Focus: Hidden - Boston Metro

• share
• favorite_border

First-of-its-kind study looks beyond Medicare readmission rates to determine causes of short-term readmissions of patients across the spectrum of age and insurance types. While Medicare patients account for more than half of all readmissions, readmission rates of non-Medicare patients were still significant and costly. Psychiatric disease and substance abuse were the most common diagnoses leading to readmission among non-elderly patients, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

• share
• favorite_border

Jennifer Vaccaro ’17 won second place in the undergraduate category at the grand finals of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Student Research Competition.

• share
• favorite_border

Daniel Alhadeff is the second oil student to win award.

• share
• favorite_border

At a glance: Medicare policies governing end-of-life care for cancer patients may fail to reflect the variety of experiences across different patient subgroups. Researchers have developed a model that accounts for variations in the clinical course, outcomes and patterns of care among patients with the same cancer diagnosis. Stratification of different subpopulations could lead to better tailored Medicare policies that take into account critical differences in end-of-life care.

• share
• favorite_border

Harvard Medical School study generates near-atomic resolution images of key steps in CRISPR-Cas3 function, revealing layers of error detection that prevent unintended genomic damage. Structural understanding informs efforts to improve CRISPR systems for gene editing and reduce off-target effects.

• share
• favorite_border

One recent graduate and two Olin alumni have earned a coveted Fulbright student scholarship to conduct research or teach abroad.

• share
• favorite_border

This research found that light makes migraine headaches more painful and induces negative emotions and unpleasant physical sensations. Laboratory studies identify previously unknown connections between nerve cells in the eye and neurons in the brain that regulate physiological, autonomic, endocrine and emotional responses. These findings offer promising path forward for researchers in treatment of migraines.

• share
• favorite_border

Chickens may illuminate how humans developed sharp daylight vision

• share
• favorite_border

In a recent feasibility study, BIDMC tested an anti-epileptic drug for its potential impact on the brain activity of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The team documented changes in patients’ EEGs that suggest the drug could have a beneficial effect.

• share
• favorite_border

Decades after the discovery of anti-obesity hormone, scant evidence that leptin keeps lean people lean, scientists caution

• share
• favorite_border

David A. Sullivan, M.S., Ph.D., FARVO, Senior Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School is the recipient of the 2017 Dr. Donald R. Korb Award for Excellence, the highest honor given by the Contact Lens and Cornea Section of the American Optometric Association (AOA).

• share
• favorite_border

The discovery hints that microglia, rather than neurons, may control much of a person’s genetic susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Ophthalmologists at Massachusetts Eye and Ear are now offering a new type of minimally-invasive laser vision correction, the ReLEx® SMILE procedure.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study shows that people with a protective Aβ mutation have less of the peptide in their blood all through their lives, likely explaining why they do not get Alzheimer's. It suggests ways to prevent the disease in the vast majority of people who don’t have the mutation.

• share
• favorite_border

The transition from an egg to a developing embryo is one of life’s most remarkable transformations. Now Whitehead Institute researchers have used fruit flies to decipher how one aspect—control of the translation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs) into proteins—shifts as the egg becomes an the embryo. This type of switch could tell scientists more about how human cells work and embryos develop.

• share
• favorite_border

By developing a new approach to imaging and manipulating particular groups of neurons in the mouse brain, scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have identified a pathway by which neurons governing feelings of hunger influence distant neurons involved in the decision of whether or not to react to food-related cues. Their findings could open the door to targeted therapies that dampen food cue-evoked cravings in people with obesity. The research was published online today in the journal Nature.

• share
• favorite_border

The award recognizes Aiello's research to determine the underlying biochemistry and molecular mechanisms of diabetic retinopathies, then develop and test novel therapeutic interventions through rigorous translational and clinical trial research.

• share
• favorite_border

At a glance: Most frequent genetic cause of ALS and a form of dementia (FTD) is known to produce toxic peptides that interfere with RNA splicing—an intermediary step in generating functional proteins from genes. New Harvard Medical School study finds these toxic peptides block assembly of the cellular machinery responsible for RNA splicing. This blockage leads to splicing errors for genes that regulate the workings of mitochondria and neurons and the expression of other genes. Restoring normal splicing function may be a therapeutic strategy for averting or treating the development of ALS, FTD or both.

