UT Southwestern molecular geneticist wins Hill Prize from TAMEST

Russell DeBose-Boyd, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the Hill Prize in Biological Sciences from the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST) in recognition of his long-standing research into a key mechanism necessary for cholesterol control.

UT Southwestern biochemist Zhijian ‘James’ Chen to receive prestigious Horwitz Prize

Zhijian “James” Chen, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the 2023 Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize in recognition of his groundbreaking work on innate immunity.

Research pinpoints inflammation source behind atherosclerosis

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center Dallas have discovered in mice how high cholesterol causes blood vessels to become inflamed, a necessary prerequisite for atherosclerosis – the “hardening of the arteries” responsible for most heart attacks and strokes. The findings, published in Nature Communications, could lead to new interventions to protect against cardiovascular diseases (CVD), the leading cause of death globally.

UT Southwestern Physiology Chair, molecular geneticist elected to prestigious National Academy of Sciences

The National Academy of Sciences elected two more UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists in the fields of molecular genetics and physiology into its membership, one of the highest honors for American scientists. Russell DeBose-Boyd, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Genetics, and Duojia Pan, Ph.D., Chair of Physiology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, were elected by their peers in recognition of the importance of their scientific discoveries.

Stay CALM when the heart skips a beat

A new CALM mutation causes lethal arrhythmia in humans. Using cardiomyocytes — or heart muscle cells — from human iPS cell and recombinant calmodulin proteins, the group studied catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia — or CPVT, a rare and life-threatening genetic condition. The team was able to reproduce severe arrhythmia in patient-derived iPS cell models of exercise-induced CPVT with calmodulin mutations.

Potential genetic regulators of the heartbeat identified by UT Southwestern researchers

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have mapped gene control elements in specialized cardiac cells responsible for coordinating heartbeats. The findings of the genome exploration study, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, provide insight into how heartbeats are regulated and could impact diagnosis and risk prediction for a variety of common arrhythmias.

UT Southwestern researchers discover gene regulation mechanism

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have discovered a method cells use to turn genes on and off that involves portions of proteins whose function has long been a mystery. The findings, reported in Cell, could lead to new ways of controlling gene regulation and may one day lead to new treatments for a broad array of diseases.

Weizmann Institute Scientists Reveal the Triple Threat of Coronavirus

Scientists at the Weizmann Institute and the Israel Institute for Biological, Chemical and Environmental Sciences took a novel tack to investigating SARS-CoV-2’s powerful ability to infect, finding that the virus deploys an apparently unique three-pronged strategy to take over the cell’s protein-synthesis abilities. The work could help develop effective Covid-19 treatments.