Medical biotechnology is one of several research areas where various groups of University of Malta academics, working with postgraduate students, are currently producing interesting results. The opening of the new Mater Dei hospital should provide a further impetus towards the establishment of a centre of excellence in medical biotechnological research.
Though invariably locally underfunded, these researchers have, through their international network, succeeded in attracting funding, especially from the EU. In fact, the University is currently involved in about 70 research projects receiving around €6.75 million in funds.
The Maltese population is characterised by number of genetic founder effects, a localised and 'captive' population, and a centralised health system. The presence of genetic founder effects in a population results in a small number of genes/mutations being responsible for disorders such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, coeliac disease, osteoporosis, arthritis, etc.
These characteristics have led to heightened interest to study genetics and cellular mechanisms of the Maltese population, and research projects related to medical biotechnology. These may be categorised under four headings: haemoglobin and immunity-related disorders, tumours and stem cell research, neurological disorders and pharmacogenomics.
Haemoglobin is the red blood pigment needed to transport oxygen in the blood. The relatively high number of thalassaemia carriers in Malta presented an ideal basis to use the study of haemoglobin as a model for the study of other genetic disorders, as well as a basis to train students.
From these humble beginnings, the research has grown and is now directed towards the identification of globin gene control that could offer hope for the pharmacological treatment of haemoglobin disorders Inflammatory mechanisms are partly responsible for the coeliac condition, osteoporosis and ischaemic heart disease. The University is actively studying these three conditions and novel genes have been identified that could lead to the discovery of important molecular pathways. In addition, this research can contribute to the early detection of these conditions and thus to the prevention of complications.
Immortality is a characteristic of malignant tumour cells. This characteristic enables these cells to continually grow and spread. By contrast, degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are characterised by excessive 'programmed cell death' or aptoptosis. The study of this phenomenon can result in potential therapeutic interventions in malignancy (inducing aptoptosis) or in degenerative disorders (halting aptoptosis). The University's research is directed towards inducing aptoptosis and identifying biomarkers to help in the early identification of tumour masses.
A related project is studying the possibilities of expanding the numbers of adult stem cells that can be harvested from blood and various tissues. The use of adult stem cells to treat degenerative disorders, in contrast to the highly controversial use of embryonic stem cells, should be ethically acceptable.
In an aging population, degenerative neurological disorders are becoming a major public health issue. A common finding in these disorders is abnormal proteins within the central (brain) nervous tissues. One of the University's research projects is studying these abnormal proteins, including prions which cause Mad Cow Disease.
Another major area of interest is the brain damage that occurs following hypoxic-ischaemic injury, basically due to lack of oxygen and blood to the brain.
An individual's genetic make-up plays an important role on the effectiveness or adverse side-effects of drugs. In some cases, a drug's therapeutic level - the level of the drug in the blood needed to produce the desired effect - is very near its toxic level, so it is very important to monitoring their level. Anti-epileptic medicinals are typical examples of such drugs. The University is actively developing novel methods to determine such levels of drugs in blood, as well as newer approaches to epilepsy care.
Concurrent research at University is also focusing on the pharmocogenetics of drugs used to treat asthma. Data generated by this research will help develop genetic tests to predict how a specific medicine will act on a particular patient.
Dr Scerri is a researcher at the University's Molecular Genetics laboratory.