Plant Reproduction Finding by University of Kentucky Scientists Could Lead to More Reliable Crop Production
University of Kentucky
The American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is delighted to be able to offer its members up to $35,000 to fund bold ideas that engage local communities with the process of science and increase public scientific literacy.
Researchers at the University of California and San Diego State University have been awarded a $1.2 million UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) grant to develop an advanced class of mobile telemanipulation robots. These easy-to-operate, low-cost robots called UC Iris will be used to grasp objects, open doors and perform other tasks to advance telehealth, allowing healthcare workers to safely conduct remote exams and providing quarantined Californians a safe way to interact outside their homes.
Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have identified the sensor in human lungs that detects SARS-CoV-2 and signals that it’s time to mount an antiviral response.
In a new study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), researchers analyzed data from the National Center for Health Statistics to compare the rate of cardiovascular-related deaths before and after the onset of the pandemic in the United States, relative to the same periods in the prior year.
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation today announced that is has received a bequest of $8 million from the noted philanthropist and mental health advocate Stephen Lieber. The Foundation is the world’s largest private funder of mental health research grants, and this gift will be used to expand its support for research that is transforming the lives of people living with mental illness.
Using both mouse and human brain tissue, researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect the central nervous system and have begun to unravel some of the virus’s effects on brain cells. The study, published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), may help researchers develop treatments for the various neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19.
DALLAS – Jan. 12, 2021 – A team of UT Southwestern researchers has identified a gene involved in the growth of breast cancer, a finding that could lead to potential new targets for treatment.
A study from Arizona State University’s REACH Institute has found that when children are exposed to conflict between their divorced or separated parents, they experience fear of abandonment. This worry about being abandoned in response to interparental conflict was associated with future mental health problems in children, especially for children who had strong relationships with their fathers.
Ten researchers who are exploring the link between an infectious agent and Alzheimer’s disease have each been awarded $100,000 research grants through the IDSA Foundation’s Microbial Pathogenesis in Alzheimer’s Disease Grant program.
The Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR), at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, announced the launch of the Intervention to Reduce Early Peanut Allergy in Children (iREACH) study. iREACH is a five-year, randomized clinical trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), aimed at assessing and improving pediatric clinician adherence to the 2017 prevention of peanut allergy guidelines developed by an expert panel sponsored by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center published promising findings today in the New England Journal of Medicine on preventing a common complication to lifesaving blood stem cell transplantation in leukemia.
The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai has been awarded a $1.9 million grant by the National Cancer Institute for an innovative study that will explore the mechanisms that enable tumor cells to spread from their original site but remain dormant for some time before becoming metastatic and threatening the lives of patients.
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) announced today the recipients of the 2021 Genentech Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Research Fellowships. The two recipients will each receive $40,000 to support research focused on an aspect of AMD. The 2021 recipients are Yi-Rong Peng, PhD and Kevin J. McHugh, PhD.
DALLAS – Jan. 11, 2021 – A set of biomarkers not traditionally associated with cell fate can accurately predict how genetically identical cells behave differently under stress, according to a UT Southwestern study. The findings, published by Cell Reports as a Dec. 1 cover story, could eventually lead to more predictable responses to pharmaceutical treatments.
More than half of people who use medical marijuana products to ease pain also experience clusters of multiple withdrawal symptoms when they’re between uses, a new study finds. And about 10% of the patients taking part in the study experienced worsening changes to their sleep, mood, mental state, energy and appetite over the next two years as they continued to use cannabis.
Fermilab scientists and engineers are developing a machine learning platform to help run Fermilab’s accelerator complex alongside a fast-response machine learning application for accelerating particle beams. The programs will work in tandem to boost efficiency and energy conservation in Fermilab accelerators.
Tulane University has received a $1 million gift—and an additional matching challenge grant of up to $1 million—from the TAWANI Foundation, led by Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired). The gift will establish the Audrey G. Ratner Excellence Endowed Fund for American Jewry and Jewish Culture in the School of Liberal Arts—moving the Department of Jewish Studies significantly closer to its goal of creating a world-class hub of Jewish learning dedicated to the innovative and holistic study of American Jews.
A test of the Sum-Share statistical method using only summary-level data found 1,734 genetic variations associated with cardiovascular-related conditions when just one had previously been likely
A protein that wreaks havoc in the nerves and heart when it clumps together can prevent the formation of toxic protein clumps associated with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study led by a UT Southwestern researcher shows. The findings, published recently in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, could lead to new treatments for this brain-ravaging condition, which currently has no truly effective therapies and no cure.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received a grant to develop better diagnostic tests for worm infections as part of an international effort to eliminate two tropical infectious diseases: lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mass General Cancer Center have created molecular ON-OFF switches to regulate the activity of CAR T cells, a potent form of cell-based immunotherapy that has had dramatic success in treating some advanced cancers, but which pose a significant risk of toxic side effects.
DALLAS – Jan. 6, 2020 – UT Southwestern scientists have developed a new method to study the molecular characteristics of T cells, critical immune cells that recognize and attack invaders in the body such as viruses, bacteria, and cancer.
A team of researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York has been selected to receive $2.6 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to develop ways to reliably support higher amounts of solar power on the grid.
Diabetes continues to be the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults in the United States. But the current shortage of eye-care providers would make it impossible to keep up with demand to provide the requisite annual screenings for this population. A new study looks at the effectiveness of seven artificial intelligence-based screening algorithms to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, the most common diabetic eye disease leading to vision loss.
While researchers have been studying chloride’s corrosive effects on various materials for decades, high-performance computers were recently used to create detailed simulations to provide new insight on how chloride leads to corrosion.
