With more than 50 papers and posters, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and Mount Sinai Health System faculty are leading scientific contributors at the 2015 ARVO meeting in Denver, CO.
Internationally renowned researcher Danny Reinberg, PhD, the Terry and Mel Karmazin Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Langone Medical Center, has joined the prestigious ranks of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors bestowed on an individual in recognition of continuing and distinguished achievements in original research.
Bats must rapidly integrate different types of sensory information to catch insects and avoid obstacles while flying. A study shows, for the first time, that a unique array of sensory receptors in the wing provides feedback to a bat during flight. The findings also suggest that neurons in the bat brain respond to incoming airflow and touch signals, triggering rapid adjustments in wing position to optimize flight control.
New study in Nature Communications by Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai shows gene therapy can edit out genetic material linked to heart failure and replace it with the normal gene in human cardiac cells.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has been placed among the world’s 10 best universities for 11 subjects across disciplines in Architecture/Built Environment, Engineering, Science, and the Social Sciences, according to the latest QS World University Rankings by Subject. The University is also Asia’s best across 21 subjects, up from 18 subjects last year.
Investigators will present data from more than 50 studies on topics including adolescent sexual risk, co-locating behavioral health and primary care services, childhood obesity, asthma and autism.
Creating small high schools improves outcomes for students in the overall school district – both in new small schools and existing larger schools – according to a study of New York City schools by researchers at New York University, Syracuse University, and Arizona State University.
In studying the molecular biology of brain development, a team of researchers led by Ludwig Stockholm director Thomas Perlmann has discovered how disruption of a developmental mechanism alters the very nerve cells that are most affected in Parkinson’s disease. The results of their study, which took nearly four years to complete and involved the targeted manipulation of mouse genes to generate a model of the disease, are published in the current issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (BARESKRIM MABES POLRI), the Government of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Wildlife Crimes Unit (WCU) today announced the seizure of a shipment of pangolins headed to China and valued at approximately 1.8 million US dollars (USD). The pangolin smuggler involved in the case has been arrested.
TCT 2015 (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics) is the annual Scientific Symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF). TCT is the world’s premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Columbia Engineering Professor James Hone led a team in 2013 that dramatically improved the performance of graphene by encapsulating it in boron nitride. They’ve now shown they can similarly improve the performance of another 2D material, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2. Their findings provide a demonstration of how to study all 2D materials and hold great promise for a broad range of applications including high-performance electronics, detection and emission of light, and chemical/bio-sensing.
Nature Nanotechnology , week of April 27, 2015
Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered that mitochondria, the major energy source for most cells, also play an important role in stem cell development — a purpose notably distinct from the tiny organelle’s traditional job as the cell’s main source of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy needed for routine cell metabolism.
Stroke is a disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain (ischemic stroke) or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts (hemorrhagic stroke).
Researchers have performed the first human-based study to identify calcium channels in cerebral arteries and determine the distinct role each channel plays in helping control blood flow to the brain.
A protein that normally fosters tissue repair instead acts to inhibit healing when sugar levels are high. The role reversal helps explain why wounds heal slowly in people with diabetes.
Nearly half of high school students in the U.S. have had sexual intercourse and one third did not use a condom during their last sexual encounter, this study examined whether an intensive theory-driven intervention would prevent sexual risk behavior in young adolescents.
Long Island start-up company SulfCrete, Inc. has been exploring commercialization of sulfur polymer, a unique and affordable construction material developed at Brookhaven National Lab that has a very small carbon footprint compared to the existing concrete products it might one day replace.
A new clinical trial is testing the feasibility and efficiency of a doctor in New York City remotely performing long-distance, tele-robotic ultrasound exams over the Internet on patients in Chicago.
Taking child's play with building blocks to a whole new level-the nanometer scale-scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have constructed 3D "superlattice" multicomponent nanoparticle arrays where the arrangement of particles is driven by the shape of the tiny building blocks. The method uses linker molecules made of complementary strands of DNA to overcome the blocks' tendency to pack together in a way that would separate differently shaped components.
The Government of Madagascar commemorates Earth Day with the formal creation of three community-led marine protected areas that will double the surface of the country’s marine protected area network, according to WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).
The 45th annual Earth Day arrives on April 22nd, and with it, the usual calls to do more for the planet like recycling, using less energy, and buying organic. But what about actions you can do that directly save wildlife?
A significant proportion of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have unsuspected chromosomal imbalances, including DNA anomalies that have been linked to neurocognitive disorders, according to a new Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) study.
Following a first seizure, physicians should discuss with patients whether it is appropriate to prescribe medication to reduce risk of another seizure, according to new guidelines released at the American Academy of Neurology meeting.
Everyone knows that 60 is the new 50. But now, Warren Sanderson, a Professor of Economics at Stony Brook University, and Sergei Scherbov, a project leader at an Austrian research institute, have written an article about future population projections for Europe up to the year 2050 published in PLOS ONE, which shows that, counterintuitively, population aging is slower when life expectancy increase is faster – 60 really is the new 50.
Riders ready? Cycle Adirondacks – an event to benefit both wildlife and local communities – is fast approaching. Hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in partnership with I Love NY, the event has riders all over the nation gearing up for one of three tour options taking place during one amazing week, August 23-29. Event organizers this week announced three-day and four-day tour alternatives in addition to the existing week-long option.
