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 | CategoriesBioinformatics / College of Nursing | PI: Katherine Sward, PhD, RN

Pinpointing Environmental Sources of Pediatric Asthma

Identifying the sources that trigger pediatric asthma is critical for successful therapeutic interventions. The University scientists collaborated with the families to develop a biomedical informatics platform to crowdsource and link air quality data with personal health monitoring data and other data resources to pinpoint environmental causes of patient symptoms. Continue reading → Pinpointing Environmental Sources of Pediatric Asthma
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 | CategoriesDrug Discovery / Medicinal Chemistry | PI: Raphael Franzini, PhD

Developing New Chemical Reactions that Can Be Performed in Living Cells

The development of bioorthogonal chemical reactions—chemical reactions that can be conducted in living cells—has been one of the most significant areas of advancement in chemistry in recent years. Franzini and colleagues have developed a series of highly efficient chemical reactions, termed “dissociative bioorthogonal reactions”, that do just that. Continue reading → Developing New Chemical Reactions that Can Be Performed in Living Cells
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
Posted on | CategoriesDrug Discovery / Molecular Pharmaceutics | PI: Mingnan Chen, PhD

A New Strategy for Treating Autoimmune Disease While Maintaining Immune Function

The Chen Lab discovered a new therapeutic strategy that avoids immune deficiency while treating autoimmune disease. Specifically, they identified immune cells that express a key immune checkpoint receptor that drives type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis. The Chen Lab then created an immunotoxin that selectively depletes these cells. Continue reading → A New Strategy for Treating Autoimmune Disease While Maintaining Immune Function
Posted on | CategoriesImmunology, Inflammation, Infectious Disease / Pathology | PI: Ryan O'Connell, PhD

MicroRNA Regulation of Inflammation and Immunity

MicroRNAs provide a crucial level of control for cell development and function through their post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Their importance is highlighted by their diverse functions in a range of cell types, including immune cells. Continue reading → MicroRNA Regulation of Inflammation and Immunity
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Diabetes and Metabolism | PI: Helena Safavi-Hemami, PhD & Danny Hung-Chieh Chou, PhD

Fast-acting Insulins from Cone Snails

Faster acting human insulins are needed to improve the efficacy of diabetic insulin pumps. Over the past few years, collaborating teams led by Olivera, Safavi-Hemami, Schlegel, Yandell, and Chou have made the remarkable discovery that fish-hunting cone snails use fast-acting insulins to inactivate their prey by inducing hypoglycemia. Continue reading → Fast-acting Insulins from Cone Snails
Posted on | CategoriesPopulation Health / Population Health Sciences | PI: Adam Bress, PharmD

Assessing and Enhancing Blood Pressure Control Protocols

Adults at high risk for cardiovascular disease who receive intensive systolic blood pressure control have significantly lower rates of death and cardiovascular disease events than those who receive standard control. However, the lifetime health benefits and health care costs associated with intensive control are not known. Continue reading → Assessing and Enhancing Blood Pressure Control Protocols
Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Population Health Sciences | PI: Jennifer A. Doherty, PhD

Ovarian Cancer Subtyping to Understand Risk, Treatment, Survival, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities

Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer, with a five-year survival of only 47%. Doherty and colleagues have focused on deciphering heterogeneity in ovarian cancer tumors, as a guide to the understanding of risk, treatment, survival, and racial/ethnic disparities. Continue reading → Ovarian Cancer Subtyping to Understand Risk, Treatment, Survival, and Racial/Ethnic Disparities
Posted on | CategoriesGenomics / Human Genetics | PI: Aaron Quinlan, PhD

Defining Essential Regions of the Human Genome

There is a longstanding interest in identifying the subset of our genome that is the most essential to life and normal development. Quinlan and colleagues studied genetic variation detected among >120,000 human exomes to reveal focal coding regions that lack variation in healthy individuals. Continue reading → Defining Essential Regions of the Human Genome
Posted on | CategoriesCancer / Oncological Sciences | PI: Trudy G. Oliver, PhD

Improved Genetic Models for Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Oliver and colleagues developed a genetic model of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)-squamous cell carcinoma and used the model to show how lineage-defining transcription factors such as Sox2 and NKX2-1 activate genes and pathways that determine different tumor immune microenvironments. Continue reading → Improved Genetic Models for Non-small-cell Lung Cancer
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Diabetes and Metabolism | PI: Jared P. Rutter, PhD

Sensing and Regulating Cellular Energy Production

Cells must decide when to expand mitochondrial capacity to accommodate increased energy demands. Rutter, Winge, and colleagues have shown that the ancient mitochondrial fatty acid synthesis system has a profound and unexpected regulatory role in driving mitochondrial biogenesis. Continue reading → Sensing and Regulating Cellular Energy Production
Posted on | CategoriesHealth and Disease / Human Genetics | PI: Gabrielle Kardon, PhD

Diaphragm Development and Congenital Hernias

The diaphragm is an essential mammalian skeletal muscle, as it is required for respiration and serves as a barrier between the thoracic and abdominal cavities. The Kardon lab used sophisticated mouse genetic studies to establish that the diaphragm arises from multiple embryonic tissues. Continue reading → Diaphragm Development and Congenital Hernias