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The University of Vermont Department of Medicine, College of Medicine Given Medical Building, Burlington, Vermont 05405-0068 July 8, 1997 Mrs. Florence Bassett Apt. 801 1 Grand Isle Drive Coco nut Grove, FL 33133 Dear Mrs. Bassett, It has been some time since I last wrote to you about progress in our immunology research. Much of our success has resulted directly from your kind gift of the flow cytometry facility and I wanted to update you on recent developments. Our work in Lyme arthritis has recently become quite exciting. As is often the case in research, we serendipitously came upon a mechanism that regulates inflammation in joints which we feel will be central not only to Lyme arthritis, but to rheumatoid arthritis as well. This involves an unusual type of white blood cell known as a gamma delta T cell. These cells accumulate to high numbers in inflamed joints and express on their surface a trigger that can induce the death of other inflammatory cells in the joint. It's works by a type of cell suicide through a molecule we call Fas. It would appear that without these gamma delta cells the inflammation in Lyme arthritis would be worse. I'm enclosing an article we recently published that describes this work. Yes, it is dry and technical as scientific writing tends to be, but I hope the sense of excitement comes through. Naturally, we are now trying to figure out what makes these gamma delta T cells tick, and how we might harness their benefit in a more therapeutic manner. This is but one example of the progress being made in immunology at The University of Vermont. We have expanded our research efforts in the past year by hiring two new immunology faculty who make extensive use of the flow cytometry facility. One of these individuals is studying the signals that drive the development of T lymphocytes and the hormones that they produce, while the other has interests similar to mine in cell death, in this case of cancer cells. I would like to stress that both of these recruits, and others that are ongoing, would never have been successful without the flow cytometry facility. It is currently used by about 20 laboratories and is extremely busy. There is always a crowd in there. In fact, we will likely be looking for a second machine within the year. So yours has been the classical gift that keeps on giving, and I remain continually grateful for all that you make possible. You have a tremendous impact on the research mission of this University and I want you to know how wide your generosity is felt. Sincerely yours, Ralph C. Budd Ralph C. Budd, M.D. Professor of Medicine Director, Immunobiology Program Given Medical Building C-303 Phone: 802-656-2286 Fax: 802-656-3854 e-mail: rbudd@pop.uvm.edu [[right margin]] very nice of him to write RB [[/right margin]]
