Health and Medicine
The Health-e Babies App for Socially Disadvantaged Women: Embracing Technology to Improve Health Literacy
Over the past few years, there has been an explosion in the number of applications – more commonly known as apps – that can be used on mobile phones. Vicki Clifton, Julia Dalton, Dianne Rodger, Michael Wilmore, Andrew Skuse, Sal Humphreys, and Margarita Flabouris,...
Spinal Cord Damage and Emerging Treatments – Dr Jerry Silver, Case Western Reserve University
Injuries to the spinal cord can cause permanent paralysis and even lead to death, with little to no hope of regaining lost functions once the trauma has occurred. Dr Jerry Silver and his team at Case Western Reserve University Medical School, USA, have been working to...
Let There Be Light – Professor Yubin Zhou, Texas A&M University
Professor Yubin Zhou, from the Center for Translational Cancer Research at the Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences & Technology, USA, is developing ways to use light to control cellular function. The researcher and his team are responsible for a series of...
Health Starts in the Cell Approaching Obesity from the Inside Out – Dr Yi Li, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Over the last few decades, obesity has become substantial public health concern. Obesity is associated with a myriad of other ailments and is on the rise in most developed countries. As with many chronic diseases, the development of an obese body type is often more...
Engineering Solutions for Improved Vaccines – Calder Biosciences Inc.
Designing better vaccines is the end goal for Calder Biosciences Inc., a company that has found a new way to engineer vaccines, ensuring greater stability, prolonging their duration in the body and thereby enhancing protection. Using a natural chemical reaction known...
Teaching the Genome Generation – Dr Charles Wray, The Jackson Laboratory
Since the release of the first human genome, our understanding of genetics has grown significantly. However, keeping up with developments in the field can be overwhelming for students, and even teachers. Dr Charles Wray of The Jackson Laboratory has created a unique...
Unlocking the Sweet Secrets of the Microbiota – Professor Lloyd Kasper, Dr Nader Yaghoubi, Dr Javier Ochoa-Repáraz
The pioneering research of Professor Lloyd Kasper while at Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, and Javier Ochoa-Repáraz at Eastern Washington University, has revealed that microbes living within our gut contain and release compounds such as a specific...
The Evolution of Genetic Coding – Professor Charles Williams Carter, University of North Carolina
The research of Professor Charles Carter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, unravels some of the biggest mysteries of molecular evolution. His research is dedicated to investigating how information flows from genes to proteins found in living organisms...
When Viruses Infect Plants – Dr Hernan Garcia-Ruiz, University of Nebraska
Just as human beings can catch a cold, plants can also get viral infections. Understanding the mechanisms regulating the interactions between plants and viruses is the first step towards developing better management strategies and using biotechnology methods to...
The REPID Program, Increasing Diversity in Biomedical Research – Dr Elahé Crockett, Michigan State University
Dr Elahé Crockett and colleagues at Michigan State University have developed the Research Education Program to Increase Diversity in health researchers (REPID) program to train students from underrepresented, minority and disadvantaged backgrounds in the basic and...
Neurophilic Design, Who We Are and Where We Are – Professor Heidi Zeeman, Griffith University
Professor Heidi Zeeman of Griffith University and her collaborators are exploring the innovative research field of neurotrauma and the built environment. They endeavour to understand the experiences of individuals with different brain sensitivities and neurological...
Using Mathematical Modelling to Predict Biology – Professor Stuart C. Sealfon, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
With unprecedented advances in scientific research comes a growing body of data. Accurately interpreting these data is a significant obstacle to an improved understanding of biological systems and their behaviour during disease. To overcome this challenge, Dr Stuart...
An Innovative Approach to Vascular Drug Delivery – Cylerus
Prosthetic vascular grafts for dialysis access have a limited lifespan and usefulness due to inflammation, infection and especially blood vessel narrowing at the site of graft implantation. Consequently, patients need repeated surgeries to revise or replace the...
Playing Voice Messages to Improve Hygiene and Health – Dr Stephen Lane, Stargates Inc.
Hand hygiene is the most cost-effective approach to preventing the transmission of infectious diseases in hospitals. While there has been much effort towards improving hand hygiene by healthcare workers, patients are seldom targeted. To this end, Dr Stephen Lane,...
Could a Better Understanding of Bacteria Prevent Colorectal Cancer- Professor Jason M. Crawford, Yale University
Our digestive system contains trillions of bacterial cells, constituting a highly diverse community of microorganisms living within us that can influence human physiology and cause disease. Dr Jason Crawford at Yale University has extensively researched some of the...
