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Stony Brook University
A team of researchers from Stony Brook University, led by Yusuf Hannun, MD, have found quantitative evidence proving that extrinsic risk factors, such as environmental exposures and behaviors weigh heavily on the development of a vast majority (approximately 70 to 90 percent) of cancers.
An upcoming study unveils new measures for aging, to be published in the journal Population and Development Review on Dec. 15, 2015. Researchers and authors of the study, Warren Sanderson, a Professor of Economics at Stony Brook University, and Sergei Scherbov, a project leader at an Austrian research institute, suggest that conventional measures of population aging --- or the “old age dependency ratio (see definition below*)” --- are biased and misleading and that aging is multidimensional phenomena. Sanderson and Scherbov say that there are many more characteristics that should be considered that go beyond the conventional measures of aging, which are based on only one characteristic --- chronological age.
A Stony Brook University-led research team has discovered that when a rare type of glial cells, called NG2 glia, are depleted from the brain in mice, depressive-like behaviors occur.
A program by Stony Brook Children’s Hospital that involves the use of trained community health workers on child immunization reveals that home intervention improves vaccine rates in at-risk children.
A Stony Brook University research team has developed new tools to test the fundamental constituents of a quantum information processor, a device that manipulates data based on quantum mechanics and therefore would have computing power well beyond the capabilities of a classic computer.
On November 21, Stony Brook University launched the public phase of a seven-year, $600 million comprehensive campaign. The capital campaign, led by the Stony Brook Foundation, is the largest in the history of the State University of New York. More than 30,000 individuals have already donated a total of $426 million and the Foundation expects to raise the remaining $174 million by July 2018.
Stony Brook University and Ortek Therapeutics, Inc. announced that two patent applications were filed for nutrient based compositions utilizing an innovative microbiome technology that may help combat certain infections.
A Stony Brook University-led team of evolutionary biologists has discovered that the oldest known nectar-drinking bat fossil, Palynephyllum antimaster, was probably omnivorous.
Because Americans of African descent are at a higher risk for developing GI cancers than others, a group of researchers are teaming up to launch a program to assess GI cancer biology in patients.
After reviewing hundreds of questions submitted by children from around the world, the 2016 Flame Challenge will ask the burning question, “What is sound?” The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University is challenging scientists to answer that resounding question in video or written form. An international contest now in its fifth year, the Flame Challenge is judged by 11-year-olds around the world, challenging scientists at every level – from graduate students to senior researchers – to answer and communicate familiar yet complex concepts in a way that is understandable to an 11-year-old.
For centuries, cod were the backbone of New England’s fisheries and a key species in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem. Today, cod stocks are on the verge of collapse, hovering at 3-4% of sustainable levels. Even cuts to the fishery have failed to slow this rapid decline, surprising both fishermen and fisheries managers.
New research by a team of scientists led by Catherine Markham, PhD, a Stony Brook University anthropologist, reveals that intermediate-sized groups provide the most benefits to wild baboons.
Most cancer drugs are designed to target dividing cells, but a new study by Stony Brook University researchers suggests that targeting invasive cells may be a new strategy to treat metastatic cancer.
Electrical waves regulate the rhythm of the heartbeat, and when those signals go awry, the result is a potentially fatal arrhythmia. Now, a team of researchers has found a way to precisely control these waves – using light.
A Stony Brook University-led research team has received a $1 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE) to conduct research on Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition (RCCI), an emerging combustion technology.
The Stony Brook Neurosciences Institute will hold its 6th Annual Meeting of the Minds Symposium on October 30, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, in the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University.
A research team led by Stony Brook University investigating human and chimpanzee locomotion have uncovered unexpected similarities in the way the two species use their upper body during two-legged walking.
Mirroring a major problem in society at large, women are significantly shortchanged when it comes to media coverage, with men being mentioned in the news a whopping five times more than women.
Stony Brook Children’s Hospital clinicians follow pain management protocols to proactively, preemptively, and consistently treat pain in each and every pediatric patient. Known as the Ouchless Approach to Pediatric Medicine, Margaret McGovern, MD, PhD, Physician-in-Chief, describes it as the cornerstone of treatment for pediatric patients at Stony Brook Children’s. Designed to specifically address acute pain, the approach acknowledges that many children arrive in pediatric emergency departments in different levels of pain, following an injury or because of an illness, etc. And clinicians often have to give injections, reset broken bones, and do other procedures may result in pain or discomfort in patients.
Stony Brook University has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with molecular diagnostics company OncoGenesis Corporation, on the use of biomarker Keratin 17 for diagnostic and prognostic applications for cervical cancer.
Stony Brook University received two Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) awards totaling $20 million from NYSTAR, Empire State Development’s (ESD’s) Division of Science, Technology and Innovation.
A team of Stony Brook University and international researchers have found that biogenic materials in sea spray may affect ice cloud formation and thus climate on a global scale.
