Posted on | CategoriesCardiovascular / Internal Medicine | PI: Robin M. Shaw, MD, PhD

New Class of Therapy for Chronic Heart Failure

The lab directed by Robin Shaw (MD, PhD) and Nora Eccles Harrison Cardiovascular Research & Training Institute (CVRTI) Investigators have identified an architectural protein (cBIN1) of heart muscle cells that organizes the intracellular signalizing network responsible for heart muscle contraction and relaxation. Continue reading → New Class of Therapy for Chronic Heart Failure
Posted on | CategoriesAnesthesiology / Immunology, Inflammation, Infectious Disease | PI: Kai Kuck, PhD

A Rapidly Manufacturable, Open-Source Ventilator for Austere Conditions

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, severe ventilator shortages led to dire situations both in developed regions and in low-resource regions where robust and affordable ventilators were already scarce. To address this urgent need, University of Utah Health researcher Kai Kuck, PhD, and colleagues developed Pufferfish, a complete intensive care unit ventilator capable of supporting the continuum from noninvasive ventilation to full mechanical ventilation. Continue reading → A Rapidly Manufacturable, Open-Source Ventilator for Austere Conditions
Posted on | CategoriesInternal Medicine / Prevention | PI: Barbara E. Jones, MD & Matthew H. Samore, MD

Enhancing Decision-making for Diagnosis and Management of Respiratory Infection

Barbara Jones, MD, and Matthew Samore, MD, used national data from the Department of Veterans Affairs to examine decision-making and practice patterns among providers prescribing antibiotics for patients diagnosed with acute respiratory infection. Continue reading → Enhancing Decision-making for Diagnosis and Management of Respiratory Infection
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Diabetes and Metabolism | PI: Jared P. Rutter, PhD

How Cells Choose to Create Energy

To supply their energy needs, cells typically choose between utilizing glucose in the cytoplasm (aerobic glycolysis and lactic acid fermentation) or “burning” pyruvate in the mitochondria (mitochondrial carbohydrate oxidation). Although this is arguably the most fundamental metabolic decision that cells make, before 2012 it was not clear how cells import pyruvate into mitochondria to fuel ATP production. Continue reading → How Cells Choose to Create Energy
Posted on | CategoriesDiabetes and Metabolism / Internal Medicine | PI: Elizabeth Leibold, PhD

How Iron Deficiency Impairs Pancreatic β-Cell Function

Research in the lab of Elizabeth Leibold, PhD, showed that in mice with iron deficiency, proinsulin processing to mature insulin was impaired, resulting in reduced levels of circulating and glucose intolerance. Mice treated with iron restored insulin to normal levels and eliminated the glucose intolerance. Continue reading → How Iron Deficiency Impairs Pancreatic β-Cell Function
Posted on | CategoriesAnesthesiology / Cardiovascular | PI: Markus Amann, PhD

Mechanisms of Circulatory Abnormalities and Fatigue in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases

Markus Amann, PhD, and colleagues recently discovered that both heart failure and hypertension impair an important neurocirculatory control mechanism in humans—specifically, a reflex loop mediated by neural feedback from muscles to the central nervous system. This impairment results in excessive sympathetic nervous system activity, and largely accounts for the circulatory abnormalities observed during physical activities. Continue reading → Mechanisms of Circulatory Abnormalities and Fatigue in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases
Posted on | CategoriesNeurobiology / Neuroscience | PI: Sungjin Park, PhD

Architecture of the Inner Ear

Normal hearing is dependent upon a highly specialized structure in the inner ear called the tectorial membrane. How this precisely organized extracellular matrix is assembled had been unknown. However, Park and colleagues showed the inner ear membrane anchors to the cell surface during development and grows one layer at a time. Continue reading → Architecture of the Inner Ear
Posted on | CategoriesGenomics / Human Genetics | PI: Christopher T. Gregg, PhD

Gene Expression and Health Risks

An important area of research involves learning how gene expression influences health and disease risks. The parts of the genome that regulate gene expression are cis-regulatory elements. Gregg and colleagues took an unusual approach to discover these cis-regulatory elements by analyzing the genomes of species that evolved disease resistance “superpowers”. Continue reading → Gene Expression and Health Risks
Posted on | CategoriesBioinformatics / Biomedical Informatics / Pediatrics | PI: Kensaku Kawamoto, MD, PhD & Carole H. Stipelman, MD

An EHR Clinical Support App for Monitoring Bilirubin Levels

Electronic health records (EHR) are a rich source of clinical and research data, but clinicians and researchers often cannot access this information efficiently. The Department of Biomedical Informatics has developed the ReImagineEHR initiative to improve the functionality of electronic health record systems. Continue reading → An EHR Clinical Support App for Monitoring Bilirubin Levels
Posted on | CategoriesInnovation / Orthopaedics | PI: Kent N. Bachus, PhD

Bone-Anchored Devices that Permanently Pass Through the Skin to Maximize Amputee Function

A common orthopedic approach to recreating damaged joints is to securely attach a metal implant to the patient’s own bone, a process known as osseointegration. Our research explores a new approach by engineering percutaneous osseointegration devices, in which the metal implant that pass permanently through the skin and permit connection to an external prosthetic limb when desired. The connection can not only be accomplished easily as needed; it also improves the function of the prosthesis. Continue reading → Bone-Anchored Devices that Permanently Pass Through the Skin to Maximize Amputee Function
Posted on | CategoriesGenomics / Human Genetics | PI: Lynn B. Jorde, PhD

