vitalresearch
A Final Calling
When Taihung “Peter” Duong, Ph.D., set out to create a brain tissue bank at the IU School of Medicine – Terre Haute in 1992 to support his Alzheimer’s research, he never anticipated his quest leading him to a group of women with an entirely different calling.
Since the tissue bank’s inception, 80 of the 124 tissue donations have come from the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College. The Sisters of Providence are "a congregation of Roman Catholic women religious (sic)"1 founded in 1840 near Terre Haute by Saint Mother Theodore Guerin. Self-described as “innovative visionaries and resourceful risk-takers,” Duong says they certainly live up to that.
“They know about science and advances in medical care. They understand the need for medical research, and they understand the human brain is the obvious resource for studying brain diseases,” said Duong.
Starting a Brain Tissue Bank
Duong, director of Indiana University School of Medicine - Terre Haute and an associate professor of anatomy and cell biology, has studied the mechanisms of brain aging and associated disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease for years. When he joined the IUSM faculty in 1991, he immediately set out to create a brain tissue bank to support his research of brain proteins, which relies on the rapid harvest and freezing of tissue samples.
As word of the brain bank project spread through the Terre Haute community, the Sisters contacted Duong to learn more. He says he was excited about the possibility of collecting brain tissue from such a special population.
“The Sisters are very well educated; most of them are teachers,” Duong explained. “They lead a very simple life and don’t have a lot of the lifestyle variables that can affect the brain – such as alcoholism, drug use and sexually transmitted diseases.
“The average age of people who donate brain tissue is in the 70s, but the Sisters tend to live very long lives. They are bright, active and strong community leaders. It’s a privilege to study aged brains of people who remained so dynamic.”
He continues, laughing, “A Sister of Providence at 92 can still tell you what to do!”
A Provident Partnership
Sister Rosemary Borntrager, 75, is a typical Sister of Providence: she holds three degrees, including two master’s, and was an educator for most of her career. She has been with the Order for 57 years – 14 of them at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods. Sister Borntrager was present for Duong’s presentation about the brain bank project.
Duong admits to having misgivings about meeting with the Sisters initially because he thought they might have concerns about desecration of the body. Instead, he found the group to be very progressive and eager to help.
“His presentation was quite comprehensive,” Sister Borntrager recalled. “There was no doubt in our minds about what would happen, what the purpose was and what the benefits of the research would be. We are encouraged to do whatever we can to help, so I looked at it as one last way in which I could serve. It seemed the right thing to do to benefit others eventually.”
The Sisters told Duong they would let him know of their final decision. Their answer arrived soon after in his campus mailbox in the form of a binder containing alphabetized completed consent forms along with clinical records and medical histories.
“It is so nice to have all this medical information readily available,” Duong said. “With a donation from the community at large, it takes a lot of digging to get the type of records that the Sisters have ready for me. They are so organized; I wish the Sisters could work in my lab!”
Tissue Samples at Work
When Duong is working in his lab, which is less often now because of his administrative duties, he focuses mainly on proteins. His most recent work centered on proteins called neuropentraxins and lead Duong to the same conclusions as other researchers: brains with Alzheimer’s disease put up a fight once they become compromised. When a diseased brain loses function in one area, it may try to regain it in another.
Duong realizes his singular efforts won’t produce huge breakthroughs alone. That’s why he shares samples of brain tissue with other researchers around the world – including those in his own institute, like Bernardino Ghetti, M.D., Ph.D, who directs the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center at IUSM in Indianapolis.
But Duong says there is more to learn about brain health from the Sisters of Providence than can be found in tissue samples.
“I look at the Sisters who are in their nineties and very active, and I realize they are doing something right. They are living a very healthy life. They don’t smoke or drink. They eat balanced diets. They meditate. We should be able to live like the Sisters.”
Dr. Taihung “Peter” Duong has an unlikely partnership with Sister Rosemary Borntrager and other nuns from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Terre Haute, Ind.
Dr. Duong in his brain research lab at IUSM – Terre Haute.