Following a competitive national search, Dr. Fotis Sotiropoulos has been appointed Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Stony Brook University, effective October 15, 2015. Dr. Sotiropoulos is the James L. Record Professor of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering, and Director of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (UMN). Prior to his appointment at UMN, Dr. Sotiropoulos was on the faculty of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a joint appointment in the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
Keratin 17 (K17), a protein previously believed to provide only mechanical support for cancer cells, appears to play a crucial role in degrading a key tumor suppressor protein in cancer cells named p27. This finding, published in the September 1 issue of Cancer Research, is based on the work of researchers in the Department of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. They found that K17 has the ability to enter the nucleus of cancer cells, leading to the degradation of p27. The work illustrates for the first time that a keratin can function to promote the development of cancer. Furthermore, the paper details that tumors with high levels of K17 are biologically more aggressive and have a worse prognosis than low K17 tumors.
Scientists have not been able to understand and predict how cells evolve in our bodies, and this process is important because evolving cell populations are at the core of drug-resistant infections and cancer development. Now a research team led by Gábor Balázsi, PhD, of Stony Brook University, has developed a synthetic biological model that validates computational predictions of how quickly and in what manner cells change in the presence or absence of a drug. Their findings are published in a paper in Molecular Systems Biology.
This fall, Stony Brook University is introducing a fresh new technology – a hydroponic Freight Farm – where student farmers can grow crops year-round in an indoor environment. Created in a discarded shipping container converted into a fully operational hydroponic farm known as the Leafy Green Machine, the Freight Farm will be primarily managed by Stony Brook students. Using the latest in farm-management technologies such as cloud-synced growth data, live camera feeds and a smartphone app that monitors and controls light levels inside the container anytime, anywhere, the students will get hands-on experience planting and harvesting lettuce, and Campus Dining will use the fresh produce to feed the student body. Stony Brook University is the first higher education campus to offer students a hydroponic Freight Farm.
Stony Brook University Hospital today celebrated the 100,000th birth since the hospital’s Labor & Delivery program began in May 1980. Luca Michael Picarella, born at 8:09 am on August 17 weighing 8lbs., 9 oz., and 20 ¾ inches in length, was feted along with his parents Katie and Mike Picarella, and big sister Gianna (5) who was also born at Stony Brook. He was also presented with scholarships and other gifts inspired by community residents who caught wind of the delivery countdown -- either from Stony Brook announcements, social media, or local news -- and reached out to Stony Brook to volunteer their gifts of support. The event also featured a surprise visit from Jeffrey Solomon, 35, who was born during the very first delivery at Stony Brook University Hospital, on May 28, 1980.
The first planet detected by the Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) from an international team of astronomers, which includes two scientists from the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Stony Brook University, is one outside earth’s solar system at 100 light years away. The exoplanet is being called a “young Jupiter” by the researchers because it shares many characteristics of Jupiter. A paper outlining the full findings is published in Science.
Researchers assessing clinical performance measures examined 16 national collections of performance measures and found that more than 90 percent of 521 outpatient measures targeted underuse of care and only 7 percent addressed overuse of care.
Sleeping in the side position, as compared to on one’s back or stomach, may more effectively remove brain waste and prove to be an important practice to help reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.
At the “Topping Off” Ceremony for Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, cheers were heard as a crane installed the final beam needed to complete the frame of the major building project on the Stony Brook Medicine campus. The event marked a major milestone for the project and also served as a launching point for the Knapp Swezey Foundation Children’s Challenge, a $2.5 million matching challenge pledge designed to raise the $5 million needed to complete the $25 million Children’s Hospital Building fund philanthropic goal. The Knapp Swezey Foundation has pledged a dollar-for-dollar match on all private donations and public funding received between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016. Before the ceremony, the final beam was signed by patients, families, donors, elected representatives and Stony Brook Medicine leadership.
Today, Nature is publishing a paper "The evolution of human and ape hand proportions," a study that discovers that human hands may be more primitive than chimp's.
A Stony Brook University research team has been awarded $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a system that condenses water vapor from power plants in order to provide supplemental cooling for the plant and reduce water use. Led by Professor Jon Longtin, PhD, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University, the goal of the research is to condense water out of flue gas to provide additional cooling that may enable power plants to be built in dry and land-locked areas, not located near a large body of water, at a time when using open bodies of water for cooling has become a national and global concern
Stony Brook University has received a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a small, highly efficient and clean natural gas generator designed for use in homes to provide electric and heating. Sotirios Mamalis, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science, will lead the research, which is the fourth Stony Brook University energy-related research project this year to receive a prestigious ARPA-E award from the DOE.
About one quarter of the world’s sharks, rays and skates are threatened with extinction. The lack of comprehensive and up-to-date data on species abundance and distribution hinders efforts to protect and replenish these important and dynamic marine animals. Demian Chapman, PhD, assistant professor at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and a multi-institutional team have kicked off the Global FinPrint initiative, the first-ever global survey to inform shark and ray conservation. The largest of its kind, FinPrint is a three-year survey of sharks and rays in coral reef ecosystems designed to provide fundamental data essential to building effective conservation programs. FinPrint is funded by Vulcan Inc. which was founded by Paul G. Allen.
A team of researchers from Stony Brook University and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) have discovered 854 “ultra-dark galaxies” in the Coma Cluster by analyzing data from the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope. The new discovery, published in the June 2015 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters, surpasses the 2014 discovery of 47 mysterious dark galaxies by more than 800 and suggests that galaxy clusters are the key environment for the evolution of these mysterious dark galaxies.