• share
• favorite_border

At a glance: People with low levels of vitamin A living in households with people who have TB were 10 times more likely to develop the disease themselves. The study findings suggest that vitamin A supplementation may offer powerful protection against the deadly disease among high-risk individuals. TB, one of the top infectious disease killers globally, hits especially hard in low- and middle-income countries, where vitamin A deficiencies are common.

• share
• favorite_border

Residents and staff from five local senior living communities joined forces with Olin College students and professionals in aging services for the LeadingAge MA Hackfest at North Hi

• share
• favorite_border

Flatworms that spent five weeks aboard the International Space Station are helping researchers led by Tufts University scientists to study how an absence of normal gravity and geomagnetic fields can have anatomical, behavioral, and bacteriological consequences, according to a paper to be published June 13 in Regeneration. The research has implications for human and animal space travelers and for regenerative and bioengineering science.

• share
• favorite_border

Joslin Diabetes Center has established a Center for Cell-Based Therapy for Diabetes (CCTD), the goal of which is to lead the development and translation of cell-based interventions to treat and cure diabetes and its complications.

• share
• favorite_border

Many cultures traditionally use herbs believed to increase milk supply – so called galactagogues – although scientific data are lacking. Now Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng and the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation are teaming up to explore the effects of galactagogues on milk production.

• share
• favorite_border

Massachusetts Eye and Ear has received an anonymous gift totaling more than $20M to accelerate research at its Eaton-Peabody Laboratories, the world’s largest and most preeminent hearing research center. This gift represents one of the country’s largest philanthropic investments ever to advance research on hearing and hearing loss, a significant public health problem impacting one-third of the world’s population over age 65.

• share
• favorite_border

Since 2014, seven U.S. municipal or county jurisdictions have adopted excise taxes to reduce the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, but no such taxes have been passed at the state or federal level. A new viewpoint evaluates reasons for success or failure and whether such local taxes are likely to spread.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists recognized for seminal discoveries in cancer’s ability to thwart immune surveillance that paved the way to immune-based cancer therapies

• share
• favorite_border

The study tested the efficacy of tildrakizumab, an antibody that targets only a very specific immune system pathway. More than 60 percent of all patients who received the active medication showed improvement, compared to less than 10 percent of patients who received placebos.

• share
• favorite_border

-Mail-order liver helps researchers identify elusive protein linked to cancer, neurodegeneration

• share
• favorite_border

A founder of U.S. Alzheimer’s research, Robert D. Terry, has died at 93. He first showed what plaques and tangles look like in the electron microscope, and linked failing cognition to withering synapses in the brain.

• share
• favorite_border

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has awarded four Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers with Outstanding Investigator Awards (OIA) for ongoing progressive research within their respective areas of study.

• share
• favorite_border

The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) recently announced that Reza Dana, M.D, MPH, M.Sc., Director of Cornea and Refractive Surgery at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and a resident of Newton, Mass., will receive the prestigious Friedenwald Award.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study finds that U.S. dairy products are a significant source of the MK form of vitamin K and indicates that MK forms of the nutrient are more present in commonly-consumed foods than previously thought.

• share
• favorite_border

At a meeting in Leuven, Belgium, a coherent picture began to emerge for how fluid pockets of proteins and RNAs contribute to health and disease.

• share
• favorite_border

The Fund will begin accepting proposals September 1, 2017, and, if approved, projects will be funded from $40,000 in initial seed funding provided by Olin College and Aramark Corporation, Facilities Services.

• share
• favorite_border

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has named Lesley Solomon to the newly-created position of senior vice president for innovation and chief innovation officer. Solomon has been serving as executive director of the Brigham Innovation Hub at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of strategy and innovation in the Brigham Research Institute.

