In a talk titled “Sex and the Ion Channel,” Howard Hughes investigator David Clapham, the Aldo R. Castañeda professor of cardiovascular research at HMS and Children’s Hospital Boston, suggested that his topic, the sperm-specific ion channel CatSper, might present an effective approach against the global population explosion.
Addressing the scientific and medical aspects of CatSper channels, Clapham explained that CatSper is responsible for the hyperactivation of spermatids during their voyage through the uterus to fertilize an oocyte. He said the attractiveness of contraceptives targeting these channels is that the effect of such drugs would not be decreased if taken intermittently and would provide a nonhormonal method of birth control with potentially fewer side effects.
He speculated that the alternative to more effective birth control around the world might be a future in which overpopulation results in such a depletion of Earth’s resources that most species become extinct.
A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Clapham was delivering the tenth annual Eva J. Neer Memorial Lecture at the 27th annual MD–PhD retreat, held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, from Oct. 17 to 18. Almost 100 students and faculty came together to discuss research, medicine and the life of the physician-scientist. In introducing Clapham, Stephen Blacklow, program director and HMS professor of pathology, noted that he was a particularly apt choice for the named lectureship since he knew Eva Neer personally. Clapham recalled his time as a resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital when he first met Neer, an HMS faculty member at the hospital who passed away from breast cancer in February 2000.
Senior MD–PhD students also gave talks to start the program, which attracted a bevy of challenging questions. The speakers covered a range of topics, from Benjamin Rapoport’s implantable neuronal devices to Zirui Song’s interactions between healthcare reform, economics and the social sciences; the student speakers also included Jonathan Abraham, Amma Agyemang and Sidharth Puram. The breadth and depth of research pursued by MD–PhD students was further highlighted by the traditional joint student–faculty poster session later in the afternoon.
Some of the most valuable take-aways were the personal connections forged at the retreat. For those in the program, frank discussions with older students about laboratory selection, anatomy exams and qualifying exams were enlightening and reassuring. Faculty members Anne Becker, Mel Feany, Marcia Goldberg, David Cohen and Jordan Kreidberg were also on hand to speak to students as examples of those who have successfully navigated their way as physician–scientists.
From the perspective of a first-time retreat attendee, one was struck with the realization that the MD–PhD program values the intellectual cross-fertilization that occurs when dozens of students and faculty spend a few days in an isolated lodge in New Hampshire. The relaxed atmosphere meant scientific discussions could be drawn out longer while the geographic remoteness from the Longwood Medical Area meant that attendees did not (for the most part) have classes, experiments and exams on the brain. It was a perfect environment for the intellectual collaboration, emotional support and personal connections necessary to further grow the network of students, faculty and administrators essential to the program.
Morgan Hennessy is a first-year MD–PhD student in the Division of Health Sciences and Technology
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of Harvard Medical School, its affiliated institutions or Harvard University.
