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DEAN’S MESSAGE
Dr. Manzoor Bhat
By Francisco González-Scarano, MD
This month I will highlight the work of another recent out- FRUIT FLIES STUDIED
standing addition to our faculty: Dr. Manzoor Bhat, professor and During the mid-1990s to 2000, Dr. Bhat and his collaborators
chairman of the Department of Physiology and the Zachry Foun-
dation Distinguished Chair in Neurosciences. A major focus and worked with genes that affect the development of the peripheral
longstanding interest of Dr. Bhat has been to understand the nervous system in the fruit fly, Drosophila. Three specific genes
mechanisms of how nerve cells break down in the nervous system suspected in nervous system disorders had been identified by other
and interrupt the conduction of signals across their length, ulti- groups, but not much follow-up had been performed to fully es-
mately leading to many debilitating symptoms and diseases in- tablish their roles in nerve cell development. As we know, fruit
cluding multiple sclerosis (MS). flies have a very fast generational cycle, and they are easier for
most genetic manipulations than many other research models. Dr.
Dr. Bhat’s scientific curiosity started as a young boy, when he Bhat’s team first used immunofluorescent methods to identify the
first noticed that tadpoles lose their tails and grow legs as they de- location of the newly identified proteins in the fly nervous system
velop into frogs. His father, a veterinarian, encouraged his son’s and then targeted them for genetic mutations to determine the
exploration and loaned him the tools to dissect frogs. That cu- consequences of their loss on their development. Upon removal
riosity expanded as he grew up, and led to a career in science. He of these specific genes (knock-out mutations), they observed spe-
obtained his master’s degree in biochemistry and graduated from cific nervous system dysfunction in various stages of fly develop-
his university with a gold medal and distinction. He then gradu- ment and also in adults. These neurological dysfunctions
ated with a joint Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from the pres- resembled characteristics of MS and similar human diseases.
tigious Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and in biochemistry
from Shiga Medical University, Japan. He began his postdoctoral MS affects nearly 2.5 million people worldwide. In MS, the
training at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department immune system attacks the insulating membrane (the myelin
of Molecular and Human Genetics, at Baylor College of Medi- sheaths) of the nerve axons that carry signals for long distances.
cine, Houston; later he became a Howard Temin Fellow of the Ultimately, nerve conduction becomes severely compromised, a
National Cancer Institute. Before joining our school in 2012, he process that is currently deemed irreversible. The damaged myelin
held many positions, including professor and interim associate forms multiple scar tissues (sclerosis) in the brain, spinal cord and
chair of the Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, and optic nerves, giving the disease its name.
member of the Neuroscience Center and Carolina Institute for
Developmental Disorders at the University of North Carolina Signs and symptoms of MS patients vary widely depending on
School of Medicine. the amount and neuroanatomic location of the damage. Some
people with severe MS might eventually lose their ability to walk,
while others experience long periods of remission during which
32 San Antonio Medicine • May 2015
