommodate schedules of Hospital staff. Another meeting will be held at 7: 30 a. m. on Friday, August 19, in Browning Auditorium in the Wintrobe Building. Health Sciences Center staff are encouraged to attend the meetings. According to Kay McCloskey, clinical librarian, the new service is a " prescription for information" like any other patient care request made by a professional. Requests for information can be sent to the library 24 hours a day. Although the library is closed from midnight to 6 a. m., the request will still be received and filled by library staff when the library opens. " This is an electronic form of clinical medical librarian programs offered at other hospitals," explained Ms. McCloskey. Such programs assign a professional clinical librarian to attend rounds with physicians and other health- care professionals in order to determine information needs with regard to patient care. " Our program simply makes its easier for the practitioner who may have a hard time breaking away to get to the library," she said. " For more information on the program, call x 4685 or x 4686 or visit the library on the fourth floor of University Hospital. President's Staff Meeting Set for 3 p. m. Thursday in Skaggs Hall Auditorium Radiobiology Division Moves to New Facility ( continued from front) will occupy the old radiobiology division site. The remaining $ 1.25 million was University money in reimbursed overhead funds designated to promote additional research. Razing the old division quarters recendy was completed with the removal of a 240- ton steel chamber which was used to measure contamination of persons exposed to radioactive materials. The human whole- body counter will be reassembled at the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory, a plutonium production facility at Hanford, Washington, where it will be equipped with state- of- the- art radioactive counting equipment and will be available to U researchers on request. The radiobiology division's prominence in bone research is responsible for several current grants, Dr. Miller said. A study of the risk to humans who have been exposed to plutonium, strontium and radium- by- products of nuclear testing or nuclear power stations- is being funded by the Department of Energy. " Radioactive materials associated with nuclear technologies are attracted to the bone, and our emphasis in this research will continue. We're trying to learn how such radioactive elements cause cancer and whether the disease can be prevented," he added. Other studies include one funded by the National Cancer Institute for research and development of drugs to treat poisoning caused by radioactive materials; an investigation into bone loss due to weighdessness, conducted for the National Aeronautics Space Administration ( NASA); and a study of calcium in dairy products and its effect on bone, funded by the National Dairy Councd. The division has two grants from the National Institutes of Health- one to understand the endocrine basis of bone metabolism during pregnancy and lactation, and the second to study new approaches for the treatment of bone loss diseases such as osteoporosis. The radiobiology division, through its thermoluminescence laboratory, also has been involved in the measure-ment of fallout radioation from the Nevada Atomic Test Site near Las Vegas and expects to release its final report soon on fallout in Southern Utah. The new facility has five major laboratory modules and includes a room equipped to measure radioactivity in rodents. Several specialized instrument centers are included in the building. The flow cytometry center provides fluorescence- activated cell analysis, allowing scientists to look at markers on tumor cells. Cellular and sub-cellular structure studies are conducted with electron microscopy and the histo-morphomctry and image analysis center enables researchers to use computers to measure microscopic images. INTERCOM is published weekly for the Health Sciences Center by the Office of Community Relations, room 2753, x 7387