Lass Lab Work May Lead To Breakthrough

Crivitz High School teacher Paul Matty and former student Gary Huebner work at the Marquette University lab.

By Joanne M. Haas

A Crivitz High School lab project has produced such startling results that it led to a university research study focused on identifying a powerful new antibiotic.

The project in Paul Matty’s high school science lab is so promising that it attracted the attention of a Milwaukee pharmaceutical executive who transformed the classwork into a full-blown study involving two research teams in two states.

The focus is on a Herculean molecule armed with properties able to strike down bacteria that resist currently available antibiotics.
“It has been a Cinderella journey through science,” said Matty, a Crivitz native who six years ago returned to his Marinette County home to teach for the district he attended. “It has been tremendously inspirational in terms of my life and in terms of my students and education in general.”

Crivitz High School Principal Vic Gehm attributes the accomplishment in part to the quality of education in his school.

“The education we provide here is good ... and we can be a little bit more individualized,” said Gehm, who taught English for 31 years before becoming principal five years ago. The teacher-student ratio at the high school, he said, is about 1 to 18. “So this could happen more easily in a smaller district than in a larger district.”

The research that began in the Crivitz High School lab was transferred to Marquette University and to an independent research team, thanks to funding from Carl Sheeley, president of Fontarome Chemical, a European company with operations in Milwaukee.

“It is probably a 60% to 70% chance that it really is something,” said Sheeley, who first heard about the Crivitz project from a colleague who is related to Matty’s former student, Gary Huebner.

“Initially, I had no interest in this, business-wise, because the chances of it ever becoming anything are pretty slim. I did it as a humanitarian gesture.”

But it’s now much more than that.

The research has become so promising that Matty, Huebner, and Sheeley recently registered as joint owners in a limited liability corporation with a patent-pending agreement with the U.S. government. If the research pans out and the molecule is used to produce stronger antibiotics, the three will share in the rewards.

“Here I am a high school teacher from where-the-heck in northern Wisconsin,” Matty said of Crivitz, a community of about 1,000 in far northeastern Wisconsin. “A lot of things worked for us. The radar screen and eyes and ears (of the pharmaceutical industry) never look up here. That enabled us to move forward without really catching their attention until we established ownership.”

A project with legs
It was late summer in 2001 when Matty first considered the possibility a certain natural source might offer sick people new combatants to replace antibiotics now powerless against many strains of dangerous bacteria.

Matty’s brainstorm became Huebner’s class project. They ultimately zeroed in on a natural substance, which none of the partners will identify until the research is completed.

The substance has significant antibacterial properties at low concentrations. In other words, this molecule could help fight staph and strep bacteria and other bacteria that resist current antibiotics.

The two perused scientific journals in search of research of this natural substance.

“To our surprise, the deeper we dug, the longer we searched, we found there was nothing out there,” Matty said.

Just to make sure, Matty asked a few Wisconsin medical experts. He remembers the day he asked a Marshfield antibiotic specialist what he thought of the lab results from this high school project.

“The guy cleared his throat, paused for a minute and said, ‘Yup, you probably have something. But, in the big world, the chances that it will ever come back to you are very slim. The big pharmaceuticals will probably steal it from you.’”

After hearing that, Matty and Huebner got their provisional U.S. patent, meaning the patent is pending while the work continues.

Huebner went to work part time at Fontarome after graduating from Crivitz High School and continued working on the project. He also presented the project last year at the Junior Science Engineering and Hu-manities Symposium at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Matty continued the work through the summer. But time, money and resources were stretched to their limits. That’s when Sheeley came through with funding and contacts to keep the study alive.

Research moves to higher level
Sheeley bankrolled expansion of the research at chemistry labs at Marquette University and another lab in Decatur, Ill.

“I decided we needed a second opinion,” Matty said. The Illinois team is doing the same research to confirm the findings.

The Crivitz School Board released Matty from his contract for one month this fall to continue working on the project at Marquette.

“The school board has to be commended for its wisdom and flexibility,” Matty said.

“I was really excited for Gary. And I really felt this was good for our school from a PR (public relations) standpoint,” said Gehm, who also taught Matty during his high school years.

Rajendra Rathore, assistant professor in Marquette’s Chemistry Department, volunteered to become the project’s lead.

“It is interesting that people are looking into this at a high school level,” Rathore said, adding he anticipates more student interest in science as word of this project spreads.

Rathore, who also teaches and handles other research projects at Marquette, said he is pleased with the project’s progress.

“This is moving as fast as it can under the circumstances,” he said.
Rathore shares Sheeley’s opinion there is a 60% to 70% chance this may develop into something usable.

Matty remains confident the research will result in a molecule usable as a medicine.

“Bacteria are becoming immune to our arsenal of antibiotics at an increasingly alarming rate,” Matty said. “We have a new staph (bacteria) immune to everything we have. Bacteria are evolving faster than we can develop antibiotics.

“I really feel this story needs to get out in terms of inspirational value,” he said. “Kids will look at science in a new way and realize that what they do and learn has a real potential to take them places.”

Posted December 19, 2002