06/08/2006

S.F. Mayor and Young Global Leaders visit QB3-San Francisco

Led by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, more than two dozen members of the Forum of Young Global Leaders got a close-up view of QB3's leading-edge science yesterday on the UC San Francisco Mission Bay campus.

Newsom, a member of this international offshoot of the World Economic Forum - and one that bills its representatives as some of the "world's most exceptional leaders 40 years of age or younger" - called UCSF Mission Bay a "clustering of the best and brightest minds," and praised its promise as one of the three legs on which the future of San Francisco rests. "It's all about life sciences, biotechnology and green technology."

From their starting point at the Mission Bay Community Center, the group trekked across the Koret Quad to Byers Hall, which is headquarters for QB3 and many of UCSF's QB3 investigators. Reg Kelly, QB3 executive director, served as host for two scientific presentations that showcased the fusion of innovative biological and engineering approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. "Our charge is to make discoveries that are practical for people," Kelly explained.

Amplifying the theme of practicality, Joe DeRisi, UCSF associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics and QB3 faculty affiliate, described the impetus and relevance behind his lab's bioengineered virus chips that can simultaneously screen for the more than 22,000 known viruses. "This is advanced diagnostics because we can identify the infectious pathogens causing a disease, as well as discover new ones," DeRisi said. His chips have been used to confirm the identify of the virus responsible for SARS, as well as to discover a new virus in prostate tumors – news reported by The New York Times in February.

Joe DeRisi, professor of biochemistry and biophyics, explains his virus-detecting research to a group of Young Global Leaders, including Mayor Gavin Newsom. (Photos by Christine Jegan)

In a dramatic example of the diagnostic relevance of his viral chips, which have yet to be developed commercially, DeRisi recounted the tale of a young female patient who was near death with a mysterious respiratory infection. "We were able to identify the virus as parainfluenza 4," a diagnosis that helped save the woman's life.

Jay Keasling, professor of bioengineering and chemical engineering at UC Berkeley, and also a QB3 faculty affiliate, spoke of lifesaving discoveries, as well. In his case, the target is malaria and the goal is finding a cheap method for bioengineering the malaria-curing drug known as artemisinin, so that the tens of millions who become infected each year can afford to be treated.

"The current dose cost is $2.50. Our technique (which employs the bacterium E. coli as a genetic incubator) can reduce that to 21 cents," Keasling promised. "This is what synthetic biology is all about. We build a chemical factory inside a microbe and engineer chemical synthesis."

Keasling hopes that the first distributable versions of the synthetically engineered artemisinin will be on the global market by 2009. "We're working on it 24/7," he assured the audience.

Reg Kelly then led the group to QB3's Small Molecule Discovery Center where the center's director and QB3 faculty affiliate Jim Wells described new strategies to boost the efficiency and cut the time needed to identify promising drugs for specific targets. The group moved on to a quick look at research and clinical facilities where UCSF scientists and colleagues from General Electric are refining a new technology for clinical use at QB3 to greatly enhance the sensitivity of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, enabling clinicians to reliably identify metabolites in cancerous tumors. The advance will help precisely map the borders and most active areas of tumors to aid in diagnosis and treatment. Sarah Nelson, director of the effort and Surbeck Professor of Radiology at UCSF described the pioneering QB3 project.

Related links

Young Global Leaders website