Scientists have turned mouse skin cells into eggs that produced baby mice — a technique that, if successfully applied to humans, could someday allow women to stop worrying about the ticking of their biological clocks and perhaps even help couples create “designer babies.” George Daley, HMS professor of biological chemistry and molecular pharmacology at Boston Children’s Hospital, is quoted.
A leading medical journal Thursday published an unprecedented “Expression of Concern” regarding the conduct of scientists on a study that, federal regulators concluded, may have exposed more than 1,000 elderly nursing home residents in Massa chusetts and elsewhere to an increased risk of falling. Douglas P. Kiel, HMS professor of medicine at Hebrew SeniorLife, led the study.
Boston-area teaching hospitals and universities are bracing for deep cuts in the federal funding that has fueled biomedical research for decades, raising fears that breakthrough work on cancer cures, stem cells, gene therapy, and other research will suffer setbacks. Bill Chin, executive dean for research; Lee Nadler, dean for clinical and translational research; Peter L. Slavin, president of Massachusetts General Hospital; Stirling Churchman, HMS assistant professor of genetics; and David Scadden, professor of stem cell and regenerative biology, are quoted.
People with heart disease who drink, even moderately, may have a slightly increased risk of a common heart rhythm problem, a new study suggests. Kenneth J. Mukamal, HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is quoted.
Patients and doctors are facing critical drug shortages in New England and nationwide. Darria Long, HMS instructor in medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, appeared on My Fox Boston to discuss this issue.
James Perrin, HMS professor of pediatrics at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children, will become president of the American Academy of Pediatrics for a one-year term in 2014.
George Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics, participated in a Q&A about “Regenesis,” his new book about synthetic biology that he encoded into chunks of DNA.
New research suggests that beta-blocker pills don’t prevent heart attacks, strokes or cardiac deaths in patients with heart disease, but doctors are torn over whether there’s enough in the study to make them want to stop prescribing the drugs. Christopher Cannon, HMS professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is a coauthor.
Taking vitamin D supplements does nothing to prevent colds or other forms of upper respiratory tract infections, according to a new study. Jeffrey Linder, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, wrote an editorial accompanying the study.
For reasons doctors don’t completely understand, a woman’s risk of breast cancer actually goes up in the five years or so after she has a child, called postpartum breast cancer, and doctors are increasingly trying to understand why this occurs. Eric Winer, HMS professor of medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, is quoted.
