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Researcher probes secret of cell proliferation, using yeast as model

In his enthusiasm for basic science, he's a researcher's researcher. As a student, Dr. Gerry Johnston was fascinated by how cells behave, and was impressed by the elegance of genetic analysis to investigate cell function.

Two decades later, Dr. Johnston, now Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie University, is still studying cells -- and elated by recent progress in his field. "There's just so much going on in cell biology it's remarkable," he says. "The stuff we routinely do in the lab now wouldn't even have been believable science fiction when I was an undergraduate."

Dr. Johnston and his longtime collaborator Dr. Richard Singer are trying to understand the basic machinery that controls cell proliferation. "It's fundamental research," says Dr. Johnston, "but it has obvious relevance, because cancer is a disease characterized by altered or aberrant regulation of cell proliferation.

To study cell machinery, Dr. Johnston and his colleagues have turned to the humble yeast cell. "Yeast is the 'go cart' of the cellular world," he says. "It has all the machinery it needs to do the job, but doesn't have the complexity that can be distracting in animal or human cells."

Yeast cells may be simple, but their basic machinery closely resembles that of more complex cells.

"One of the most exciting developments over the last decade has been the recognition that cells are essentially the same," says Dr. Johnston. "The machinery that drives all cells is highly conserved. As a result, studying a simple system like yeast - where we have all sorts of genetic and molecular tools - gives us a lot of insight into more complex cells, including human cells.

"On several occasions, we've isolated a mutant because it has an interesting effect on the cell. Then we've figured out which gene has mutated and the protein involved -- and by golly, the same gene from a human or mammalian source, put into a yeast cell, works just fine. It replaces the lost function of the yeast gene.

"I find that so amazing. It really give us the sense that the picture we're building at the molecular level has something to say about how human cells work. We may get there faster than we realize. We're moving very fast."

In his private life, Dr. Johnston takes time off from yeast cells to enjoy another favorite creature -- the horse. A keen rider, he also plays drums in a jazz band for relaxation.