Heidi Gerr

Home Institution
Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

Host Institution(s)
University of Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section Hematology/ Oncology
Research Mentor: Prof. Janet Rowley, M.D., Ph.D.

E-Mail:
 heidig1@gmx.de

Research Topic
see Abstract
Personal Reactions to the U.S. Experience
It is difficult to find the right words to describe my exceptional experiences here. I am very lucky to work at an outstanding institution like the University of Chicago under the guidance of Dr. Rowley, who is as great a person as she is a researcher. Coming here gave me the possibility not only to learn new techniques and to widen my scientific and medical knowledge, but also to make a big personal progress. Chicago is one of the best cities I can imagine to live in. Every new day is exciting and with its huge selection of theatres, concerts, operas and clubs you have endless possibilities for your free time. This, and the fact that I found really good friends here, made me see Chicago as my second home. To sum up, I can definitely say that applying for the BMEP and coming to Chicago was the best and maybe most important decision of my life.
Greatest Difficulties Encountered
Finding out how and where to get my visa (that changed almost every day), then hearing three days before my departure from Germany that it might be invalid and that only the immigration officer at the Chicago airport could finally decide about that (and might send me back immediately). In the end I didn't have any problems, but the flight to Chicago was not really relaxing.
Getting my university and hospital ID and my social security number - I would have never believed that there is a country with a more complicated bureaucracy than Germany!
Still having the courage to walk to work in the morning after the radio foretold -40°C.
Most humorous incident
One morning I got up and found a huge pumpkin in front of my room door. First I thought of a joke, as there was a big Halloween party in the dorm the night before, but as I picked it up I saw that there was a love letter on the back written with a silver glittering pen asking me for a date the next weekend. The next time I saw the sender I hid in the freezer room…

Helpful Hints for Future Students

  • Try to get your DS 2019 as soon as possible! Contact the International Office of your host university to find out what kind of documents they need from and you then tell your US mentor how important this is for your visa, so that they can accelerate the process.
  • If you want to get a cell phone, try a Go Phone from ATT Wireless. There is no one-year contract and you don't need a credit history. (Note from Laurie: ATT Wireless has recently been bought by another company, so you might have to find another source for this type of cell phone.)
  • Open an account at Citibank while you are still in Germany.
  • If you work in a lab in Chicago (which I can only recommend) contact me and I can tell you the best places, bars and clubs to go!

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Abstract on Research Topic

Cytogenetic and molecular study of the gene PRDX4 in a t (X; 18)(p22; q23) translocation

Authors:
Heidi Gerr, Janet D. Rowley
Institution:
University of Chicago, Department of Medicine, Section Hematology/Oncology
Background:
Chromosome translocations have been found to play a major role in the cause and development of various types of cancers,especially leukemia.
One very important gene that is often disrupted by translocations in leukemia is AML1 on 21q22. More than 10 of these translocations have been cloned, most recently a translocation involving the gene PRDX4 on Xp22 in a leukemia patient.
The gene PRDX4 is a member of the peroxiredoxin gene family. All peroxiredoxin genes are ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotes and exhibit a peroxidase activity to reduce peroxides. They are also implicated in cellular functions such as cellular proliferation and differentiation, furthermore PRDX4 was found to play an essential role in tumor suppression.
Purpose and Methods:
To find out if this gene is also involved in other translocations 12 patients with Xp22 abnormalities were screened with the FISH technique (Fluorescence in situ hybridization) using a BAC probe covering the PRDX4 gene. Further BAC probes are used to identify the translocation breakpoints and partner genes. Different molecular techniques such as RT-PCR, RACE PCR and Sequencing are performed to clone and identify the fusion product of these translocations.

Results:
For 1 of these patients, showing a t (X; 18)(p22; q23) translocations in the cytogenetic analysis, a split FISH signal could be found implicating that PRDX4 is involved in this translocation. To localize the translocation breakpoint and the partner gene on chromosome 18 a 22Mb big area on this chromosome was investigated with 11 BAC clones successively and the breakpoint could be narrowed to a 800kB area. Further FISH experiments and the molecular investigations are still in progress, so that final results cannot be provided yet.

More patients with Xp22 aberrations will be investigated to find further translocations involving the PRDX4 gene.