Category: Research
JHU profs join VP Biden in event touting stimulus success
November 2, 2009
Three Johns Hopkins researchers on Friday joined Vice President Joe Biden in an event at the White House complex touting the early success of a $787 billion federal stimulus and tax relief program designed to reinvigorate the nation’s ailing economy.
Chemical-catching researchers look to copy canine ‘sniffer’
November 2, 2009
A dog’s nose, with its thousands of olfactory receptors, is one of the best chemical detection “sniffers” in military and police circles. That’s why a Homeland Protection Business Area team at Johns Hopkins’ Applied Physics Laboratory is working with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on its RealNose program, which aims to construct a sensor that would operate like—and as well as—a dog’s nose. The sensor will eventually be integrated into a system that could simultaneously detect more than 20 chemicals.
Kids’ mortality reduced when moms get iron/folic acid
November 2, 2009
Offspring whose mothers had been supplemented with iron/folic acid during pregnancy had dramatically reduced mortality through age 7, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Speeding discovery in neurological disease: The nose knows
November 2, 2009
Trying to understand neurological disease by studying cells in a dish is limited by the availability of the right cells. For years, researchers have relied on postmortem human brains as a source for schizophrenia-affected neurons. Now, Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a novel method via nasal biopsies of schizophrenia patients, establishing a faster way to make neurons in a dish for further study.
Unraveling the physics of cancer
October 26, 2009
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology have been awarded a $14.8 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to launch a research center aimed at unraveling the physical underpinnings that drive the growth and spread of cancer. The new Johns Hopkins Engineering in Oncology Center at INBT includes 11 Johns Hopkins faculty members affiliated with the INBT and four investigators from partner universities. The project’s participants say that they hope this new line of research will lead to never-before-considered approaches to cancer therapy and diagnostics.
Online medical informatics journal to launch in December
October 26, 2009
Two Johns Hopkins Children’s Center researchers have assembled a 25-member editorial board of international experts to launch a quarterly online medical journal devoted to original research and commentary on the use of computer automation in the day-to-day practice of medicine.
Physicians have less respect for obese patients, study suggests
October 26, 2009
Doctors have less respect for their obese patients than they do for patients of normal weight, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests. The findings raise questions about whether negative physician attitudes about obesity could be affecting the long-term health of their heavier patients.
Now hear this: Scientists show how tiny cells deliver big sound
October 26, 2009
Deep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second set of cells also carries signals from the inner ear to the brain and has a real role in processing sound has been a matter of debate.
Genetic hint for ridding the body of hepatitis C
October 26, 2009
More than 70 percent of people who contract hepatitis C will live with the virus that causes it for the rest of their lives, and some will develop serious liver disease, including cancer. However, 30 percent to 40 percent of those infected somehow defeat the infection and get rid of the virus with no treatment. In the Sept. 16 advanced online edition of Nature, Johns Hopkins researchers working as part of an international team report the discovery of the strongest genetic alteration associated with the ability to get rid of the infection.
Policy set for H1N1 vaccine
October 19, 2009
As the first doses of injectable H1N1 vaccine began making their way into the pipeline, Johns Hopkins last week announced its plans for inoculating faculty, staff and students.