| Boyd Haley |
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| 1940 births | |
| haley, boyd | |
| american chemists | |
| autism researchers | |
| living people | |
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His laboratory's approach to the study of the general phenomenon of protein-nucleotide interactions is to synthesize novel nucleotide analogs that are photoactive or fluorescent, or both. The analogs are then used to study various interactions which regulate enzyme activity. Analogs used may be modifications of the commonly known nucleotides such as ATP , cAMP, GTP, dUTP, NAD+, UDP-Glc, etc. or probes of the more unusual nucleotides such as the proposed Alarmones guanosine-3'-phosphate-5'phosphate (magic spot compounds) and diadenosine-P1, P4-tetraphosphate. Haley is also co-founder and scientific advisor of Affinity Labeling Technologies, Inc. , a Biotechnology firm that synthesizes and markets Nucleotide photo-affinity analogs for biomedical research. Haley has testified to the US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) and other government agencies regarding Mercury vapour from Dental Amalgam s and on Thimerosal -containing Vaccines . Haley was one of the first researchers to propose that Thimerosal in infant vaccines was the most likely toxic agent involved in Gulf War Syndrome and Autistic Spectrum disorders. EDUCATION AND EARLY CAREER RESEARCH Haley's University of Kentucky laboratory studies the differences between normal and diseased tissues as observed through changes in Nucleotide binding proteins. Haley focuses on biochemical and biomedical problems involving control at the molecular level, particularly biological systems regulated by protein-nucleotide interactions where the bioenergetics involved are expressed through site-specific nucleotide binding of high affinity or through protein substrate phosphorylation. His lab synthesizes novel nucleotide analogs that are photoactive or fluorescent, or both, which are then used to study protein-nucleotide interactions which regulate enzyme activity. These probes have proven useful in his research into the causes of Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis , which his lab is currently investigating. Haley has also conducted studies that suggest low levels of mercury are capable of contributing to certain neurological diseases, and he has observed that exposure of lab rats to low level mercury vapor causes a great increase in rat brain mercury levels, along with a marked decrease in brain Tubulin photolabeling, as has been found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Using birth-hair analysis, Haley has produced evidence that individuals diagnosed with Autism excrete less mercury. His hypothesis is that they form a distinct subset of the population with reduced excretion of Mercury 1 . Haley is not alone in concluding that an increase in the number of Vaccine s containing the preservative Thimerosal included in routine Vaccination Schedule s might cause an increase in Autism. In most countries, use of thiomersal in pediatric vaccines has largely been discontinued in recent years, and on this hypothesis autism must now fall (see discussion in MMR Vaccine ). Thiomersal is metabolised to ethyl-mercury, which is very toxic in larger quantities. Haley is investigating the effects of this preservative upon the central nervous tissue of lab rats. The only study on human subjects before the 1990s investigating the safety of thimerosal was conducted in 1930 , 12 years before Autism was defined. Mercury and dental amalgams Haley surmises that mercury released from dental s/day "which is well below the calculated threshold-limiting value (TLV) of 82.29 micrograms/day equivalent of 2,743 amalgam fillings considered dangerous for occupational exposure in the United States"[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=7790596&dopt=Abstract][http://www.dentalwatch.org/hg/myths201.html]. Haley says mercury inhaled as vapor easily penetrates the Central Nervous System where it is a potent chemical inhibitor of thiol-sensitive enzymes. Gold salts Haley speculates that is increasingly used to treat individuals diagnosed with autism. Gold salts "can reverse the binding" of mercury to molecules, according to Haley, who adds, "This does lend support to the possible removal of mercury from biological proteins in individuals treated with gold salts." Gold, he thinks, might pull mercury "off the enzyme it's inhibiting and reactivate that enzyme." "You follow your nose in research, and when I saw that I thought, yes, this is a possibility," said Haley. "Nothing has a higher affinity for mercury than elemental gold. They form bonds that are very tight," says Haley, who also notes that devices designed to detect and filter out mercury routinely use gold. Haley also offers a word of caution, "The last thing the autism associations need is a bad experience on treating an autistic child. Extreme caution should be used with gold salts; just because the gold or thiolmalate (part of the gold salts) binds mercury in a test tube doesn't mean the gold salts will not be harmful to a young infant. "Please note that I am not recommending using gold salts to treat autistics, but it would certainly be worth a project if carefully monitored by a physician in a good clinic," Haley said. FURTHER ENDEAVORS Dr. Haley is a member of the Autism Think Tank of the Autism Association, and has presented numerous lectures on the subject of mercury toxicity and neurological diseases at international conferences in a dozen different countries. REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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