SECOND GENERATION DRIVES THE ENGINE in Cardiovascular Research Institute
Jan Kajstura, Ph.D., and Annarosa Leri, M.D., carry out the directives of Piero Anversa, M.D. Clinical trials are in the offing to test his revolutionary theory that the heart can heal itself.
By Marjorie Roberts
 |
Jan Kajstura, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine, has assisted Piero Anversa, M.D., since 1992, longer than anyone in the three laboratories that constitute the Cardiovascular Research Institute. The Polish-born cell biologist has already "identified some mechanisms responsible for the malfunction of stem cells in the aging heart." His NIH grant focuses on the diabetic heart. |
"What's happening in my lab is a miracle. I would be dead without Jan and Annarosa. Because of them I've been able to introduce several new approaches for the study of the heart. Now they have their own laboratories. Do you think I can walk into their labs? They would throw me out!"
Here is their side of the story.
Working with a genius isn't easy. Piero Anversa, M.D., has been known to lose his temper and the intensity is sometimes difficult to bear. But in spite of their training in cell and molecular biology, which is the vehicle today that moves research forward, Drs. Leri and Kajstura know very well who is teaching whom. And with such fierce loyalty they would- n't have it any other way.
Dr. Kajstura came first, arriving with his wife and children in 1992. "I was sick and tired of what was going on in science in Poland," he begins. "I was looking for anything in the States when a friend of mine told me about Dr. Anversa's work. I didn't even know where Valhalla was."
Born in Pszczyna, Poland, Dr. Kajstura received a master's degree in cell biology and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Jagiellonian University. "It was founded in 1364," he says proudly. "Copernicus, the Pope and I are all graduates of Jagiellonian University." Dr. Kajstura held several faculty posi- tions there before and after he spent one year away as a von Humboldt Research Fellow studying mouse fibroblasts at the University of Frankfurt in Germany. He is presently an associate professor of medicine and the principal investigator of a four-year NIH grant entitled "IGF and the Diabetic Heart;" he is co-principal investigator on five other NIH grants.
The "wave of Italians," smiles Dr. Kajstura, started with Annarosa Leri, M.D., associate professor of medicine. "When I came there were no Italians and now there are 11 Italians in three labs. The original lab consisted of 7 M.D.s or Ph.D.s and now there are 22 and the labs have tripled in size." Dr. Leri arrived in 1996. She and Dr. Anversa both were graduated from University of Parma Medical School. Dr. Leri did a residency in dermatology from Parma's School of Dermatology, a specialty she taught and practiced for seven years. But something was missing, and she discussed her restlessness with the chairman of the department who just happened to be a close friend of Dr. Anversa's.
 |
Annarosa Leri, M.D., associate professorof medicine, arrived in 1996 from Italy with the intention of staying a year or two. Now she doubts she will return because "no scientists in Europe are doing similar work" to theirs on adult cardiac stem cells. Her NIH grant is for the study of myocyte stem cells in the mammalian heart, research fundamental to proving the heart can heal itself. |
"It's not because of the lifestyle - I actually prefer the European lifestyle. There are good scientists in Europe, but none doing similar work to ours. The best work there is very slow and here it is frantic! In the last three or four years especially, I think we have made impor- tant discoveries that could have important clinical applications. This is what I like about the lab. I feel this is the right job for me." Dr. Leri's four-year NIH grant is entitled "Myocyte Stem Cells in the Mammalian Heart."
One of the first conversations Dr. Kajstura recalls having had with his mentor was to make it clear "I'm not working all weekend. He didn't react at all, but by his example and my interest in what was going on, I fell into line." So Dr. Kajstura works every week day at least 12 hours, every Saturday and some Sundays, "depending on the sea- son and whether we are preparing for grants or meetings."
In his 11 years at Valhalla, things have changed with the exception of one con- stant. Dr. Kajstura calls it "an aggressiveness for new things. When Dr. Anversa is working on something, he is 100 percent focused on that and he involves himself completely. That hasn't changed."
Dr. Leri's take on the progression of events is more circumstantial: "The lab has been organized. Jan and I work with the post-docs and follow their experiments. I am very much involved in the organization of a project, and when enough data has accumulated, we meet with Dr. AnversaÉBefore I did mostly bench work, but now I'm at the com- puter - writing papers and reviewing grant applications. But I have to empha- size one thing. No experiment is per- formed without thinking about the patient, and that is unusual. Maybe it's because Dr. Anversa is an M.D."
The entire Anversa laboratory is working on cardiac stem cells. Dr. Kajstura is looking for "the mechanism responsible for the fact that stem cells do not always do what they are supposed to do, such as in apoptosis, cell death, and the inhibition of cell proliferation. This is due to the genetic background being influenced by the environment, and it is the basis of heart disease. I have identified some mechanisms responsible for the malfunction of stem cells in the aging heart. There is an imbalance of growth factors, like IGF-1, and their receptors," he says.
Dr. Leri is investigating "the spatial organization of stem cells in the heart. We've found they are in clusters and they speak to each other. I want to find out how they talk and how they differentiate - by secreting proteins or by contact. I like to work with cells. They have a consciousness, like human beings." Perhaps that helps explain why she is the mother hen in the organiza- tion. "They all come to me with their troubles. It happened at Parma, too. It must be part of my personality. I like having a personal relationship but you can't get too close if you're a supervisor," she says.
The few hours Jan Kajstura has outside the lab are spent listening to classical music and roller-blading on a bike path in Millwood. His parents have remained in Poland, where he calls them every Sunday for 20 minutes. They have come to visit and the Kajstura family has been back twice. Jan met his wife when she was his cell biology student at Jagiellonian University. In his measured way of speaking in an exceedingly quiet voice, he surprises with "If it had been here I could have been fired!" Maggie Kajstura works in a clinical pathology laboratory at Westchester Medical Center as a medical specialist in flow cytometry and tissue typing related to organ transplantation.
Annarosa Leri, who is single, recently moved to a more spacious apartment where she reads novels "mostly by women because I feel psychologically involved," she admits. She enjoys going to plays and movies and loves the beach, but most of all, is devoted to writing "about my personal life. It's not a diary," she says, "it about my passions, feelings and emotions. And, it's about the people who have made an impact on my life. I might even publish it someday."
With a thoughtful and subdued persona, Dr. Kajstura is unwilling to predict the future.
Dr. Leri jumps right in. "We're facing a big expansion," she reveals. "More people - six, seven or eight, I don't know - are coming by the end of the year. There is always something new because Dr. Anversa is never afraid of change in the direction of the research."
"He can make huge changes overnight," Dr. Kajstura concurs, "and that is the reason for his success." To be sure, there are two more reasons - Jan Kajstura and Annarosa Leri themselves - who together with Piero Anversa are fighting heart failure like the three musketeers. There is no competition among them nor with the other members of the cardiovascular research team. And that is not subject to change.