The State University of New York has awarded grants to three teams at Binghamton University to pursue research projects related to COVID-19.
A Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center team led by Christine Ambrosone, PhD, and Song Yao, PhD, has revealed a distinct molecular signature in the tumor tissues of Black patients with breast cancer. The new work, published today in JNCI, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, reports that an elevated number of “exhausted,” nonfunctional T cells appears to be driving tumors in patients of African descent to be more aggressive and hard-to-treat — a finding that also opens the door to treatment interventions that could help to eliminate the striking disparities in survival between Black and white patients with breast cancer.
Announcement of a $7.5 million gift from Steve and Loree Potash of Bentleyville, Ohio, to University Hospitals to establish the Steve and Loree Potash Women & Newborn Center at UH Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood, Ohio. Part of the UH Ahuja Phase 2 expansion, the new center will bring the trusted and collaborative care of UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s and UH MacDonald Women’s hospitals to the eastside, introducing maternal-fetal care and a full spectrum of labor and delivery services to the UH Ahuja campus.
DALLAS – Jan. 5, 2021 – Researchers at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have discovered a new metabolic vulnerability in a highly aggressive form of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). These findings could pave the way for new treatments for patients with mutations in two key genes – KRAS and LKB1. Patients whose tumors contain both of these mutations, known as KL tumors, have poor outcomes and usually do not respond to immunotherapy.
A new study finds that tumors in the liver siphon off critical immune cells, rendering immunotherapy ineffective. But coupling immunotherapy with radiotherapy to the liver in mice restored the immune cell function and led to better outcomes.
A Monell Chemical Senses Center and Temple University team recently became part of a new, multi-institute National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded initiative called the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostic Radical program (RADx). The NIH invested $107 million at 43 institutions across the country to support non-traditional and repurposed technologies to combat the pandemic and address future viral disease outbreaks.
In a study published today in the journal Science Advances, a team from Roswell Park details a method to measure the abundance of cancer-related early changes to skin tissue long before the damage becomes visible to the eye.
Activating an immune signaling pathway best known for fighting viral and bacterial infections can boost the ability of genetically engineered T cells to eradicate breast cancer in mice, according to a new study by researchers at the University of North Carolina. The study, to be published December 31 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that CAR T cells, which are already used to treat certain blood cancers in humans, may also be successful against solid tumors if combined with other immunotherapeutic approaches.
Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, has dedicated his career to understanding how new memories are formed and stored in the brain. His latest work, involving the recording of patients' single neurons, landed him and a multidisciplinary team of scientists a five-year, $8 million total research grant.
Research into the gut-brain axis continues to reveal how the brain and gut influence each other’s health and well-being. Now researchers are endeavoring to learn more about gut-brain discourse using a model system built in a lab dish.
Breast and ovarian cancer are two of the deadliest malignancies among women worldwide.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that Chiari 1 malformation can be caused by variations in two genes linked to brain development, and that children with large heads are at increased risk of developing the condition.
Stupid Strong Charitable Foundation is proud to contribute $250,000 to The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center to support cutting-edge research in gastric cancer led by Jaffer Ajani, M.D., professor of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology.
Military members who receive gun locks and lethal means counseling, which focuses on ways to limit a person’s access to specific methods for suicide, are more likely to use a gun safe and unload firearms before they are stored, according to the Gun Violence Research Center based at Rutgers
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how our small genetic differences can have a tremendous effect on how our bodies respond to disease. Researchers have created 3D maps of how enhancer sequences and genes interact in several types of immune cells. Their new study opens the door to understanding individual risk for diseases from asthma to cancer.
DALLAS – Dec. 21, 2020 – A UT Southwestern research team has catalogued gene activity in the skeletal muscle of mice, comparing healthy animals to those carrying a genetic mutation that causes Duchene muscular dystrophy (DMD) in humans. The findings, published online recently in PNAS, could lead to new treatments for this devastating degenerative disease and insights into factors that affect muscle development.
The rate of hospital readmissions for hip and knee replacement patients declined from roughly 12 percent to 3 percent when they were enrolled in a “hovering” program
By taking a lesson from prostate cancer, researchers now have a promising lead on a treatment for COVID-19. They found that, just like in prostate cancer, TMPRSS2 is regulated by the androgen receptor in the lungs. And notably, blocking the androgen receptor led to lower expression of TMPRSS2, which led to decreased coronavirus infection in mice and cellular models.
Exposure to metals such as nickel, arsenic, cobalt and lead may disrupt a woman’s hormones during pregnancy, according to a Rutgers study.
Every year, nearly 2.5 million U.S. high school athletes participate in contact sports. Each of these athletes sustains an average of 650 subconcussive head impacts in a single season, hits that can negatively affect brain health.
Backed by a three-year, $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, URI Prof. Krishna Venkatasubramanian is researching computer authentication problems faced by people with upper extremity impairment with a goal of developing software that allows users to more easily access their devices. Venkatasubramanian is collaborating with TechACCESS of Rhode Island, which provides assistive technology services for people with disabilities.
In a recent survey, people who said social distancing and COVID-safety guidelines violated their personal freedoms responded more positively to these ideas when they felt a loved one might be at risk of severe illness for COVID-19.
Queen’s University Belfast has announced a £2.5 million investment for an interdisciplinary research facility, MediaLab, focusing on virtual production that will help drive R&D for the screen industries and upskill the local sector in Northern Ireland.
The Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has received a $39.5 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to strengthen rehabilitation services in low- and middle-income countries.