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1-Jun-2020 5:05 PM EDT
Sleep, Death and … the Gut?
Harvard Medical School

A new study finds in sleep-deprived fruit flies, premature death is always preceded by the accumulation of reactive oxidative species in the gut. Antioxidant compounds that neutralize ROS allow sleep-deprived flies to have normal lifespans.

   
Released: 4-Jun-2020 10:45 AM EDT
DNA-barcoded microbial spores can trace origin of objects, agricultural products
Harvard Medical School

Harvard scientists have developed DNA-barcoded microbial spores that can be safely introduced onto objects and surfaces at a point of origin, such as a field or manufacturing plant, and be identified months later, to help trace problems like the source of foodborne illness.

Released: 4-Jun-2020 9:35 AM EDT
Split Ends: New studies show how DNA crossovers can drive healthy, abnormal sperm, egg cell division
Harvard Medical School

Human genetic diversity wouldn't be possible without DNA crossovers in egg and sperm cells. Two Harvard Medical School studies provide new insights into how crossovers go right--and wrong, leading to infertility, miscarriages and birth defects.

   
Released: 29-May-2020 10:15 AM EDT
Next Frontier in Bacterial Engineering
Harvard Medical School

A new technique overcomes a serious hurdle in the field of bacterial design and engineering Researchers develop method to identify proteins that enable highly efficient bacterial design Approach has potential to boost efforts in bacterial design to tackle infectious diseases, bacterial drug resistance, environmental cleanup and more

11-May-2020 3:05 PM EDT
Researchers identify most powerful gene variant for height known to date
Harvard Medical School

• Newly discovered gene variant in Peruvian populations is powerfully linked with height • Five percent of Peruvians carry the variant, which originates exclusively from Native American populations • The variant occurs on a gene that, when mutated, causes Marfan syndrome, a condition marked by connective tissue abnormalities, including serious cardiovascular problems • The newly discovered variant is not associated with disease and may confer adaptive evolutionary advantage to populations that carry it

   
8-May-2020 9:55 AM EDT
Sex, Genes and Vulnerability
Harvard Medical School

New work led by researchers in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard provides a clear genetic explanation behind the long-standing yet mysterious observation that some diseases occur more often, hit harder or elicit different symptoms in men or women.

1-May-2020 11:00 AM EDT
Ancient Andes, Analyzed
Harvard Medical School

An international research team has conducted the first in-depth, wide-scale study of the genomic history of ancient civilizations in the central Andes mountains and coast before European contact. The findings reveal early genetic distinctions between groups in nearby regions, population mixing within and beyond the Andes, surprising genetic continuity amid cultural upheaval, and ancestral cosmopolitanism among some of the region's most well-known ancient civilizations.

Released: 6-May-2020 1:20 PM EDT
Intel from an Outpatient COVID-19 Clinic
Harvard Medical School

A new report offers insights that can help clinicians distinguish between patients with COVID-19 infections and those with other conditions that may mimic COVID-19 symptoms.

Released: 27-Apr-2020 11:35 AM EDT
Soup to Nuts
Harvard Medical School

The COVID-19 pandemic demands action on many fronts, from prevention to testing to treatment. Not content to focus its research efforts on just one, the laboratory of George Church in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University is tackling the problem from seven different angles.

Released: 24-Apr-2020 3:05 PM EDT
A Silent Epidemic
Harvard Medical School

After years of progress, geriatrician Sharon Inouye worries that hard-won best practices for reducing delirium risk are getting lost in the turmoil of COVID-19 care.

Released: 23-Apr-2020 12:40 PM EDT
New Dean for School of Dental Medicine
Harvard Medical School

William V. Giannobile, an educator and leader in the field of periodontology and an internationally recognized scholar in oral regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and precision medicine, has been named dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. The appointment was announced today by Harvard Medical School Dean George Q Daley.

Released: 22-Apr-2020 2:50 PM EDT
Inappropriate Diagnoses
Harvard Medical School

A postmortem exam of the brain remains the gold standard for diagnosing chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, the neurodegenerative brain disease believed to arise from repeated hits to the head. Yet a small but by no means trivial number of former professional football players say they have received a diagnosis of CTE, according to a new study. Even though the results are based on player self-reports rather than on documented clinical diagnoses, the researchers say their findings are alarming for a number of reasons.

Released: 1-Apr-2020 5:30 PM EDT
Ending the Pandemic
Harvard Medical School

As scientists forge ahead to piece together a comprehensive profile of the new coronavirus fueling a historic pandemic, they are focusing their efforts on six areas: epidemiology, diagnostics, pathogenesis, clinical disease management, treatment and vaccines.

Released: 26-Mar-2020 9:00 AM EDT
Learning from the Recovered
Harvard Medical School

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital are adapting an antibody-detection tool to study the aftermath of infections by the novel coronavirus that is causing the current global pandemic.

Released: 24-Feb-2020 9:55 AM EST
Harvard scientists, Chinese colleagues to collaborate on coronavirus research
Harvard Medical School

Harvard University scientists will collaborate with Chinese colleagues to elucidate the basic biology of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), and the resulting disease, toward new diagnostic tools, vaccine development and antiviral therapies. The collaboration is part of a $115 million research initiative funded by China Evergrande Group.

14-Feb-2020 11:00 AM EST
Right Place, Right Time
Harvard Medical School

Harvard researchers have discovered a new mechanism for how the brain and its arteries communicate to supply blood to areas of heightened neural activity. The findings enable new avenues of study into the role of this process in neurological diseases.

5-Feb-2020 10:30 AM EST
Antioxidant Reverses BPA-Induced Fertility Damage in Worms
Harvard Medical School

At a glance: Treatment with a naturally occurring antioxidant, CoQ10, restores many aspects of fertility in C. elegans worms following exposure to BPA. Findings offer possible path toward undoing BPA-induced reproductive harms in people. Although CoQ10 is available over the counter, it is not yet clear whether the compound could improve human fertility or do so safely.

22-Jan-2020 11:35 AM EST
Scientists trace the molecular roots of potentially fatal heart condition
Harvard Medical School

At a glance: Research using heart cells from squirrels, mice and people identifies an evolutionary mechanism critical for heart muscle function Gene defect that affects a protein found in the heart muscle interferes with this mechanism to cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a potentially fatal heart condition Imbalance in the ratio of active and inactive protein disrupts heart muscle’s ability to contract and relax normally, interferes with heart muscle’s energy consumption Treatment with a small-molecule drug restores proper contraction, energy consumption in human and rodent heart cells If affirmed in subsequent studies, the results can inform therapies that could halt disease progression, help prevent common complications, including arrhythmias and heart failure

Released: 23-Jan-2020 12:05 PM EST
Adrenaline Handbrake
Harvard Medical School

Researchers have solved the long-standing mystery of how adrenaline regulates a key class of membrane proteins that are responsible for initiating the contraction of heart cells. The findings provide a mechanistic description of how adrenaline stimulates the heart and present new targets for cardiovascular drug discovery, including the potential development of alternative therapeutics to beta-blockers.

17-Jan-2020 1:00 PM EST
First Ancient DNA from West and Central Africa Illuminates Deep Human Past
Harvard Medical School

An international team led by Harvard Medical School scientists has produced the first genome-wide ancient human DNA sequences from west and central Africa.



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