Several members of the Department of Pediatrics spoke to the Explorers Post on August 27th, 2007.
Dr. George Lister, Chairman of the Pediatrics Department at UT Southwestern gave us an overview of pediatrics and research in the department. Dr. Scott Cameron, assistant professor of Pediatrics told us about his research on round worms called C. elegans. He studies genes that control programmed cell death and cell development. This is related to childhood leukemia.  Dr. James Amatruda, also an assistant professor of Pediatrics does his research on zebra fish. This research is also focused on trying to understand the causes of cancer and to develop better treatments. The last speaker was Dr. Matt Porteus, another assistant professor of Pediatrics. He told us about sickle-cell anemia, a genetic disease common in African-Americans, and the use of gene therapy to correct the genetic
abnormality. It was a very stimulating session and provided a good overview of Pediatric research.