Health and Medicine
Discovery could lead to neutralizing West Nile virus
Dec. 7, 2018—Research led by James Crowe, Jr., could lead to the first effective treatment for this dangerous mosquito-transmitted infection.
Study tests new vaccine for precancerous cervical cells
Dec. 7, 2018—The study will test the safety of a new cervical cancer vaccine for women who already have a significant presence of precancerous cells.
Team seeks to create genetic map of worm’s nervous system
Dec. 7, 2018—A complete map of gene expression for the worm may help address broad questions in neuroscience about how gene expression programs establish diverse sets of neurons and how genetic differences contribute to neuronal function in healthy and disease conditions.
Team spots clue to rare lung and kidney diseases
Dec. 7, 2018—Research led by Billy Hudson has identified an antibody associated with pulmonary-renal syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition.
Ethnicity proves reliable indicator of what microbes thrive in the gut
Dec. 4, 2018—Changing the gut microbiome to beat illness really does hold great potential, but first scientists must answer what constitutes a healthy gut microbiome and in whom.
Beta cell biomarker findings may speed diabetes research
Nov. 30, 2018—Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have identified a biomarker for insulin-producing beta cells. Their finding could lead to improved ways to study and treat diabetes.
Lung cancer survival signal
Nov. 30, 2018—New research by Jonathan Lehman and Pierre Massion have identfied a bioimarker that suggests poor prognosis for small-cell lung cancer, as well as potential target for new therapies.
Ethics study explores precision medicine’s risks, rewards
Nov. 30, 2018—Results of the study suggest the prospect of an array of individual and societal benefits to personalized medicine, as well as risks for physical, dignitary, group, economic, psychological and legal harms, many of which may have been over-emphasized or overlooked in the literature.
NEI grants help bolster glaucoma research efforts
Nov. 30, 2018—Tonia Rex and David Calkins were recently awarded National Eye Institute grants totaling $6.8 million over five years to develop new treatments for optic neuropathies and glaucoma, the leading cause of irreversible blindness.
Green tea and diabetes
Nov. 30, 2018—A recent study led by Xiao-Ou Shu and colleagues found that green tea drinking was associated with increased risk of type 2 diabetes in Chinese adults, possibly due to the use of pesticides on tea plants--though the researchers call for further study of the exact mechanism.
Analyzing single-cell landscapes
Nov. 30, 2018—Qi Liu, PhD, Ken Lau, PhD, and colleagues have developed a new tool, sc-UniFrac, to quantify diverse cell types in single-cell studies.
Parsing diabetic skin infections
Nov. 30, 2018—People with diabetes may be prone to more skin infections due to an overabundance of a compound that controls inflammation in the body.