Michigan State University - Red Cedar Log Yearbook (East Lansing, MI)

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RESEARCH The mind of MSU is a curious mind, adventurous and creative. There might have been no beet sugar industry today if it were not, and because it is, there may someday be no tooth decay, and perhaps no cancer. Though MSU has seen much new on her campus in recent years, the attitude of continuing inquiry is as old as the university herself. We are by charter and purpose a university of applied science, but the meaning of applied exists here only in its broadest possible sense. While State's Engineering Experiment Station expands existing industry and even opens entirely new commercial areas, such as it has through the development of water repellent dyes, MSU physicists explore the age of the universe and MSU com- munications experts chart the impact of major news. The entire dimension of science at Michigan State is beyond brief description. Each of the varied areas of inquiry contains many stories. A few of them are here: MUSHROOMS AND DR. LUCAS The apple a dayv experiments conducted by the late and honored Dr. E. H. Lucas, Professor of Horticulture, who succumbed to a heart attack in late January, received national publicity as he observed the effects of a daily apple ration on the health of several hundred MSU stu- dents. The test was indeed an interesting sidelight to Dr. Lucas' work, but a sidelight it was, and only a small part of his unique but fundamental approach to the problem of cancer. Tracing them through folklore, he investigated many varieties of plants with reputed medici- nal powers on the supposition that the increased cancer rates of recent years could be caused by our more highly cultivated but less potent modern plant foods. Dr. Lucas, death cut short his work before he could find conclusive evidence to support his theory, but in one case he actually discovered tumor inhibiting chemicals in several varieties of the lowly mushroom. Investigation of Dr. Lucas' theories will be continued, but this is by no mean MSU's only attack on cancer. Dr. Joseph Meites of the department of physiology and phar- macology, Dr. John C. Speck of the chemistry department and Dr. Allen S. Fox are among the many MSU scientists seeking cancer causes and possible cures. Dr. Meites, part of whose work is supported by the U.S. Public Health Service, is investigating the effect of hormones on the as yet unknown mechanism which alters the basic protein structure of healthy cells, turning them into malignant destroyers. He has so far demonstrated the unusual fact that certain hormones, notably thyroxine and hydrocortisone, can either increase or decrease the incidence of skin tumors in mice exposed to a cancer causing irritant, depending entirely on whether the hor- mone is administered before or after the irritant. Dr. Speck is exploring an approach which amounts to an outwitting of cancer. By the use of chemical com- pounds called anti-metabolites, the very appetite of cancer which destroys healthy tissue is used as a means to destroy the cancerous cells themselves. Like sleeping pills, anti- metabolites merely inhibit the activity of the body's law- abiding and temperate citizen-cells, but the criminal cancer Four pedigreed white rats take time out from an indolent life to contribute their saliva to the study of tooth decay. is greedy. It is believed that in their wild frenzy to grow, malignant cells will overdose and destroy themselves. Dr. Fox is searching for answers to the cause of cancer by investigating the affect of heredity on proteins, the building blocks of the living cell. By examining the ves- sels of heredity, the genes and chromosomes which exist in every cell, Dr. Fox hopes to find a genetic process which causes the development of the kind of proteins found in cancerous tissue. These projects are only a few of the many such on campus. In fact, 13 such programs of research are being supported by the American Cancer Society alone, while a number of others are being carried on either inde- pendently or with partial support from some other agency. 15

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.Ay 10 Sr rw 1 af sk Quan' 'st H. l Physicist William H. Kelly reads the meters which record radio- active emissions from a substance contained in the ingenious sewertron in the background.

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' Q . '55 . o 3 .3355 X o .ms .S Si ii rl 'human 1-'1lln1lin-3 A cemetery for radioactive wastes in a remote region of the cam- pus provides controlled safety in the disposal of used isotopes. 16 600 YEARS OF ACI-IING TEETH An MSU laboratory contains in residence several hun- dred unusually pampered white rats. These aristocrats of the rodent set can trace their ancestry back 30 genera- tions, a feat which would involve over 600 years of family history for a human. In return for their good life all that they are expected to do is to either have or not have tooth decay, whichever nature dictates. As it happens, how- ever, Mother Nature has been given a highly controlled assist in her choice by three MSU scientists. Like rock 'n' roll, dental decay appears to be an affliction of our times, to be borne with the temporary relief that only partially adequate measures can provide. Since 1930, however, when a student seeking a research project consulted Dr. Carl A. Hoppert, professor of chem- istry, and found himself investigating the effect of diet on tooth decay, the problem of the aching molar has been under continuous attack at Michigan State. It was not long after the 1930 beginning that Dr. Hop- pert was joined by Dr. Harrison R. Hunt, a geneticist now professor emeritus and former head of Zoology. A third scientist, Dr. Samuel Rosen, a microbiologist, com- pleted the team in 1952. Though modern dental surgery has improved immensely in the last several decades and the device of putting fluoride in drinking water has reduced tooth decay in many areas, the basic problem, that of cause, has not been solved. It is this that the trio of chemist, geneticist and microbiolo- gist has been studying. In the case of the illustrious white rats, long genetic research has shown successfully that there is an hereditary factor involved in both resistance and susceptance to den- tal decay. Other areas of investigation have involved diet, amount and content of saliva, and micro-organisms sus- pected of contributing to decay. Early in the experimentation it was found that a certain diet was more decay-producing than others. This ration, called the Hoppert-Webber-Cannifl diet, received wide- spread attention. More recent studies of micro-organisms have indicated that no one type should be considered the chief villian. The main thing, in fact, that has become clear from the research is that there is no one cause of any kind, but rather, several, some of which have been determined, some only suspected and others still unknown. The three MSU scientists assert that the elimination of dental decay is an eventual certainty. Whether this oc- curs in the near or far future, there is little doubt that the work at Michigan State will have contributed greatly to the success. THE MIGHTY MESSAGE How do you like your news? From television? Radio? The State News? Or in these troubled times would you rather simply ignore it entirely? If your choice is the last of these, you probably haven't had much luck.