Category: Research
Brains come wired for cooperation, JHU neuroscientist asserts
November 7, 2011
When legal commentator Nancy Grace and her partner danced a lively rumba to Spandau Ballet’s 1980s hit True on Dancing With the Stars, more was going on in her brain than worry about her footwork. Deep in Grace’s cortex, millions of neurons were hard at work doing what they apparently had been built to do: […]
Johns Hopkins University researcher wins prize for breast cancer biomarker studies
November 7, 2011
A Johns Hopkins breast cancer re–searcher is the recipient of a $50,000 award designed to encourage rapid translation of her basic research on biomarkers into a commercially available test that could predict the best treatment options for some women with breast cancer. Sara Sukumar, co-director of the Breast Cancer Program at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer […]
Johns Hopkins scientists discover ‘fickle’ DNA change in brain
November 7, 2011
Johns Hopkins scientists investigating chemical modifications across the genomes of adult mice have discovered that DNA modifications in nondividing brain cells, thought to be inherently stable, underwent large-scale dynamic changes as a result of stimulated brain activity. Their report, in the October issue of Nature Neuroscience, has major implications for treating psychiatric diseases and neurodegenerative […]
Cancer-causing protein tied to hormone resistance in breast cancer
November 6, 2011
In dozens of experiments in mice and in human cancer cells, a team of Johns Hopkins scientists has closely tied production of a cancer-causing protein called TWIST to the development of estrogen resistance in women with breast cancer. Because estrogen fuels much breast cancer growth, such resistance—in which cancers go from estrogen-positive to estrogen-negative status—can […]
Jhpiego receives $24.9 mill to innovate lifesaving tech
October 24, 2011
Jhpiego, a global health nonprofit organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University, will lead a $24.9 million effort to expand its array of simple inexpensive lifesaving technologies to address today’s global health challenges. A cooperative venture with three additional partners, the initiative will leverage the engineering and medical expertise of the university. The five-year project, […]
Baking better bread
October 24, 2011
Any way you slice it, a bread that contains critical nutrients could help combat severe malnutrition in impoverished regions. That’s the goal of Johns Hopkins undergraduates who are using synthetic biology to enhance common yeast so that it yields beta carotene, the orange substance that gives its color to carrots—and, when eaten, turns into vitamin […]
Uninsured trauma patients more likely to use ED for follow-up
October 3, 2011
Providing access to an outpatient clinic isn’t enough to keep some trauma patients who have been discharged from the hospital from returning to the emergency department for follow-up care, even for such minor needs as pain medication refills and dressing changes, according to new Johns Hopkins research. Reporting in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, the […]
Baltimore City one-day homeless youth count reaches 640
October 3, 2011
Results from the 2011 parallel count of homeless and unstably housed youth in Baltimore City identified 640 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 13 and 25 living out on their own, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian. In 2009, the parallel count number was 426 homeless young people. The count was conducted by […]
Study: Alcohol advertising still reaching youth on the radio
October 3, 2011
Almost one out of 11 radio ads for alcoholic beverages in 75 markets across the nation failed to comply in 2009 with the alcohol industry’s voluntary standard for the placement of advertising, according to an analysis conducted by the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In […]
Protein ‘switches’ could turn cancer cells into tiny chemo factories
October 2, 2011
Johns Hopkins researchers have devised a protein “switch” that instructs cancer cells to produce their own anti-cancer medication. In lab tests, the researchers showed that these switches, working from inside the cells, can activate a powerful cell-killing drug when the device detects a marker linked to cancer. The goal, the scientists said, is to deploy […]