Analyzing Human Pedigrees to Advance Genetics and Health

Well curated human pedigrees like the iconic pedigrees maintained by the Centre d’Etude du Polymorphism Humain (CEPH) provide an invaluable resource for fundamental discoveries in human genetics and health. The CEPH collection includes families collected by R. White (Utah), J. Dausset (French), J. Gusella (Venezuelan), and J. Egeland (Amish). Continue reading → Analyzing Human Pedigrees to Advance Genetics and Health
Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Human Genetics | PI: Charles Murtaugh, PhD

Cellular Origins of Pancreatic Cancer

Our pancreas has two main functions, endocrine control of blood sugar and exocrine production of the enzymes that digest our food. These enzymes are synthesized by pancreatic acinar cells and transported to the intestine through a network of pancreatic duct cells. Pancreatic cancer, the third deadliest cancer in the U.S., was previously assumed, based on histology and gene expression, to arise from duct cells. Continue reading → Cellular Origins of Pancreatic Cancer
Posted on | CategoriesHealth and Disease / Neurobiology | PI: H. Joseph Yost, PhD

Signaling Pathways That Underlie Heart Disease

Diseases affecting heart function exact an enormous toll on human health, but many of the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying heart disease remain unknown. Yost and colleagues discovered novel roles for the same developmental signaling pathway in two seemingly unrelated sources of cardiac dysfunction: adult heart failure and embryonic heart malformation. Continue reading → Signaling Pathways That Underlie Heart Disease
Posted on | CategoriesNeurobiology / Neuroscience | PI: Adam Douglass, PhD

Neuronal Circuits that Modulate Pain and Defensive Responses

Understanding pain-processing mechanisms and the neural circuits involved is central to developing new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of pain. The Douglass lab investigated brain regions that modulate behavioral responses to noxious stimuli in zebrafish. Continue reading → Neuronal Circuits that Modulate Pain and Defensive Responses
Posted on | CategoriesDrug Discovery / Pathology | PI: Matthew A. Mulvey, PhD & Jessica C. Brown, PhD

Generation and Treatment of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotics are responsible for the most significant increase in lifespan in human history. However, microbes are becoming resistant to antibiotics at an alarming rate. The Mulvey lab found that microbes within a single colonized site, such as the human bladder, can pass antibiotic resistance genes back and forth, propagating resistance as the infecting microbes evolve in response to serial antibiotic treatment. Continue reading → Generation and Treatment of Antibiotic Resistance
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Fundamental Biology | PI: Christopher P. Hill, DPhil & Peter Shen, PhD

Structures and Mechanisms of Protein Remodeling Machines

When a cellular protein has done its job or lost its utility, it should be removed, recycled, or remodeled. These tasks are performed by members of the ubiquitous family of AAA ATPases (ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities) that convert the energy of ATP hydrolysis into mechanical forces that can unfold protein aggregates, degrade unwanted proteins, and remodel protein complexes. Continue reading → Structures and Mechanisms of Protein Remodeling Machines
Posted on | CategoriesDiabetes and Metabolism / Pathology | PI: June L. Round, PhD

Commensal Microbes That Help Prevent Metabolic Disease

Our intestines are colonized by a vast consortium of bacteria, viruses, and fungi that we now know have essential influences on gut health. Research in the Round lab has recently shown that intestinal antibody responses select for specific organisms within the gut that prevent metabolic disease by limiting fat absorption within the intestine. Continue reading → Commensal Microbes That Help Prevent Metabolic Disease
Posted on | CategoriesPhysical Medicine & Rehabilitation / School of Medicine | PI: Jacob George, PhD

Prosthetic Limbs with Neural Connections

For the more than two million people in the United States who have lost a limb, prostheses can restore some function, but never really replace a missing arm or leg. U scientists have been working toward better prosthetic limbs for decades, with the development of technology that connects an artificial limb directly to the user’s nervous system so they can control its movements with their thoughts. Continue reading → Prosthetic Limbs with Neural Connections
Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Oncological Sciences | PI: Katherine E. Varley, PhD

Improved Prognostic Testing for Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Approximately 40% of patients with stage I-III triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have recurrences after standard treatment, whereas the remaining 60% experience long-term disease-free survival. However, there are currently no clinical tests to assess the risk of recurrence in TNBC patients. Continue reading → Improved Prognostic Testing for Patients with Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Posted on | CategoriesHealth and Disease / Internal Medicine | PI: Donald Kohan, MD, PhD

Finding New Ways to Treat Kidney Disease

Research in the Kohan lab, using genetically engineered mice, has helped identify the peptide, endothelin-1, and its receptor, ETA, as key regulators of blood pressure and kidney function in health. They have also helped determine that kidney ET-1 production is increased in many kidney diseases and, via activation of ETA receptors on most kidney cell types, leads to inflammation, scarring and decreased kidney function. Continue reading → Finding New Ways to Treat Kidney Disease
Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Dermatology | PI: Martin McMahon, PhD

Combination Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Pancreatic Cancer

McMahon and colleagues reported that simultaneous combined inhibition of MEK plus autophagy displayed synergistic anti-proliferative effects against cultured pancreatic cancer cell lines and promoted regression of xenografted patient-derived pancreatic tumors in mice. Continue reading → Combination Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Pancreatic Cancer