Getting Under Our Skin
Harvard Medical SchoolSpatial maps of melanoma reveal how individual cells interact as cancer progresses
Spatial maps of melanoma reveal how individual cells interact as cancer progresses
Gunshot survivors experience serious increases in mental health disorders, substance use disorders, and pain in the year following a firearm injury Survivors’ family members also experience a rise in mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD in the year after loved ones’ injuries
COVID-19 experts discuss public and individual risk management during the transition into endemicity
Researchers describe a mechanism in mice that underlies local dopamine release in the brain
Bile acids, well known for their role in dissolving fats and vitamins, are also important players in gut immunity and inflammation.
Researchers have identified a new mechanism that regulates the permeability of the blood-brain barrier in mice
Memory may alter how we perceive the visual and auditory information we encounter
Researchers develop tool that “audits” the results of studies that examine interplay between variables.
Leonid Peshkin has developed a new model system aiming to illuminate the fundamentals of aging
Is omicron the beginning of the end of SARS-CoV-2’s evolutionary story or a mere a twist in the plot?
Some physicians are much more likely to deliver appropriate care than others, even in clinical situations where guidelines for appropriate care are clear. Notable—at times dramatic—differences were found across 14 common clinical scenarios representing seven specialties. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the reasons for these variations and developing ways to minimize them to improve the value of care.
Questions remain on which vaccine type to get, whether to mix and match types, and how soon after a breakthrough infection to get boosted. To untangle some of these uncertainties, Harvard Medicine News spoke with Jonathan Li, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Research shows T cells offer protection even against new SARS-CoV-2 variants T cells shield against serious illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 T cell-based vaccines may further boost protection from these critical immune players as the virus continues to shapeshift
• Researchers have identified a set of receptors shared across human, mosquito, and other animal cells for the eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) and two related viruses, a crucial first step for developing preventive and curative treatments. • In experiments with cells and mouse models with a related virus, the scientists were able to prevent infection and disease progression using decoy molecules to hamper viral entry into cells. • In a 2019 outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE, or triple E) in New England, 30 percent of infected people died and half of those who survived had long-term neurologic damage. • Done between major outbreaks, this type of research into highly pathogenic viruses with pandemic potential can help improve preparedness for future outbreaks.
Study identifies racial and ethnic disparities in hospital mortality for COVID and non-COVID patients alike, highlights urgent need to address systemic inequities in health care and improve care for those who are impacted the hardest by the virus, directly and indirectly.
Researchers identify mechanism that explains how tissues form complex shapes that enable organ function
A new study shows that a toxin from the microbe that causes anthrax can silence multiple types of pain in mice.
Computational tools can help scientists understand how the brain makes split-second decisions
Understanding the brain’s visual system could inform the development of better artificial systems
New study models future SARS-CoV-2 mutations and forecasts their ability to evade immune defenses developed by vaccines and antibody-based treatments.
A vaccine booster is readied for use.
Disulfiram, a treatment for alcoholism, may cut severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, reduce likelihood of dying from COVID-19
Research in mice demonstrates how diet alters a gut microbe molecule that, in turn, prompts immune cells to downregulate inflammation.
As bacterial infections impervious to drugs rise, so does the need to develop better antibiotics
Researchers have discovered neurons needed for acupuncture‘s anti-inflammatory response
New AI model called EVE, developed by scientists at Harvard Medical School and Oxford University, outperforms other AI methods in determining whether a gene variant is benign or disease-causing. When applied to more than 36 million variants across 3,219 disease-associated proteins and genes, EVE indicated more than 256,000 human gene variants of unknown significance that should be reclassified as benign or pathogenic.
Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that may explain why certain body parts are so sensitive
Five-year NIH grant funds new Center for Genome Imaging @ HarvardMed, three other institutions.
• Catalyzing gift will support precision medicine efforts at Harvard Medical School and Clalit Research Institute in Israel through data science, clinical research, and training. • Work marks first-of-its-kind collaboration between Harvard Medical School and an Israeli health care system. • Collaboration melds Harvard Medical School’s and Clalit’s capabilities in computational biomedicine and big-data analysis.
Research in mice reveals how a subset of highly specialized immune cells modulate brain wiring by precision-targeting inhibitory synapses. The work deepens understanding of the versatile repertoire of microglia, the brain’s immune cells and resident garbage collectors. The results set the stage for the development of therapies for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions marked by defects in synaptic function.
New research led by investigators at Harvard School of Dental Medicine suggests that machine learning tools can help identify those at greatest risk for tooth loss and refer them for further dental assessment in an effort to ensure early interventions to avert or delay the condition.
Risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection increased 30 percent for households with a recent birthday in counties with high rates of COVID-19 Findings suggest informal social gatherings such as birthday parties played role in infection spread at the height of the coronavirus pandemic No birthday-bash infection jumps seen in areas with low rates of COVID-19 Households with children’s birthdays had greater risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection than with adult birthdays
At a glance: Researchers identify links between genetic makeup of bacteria in human gut and several human diseases Clusters of bacterial genes present in conditions including cardiovascular illness, inflammatory bowel disease, liver cirrhosis, and cancer Work brings scientist closer to developing tests that could predict disease risk or identify disease presence based on a sampling of the genetic makeup of a person’s microbiome
The 2021 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize has been awarded to scientists Lynne Maquat and Joan Steitz for seminal discoveries in the biology and function of RNA, the workhorse molecule of cells. Their discoveries have reshaped the understanding of RNA’s myriad roles in healthy cell function and in disease-causing dysfunction and have informed the conceptualization and design of RNA-based therapies in various stages of development.
Three Harvard Medical School researchers recognized for distinguished achievements in research
Research by investigators at Harvard Medical School illuminates the neurobiology that underlies food attraction and how hungry mice choose to pay attention to one object in their environment over another.
A $15 million gift to Harvard Medical School from the Bertarelli Foundation is boosting efforts to understand and combat rare cancers. Nine teams across the school and its affiliated hospitals describe their efforts to illuminate understudied malignancies.
Most delays ranged between 10 and 45 days, with a median of 24 days, after a visit to a doctor, which exceeds current World Health Organization recommendations of diagnosing and treating TB within two to three weeks of symptom onset Delays were linked to greater risk for disease complications, transmission of infection to household members Older individuals and those with compromised immunity were at greater risk for delayed diagnoses Use of diagnostic molecular testing, use of chest imaging and being seen by a specialist were all linked to more prompt identification of TB infection, suggesting delays may be preventable Findings underscore the need to increase awareness of TB among frontline clinicians who may not suspect TB due to rarity of infection in this country
New study quantifies the effects of increasing the number of primary care physicians in areas with physician shortages Increasing the number of primary care physicians in such regions could boost population life expectancy More primary care physicians could mean fewer deaths in these shortage regions
Research reveals how mutated SARS-CoV-2 evades immune system defenses In lab-dish experiments, the mutant virus escaped antibodies from the plasma of COVID-19 survivors as well as pharmaceutical-grade antibodies Mutations arose in an immunocompromised patient with chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection Patient-derived virus harbored structural changes now seen cropping up independently in samples across the globe Findings underscore the need for better genomic surveillance to keep track of emerging variants Results highlight importance of therapies aimed at multiple targets on SARS-CoV-2 to minimize risk of resistance
Leaders in biomedical informatics and medicine discuss ways to optimize the integration of AI in clinical medicine
Since the beginning of the pandemic, once-esoteric scientific terms have become common parlance—spike protein, PCR, mRNA. Pathogenesis is not one of them. Yet, when it comes to understanding COVID-19, this may well be the most important word that has yet to make its way into the mainstream lexicon.
Harvard researchers reconstructed the evolutionary history of a mutation that gave rise to cancer decades later in two patients. In a 63-year-old patient, it occurred at around age 19; in a 34-year-old patient, at around age 9.
New study suggests monetary reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the United States could have cut SARS-CoV-2 transmission and COVID-19 rates both among Black individuals and the population at large. Researchers modeled the impact of structural racism on viral transmission and disease impact in the state of Louisiana. The higher burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection among Black people also amplified the virus’s spread in the wider population. Reparations could have reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the overall population by as much as 68 percent. Compared with white people, Black individuals in the United States are more likely to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, more likely to end up in the hospital with COVID-19, and more likely to die from the disease.
A new study describes how cellular survival after radiation exposure depends on behavior of the protein p53 over time. In vulnerable tissues, p53 levels go up and remain high, leading to cell death. In tissues that tend to survive radiation damage, p53 levels oscillate up and down.
The sense of hearing is, quite literally, a molecular tightrope act. Turns out, it involves acrobatics as well.
Experts discuss key insights in clinical treatment of COVID-19 from Year One of the pandemic.
Researchers have identified neurons that regulate nausea-like responses in mice. When these neurons are experimentally turned on, nausea-like responses can be activated regardless of exposure to nausea-triggering substances. Without these neurons, nausea-like responses to poisons are lost.
Paul Farmer of Harvard Medical School awarded the $1 million 2020 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture, given annually to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human self-understanding and advancement in a rapidly changing world, for his impactful work at the intersection of public health and human rights.