Basic science research provides the foundation for medical advances and breakthroughs. The innovative research conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine faculty is translating to improved patient care. For example, genetic testing helps doctors determine which medication a patient should receive after a stenting procedure to prevent blood clots, based on research led by Dr. Alan Shuldiner showing an association between a gene variation and reduced benefit from clopidogrel. Hundreds of faculty members conduct research funded by NIH and others to create new treatments, such as Dr. Christopher Plowe's work to prevent drug-resistant malaria. Pharmacogenomics research led by Dr. Shuldiner is already being applied in clinical practice to guide treatment for heart patients.

1. BUILDING BLOCKS
toAdvanceMedicine
UMMS/SOM 14
2013 Annual Report
Medical breakthroughs are built upon the foundation of basic science research. What is
known today about human health and disease stems from discoveries made in research
laboratories using animal models and human and animal cell lines or by studying genes
and microbes.
The innovative research conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine
faculty is dramatically changing the care patients receive. At the University of Maryland
Medical Center, genetic testing helps doctors determine which medication a patient
should take after a stenting procedure in order to prevent blood clots that could lead
to heart attacks and strokes.
This advancement is based on research by Alan R. Shuldiner, MD, the John L.
Whitehurst Endowed Professor of Medicine, associate dean for personalized and
genomic medicine and co-director of the University of Maryland Clinical and
Translational Sciences Institute. In 2009, he led a study, published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association, showing that patients with a CYP2C19 gene variation
exhibited reduced clinical benefit from taking clopidogrel.
Hundreds of faculty members conduct research — with funding from the National
Institutes of Health and other sources — to create the building blocks of tomorrow’s
advances in patient care. For example, Christopher Plowe, MD, MPH, professor
of medicine, epidemiology and public health and microbiology and immunology, a
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and leader of the Malaria Group at the
Center for Vaccine Development, is working with a team to prevent the spread of
drug-resistant malaria.
DISCOVERY TRANSLATES TO BETTER CARE
Pharmacogenomics — how genes affect a person’s response to drugs — is a burgeoning area of
research, but only a few hospitals in the United States have applied it to clinical practice. Research led
by Dr. Shuldiner is already the basis of testing offered by cardiologist Mark Vesely, MD, assistant
professor of medicine, who cares for patients at UMMC and the Baltimore VA Medical Center. Richard
Zhao, PhD, professor of pathology, directs the Translational Genomics Laboratory at the School of
Medicine, where the genetic testing for patients is performed.
Battling influenza
Fighting infectious diseases is a key
area for basic science research.
Stefanie Vogel, PhD, professor
in the departments of Microbiology
and Immunology and Medicine, is
part of the team that found that an
experimental drug can treat influ-
enza and prevent virus-induced lung
injury and death in animal models,
even when administered days after
initial infection.
Stefanie Vogel, PhD
Richard Zhao, PhD, Alan Shuldiner, MD, and Mark Vesely, MD