Brian Sauer, Ph.D., one of the world’s leaders in genetic engineering, has recently been appointed to head the newly-instituted Developmental Biology Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, announced J. Donald Capra, M.D., president. The first new research program at OMRF in a decade, this program had been funded in part by a $3 million grant from the Noble Foundation of Ardmore earlier this year.
Sauer comes to OMRF from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he was Senior Staff Fellow in the Biochemistry and Metabolism Laboratory of the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Disease. This particular NIH lab is recognized worldwide for the eminence of its scientists, producing numerous Nobel Prize winners and members of the National Academy of Science.
Sauer is establishing an innovative program and core facility for the production of genetically engineered (transgenic) mice. Considered by the scientific community as fundamental to current biomedical research, mice are “living test tubes” that can help scientists understand the mysteries of cancer development, genetic disorders, drug addiction, immune dysfunction and heart disease.
“Mice are genetically very similar to humans and are ideal as a model for studying human disease,” said Sauer. “Most basic research involves the observation of how things function normally, such as the workings of the nervous system or the way a cell divides. Once the normal function of a system or organism is known, scientists begin to study alterations in the process, which result in diseases or disorders.”
Sauer discovered the general method used today to introduce deletions into specific genes in specific organs. His research centers on the study of DNA recombination and how this knowledge can be applied for a more precise redesign of the mouse genome.
“We are indeed extremely fortunate to have recruited Dr. Sauer to OMRF,” said Capra. “He is eminently well known in the scientific community both here and abroad for his work in genetics. Scientists at OMRF as well as at other Oklahoma research institutions will benefit from his pioneering approaches to genetic engineering.”
Sauer said he came to OMRF because of the reputation of its scientists. “There is a powerhouse here at OMRF that is now being recognized by the scientific community at large. Developing this new program is tremendously exciting, and now is absolutely the right time to do it.”
After completing his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University, Sauer went to the National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research Center in Maryland to conduct basic biomedical research. In the early 1980s, however, as the biotechnology industry began to develop, Sauer was recruited, along with other of the nation’s most talented scientists, to DuPont and, later, to DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Co. DuPont gave him the freedom and opportunity to do research in any area he chose.
“At that time it was set up, like Bell Laboratories, for scientists to do breakthrough research, with no requirement for immediate commercial application,” said Sauer. “It was high risk, yet paid off very well. By 1989, the basic principles of what we’re doing now in genetic engineering were established. We have been fine-tuning the ability to manipulate genes in the last 10 years and adapting this knowledge to mouse engineering.”
Mouse genetics is “a powerful technology that will also significantly influence and benefit Oklahoma’s fledgling biotechnology industry,” said Capra. “OMRF is making a major commitment to Dr. Sauer and the new Developmental Biology Research Program.”
Sauer received his B.S. degree from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He held both a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Fellowship at Stanford University.
He is a member of the American Society for the Advancement of Science, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Genetics Society of America. On the editorial Board of the science journal, Analytical Biochemistry, Sauer also serves as ad hoc reviewer for numerous other scientific journals and granting agencies, and is an invited lecturer at conferences and meetings throughout the world.
