A team of Boston and Japanese researchers stunned the scientific world Wednesday by revealing a remarkably simple and unexpected way to create stem cells able to give rise to any tissue in the body. Charles Vacanti, the Vandam/Covino Professor of Anaesthesia and head of the Department of Anesthesia at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, led the research. Douglas Melton, the Xander University Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology and co-director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and George Q. Daley, professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Boston Children’s Hospital, are also quoted.
Have you gained a few pounds this winter? Many of us have thanks to the Arctic vortex or latest snowstorm keeping us indoors. Research by Bruce Spiegelman, the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Professor of Cell Biology and Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, suggests that a brisk walk in the cold air is the perfect thing to do in order to activate a certain type of fat in your body—called beige fat—that boosts the calories you burn by up to 30 percent to generate additional body heat.
In a study of congenitally blind children who underwent surgery to restore vision, researchers have found that the brain can still learn to use the newly acquired sense much later in life than previously thought. The researchers used software developed by a team that was led by Peter Bex, associate professor of ophthalmology at Schepens Eye Research Institute.
More than half of babies and children who receive heart transplants are surviving many years, say the authors of a new study. Elizabeth Blume, associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