Stony Brook University will confer honorary degrees this year upon three luminaries who have established remarkable legacies in their respective fields. Long Island’s Piano Man, William Martin Joel, will receive a Doctor of Music;world renowned computer scientist Professor Ben Shneiderman, a two-time Stony Brook alumnus who pioneered the human-computer interaction and the highlighted textual link, will receive a Doctor of Science; and one of Long Island’s most prolific businessmen and philanthropists, Charles B. Wang, will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters. All three will don academic regalia along with nearly 6,000 students as they join in the University’s 55th Commencement ceremonies.
Extending the dose of an infusion medication for multiple sclerosis (MS), Natalizumab, from 4 weeks up to 8 has been shown to be well-tolerated and effective -- and resulted in no cases of the potentially fatal side effect, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), according to a new study led by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center.
A new mathematical model that uses drug-target kinetics to predict how drugs work in vivo may provide a foundation to improve drug discovery, which is frequently hampered by the inability to predict effective doses of drugs. The discovery by Peter Tonge, a Professor of Chemistry and Radiology, and Director of Infectious Disease Research at the Institute for Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB & DD) at Stony Brook University, along with collaborators at Stony Brook University and AstraZeneca, will be published advanced online on April 20 in Nature Chemical Biology.
A Phase 2 clinical trial led by Ludwig Harvard’s Stephen Hodi and Ludwig Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK)’s Jedd Wolchok has found that the combination of two immunotherapies for first-line treatment of advanced melanoma induces better responses and far longer progression-free survival than giving one of those drugs alone. Further, the combination was effective in the portion of melanoma patients—the majority—who currently have few effective treatment options. The results of the trial, which compared a combination of checkpoint inhibitors ipilimumab and nivolumab against ipilimumab alone in previously untreated patients, were presented today at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research and have been simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Using mobile apps in preschool classrooms may help improve early literacy skills and boost school readiness for low-income children, according to research by NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
Ludwig MIT researcher Tyler Jacks will deliver an address titled “Engineering the Cancer Genome” during the opening plenary session of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research on insights gleaned from mouse models of cancer.
Meaningful college experiences, including internships and studying abroad, may not matter as much as your major and what school you attend when it comes to job satisfaction and earnings, according to research by NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
A multicenter team of U.S. and Venezuelan scientists, led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center, have discovered the most diverse collection of bodily bacteria yet in humans among an isolated tribe of Yanomami Indians in the remote Amazonian jungles of southern Venezuela.
Scientists from the Icahn School of Medicine, collaborating with a multicenter team of U.S. and Venezuelan researchers, have discovered the most diverse collection of bacteria yet in humans among an isolated tribe of Yanomami Amerindians in the remote Amazonian jungles of Venezuela.
Recent research published in The Diabetes Educator by Dr. Shiela Strauss, along with a team of NYU researchers, reveals differing perceptions among adult populations at-risk for diabetes that may offer new approaches to diabetes education and prevention.
The National University of Singapore (NUS) today launched the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (LKCNHM), Singapore’s first and only natural history museum. Its roots can be traced to the original Raffles Museum, which is the oldest such institution in the region. His Excellency Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of the Republic of Singapore and NUS Chancellor, graced the official opening of the museum, in the presence of over 250 guests.
The State Prosecutor of North Sumatra and WCS’s Wildlife Crimes Unit announced the arrest of a suspect for trafficking a living orangutan in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia. The trafficker allegedly sold wildlife through Facebook and by BlackBerry Messenger. The arrest was made on April 13, 2015.
Mount Sinai Health System has appointed Sean P. Pinney, MD, to the new position of Director of Heart Failure and Transplantation for the Mount Sinai Health System.
Today’s data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on yet another dramatic rise in the use of electronic cigarettes by middle and high school students reinforces the long-held position of the American Thoracic Society that e-cigarettes need to be subject to the same marketing and manufacturing restrictions as tobacco products.
Two primatologists working in the forests of the Republic of Congo have returned from the field with a noteworthy prize: the first-ever photograph of the Bouvier’s red colobus monkey, a rare primate not seen for more than half a century and suspected to be extinct by some, according to WCS (the Wildlife Conservation Society).
Neuroscientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered how the powerful brain hormone oxytocin acts on individual brain cells to prompt specific social behaviors – findings that could lead to a better understanding of how oxytocin and other hormones could be used to treat behavioral problems resulting from disease or trauma to the brain.
Bacteria, which we so often fight, have an immune system, too – in their case, to fight off invasive viruses called phages. Like any immune system, its first challenge is to distinguish between “foreign” and “self.” A Weizmann Institute of Science and Tel Aviv University team has now revealed exactly how bacteria are able to do this.
Cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of death worldwide, in part because heart cells don’t renew – except during a very small window early in life. In a breakthrough, a team of researchers that included the Weizmann Institute, Chaim Sheba Medical Center, and the University of South Wales gets mouse heart cells to take a step backwards… and be renewed.
A team led by Shree K. Nayar, Computer Science Professor at Columbia Engineering, has invented a prototype video camera that is the first to be fully self-powered—it can produce an image each second, indefinitely, of a well-lit indoor scene. They designed a pixel that can not only measure incident light but also convert the incident light into electric power. The work will be presented at the International Conference on Computational Photography in Houston, 4/24-26
Thanks to accelerator advances, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC, http://www.bnl.gov/rhic/), a powerful nuclear physics research facility at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, just shattered its own record for producing polarized proton collisions at 200-giga-electron-volt (GeV) collision energy. The improvement will generate high volumes of data rapidly, giving physicists time to achieve several high-priority science goals in a single run at RHIC.