THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA UBCREPORTS January 14, 1993 %. Gavin Wilson photo All covered in snow Students on snow-covered Main Mall pass by the Ladner Clock Tower on their way to class. The blanket of snow may look pretty, but the recent cold snap is costing the university an additional $30,000 a day for heat. UBC Reports issues in 1993 with a new look and new features In this first issue of the new year, we are introducing a brand new look for UBC Reports. The redesign of our twice-monthly tabloid, developed over the past few months, is intended to make the publication more readable, more attractive and, most importantly, more informative for the UBC community. The new-look UBC Reports was developed with the help of Rob Dykstra, of Singletree Publishing, and incorporates a number of changes including: a brighter, more modern banner in university blue and black; a more reader- friendly Bookman tody type and Avant Garde headlines; front-page column rules and new column headings. Also in this issue, we are launching a new feature called Offbeat. This will be a regular column dedicated to the many interesting, unusual and sometimes humorous happenings on our campus. In a future issue, we'll introduce News Digest, a column of brief news items from around the campus. You'll also note that our regular Profile UBC REPORTS column now has its own page highlighting the people of UBC and the important contributions they make to life at the university and beyond. Twenty-two times a year, 38,000 copies of UBC Reports are distributed to the campus, the neighboring community beyond the university gates, UBC's teaching hospitals, high schools and other institutions. Our goal is not only to inform you about policy, teaching and research activities at the university, but also to provide a forum lor the exchange of ideas and opinions. With this in mind, we invite and encourage letters to the editor and contributions to Forum, a column to which members ofthe UBC community can submit opinion pieces on current, topical issues. While it is difficult to cover every aspect of such a large institution in a twice-monthly newspaper, we hope that our moves to improve and update UBC Reports will make it an even more effective publication. We welcome your comments. Spinal cord research yields clue to healing by Gavin Wilson Staff writer UBC researchers have discovered one of the reasons why spinal cord injuries do not heal — a discovery that could have major implications for spinal cord repair. The researchers have found that myelin, a natural substance in the spinal cord of all vertebrates, including humans, inhibits regeneration of neural injury. The researchers have also been able to suppress myelin production in embryonic chicks, allowing regeneration of spinal cord injuries, and opening the door for similar experiments -with adult chickens, now underway. "1 think this is one essential step towards the possibility of regeneration, although it may not be sufficient by itself." said John Steeves. a professor in the departments of Zoology and Anatomy, who conducted the research with senior PhD student Hans Keirstead. "Neural development is a complex process. Our work has helped to identify one of the factors that inhibits regeneration." he said. Steeves had earlier found that srMnal cord injuries in embryonic chicks are capable of complete repair when the injury occurs before the last third of embryonic development. Later embryonic injuries result in the same limited repair found ;:: adult injuries. What seems to regulate the ability to repair inj uries is the appearance of myelin within the spinal cord. Myelin is a fatty substance that appears relatively late in embryonic development and forms a protective sheath around the nerve fibres in the spinal cord. It performs several important functions, including the prevention of unwanted nerve fibre growth, which could explain why it inhibits the regeneration of nerve fibres after injury. The UBC researchers have been ablc to delay the development of r:*.ye!in in embryonic chicks by injecting an antibody with a serum complement protein into the spinal cord. This has extended the period for repair of injuries !."■ - ••■■er':aie in development than w:^ (H,r'|7'.isf possible. The researchers ■?■■■ success in removing invelin ir animal spinal cords n^ii.e immunological procedure-. 7! of this work are not yet puolisi The research is lurult-d i *h Research Council. i7'~ V'liin-.i and Engineering Re^catrh r-.n Network ofCpptrec r't Fx'fl!1"' ■■ Regeneration and Recovers . Health Research Foundation. Hansen Man in Motion Foundation and private donors. : 1 villi; 'I!!*; < Id! lit <