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The most high-profile biomedical research
at the University of Georgia is the cloning work of Steve Stice, one of the
world’s most accomplished and respected cloning researchers.
A part of the team which successfully cloned the first cattle
in 1997, Stice’s research at UGA focuses on agricultural
production and the possibility of treating such diseases as
Parkinson’s. In the past several years, his team of
researchers (including both graduate and undergraduate students)
has cloned a number of cows, including eight cloned from the
same donor, and KC, the first calf to be cloned from cells
removed after slaughter. The success of this process holds
promise for improving breeding stock by allowing cells to
be selected for cloning from carcasses that have already gone
through the USDA grading process. Stice has also cloned pigs.
His work has already dramatically improved the success rate
for cattle cloning from one in 11 to one in seven, but the
success rate will have to improve even further before cloning
becomes a viable option for cattle producers looking to improve
breeding stock.
UGA researchers are also involved in critical work to determine
what triggers cancer cells to spread throughout the body.
If the mechanism can be determined and a test developed for
the enzymes that signal the spread, treatment can begin sooner–
treatment aimed at preventing, rather than slowing, the spread
of cancer. Michael Pierce’s research focuses specifically
on those triggers which could alert physicians to the imminent
spread of an existing cancer.
Dave Puett, who heads UGA’s involvement in the Georgia
Cancer Coalition, is primarily concerned with molecular and
cellular biochemical endocrinology. He is studying a number
of hormones and their G protein-coupled receptors that have
important implications in reproduction, development and metabolism.
He is also involved in new drug discovery by studying the
effects of natural products, obtained from plants traditionally
used by indigenous groups for medicinal purposes, on the reproductive,
cardiovascular and pulmonary systems. In collaboration with
an oncologist from the Medical College of Georgia, Puett is
developing new markers for the early detection of cancer,
and he serves as coordinator for the University of Georgia
in the statewide cancer initiative.
UGA researchers are also studying patterns of obesity in Georgia's
children. Nearly 42 percent of a sample of Georgia fourth
graders were found to be either overweight or at risk of becoming
overweight. For students in eighth grade, the study showed
38 percent were overweight or at risk for being overweight.
For 11th graders, the percentage was nearly 36 percent. Students
were considered overweight if their body mass index was at
or above the 95th percentile for other children of their same
age and gender. Those included in the overweight and at-risk
for being overweight had BMIs that were at the 85th percentile
or higher.
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