Brain Imaging of Neuromelanin May be Key to Understanding Extensive Substance Use

A study that used a specialized type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), named neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, showed that this type of MRI signal was increased in regions of the midbrain in young adults ages 20 to 24 who had an extensive alcohol and drug use history. The findings are published early online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Inaugural summit to explore artificial intelligence

A new virtual conference will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can help health care providers and scientists efficiently analyze vast amounts of data and make more informed decisions, the Endocrine Society announced today.

High-Speed Camera for Molecules: Entangled Photons Enabled Raman Spectroscopy

This scheme significantly improves the frequency-time resolution of spectra, yielding elaborate HOM interference which enables the selective access of stimulated Raman scattering. In addition, no grating is required for detection, simplifying the experimental setup.

By Mimicking Cicada Wings, Scientists Are Investigating New Ways to Keep Patients Safe

Cicada’s cries ring out in the hot air and their discarded exoskeletons decorate tree branches in the southeast and midwest United States at the height of summer. While their ability to emerge in huge numbers is astounding, they have other surprising features too. In fact, their wings kill bacteria on contact and are self-cleaning. Researchers using the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Brookhaven National Laboratory user facilities investigated this bizarre phenomenon. They learned how structures in the cells are able to pull off such a feat and how it could be used in medical applications.

Wistar’s Dr. Noam Auslander Awarded $600K V Foundation Grant to Identify Connections between Gut Microbial Genes & Melanoma immunotherapy

The Wistar Institute’s Dr. Noam Auslander was awarded a $600,000 Women Scientists Innovation Award for Cancer Research grant from the V Foundation for Cancer Research to support the next three years of her research, which will use proteins of gut bacteria to predict immunotherapy benefit in melanoma.

Rensselaer Professor Receives $3.7 Million Grant for Alzheimer’s Disease Research

Chunyu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of biological sciences and chemistry and chemical biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a five-year grant of more than $3.7 million by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to study Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) isoform interactions with heparan sulfate (HS) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of California San Diego Receive $8.5 Million Award to Establish a Data Integration Hub for NIH Common Fund Supported Programs

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of California San Diego have been awarded an $8.5 million grant to create a data integration hub aimed at accelerating novel therapeutics and cures for diseases within initiatives supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund.

Researchers Design Multiclass Cancer Diagnostic Tool Using AI, MicroRNA

MicroRNAs, or miRNAs, regulate genes and biological processes in the human body, including cancer formation and development. To explore the feasibility of miRNAs as cancer biomarkers, researchers created a multiclass cancer diagnostic model using miRNA expression profiles. The study examined the relationship between the composition of miRNAs and various types of cancers. Findings suggest that miRNAs may be highly unique to specific cancerous tissues and can be strong biomarkers for detection and classification in both research and the clinical field

Women scientists transition from mentored to independent research grants at lower rates than men

The transition from mentored to independent research is an important career junction for medical researchers. A new Yale-led study finds that women researchers in the U.S. reach that point at lower rates than men. Researchers found between 1997 and 2021,…

St. Jude scientists to receive coveted awards at AACR annual meeting

The American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) will honor two investigators from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for their research contributions. Melissa Hudson, M.D., director of the Cancer Survivorship Division and Jun J. Yang, Ph.D., vice-chair of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

With $13M, UIC scientists will study lung inflammation mechanisms

The research team consists of six investigators who will lead three separate project grants and three separate cores, in the hopes of finding new avenues for research and treatments to help patients who suffer from conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, pulmonary fibrosis and acute respiratory distress disorder, a common and serious complication of COVID-19.

Hybrid Decoders for Marked Point Process Observations and External Influences

Wearable monitoring is likely to play a key role in the future of healthcare. In many cases, wearable devices may monitor our physiological signals that can indicate mental states, such as emotions. The lab of Rose Faghih has been developing a system called MINDWATCH, algorithms and methods for wearable sensors that collect information from electrical signals in the skin to make inferences about mental activity.

NIH launches intramural bioengineering center to foster technology collaboration across the agency

NIBIB has established the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration—BETA Center, a new intramural research program to solve a range of medicine’s most pressing problems. The BETA Center will serve the wider NIH intramural research program as a biotechnology resource and catalyst for NIH research discoveries.

APRU APEC University Leaders’ Forum 2022

The APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities) and Chulalongkorn University cordially invite all interested persons to attend the APRU APEC University Leaders’ Forum 2022 on 16 November 2022 from 9.00 a.m. – 5.30 p.m. (GMT+7), either in person or online.

