H. William Harris
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| Phone: | Work (207) 773-2500 |
| Organization: | Aqua Bio Products Sciences Llc |
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400 Commercial St.
Portland, ME 04101 United States |
Dr. H. William Harris is actively involved with Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus research at Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. His path to NDI began during his pediatric residency where he became interested in kidney disease, particularly the way ions and water are handled by the kidney. He began studying NDI while a renal fellow in 1983. Deciding to apply his earlier research background in human erythrocyte (or red cell) membranes to the study of kidney function, he went to the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland. There he worked with Dr. Joseph Handler, who had an extensive background in vasopressin's action on the kidney. Three and a half years later he returned to Children's Hospital to continue with his own research projects.
 Boston, Massachusetts |
The road to understanding and managing NDI has been influenced by a few important events according to Dr. Harris. The first, which happened quite early on, was the use of thiazides in treating NDI patients. The second has involved the cloning of both the V2 receptor and aquaporin-2 water channel that enable reliable diagnosis of the disorder. The use of appropriate genomic markers now permit the identification of the molecular nature of the disease. He feels the most significant contribution done by the Children's Hospital lab was the characterization of the vesicles that allow the aquaporin-2 water channel to be trafficked in and out of the apical membrane and identification of the associated signalling mechanisms. He hopes that this work will lead to a method for using the signalling proteins associated with vasopression aquaporin-2 to increase water reabsorption in patients with NDI.
Dr. Harris says that it is hard for him to predict the future for management and treatment of NDI. As with other genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis or sickle-cell disease the possibility of finding a cure is certainly there. However, cell biologists face a number of technical issues relating to gene therapy and how the epithelial cell actually works before a cure can be realized. At present, putting these into a time line is not easy to do.
Dr. Harris was born in LaCrosse, Wisconsin and during his childhood lived in Salt Lake City, Utah; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and New York, New York. He began college interested in archeology, which developed into an interest in biology, and that led to his interest in medical research.
When asked about his personal interests he laughed and explained that life as a medical researcher didn't leave a whole lot of time for other activities. However, he and his wife, over the years, have developed an interest in pre-Revolutionary War houses built between 1690 and 1776. They have restored 2 of these, doing all carpentry and other work themselves. They currently are living in one of their restorations, a house built near Boston in 1690. Camping is another interest of Dr. Harris who has spent a lot to time in the last several years in the wilderness areas of the U.S. northeast as part of his son's Boy Scout camping program. He enjoys being the proud father, cheering on both his son (15 years) and daughter (13 years) at various athletic events.
30 Articles
30 Articles