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Five-year NIH grant funds new Center for Genome Imaging @ HarvardMed, three other institutions.

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• 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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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Three Harvard Medical School researchers recognized for distinguished achievements in research

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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Leaders in biomedical informatics and medicine discuss ways to optimize the integration of AI in clinical medicine

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The sense of hearing is, quite literally, a molecular tightrope act. Turns out, it involves acrobatics as well.

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Experts discuss key insights in clinical treatment of COVID-19 from Year One of the pandemic.

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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.

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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.

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Study finds no decrease in prescription fills or clinician visits in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic for patients recently receiving opioid use disorder therapy. On the flip side, the study found that during this period fewer people started new treatment for opioid use disorder and fewer urine tests were given across both new and established patients. Findings identify strengths and weaknesses in telemedicine’s role for opioid use disorder during shutdowns and can inform strategies for improvement.

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New study in mice finds that a high-fat diet allows cancer cells to outcompete immune cells for fuel, impairing immune function and accelerating tumor growth. Findings suggest new strategies to target cancer metabolism, improve immunotherapies.

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Harvard Medical School neuroscientists have discovered genes that memory neurons use to rewire connections after new experiences. The findings shed light on the biology of long-term memory, with implications for new approaches to intervene when memory deficits occur with age or disease.

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Removing race from clinical tools that calculate kidney function could have both advantages and disadvantages for Black patients. Newly diagnosed patients and those whose kidney disease is reclassified as more severe would have greater access to kidney specialists, faster access to the kidney-transplant waitlist. On the flipside, patients reclassified as having more severe kidney disease may become ineligible for heart, diabetes, pain control and cancer medications or may be given lower doses for these drugs. A new kidney function score would also increase the number of Black individuals ineligible to donate a kidney, potentially exacerbating organ shortages for Black people. Researchers caution that clinicians and policy makers must anticipate both the benefits and downsides of changes to the current formula to ensure that Black patients are not disadvantaged, and health disparities are not exacerbated. Scientists say the analysis should motivate researchers and cl

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School have successfully reversed age-related vision loss in animals as well as eye damage stemming from with a condition mimicking human glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness around the world.

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In a study on human ovarian cancer cells transplanted into mice, Harvard Medical School researchers discovered a transient, cooperative interaction between cell subpopulations that allows otherwise nonmetastatic tumor cells to become aggressive and spread.