December 2005

Introducing ...

A member of the RCS International Scientific Advisory Panel

When David Jackson, DC; Matthew McCoy, DC; and Robert Blanks, PhD founded Research & Clinical Science (RCS), they realized that the credibility and validity of the program would rely in great part on the quality of researchers chosen to analyze the data collected by chiropractors around the world.

They sought out a world‑class group of respected scientists with unimpeachable credentials and proven expertise in health care research. The result of their efforts was the RCS International Scientific Advisory Panel, a multi‑disciplinary group charged with overseeing the collection of, and analyzing, data compiled on hundreds of thousands of volunteers and chiropractic patients across the globe.

Each month during this special series, The Chiropractic Journal profiles one member of this prestigious panel.

Jang‑Yen (John) Wu, PhD.

Jang‑Yen (John) Wu, PhD is a distinguished senior scientist of considerable international acclaim. He is a leading authority in the fields of brain neurotransmitters, the mechanism of signal transduction, neural degeneration, nerve transmission and neurological disorders (Huntington's chorea, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease).

The scientific indexing source Current Contents lists Dr. Wu as one of the world's most frequently cited authors. He is the recipient of prestigious Chinese Neuroscience Society in America Presidential Award in Basic Research (1991), the Instituto Venezolano de Investigacion Cientifica Award (1987), the Taiwanese American Foundation Achievement Award in Science and Technology (1986) and the China Institute in America CT Loo Fellowship (1965).

After graduating with his Bachelors Degree from the National Taiwan University in 1963, Dr. moved to the United States and completed his PhD degree at the University of California San Francisco, working in the laboratory of JT Yang. He then conducted a two‑year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California Los Angeles, working with Paul Boyer who, in 1997, won the Nobel prize in Chemistry.

By the age of 30, he was heading his own research group at the City of Hope and was awarded an NIH Program Project Grant which allowed him and his colleagues to conduct some of the seminal work on the synthesizing enzyme GAD (glutamate decarboxylase) for the major brain inhibitory transmitter GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid).

After five years at the City of Hope, Dr. Wu was recruited to Baylor University, Department of Cell Biology where he earned tenure and conducted a number of very important research projects. The most important of these was his discovery that the benzodiazephine (e.g., Valium) act upon the GABA‑A receptor located on neurons in the central nervous system.

Other studies examined the brain inhibitory transmitter taurine which acts on the chloride channels of neurons. At the time that Dr. Wu began these studies it was thought that two inhibitory transmitters GABA and taurine may utilize the same synthesizing enzyme (GAD). However, he was able to show that GAD is responsible only for the synthesis of GABA, whereas under physiologic condition all taurine is synthesized by an entirely different enzyme CSAD (cysteine sulfinic acid decarboxylase). Dr. Wu and colleagues further discovered that GABA and taurine may exist in the same neuron but that the receptor for taurine is different for GABA.

His ascent on the career ladder brought him to the Department of Physiology at Pennsylvania State University (1984‑89) and then the University of Kansas where he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology from 1989‑95.

More recently he moved to Florida Altantic University, Department of Biomedical Science where, where he is currently Professor and Schmidt Senior Fellow. He continues his research and is playing a major role in assisting the development of a new medical school in association with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Wu's research on the biochemistry of neurotransmitters has been extremely well funded. He has received a career total of 7.17 million in grants from a variety of agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Office of Naval Research, American Heart Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society, State and Private agencies. His current funding comes from the NIH (Regulation of GABA Biosynthesis in the Brain", state of Florida "Development of Neuroprotective Agents" and Role of cannabinoid receptor 1 in novelty‑seeking phenotype and treatment for nicotine dependence."

In addition to maintaining a full research program, Dr. Wu has played a major role in teaching and other scholarly activities. He has taught many courses to medical and graduate students including "Brain diseases, mechanisms and therapy," "Special Topics in Biomedical Science," "Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology," "Introduction to Neurobiology," "Advanced Cell Biology," "Human Physiology," "Medical Neurobiology," and "Molecular Neuroscience."

He has trained a total of 26 graduate PhD and masters students and 14 postdoctoral fellows. He is the US editor for the Journal of Biomedical Science and serves on the editorial board of Neurochemistry International, and Newsletter on Neurochemistry.

He has been a member of many scientific review panels, study section member at the NIH and is currently an advisory member of the distinguished Academia Sinica in Taiwan and on the Scientific Review committee of the National Genomics and Proteomics Center in Taiwan.

In addition, Dr. Wu reviews for dozens of the major journals in the field (e.g., Brain Res, J Biochemistry, J Neuroscience, J Neurochemistry, J Comparative Neurology, J Cell Biology, etc.). His CV lists 124 invited lectures, seminars and symposia presentations all over the world since in the past 20 years alone, 232 full research papers in peer‑reviewed journals, 45 published books, monographs, book chapters, etc., and 216 published abstracts. He has edited three books covering the topics of neural membrane, opioids and opioid receptors, and alcoholism: mode of action and clinical perspective.

In the future, Dr. Wu would like to see his basic science research applied in a number of patient settings. Already his seminal work with taurine has had an enormous impact on the health of individuals worldwide. The inhibitory neurotransmitter taurine is critical for proper development of the visual system and other parts of the brain.

Supplementation with taurine in baby formula has now become a standard ordered by the World Health Organization, and the addition of this relatively inexpensive nutritional supplement has significantly reduced blindness in young children worldwide.

He is also very anxious to apply his studies on the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate to protect against neuronal cell death in strokes and degenerative diseases and aging. It is now well known that neuronal death can be produced by environmental and social (crowding) stressors. These result from general activation of oxidative brain pathways and the release of adrenal cortisol from activation of the HPA (hypothalamic‑pituitary‑adrenal) axis. Dr. Wu's work on the chemistry of glutamate and the neuroprotective effects of taurine, has led to a greater understanding of ways to counteract cell death with trauma, degenerative disease and stress in general.

Dr. Wu hopes that the research programs started by RCS will assist him in identifying large populations of well‑characterized individuals under care. It is hoped that a study of populations undergoing wellness care could result in a better understanding the regulation of naturally occurring neuroprotectants such as taurine. Studies show that one needs taurine in the diet to reduce neuroexcitability.

This relationship is being studied in epidemiology studies comparing the Japanese and Tibetan diets. The diets of these populations are very similar, except that the Japanese eat fish which is high in taurine. The incidence of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease in Tibet is considerably higher than in Jan suggesting a neuroprotective role for dietary sources of taurine.

Although it is still too early to design experiments, one way to study the problem in chiropractic patients is to evaluate blood levels of taurine and the balance of other neurotransmitters in patients undergoing long‑term chiropractic care. These issues will be discussed once the initial epidemiological survey has been completed.