Posts by Brian Burns
Mass General Investigators on the Cutting Edge of ALS Research
May is ALS Awareness Month, intended as a time to raise awareness of and foster research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually these motor neurons die, effecting a patient’s ability to move, eat,…
Read MoreRacing to Stop a ‘Silent’ Killer
The ability to detect ovarian cancer in its early stages continues to elude researchers. Cheng Wang, PhD, is determined to change that.
Read MoreMass General Researcher Maps the Connections Between Allergies and the Microbiome
Nitya Jain, PhD, a researcher at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children’s Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, is studying how changes in the bacterial population in the gut influence T cell development and how signals between the two systems drive this process.
Read MoreStudy Looks at Risk Factors for Overdose in Adolescents
A team of investigators from the Addiction Recovery Management Service at Massachusetts General Hospital have identified factors that may increase the risk of drug overdose in adolescents and young adults. The results of their study were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry last month. Here’s a short video summarizing their findings: “Very little…
Read MoreLarge-Scale Study Provides New Insights Into the Genetic Contributors to Schizophrenia
Tarjinder Singh, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Mark Daly, PhD, in the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. His poster, The meta-analysis of rare coding variants in the whole-exome sequences of 25,000 cases and 50,000 controls implicates individual risk genes for schizophrenia, was among the winners at this…
Read MoreMass General Participates in Week-Long Celebration of Science and Discovery
Each year the Cambridge Science Festival hosts a 10-day celebration of science, technology and art in the Greater Boston area with the goal of making science accessible, interactive and fun. This year, the Mass General Research Institute participated in two of the festival’s 200+ events. Science Carnival and Robot Zoo On Saturday, April 14th, Mass General researcher Nitya…
Read MoreGenetic Insights, New Research Models Help to Drive New Rare Disease Research
While it may not have been called rare disease research by name, Massachusetts General Hospital has been identifying and tracking rare diseases for more than a century, says Florian Eichler, MD, Director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases in the Department of Neurology. In recent years, advances made by the Human Genome Project and…
Read MoreNew Research Explores Link Between Mind-Body Techniques and Blood Pressure
A new study published in Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Mass General, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has found a possible explanation for why performing activities such as yoga and meditation can help patients reduce their high blood pressure without medication.
Read MoreNew Study from Mass General Seeks to Improve Shared Decision Making Among Minority Patients
A new study from the Mass General Disparities Research Unit provides insights into how to improve care for minority patients through shared decision making.
Read MoreMass General Hospital for Children Celebrates 10th Annual Research Day
This year, MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) celebrated its 10th annual Research Day, an event that recognizes the pioneering research of investigators throughout the hospital whose discoveries help to better understand childhood health and disease. This year, Randy L. Buckner, PhD, gave the MGH Faculty Keynote Address, titled “The Ancestral Brain Developing in the Modern World:…
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