Medical & Health Sciences
Dr Anthony Berdis – Combatting Cancer – Breakthrough Research Against the Dreaded Disease
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...
Professor David Furness – Understanding Hearing at the Cellular Level
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...
Professor Phillip Hylemon | Professor Huiping Zhou – Bile Acids Are Not Just for Digestion
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...
Professor Andrea Duina – The Many Complexities of DNA Packing and Gene Expression
Although fundamental to life itself, many processes involving DNA and its packing inside cells still remain to be elucidated. Here, we follow the work of Professor Andrea Duina and his team at Hendrix College, Arkansas, USA, in their efforts to understand the...
Dr Claudio Fiocchi – An Integrated Approach to Fighting Inflammatory Bowel Disease
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...
Professor Charles Bangham – The Forgotten Cousin of HIV
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...
Dr Stephen Hecht – Biological Mechanisms Link Smoking, Lung Cancer and Ethnicity
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...
Dr Darren Higgins – Understanding the Pathogenic Mechanisms of Intracellular Bacteria
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...
Professor Gerhard Rammes | Professor Rainer Rupprecht – The Translocator Protein: From Imaging Facility to Pharmacy
The diagnosis of brain conditions relies heavily on non-invasive imaging techniques to identify the affected areas. A protein known as the ‘translocator protein’ is increased in areas of brain inflammation and can be used as an imaging marker to diagnose various...
Dr Joseph Vetro – Complexed Drugs for Complex Diseases
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...
NIGMS – Leading the Way in STEM Education & Training
Established in 1962, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is one of the 27 Centers, Institutes and Offices within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – the primary medical research agency of the US Government. In addition to supporting basic...
Professor Angela Friederici – The Neurobiology of the Human Language System
For centuries, scientists have been investigating the origins and development of the human language system, yet many questions remain unanswered. Professor Angela Friederici, Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in...
Professor Roland Bender – Sex on the Brain – the Neurobiology of Sex Hormones
The prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders is on the rise worldwide. Men and women experience different types of anxiety disorders at different rates – this may be partially due to sex specific differences in the brain. To understand this difference Professor...
Professor Regina Fluhrer – A Unique Family of Intramembrane Proteases
Intramembrane proteases are proteins located in the core of the cell membranes of mammals and other organisms. Discovered at the end of last century, they are still poorly understood and implicated in a number of diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease, malaria and...
Dr Mark D. Hayward | Dr Jennifer Karas Montez – Education and Health Disparity Across the US
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...
Professor Sylvain Baillet – Brain Training
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...
Chantau Lau – From Surviving to Thriving: Boosting the Oral Feeding Performance of Premature Babies
Dr Rens van de Schoot – Statistical Methods for Small Data
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...
Linh Le – Bonbouton: Leading the Charge in Wearable Healthcare Technology
At Bonbouton, Linh Le and his colleagues are creating a ground-breaking new range of wearable healthcare technologies. These products can track vital signs such as skin temperature and muscle motion, empowering people with the knowledge and data they need to monitor...
Professor Stephen Leeder – Integrated Healthcare – Building Health Systems for the Future
Globally, health systems are struggling to meet the rising demands from an ageing population and lifestyle-associated diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. To tackle this challenge, Professor Stephen Leeder, at the University of Sydney, Australia, and the...
The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
Located in Irvine, California, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation supports researchers and non-profit research institutions in making the next generation of breakthroughs in chemistry and the life sciences. Founded in 1978 by philanthropists Arnold and...
Professor Stephen Maren – Learning to Forget – Extinguishing Fearful Memories
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...
Professor Michael Schrader – Peroxisomes on the Rise
Professor Michael Schrader and his team at the University of Exeter are working to decipher how specialised compartments within cells called peroxisomes are formed and function to perform vital roles in processing the lipids that coat nerve cells and in defending the...
Dr Chris Meier – Enhancing the Efficacy of Anti-Viral & Anti-Cancer Drugs
Cancer and viral infections are two of the leading causes of death worldwide. It goes without saying that there is a need for more effective treatment options. Dr Chris Meier from the University of Hamburg’s Department of Chemistry has been working on exactly that....
Professor Yuping Wang – Vitamin D and Preeclampsia – Joining the Dots
Preeclampsia is a common but serious complication of pregnancy that can harm both mother and baby. Recent research has identified vitamin D deficiency as a risk factor for developing preeclampsia and also the beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation on this...
Dr Keith Brunt | Dr Jeremy Simpson – Old Drugs for New Tricks
Dr Keith Brunt from Dalhousie University and Dr Jeremy Simpson from the University of Guelph in Canada have pioneered research into understanding the mechanisms of increased shortness of breath in patients with heart failure. By applying a collaborative approach, they...
Professor Hannah M. Wexler – Good Bacteria Gone Bad
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...
Lois Jean Brady | Matthew Guggemos – Multi-Sensory Tools for Autism
For children with autism, communication can be a challenge. Drawing from a wealth of clinical experience, speech pathologists Lois Brady and Matthew Guggemos at iTherapy, LLC are developing innovative, engaging multi-sensory communication tools with the aim of...
Professor Romano Orru – Cheap and Eco-friendly Drug Synthesis using Biocatalysis and One-Pot Processes
Developing more efficient techniques for synthesising complex drug molecules is a painstaking process. However, this is something that Dr Romano Orru of Vrije University Amsterdam is very much committed to. His team is working towards higher efficiency and yield in...
Dr Yu Wang | Dr Bo Bai | Dr Andy Man – Determining the Link between Ageing and Cardiovascular Disease
Ageing is the most significant risk factor for a range of prevalent cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, such as hypertension and obesity. Accordingly, new interventions are needed for delaying or preventing these disorders. Dr Yu Wang is a pioneering researcher at...
Andrew Freddo | Dr Katherine D. Walton | Professor Deborah L. Gumucio – An Absorbing Tale of the Intestine Unfolds
Understanding the mechanisms behind the development of the small intestine will help aid discovery of new therapies targeting intestinal disorders. Andrew Freddo and his colleagues at the University of Michigan Medical School are working to understand these...
Dr Kayvan Najarian – A Revolutionary Approach to Emergency Medical Care
The multiple injuries sustained in a traumatic accident put victims’ lives at risk and can be difficult to diagnose accurately in fast paced emergency room settings. Dr Kayvan Najarian and his team of researchers at the University of Michigan are designing advanced...