The University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine announced the establishment of a new biomedical informatics program this March. The Institute for Biomedical Informatics (IBI) received founding support from the Smilow Center for Translational Research. According to Dr. J. Larry Jameson, dean of the Perelman School of Medicine, the Institute for Biomedical Informatics will "bring together the large number of Penn faculty who work in the broad field of biomedical informatics to inform science and medical care. We will expand the number of faculty even more to create a wide-ranging program of research and education to find and clinically apply the treatments of the future and to train the next generation of physician-scientists.”
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Tags: 2014, 2013, Pennsylvania, Northeast, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn, Philadelphia, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research Funding, PA, laboratory equipment sales
Lab scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and UP's Center for Biologic Imaging have recently published an important paper in the Journal of Cell Science that sheds light on a novel method of interrupting mitosis in a cell by effectively depriving its mitochondria of a key protein. The resulting replication stress means cancer cells are stopped from successfully multiplying. Colorful images of the targeted cells actually show them stuck in anaphase trying to divide and subsequently tearing themselves apart. By identifying a compound that carries out this protein interference and disrupts normal mitochondrial fission, researchers have identified a promising therapeutic avenue for halting cancer growth.
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Tags: 2014, 2013, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Northeast, Hillman Cancer Center, cancer research, cell biology, Microscopy, UPITT, Cell Research, BioResearch Product Faire Event, PA, NIH, Pittsburgh, Northeast Region
Science researchers at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study that may help them reach a better understanding of health conditions such as arteriosclerosis, aneurysms and thrombosis. The results of the study are making the news as one of a number of compelling current science events at the University of Pennsylvania. According to science researchers, blood plasma is thicker and more elastic than water. Depending on how much pressure blood plasma is under, it flows differently under different circumstances, meaning that blood plasma influences how blood flows more concretely than scientists thought in the past.
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Long considered one of the inferior senses, anyone who has lost their ability to taste as a result of age or cancer treatment will tell you life's luster is considerably dimmed in the absence of this sensory experience. Fortunately, research into taste and smell is going strong in Philadelphia at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, which is the only non-profit scientific basic research institute in the world dedicated entirely to understanding these intertwined senses. Once an entity within the University of Pennsylvania, the Center branched out on its own several decades ago, with labs a few blocks from the Penn campus on Market Street. Researchers at Monell work interdisciplinarily and many have joint appointments with Penn. Other research projects are carried out in conjunction with scientists at Thomas Jefferson University, also in Philly, and indeed with university and private lab investigators around the world.
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Tags: 2014, 2013, Pennsylvania, Northeast, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn, Thomas Jefferson University, Stem cell research, taste buds, Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, BioResearch Product Faire Event, PA, ThomJeff, taste
In order for HIV to proliferate and infect new cells in the body, a number of proteins need to interact with each other in just the right way. If they don't, the virus is not able to multiply and spread, and HIV infection cannot develop into full-blown Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It's a case of finding a weak link and exploiting its potential to disrupt an entire supply chain. In the University of Pittsburgh microbiology lab of Dr. Thomas Smithgall, this protein sabotage approach has successfully allowed them to identify a helper molecule that, if compromised, could form the basis of an effective new HIV/AIDS treatment therapy. The paper documenting their research appeared in the January 24 issue of Chemistry & Biology.
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Dr. Gary Michelson is a retired Los Angeles surgeon who made a lot of money ($1.35B) from a spinal surgical invention in 2005. Since then he's devoted himself and his considerable resources to philanthropy. One of his most passionate causes is reducing the rate of euthanasia for unwanted pets by promoting spaying and neutering, along with shelter adoption, training, and good vet care through the Los Angeles group Found Animals. Not content with the usual invasive practice of sterilizing pets, he also created the Michelson Prize and Grants to challenge research scientists to come up with a cheap, safe, and effective one-dose pill for cats and dogs to induce permanent infertility. The winner of the Michelson Prize in Reproductive Biology will take home $25M and the satisfaction of knowing that fewer pets will be put down because of overpopulation.
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Chemical and biomolecular engineering researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have recently achieved something truly impressive: they've managed to dramatically improve the process of methane catalysis, by a factor of 30, and using lower temperatures. What this could mean in terms of environmental protection and energy generation is nothing less than game-changing. Natural gas production is at an all-time high in the U.S. and will replace much of our dependence on oil and coal if we can burn it efficiently and without methane pollution. Methane is also a by-product of industries such as waste management, animal farming, and oil extraction (the iconic flame at the top of an oil well is methane being released from underground), where its containment is an ongoing challenge.
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By now you've probably heard about 3D bio printing, a bioengineering technique for literally building functional replacement tissue and eventually organs. (Read an earlier blog of ours on the subject.) While still in the early stages of development in terms of actually producing a human organ for transplant, the technology is advancing and critical problems are being met with innovative solutions. In the July issue of Nature Materials, University of Pennsylvania scientists, in conjunction with MIT and Harvard researchers, published an article documenting their success creating a blood vessel network using sugar.
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The 225th Anniversary of the University of Pittsburgh will be celebrated this year. One of their most notable accomplishments was contributing to the launch of the "Biotech Industry". Herbert Boyer, a Pitt PhD graduate helped discover how to cut and transfer individual genes within the DNA molecule and transfer them from one organism to another. Boyer eventually founded Genetech, widely considered one of the first successful biotech companies.
With many accomplishments, in 2000, Herbert Boyer and his wife established the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in molecular biology in the University of Pittsburgh’s Department of Biological Sciences. Today the Herbert W. and Grace Boyer Chair in Molecular Biology is used to support an outstanding faculty member in the field of post-genomic molecular biology.
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The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) recently released a quarterly financial report that showed solid growth for Western Pennsylvania's largest health care provider and one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the US. It also announced that it will be begin construction on a $300M facility to house its nascent Center for Innovative Science, which "will bring together leading scientists willing to develop bold, new approaches to understanding complex diseases," according to UPMC's president. In conjunction with its academic partner, the University of Pittsburgh, UPMC is already recruiting nationally for "a scientific leader in genetics and genomics" to head the center.
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