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Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have shown that a single “cocktail” of three pill-based anti-parasite medications is significantly more effective at killing microscopic larval worms in people diagnosed with lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis, than other standard two-drug combinations previously used in the global effort to eliminate this infectious disease. A combination of all three drugs given simultaneously had never been tested until now. An estimated 120 million people in over 50 tropical and subtropical countries are infected with lymphatic filariasis and another 856 million people are at risk.

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Leading cancer researcher, Alex Huang MD, PhD, has been awarded a three-year, $1.35 million grant from the St. Baldrick’s Foundation and the Osteosarcoma Collaborative to develop new ways to treat osteosarcoma, a rare cancer that begins in the bone.

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Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and partners have been awarded a five-year, $6M grant from the Paris-based Fondation Leducq to conduct a thorough analysis of the pivotal role of KLF2 in vascular-related functions and disorders. The team’s grant was one of five awarded globally and aims to improve knowledge and treatment of cardiovascular disease.

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Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is preparing and inspiring a new generation of cancer investigators through Cancer-focused Summer Undergraduate Research (CanSUR). The 10-week program recently received a five-year National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute) research grant totaling $1.6 million. Starting in 2019, CanSUR will support 32 undergraduates each year from June through August.

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Serotonin (3A) receptors are common drug targets in the treatment of pain, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, and mood disorders yet little is known about their three-dimensional structure. Details about serotonin receptor structures could provide important clues to designing better drugs with less side effects. Now, a team of researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have used high-powered microscopes to view serotonin activating its receptor for the first time. Images published in Nature reveal molecular details about the receptor that could improve drug design to treat a multitude of diseases.

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Taking a look at the perpetrators of domestic violence

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A single protein regulates a battery of key genes inside developing sperm, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Scientists discovered the protein—called Dazl—controls a network of genes essential for developing sperm to replicate and survive. The findings, published in Cell Reports, could lay the groundwork for future research into therapies for infertile men.

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Insoo Hyun, PhD, and colleagues will identify ways of improving existing guidelines and ensuring professional accountability and responsibility in human-animal chimera research. The interdisciplinary bioethics project is supported by a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

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Not much is known about how bipolar disorder (BD) affects people throughout their lives. Do women and men differ in the severity of their symptoms? Does a person’s age when a bipolar diagnosis is made have any bearing on how severe the symptoms are? How do other medical conditions affect symptoms of BD across the life-span? These questions and others like them are the focus of an international team of researchers, joined by Martha Sajatovic, MD, professor of psychiatry and of neurology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, who has received a three-year, $600,000 grant from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. She and her colleagues will develop the first-of-its-kind multi-national database that can be used to help researchers address questions about BD throughout the adult lifespan.

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The Case Comprehensive Cancer Center has received a three-year, $3,194,947 grant from the National Cancer Institute to investigate colorectal and breast cancer health disparities. The grant is one of only four Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) Planning Grant P20 awards given across the nation to address health disparities. It will provide the infrastructure for a new, comprehensive research program at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine to study cancer health disparities at both molecular and population levels.

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Biochemists, microbiologists, drug discovery experts and infectious disease doctors have teamed up in a new study that shows antibiotics are not always necessary to cure sepsis in mice. Instead of killing causative bacteria with antibiotics, researchers treated infected mice with molecules that block toxin formation in bacteria. Every treated mouse survived. The breakthrough study, published in Scientific Reports, suggests infections in humans might be cured the same way.

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Research scientists around the world are now able to investigate the structural, cellular, and developmental intricacies of the human brain using bioengineered stem cell-based models called organoids. But the ethics to help guide researchers and regulators lag behind the technological capability to “grow” brains in a petri dish. That is about to change as a group of bioethicists and scientists chart the unexplored territory of neuroethics, which is quickly emerging from the ability to bioengineer models of the brain. The study, called “The Brainstorm Project,” will be led by Insoo Hyun, PhD, professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

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Many breast cancer drugs block estrogen receptors inside cancer cells. Blocking the receptors early in disease progression staves off metastasis. But most patients with advanced disease eventually develop drug resistance, leaving doctors desperate for alternatives. Now, researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have uncovered a previously uncharacterized, bridge-like structure within the human estrogen receptor that could serve as a valuable new drug target. In Nature Communications, researchers describe a “burning the bridge” strategy to disrupting the estrogen receptor, and how to screen breast cancer drugs designed to do it.

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A team of nurses and physicians has received a four-year, $3 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to extend traditional HIV treatment protocols to improve the cardiovascular health of people living with HIV.

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Wenquan Zou, MD, PhD, and his collaborator, Qingzhong Kong, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, have been awarded $2.9M from the National Institutes of Health to extend their previous path-breaking finding of skin prions of these devastating diseases.

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In two newly published papers, a scientific team at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports on the discovery and implementation of a new, more efficient method for generating an important brain stem cell in the laboratory. The findings pave the way for greater understanding of the underlying mechanisms of neurological disorders of myelin and ultimately, possible new treatment and prevention options. The studies were published in the September issues of Nature Communications and Stem Cell Reports.

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The odds of a black or Hispanic patient visiting an outpatient dermatologist are about half that of a white patient with the same skin condition, according to a new study in JAMA Dermatology. Patients most likely to receive outpatient dermatologic services in the study were white, educated women. The findings are among several that describe disparities in the use of outpatient dermatology services.

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Researchers at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine found that smoking also weakens the ability for pulp in teeth to fight illness and disease.