Pediatric Neurologist Honored With Prestigious Research Award

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) neurologist Shafali Spurling Jeste, MD, has been named the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Martha Bridge Denckla Award from the Child Neurology Society. This award—named after a physician who pioneered the field of developmental cognitive neurology—honors physician-scientists of international standing who conduct research and clinical care focused on neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral disorders.

Cedars-Sinai Welcomes New Plastic Surgery Leader

Cedars-Sinai has selected Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr., MD, as the new vice chair of Research in the Department of Surgery, director of the Division of Plastic Surgery and director of Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Program Development.

American Thyroid Association® Announces Award Recipients

American Thyroid Association awards honor clinicians, academicians with outstanding contributions to advancing thyroid research and care.

Weaponizing Part of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Against Itself to Prevent Infection

ROCKVILLE, MD – The virus that causes COVID-19, called SARS-CoV-2, uses its spike protein in order to stick to and infect our cells. The final step for the virus to enter our cells is for part of its spike protein to act like a twist tie, forcing the host cell’s outer membrane to fuse with the virus. Kailu Yang, in the lab of Axel Brunger, colleagues at Stanford University, and collaborators at University of California Berkely, Harvard Medical School, and University of Finland have generated a molecule based on the twisted part of the spike protein (called HR2), which sticks itself onto the virus and prevents the spike protein from twisting.

Vicki Noble, MD, appointed Chair of Department of Emergency Medicine at UH Cleveland Medical Center, and Emergency Medicine Physician-in-Chief for system

Vicki Noble, MD, has been named Chair, Department of Emergency Medicine at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, and Emergency Medicine Physician-in-Chief for the UH health system.

“Hunger hormone” ghrelin affects monetary decision making

Higher levels of the stomach-derived hormone ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, predict a greater preference for smaller immediate monetary rewards over larger delayed financial rewards, a new study finds. The study results will be presented at ENDO 2021, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.

Cedars-Sinai Neuroscientists Awarded Prestigious NIH Grant

Ueli Rutishauser, PhD, professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, has dedicated his career to understanding how new memories are formed and stored in the brain. His latest work, involving the recording of patients’ single neurons, landed him and a multidisciplinary team of scientists a five-year, $8 million total research grant.

Technique Can Label Many Specific DNAs, RNAs, or Proteins in a Single Tissue Sample

A new technique can label diverse molecules and amplify the signal to help researchers spot those that are especially rare. Called SABER (signal amplification by exchange reaction), Peng Yin’s lab at Harvard’s Wyss Institute first introduced this method last year and since have found ways to apply it to proteins, DNA and RNA.

Exploring How a Key Blood Pressure Hormone Works in Males and Females

Aldosterone is a steroid hormone important to the regulation of salt, fluid and potassium in the body. Researchers at the “Metabolic and sex differences in aldosterone responses” symposium will explore the growing body of research that finds sex is a major determinant of how aldosterone acts on the body.