Federal gov't funds York health sciences research on new bio-therapy for AIDS, and rehabilitation after stroke

TORONTO, October 18, 2002 -- The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) today announced funding for health research at York University on a promising new bio-therapy in the treatment of AIDS, and on rehabilitation of movement after brain injury.

York professor Katalin Hudak in the department of biology, Faculty of Pure and Applied Science, is studying the activity of an anti-viral protein (PAP) in the Pokeweed Plant at the molecular level to determine why it is becoming one of the most promising anti-viral agents in the treatment of AIDS and other human and plant viruses. York professors Richard Staines and Norman Park in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science and the Department of Psychology respectively, are among the first in Canada to combine the fields of neuropsychology and neurophysiology in a collaboration expected to have a major impact on international scientific research into brain function in patients who have suffered brain injury, particularly stroke.

Minister of Industry Canada, Allan Rock, announced the latest round of CFI New Opportunities funding to build infrastructure for new researchers at universities across Canada. York West MP Judy Sgro said the announcement is "good news for the community and Canadian research."

Prof. Richard Staines and Prof. Norman Park
Rehabilitation after Brain Injury

One of the most disabling chronic diseases and a leading cause of nervous system disability, stroke affects some 50,000 adult Canadians. Staines and Park are working with colleagues at Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care and at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Science Centre in Toronto to develop rehabilitation programs for stroke patients that improve their motor function and give them more independence. They combine their knowledge of neuropsychological testing and behavioural methods with the use of electrophysiological and brain imaging technologies to achieve a deeper understanding of the cognitive functions and sensorimotor control required to perform such daily actions as washing, dressing and meal preparation. A basic assumption of their research is that cognitive functioning in the brain is changed after stroke, such that patients learn differently, and early results suggest that new training strategies can be developed to improve the functioning of some stroke patients. Contact: Prof. Staines, ext. 33338, rstaines@yorku.ca; Prof. Park, ext. 22159, npark@yorku.ca.

Prof. Katalin Hudak
The Molecular Basis for PAP Inhibition of AIDS Virus

Katalin Hudak is studying the anti-viral protein from the Pokeweed plant (PAP), which is native to southern Canada and has proved to be the most potent anti-viral protein to date, inhibiting both plant and animal viruses, including HIV, influenza and polio virus. Unlike other ribosome-inactivating proteins in its class, PAP does not kill the host cell at effective doses, and it has low immunogenicity and limited side effects. When used to target T-cells of patients infected with HIV, researchers were surprised to discover that PAP inhibited virus replication without host cell death, in a process that has yet to be understood. PAP has since become the first targeted biotherapy against the AIDS virus, showing reduced infection and increased immune function in HIV-infected patients. The Medicines Control Council in South Africa has approved use of PAP for treatment of those who do not have access to costly drug therapies. PAP has also exhibited anti-viral activity against plant viruses in seven different virus groups, and it is expected that transformation with the PAP gene has the potential to protect plants from a range of viruses. Hudak is working to understand the activity of PAP at the molecular level, to determine how PAP targets viral RNAs, and to identify host proteins that mediate PAP's anti-viral activity. Her work is expected to contribute to the design of new anti-viral agents based on PAP, with applications in both medicine and agriculture. Contact: Prof. Katalin Hudak, 416-736-2100, ext. 33470, hudak@yorku.ca.

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