Combatting Cancer – Breakthrough Research Against the Dreaded Disease – Dr Anthony Berdis and Dr Jung-Suk Choi
In essence, cancer cannot be ‘cured’, but it can be vigorously treated. However, many of the treatments currently used to combat cancer often cause harmful side-effects, that are sometimes even more dangerous than the disease itself. Dr Anthony Berdis and his team at...
Tackling the Obesity Epidemic – Professor Barry Popkin, University of North Carolina
Capacitors are a vital component in virtually every electronic device we use, and yet, innovations that make them more efficient have been a long time coming. Mr John Fraley and his colleagues at Wolfspeed, A Cree Company, and International Femtoscience are now...
An Integrated Approach To Fighting Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Dr Claudio Fiocchi, Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) causes significant pain and discomfort to sufferers and severely affects quality of life. Research on IBD focusing on the individual contributing factors has failed to provide truly effective treatment options, and the broader picture...
HTLV-1 The Forgotten Cousin of HIV – Professor Charles Bangham, Imperial College London
The catastrophic impact of HIV – human immunodeficiency virus – is well-known worldwide. Not so well known is its distant cousin HTLV-1, human T cell leukaemia virus type 1, which also has the potential to destroy lives. The study of HTLV-1 can shed light on HIV...
Bile Acids Are Not Just for Digestion – Professors Phillip Hylemon and Huiping Zhou, Virginia Commonwealth University
Over the last two decades, bile acids have gone from being thought of as mere helpers during digestion of fats and fat-soluble vitamins, to crucial players in the signalling pathways operating in the liver. Professor Phillip Hylemon and Professor Huiping Zhou, from...
Biological Mechanisms Link Smoking, Lung Cancer and Ethnicity – Professor Stephen Hecht and Colleagues
Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of cancer globally. Dr Stephen Hecht and co-workers at the University of Minnesota are investigating the substances present in cigarette smoke and in the urine and saliva of cigarette smokers that contribute to lung cancer. In a...
Understanding Hearing at the Cellular Level – Professor David Furness, Keele University
How do we hear and process sound? Professor David Furness at Keele University, UK, is endeavouring to answer this question. By utilising modern microscopical techniques, his team is visualising and identifying the proteins that enable us to convert sound into...
Understanding the Pathogenic Mechanisms of Intracellular Bacteria – Dr Darren Higgins, Harvard Medical School
Dr Darren Higgins and his team at Harvard Medical School use a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the mechanisms involved in the growth and spread of disease-causing bacteria that invade human cells. The team is developing new therapies to combat these...
Raising the Bar in Stroke Recovery and Rehabilitation – The Medical University of South Carolina’s Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)
Despite the high number of stroke survivors worldwide, research to help those with chronic disabilities after stroke has long been underemphasised. The Medical University of South Carolina’s Center for Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) in Stroke Recovery aims to...
Complexed Drugs for Complex Diseases – Dr Joseph Anthoney Vetro, University of Nebraska Medical Center
RNA interference is a genetic mechanism for altering the expression of genes that is being developed to fight cancer. By increasing the activity of RNA interference molecules in solid tumours after administration into the blood stream, Dr Joseph Vetro and his group at...
Education and Health Disparity Across the US – Drs Mark D. Hayward & Jennifer Karas Montez
Adults living in certain US states suffer from more illnesses, more disability, and die sooner than residents of others. Dr Mark D. Hayward of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr Jennifer Karas Montez of Syracuse University are investigating these differences in...
Brain Training – Professor Sylvain Baillet, McGill University
Gaining insight into the brain and its inner workings improves our understanding of behaviour and our knowledge of the diseases and treatments of our most complex organ. Professor Sylvain Baillet and his research team at the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre of the...
Statistical Methods for Small Data – Dr Rens van de Schoot, Utrecht University
Researchers are heavily reliant on statistical techniques that are based on large sample sizes. Therefore, attempts to gain useful information from small samples can often lead to biased, or incorrect conclusions. Dr Rens van de Schoot at Utrecht University has shown...
Learning to Forget, Extinguishing Fearful Memories – Professor Stephen Maren, Texas A&M University
We often hear how impairments in learning can have a negative impact on peoples’ lives but what about problems with forgetting? The inability to forget the association between everyday cues and previous traumatic events underlies anxiety-related disorders, such as...
Good Bacteria Gone Bad – Professor Hannah M. Wexler, VA Health Care System
Bacteria within our gut play an essential role in breaking down our food, but when they escape to a new environment some can turn nasty in order to survive. Professor Hannah Wexler’s lab at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Health Care System (GLAVAHCS) has been...