• share
• favorite_border

Babson College’s Women Innovating Now (WIN) Lab® and Women Entrepreneurs Boston (WE BOS) invite all to attend their annual Summer Soiree on June 7—a free event to meet with, and learn more about, women entrepreneurs in the community and learn more about the program. WIN Lab applications are open until June 30.

• share
• favorite_border

On May 24, 2017, Babson VP for Programming and Community Outreach Jane C. Edmonds, along with the Boston Chamber of Commerce President James Rooney, Mayor Marty Walsh, and 50 Boston business and civic leaders took a trip to Washington, DC to discuss issues of race and economic mobility.

• share
• favorite_border

Changing natural electrical signaling in non-neural cells improves innate immune response to bacterial infections and injury. Tadpoles that received therapeutics, including those used in humans for other purposes, which depolarized their cells had higher survival rates when infected with E. coli than controls. The research has applications for treatment of emerging diseases and traumatic injury in humans.

• share
• favorite_border

Women Innovating Now (WIN) Lab® just wrapped up its fourth year with two grand finale events in Boston and Miami, adding 37 leading women entrepreneurs to its growing alumni base. WIN Lab® participants have collectively raised nearly $5.5 million in funding since program launch in 2013. The 2016-2017 Boston cohort has raised over $1.9 million, and the WIN Lab’s first Miami entrepreneurs have raised over $1.5 million.

• share
• favorite_border

Harvard Medical School Expert Calls for Protection of Critical Gains Made in Cancer Care Under Obamacare

• share
• favorite_border

June 1 Event to Highlight Winners Features WGBH’s Kara Miller and Aging 2.0’s Stephen Johnston

• share
• favorite_border

Two Babson graduate alumni businesses—DropZone for Veterans and GEMS Boxes—have been named finalists in the 2017 MassChallenge Boston accelerator program.

• share
• favorite_border

Chocolate consumption, particularly of dark chocolate, has been linked to improvements in various indicators of heart health. This study examined the possible association between chocolate intake and a lower rate of being diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. While this is an observational study, researchers believe these findings warrant further consideration to identify effective prevention strategies for atrial fibrillation.

• share
• favorite_border

This year, Babson College is celebr­ating the careers and accomplish­ments of a number of its longer serving and valued faculty members. Sydel Sokuvitz, Michael Fetters, Allan Cohen, Kent Jones, Robert McAuliffe, Dawna Dewire, William Coyle, Joanne Williams, and William Hebard are among those enjoying either 25, 35, or 40 year anniversaries at Babson College.

• share
• favorite_border

Two Olin College teams will spend the summer in an intensive 10-week venture accelerator at Babson College.

• share
• favorite_border

Babson College, ranked No. 1 for entrepreneurship, is one of the nation's best institutions at offering its undergrads both outstanding academics and outstanding experiential learning opportunities according to The Princeton Review® and the second edition of its book, "Colleges That Create Futures: 50 Schools That Launch Careers by Going Beyond the Classroom."

• share
• favorite_border

Babson College announces that Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will deliver the Commencement address to undergraduate students and graduate students during ceremonies on the Wellesley campus on Saturday, May 20, 2017.

• share
• favorite_border

The number of women chief executives at the largest 150 Massachusetts nonprofits grew in recent years, accounting for 26 percent of those jobs, up three percent from two years ago. These findings were recently released in the report, Modest Gains, Robust Benefits, as part of the third biennial Census of Women Directors and Chief Executives of Massachusetts’ Largest Nonprofit Organizations—issued by The Boston Club in collaboration with local researchers, including Babson College Professors Danna Greenberg and Wendy Murphy.

• share
• favorite_border

At a glance: BioPlex network identifies protein interaction partners for more than 5,800 protein-coding genes, representing more than a quarter of the human genome. The network maps over 56,000 unique protein-to-protein interactions among nearly 11,000 proteins, significantly expanding coverage of the human interactome. 87 percent of identified interactions were previously undescribed. BioPlex serves as “social network,” providing functional insights into protein communities involving many areas of biology, from development to disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC), widely considered the premier conference for entrepreneurial research, was established in 1981 to provide a dynamic venue where academics and real-world practitioners link theory and practice, and to encourage and increase quality research in entrepreneurship