NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: A photo of Xiaolian Gao is
available on the Web at http://www.uh.edu/media/nr/2006
/04april/ 041106xgaophoto.html.
DNA SEQUENCING CONTRIBUTES TO SEQUENCE
OF HONORS FOR UH
Xiaolian Gao Third Professor Honored by Association for Women
in Computing
HOUSTON, April 13, 2006 – Houstonians may not be able to
count on this season’s hurricane forecast, but for the last
three years they have been able to find a University of Houston
professor on the list of Houston’s top women in technology.
For three consecutive years, UH professors have received Houston
Leadership in Technology Awards from the Houston chapter of the
Association for Women in Computing (AWC). This year, Xiaolian Gao,
a UH biology and biochemistry professor and adjunct professor in
chemistry and biomedical engineering, is among the 24 honorees for
her DNA chip research.
Gao was selected based on her leadership roles in Houston’s
technology and computing arenas, as well as her significant career
accomplishments. Her dedication to DNA technology development produced
successful results in her collaboration with researchers at Harvard
University, the University of Michigan and Atactic Technologies,
a Houston biotechnology company, on how to mass produce multiple
genes on a single DNA chip. The results were published in the science
journal Nature in late 2004, yielding interviews with The New York
Times and Newsweek as an expert and innovator in synthetic biology,
and no doubt contributed to her being selected for this most recent
honor from the AWC. See related release at http://www.uh.edu/admin/media/nr/2004/12dec/122204synbio.htm.
This developing technology by Gao and her associates has the potential
to significantly reduce the economic barrier to make complete functioning
organisms that can produce energy, neutralize toxins and make drugs
and artificial genes. These organisms may eventually be used in
alternative energy sources, natural product synthesis and discovery
of novel protein therapeutic molecules, as well as in gene therapy
procedures to treat genetic disorders, such as Parkinson’s
and diabetes, that could yield profound benefits for human health
and quality of life.
“Synthetic genes are like a box of Lego building blocks,”
Gao said. “Their organization is very complex, even in simple
organisms. By making programmed synthesis of genes economical, we
can provide more efficient tools to aid the efforts of researchers
to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate biological
systems. There are many potential biochemical and biomedical applications.”
Using current methods, programmed synthesis of a typical gene cluster
costs thousands of dollars. The system developed by Gao and her
partners employs digital chemistry technology similar to that used
in making computer chips and thereby reduces cost and time factors
drastically. Her group estimates that the new technology will be
about one hundred times more cost- and time-efficient than current
technologies.
This research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency, which is the central research and development organization
for the Department of Defense. Gao’s continued effort in taking
this technology to the next level is now funded by the National
Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
“The technology developed by Dr. Gao and her collaborators
has the potential to make research that many of us could only dream
about both plausible and cost effective,” said Stuart Dryer,
chair of the department of biology and biochemistry at UH. “In
my own research on neurological diseases, we’ve often wished
we could rapidly synthesize many variations of large naturally occurring
genes. The costs of current technology have prevented us from doing
this, but Dr. Gao’s research will break down that barrier.”
Gao will receive her AWC-Houston Leadership in Technology Award
during the annual gala Saturday, June 10 at the Inter-Continental
Houston Hotel. Prior UH award winners were Suncica Canic, a mathematics
professor, and Susan Hardin, an adjunct professor of biology and
biochemistry, who brought home this honor for UH in 2005 and 2004,
respectively. Gao has been with UH since 1992.
For a full list of the 2006 AWC honorees, visit http://awchouston.org/features/onthemove/2006-honorees/.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research
and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers
and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate,
civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university
in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and
service with more than 35,000 students.
About the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
The UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, with nearly
400 faculty members and approximately 4,000 students, offers bachelors,
masters and doctoral degrees in the natural sciences, computational
sciences and mathematics. Faculty members in the departments of
biology and biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, geosciences,
mathematics and physics have internationally recognized collaborative
research programs in association with UH interdisciplinary research
centers, Texas Medical Center institutions and national laboratories.
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at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.
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