$630,000 grant given to Otago biochemist

ODT 6th April 2009

UNIVERSITY of Otago biochemist· Dr Chris Brown has gained an international grant of about $630,000 to study the hidden "postal codes" which help move key RNA molecules to their correct destination within cells.

Dr Brown recently became one of only a few New Zealanders to have gained a grant from the prestigious French-based Human Frontier Science Programme, which supports innovative research into the complex mechanisms of living organisms.

An internationally distinguished biochemist, Prof Warren Tate, also of Otago University, said the collaborative research in which Dr Brown was playing a leading role was likely to "open up a new layer" of knowledge, significantly deepening our understanding of cell biology.

"If you open up a new layer of biology, then it can affect a whole range of things," Prof Tate said in an interview.

Such deeper insights could contribute to future therapies, scientists say.

Fragile X Syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental impairment, results from a genetic disorder which adversely affects the messenger RNA system in nerve cells. Messenger RNA is a key intermediary in gene expression, and translates the DNA's genetic code into the amino acids that make up proteins.

Dr Brown, a senior lecturer in biochemistry, has been awarded an equal share of a grant worth more than US$l million, together with two other teams of international investigators, headed by a yeast geneticist, Prof Anne Spang, of the University of Basel, Switzerland, and cell biologist Prof Ian Macara, of the University of Virginia, in the United States.

Prof Tate, who is a member of the Swiss programme's Council of Scientists, said Dr Brown's success in gaining the "highly competitive" grant reflected significant international recognition of his research.

Dr Brown's specialist field of bioinformatics involved the use of com-
puter science and computer algorithms to examine large sets of biological data and to find patterns and motifs "that might have some special meaning," Prof Tate said.

Dr Brown was pleased and somewhat surprised to gain the funding from the science programme, which promoted "research at the frontier of human science, so it's got to be cutting edge for the whole world."

Living cells were highly organised, and many of their components were transported to particular places and anchored there, Dr Brown said .

In human cells, messenger RNA leaves the cell nucleus and helps guide protein-building elsewhere in the cell.

Dr Brown said that molecular postal codes hidden in messenger RNA, that specified destinations within the cell, had been deciphered for only a few RNA molecules.

"An important goal of this project is to create intelligent methods that can find these codes," he said.

• Only 4% of the 600 applicants gained funding from the programme.