A new study offers a new model to describe the way in which cells gain specific functions within the embryo. Sean G. Megason, HMS assistant professor of systems biology, led the team of researchers.
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center report that the relaxation response – a state of deep rest attained through breathing, meditation, yoga and other practices — triggers changes in gene expression that can affect the body’s immune function, energy metabolism and insulin secretion. Herbert Benson, HMS professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Towia Libermann, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, were co-senior authors of the new study.
Carmen Blandin Tarleton, who recently received a face transplant at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, chose to take a risky medication in order to stop her immune system from rejecting the donor face and is now on the road to recovery. Bohdan Pomahac, HMS associate professor of surgery, was the lead surgeon. Anil Chandraker, HMS associate professor of medicine
at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Terry Strom, HMS professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, are also quoted.
The study of connective tissue is shedding light on pain and providing new explanations for alternative medicine. Helene M. Langevin, HMS visiting professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, authored the piece.
Helen Riess, HMS associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, shared her perspective on empathy after the tragic Boston Marathon bombings.
Two large research teams have produced exhaustive genomic studies that reveal the most detailed catalog yet of the mutations that drive two deadly cancers – endometrial cancer and acute myeloid leukemia. Raju Kucherlapati, the Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics at HMS, is a co-author of one of the studies. David Steensma, HMS associate professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, also authored an essay about cancer genomics.
One in four physicians in Massachusetts received at least one gift or payment from pharmaceutical or medical device companies valued at $50 or more in the two and a half years after the state began tracking them. Aaron S. Kesselheim, HMS assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, led the study.
T. Berry Brazelton, HMS clinical professor of pediatrics, emeritus, at Boston Children’s Hospital, is celebrating his 95th birthday this month with the publication of his memoir, Learning to Listen: A Life Caring for Children.
New, noninvasive blood-plasma based methods to follow the genetic and molecular evolution of solid tumors in patients are emerging. These technologies detect mutations in circulating tumor DNA, allowing monitoring of tumor changes over time. George D. Demetri, HMS professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is one of the lead researchers.