Cleveland Clinic Selected as Founding Partner in Greater Washington, D.C. Quantum Computing Hub

Cleveland Clinic has been selected as a founding partner and the leading healthcare system in a new initiative meant to spur collaboration and innovation in the quantum computing industry.

Based in Greater Washington, D.C., Connected DMV and a cross-sector coalition of partners are developing the new Life Sciences and Healthcare Quantum Innovation Hub to prepare the industry for the burgeoning quantum era and align with key national and global efforts in life sciences and quantum technologies.

The Wistar Institute Welcomes Michele A. Schiavoni, New Vice President of Communications &  Marketing

The Wistar Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of Michele A. Schiavoni, M.S., as Vice President of Communications & Marketing, in a central leadership role that will bolster the visibility of the Institute’s ambitious biomedical research science initiatives and programs advancing the organization’s newly launched Bold Science // Global Impact Capital Campaign.

Good Publication Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Company-Sponsored Biomedical Research updated for 2022

The Good Publication Practice (GPP) guidelines comprised of recommendations for publishing company-sponsored biomedical research have been updated for 2022. According to the authors, these guidelines are important because they include guidance on transparency and accountability, two increasingly high priorities for company-sponsored research. The guidelines are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

FIRST RESEARCH GRANTS AWARDED IN UTEP-TTUHSC EL PASO PARTNERSHIP

A partnership between The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Texas Tech Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso) designed to expand health research in the Paso del Norte region has identified studies which could have significant impact on the well-being of the community. The two institutions announced the first set of projects to receive funding from their Joint Seed Grant Program.

Through a $500 Million Partnership with the State of Ohio, JobsOhio and Ohio Development Services Agency, Cleveland Clinic Forms Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health

CLEVELAND: As part of the new Cleveland Innovation District announced today by State of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted, JobsOhio and Ohio Development Services Agency, Cleveland Clinic will significantly expand its global commitment to infectious disease research and translational programs to form the Global Center for Pathogen Research & Human Health.

The new Center will position Ohio as an international leader for research into emerging pathogens and virus-related diseases and will serve as a significant economic catalyst in Northeast Ohio. Funding comes through a $500 million investment from the State of Ohio, JobsOhio and Cleveland Clinic.

Endocrine Society urges Congress to increase funding for NIH

The Endocrine Society—the world’s largest professional organization for endocrine scientists and physicians—is calling on Congress to pass the House Labor-HHS spending bill to ensure health agencies are funded before the start of Fiscal Year 2021 and to avoid the tumult and disruption of a continuing resolution and potential government shutdowns.

Soup to Nuts

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.

UTEP Researchers Develop Nanohybrid Vehicle to Optimally Deliver Drugs Into the Human Body

The researchers discovered that encapsulating ellagic acid in chitosan, a sugar, reduces its inherent cytotoxicity while enhancing its anti-oxidant properties. The chitosan shell, which makes up the hard outer skeleton of shellfish, also permits EA delivery via a rapid burst phase and a relatively slow phase.

International Collaboration for Scientific Training Launched Between The Wistar Institute and Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands

Wistar and Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) formalized a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions to explore a postdoctoral training exchange program in immunology, cancer research and vaccine biology. The Wistar-Schoemaker International Postdoctoral Fellowship would bring recent Ph.D. graduates trained at LUMC to Wistar to advance their research education under the mentorship of cutting-edge biomedical research leaders.

CNS Gift to the CNS Foundation Doubles Innovative Clinical Research Initiative, Creating Annual NINDS/CNSF K12 Scholar Awards

The Congress of Neurological Surgeons Foundation (CNS Foundation) announced a second K12 award will be funded by a generous gift from the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS). The award is made possible through a collaboration with the Foundation of the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Texas Biomed continues testing Ebola therapies and vaccines showing promise in outbreak areas

In mid-August 2019, human clinical trials were halted in the current Ebola epidemic that has claimed more than 2,100 lives in Africa. The findings resulted in the discontinuation of two of the drugs in the trial. Future patients will be randomly assigned to receive either REGN-EB3 (Regeneron) or mAb114 (Ridgeback Biotherapeutics) in an extension phase of the study. Texas Biomedical Research Institute scientists in the Institute’s Biosafety Level 4 contract research program conducted preclinical testing of several of the compounds in the trial, working with Regeneron and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).