Michael Bates: Passionate Both Inside and Outside the Lab
Outside of the office, Michael Bates, MD, PhD, is energized by his family, classical music and Duke basketball. Inside the office, Dr. Bates gets his energy from the many opportunities made possible by his research on segmental gene expression in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
"This is an exciting time to be involved in biomedical research and particularly in pediatric research," says Dr. Bates, an assistant professor of pediatrics in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition.
Dr. Bates came to Cincinnati Children's in 1992, completed his residency in pediatrics in 1995, and a clinical fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition in 1998. He was a William Cooper Procter Research Scholar and research instructor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition from 1997 to 2000. Before that, he was a fellow in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Duke University, where he earned his MD and PhD in cell biology, in addition to acquiring an affinity for college basketball.
Dr. Bates' research has focused on the developmental biology of the digestive system. Most recently, he co-authored a study with Bruce Aronow, PhD, et al, in which the authors used DNA microarrays to examine the expression profiles of genes in the tissues of the GI tract in mice. The project grew out of a larger effort to understand functional relationships in the entire mouse genome. Prior to this study, little was known about segmental gene expression in the GI tract.
"We know anatomically that there's a stomach, there's a small intestine, and there's a colon," says Dr. Bates, "and we understand that there are functional differences among them. But we don't yet understand the molecular basis for those differences." Using DNA microarrays, Dr. Bates and his colleagues were able to demonstrate region-specific gene expression in the GI tract of adult mice.
This research, although performed in mice, will contribute to a clearer overall understanding of segmental gene expression in the mammalian GI tract. Armed with the new information, researchers in the future will be better equipped to unravel the molecular mechanisms of diseases that result from disordered regional gene expression in humans.
Dr. Bates is a perfect example of the benefits of hospitals making a commitment to young academic pediatricians and providing the resources and support they need to do their work. (See "Recruitment and Development of Academic Pediatricians Requires Departmental Commitments.") He is one of many academic pediatricians on staff at Cincinnati Children's.
Dr. Bates has won several honors, including the Basic Research Award from the GlaxoSmithKline Institute for Digestive Health (2001) and the Industry Research Scholar Award from the American Digestive Health Foundation (1998-2001). He has secured funding as principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health and the GlaxoSmithKline Institute for Digestive Health.
Whether it's his research he's talking about, or the latest Duke game, Dr. Bates' enthusiasm is palpable when he speaks of the possibilities that lie ahead.
"With the genomic information that is now available and the tools that we have at our disposal, it will be possible to address scientific and clinical questions in new and exciting ways. There are certainly many opportunities."
As for the Blue Devils basketball season? Dr. Bates feels the team is young this year and perhaps a bit overrated, but he's having fun teaching his 4-year-old son to be a fan anyway.
Dr. Bates' study was published in Gastroenterology (122[5]:1467-1482, 2002 May).
