Medicine
Investigating the Relationship Between MRSA and the Lymphatic System
Dennis Jones, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Edwin L. Steele Labs at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Jones won an award for a poster detailing the results of a research study that shows how MRSA infections contribute to recurrences of lymphedema by damaging muscle cells with bacterial toxins. Continue reading to learn more about…
Read MoreOn the Hunt for New Strategies to Defeat a Killer Fungus
At first glance, Candida auris (C. auris) seems like the fungus equivalent of a comic book supervillain—at least from a human perspective. A new species of infectious fungus that arrived seemingly out of nowhere a decade ago, C. auris is resistant to all known forms of antifungal drugs, and it sticks to surfaces so well that it resists standard…
Read MoreNew Tool for Predicting C. Difficile Infections Shows Promising Results
For patients in hospital and healthcare settings, a Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection is a complication that can result in serious complications and even death. C. difficile is caused by a bacterium and the symptoms of infection include diarrhea, fever and severe abdominal cramps. While some cases may be mild, some can be fatal—particularly in elderly, very…
Read MoreLooking for Insights into Mucolipidosis IV
Amanda Furness, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Genomic Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Her poster, Therapeutic insight into Mucolipidosis IV via in vitro glia models, recently won an award at Mass General’s Research Fellow Poster Celebration. We asked Dr. Furness about her research: What problem(s) are you addressing with this…
Read MoreA Newly Discovered Link Between Gut Bacteria and Cholera
Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke University and the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have used machine learning algorithms to find patterns within communities of bacteria living in the human gut. These patterns could indicate who among the approximately one billion people at risk of cholera infection around the globe will…
Read MoreResearch Finds Daily Exercise Can Make for Healthier, Younger Hearts
Researchers have identified a cellular level link between exercise and healthy hearts that strengthens the case for physical activity.
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 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 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.
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