The Power to Tell Your Story

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Researchers at Forsyth Dental Center and the Harvard School of Dental Medicine are tracing the identity of unknown and emerging microbes, some of which have foiled the efforts of investigators around the country. Using the newest molecular methods, they are identifying mysterious bacterial species that may be the cause of dental caries and periodontitis. But the search is not limited to the oral cavity.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Center for Blood Research have identified a peptide that may serve as a template for a drug that can suppress the immune response with fewer side effects than immunosuppressants currently available. In addition to benefiting people who receive organ transplants, a drug based on this agent potentially could be used to treat chronic conditions caused by excessive or inappropriate immune responses, such as asthma, inflammation, allergies, and rheumatoid arthritis. Their findings are published in the April 24 Molecular Cell.

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Harvard Medical School researchers have developed a methodology to assess marine ecosystem changes and their impacts on human health, the environment, and the economy. The methodology uses marine-related diseases as indicators of change and is intended to assist scientists in identifying trends in marine ecosystem decline, it causes, and strategies to counter it.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School report in the December 27 Cell their discovery of a genetic mutation responsible for venous malformations, the most common type of birthmark and describe what role a gene might play in the assembly of veins during embryogenesis.

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In the January π97 Neuron, Harvard Medical School researchers report that mutant mice lacking a certain gene fail to weave the neatly layered pattern that is the trademark of the cerebral cortex, a finding that comes one step closer to understanding how the cortex unfolds during embryonic development.

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Three-D View of Molecular Switch Assists Drug Development, Basic Science Discovery Made by Howard Hughes Researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston and Researchers at Harvard Medical School

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Harvard Medical School researchers have made a discovery helping to explain why the immune system of AIDS patients collapses after years of infection, reporting in the March 4 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that strains of virus developing later in patients may attack a different, larger population of immune cells through different chemokine receptors.

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Harvard Medical School scientists have uncovered an unexpected answer to why cells divide and cause cervical cancer -- finding suggests that bolstering tumor-supressor protein may lead to novel therapies.

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HMS researchers report the discovery of a novel protein that begins to bring an understanding of how the oocyte moves its RNAs to the right places prior to fertilization; this work for the first time implicates a component of the cell's infrastructure, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), in this process, describing a new subtype of ER and suggesting a new role for this well-studied organelle.

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Though U.S. physicians performed many more invasive cardiac procedures to treat elderly heart-attack patients than did Canadian physicians, the patients in the U.S. were just as likely to die within one year as those in Canada, according to a recent study by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Canada.

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A major risk factor for stroke in young people has been shown to be directly toxic to nerve cells in the brain. The investigation, led by researchers at Harvard and Duke, may lead to new methods of treating and preventing strokes.

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In three studies to be published in the May 30 Cell, Harvard Medical School researchers and others report the discovery of a gene that is essential for forming bone, which may open avenues to osteoporosis treatment and tissue engineering.

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Harvard Medical School researchers have identified a method to control growth hormone (GH), which can cause retinal neovascularization, an abnormal growth of new blood vessels that can destroy sight. This discovery, reported in the June Science, could lead to new ways of preventing and treating certain eye diseases.

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Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital researchers have achieved the first successful repair, in animals, of congenital anomalies by combining the emerging technologies of video-guided fetal surgery and the engineering of a scarce commodity--live replacement tissue.

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Harvard Medical School News Tips provides brief summaries on developments in the areas of basic science, research innovation, bench-to-bedside science, education, community outreach, and HMS people of note.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School, working in close collaboration with French scientists, have discovered a novel gene that closely resembles p53, a critical factor in tumor development that is mutated in 60% of all human cancers. The new gene, called p73, is deleted in at least one type of cancer and resides in an area of the genome that researchers worldwide have for years scoured for suspected tumor suppressor genes. The findings are reported in the August 22 Cell and are embargoed until Thursday, August 21, 5:00 pm EDT.

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Three Harvard Medical School studies that will be presented at the Society of Neuroscience Annual Meeting, which will be held October 25-30 in New Orleans, are worth noting. The first study found that children who are deprived of the attention and stimulation that typically occurs in family life were prone to hormone regulation abnormalities and retarded mental and behavioral development. The second study found that boys and girls had a similar prevalence rate of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This counters the popular belief that boys are more prone to ADHD. Findings from the third study suggest that there may be a genetic basis to insominia. Please refer to the meetingπs press book specific information about the research and the associated embargoes.

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A team of Harvard Medical School researchers has isolated a gene, Crx, that appears to play a key regulatory role in photoreceptor development. The findings, which could someday help prevent blindness in people with retinal disease, were made in mouse and rat tissue. The study is published in the November 14 Cell.

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A Harvard Medical School Division on Addictions study has found that the prevalence of gambling disorders among adults in the United States and Canada has increased during the past two decades.

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A series of studies from the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School document the negative effects of hunger in U.S. children and show a link between participating in the national School Breakfast Program and improved academic performance and psychosocial behavior in children.

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The tiny worm that has become a darling of developmental biologists has revealed a biological function for a mysterious protein that may play a role in the growth of tumors. In the cover article of the April 1 Genes and Development, Yang Shi, HMS associate professor of pathology, reports that the worm's version of the human protein p300 helps cells in the early embryo decide what kind of tissue to become. Shi found that p300 also is critical for determining the number of cells formed in the embryo. His finding validates earlier cell culture experiments on how viral cancer-causing proteins subvert a cell's growth.

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Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers have found that as solid tumors shrink, so do the pores in the blood vessels surrounding the tumors. This prevents some therapies from reaching their targets. The findings, published in the April 14 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest a fundamental change in the approach to designing chemotherapy agents.

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Over a ten-year-period, one out of three women who had screening mammograms and clinical breast exams had abnormal results that required additional testing even though no breast cancer was present, researchers at the University of Washington and Harvard Medical School have found. The study of false positives, abnormal results that turn out not to be cancer, is published in the April 16 New England Journal of Medicine.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new imaging agent for Parkinson's disease that could allow clinicians to diagnose the disease more accurately and earlier in its progression than is currently possible, as well as to utilize imaging technologies that are cheaper, faster, and widely available.

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Dr. Robert Gallo, of the University of Maryland at Baltimore, and Dr. Luc Montagnier, of Queens College, Flushing, N.Y., and Pasteur Institute, Paris, who discovered and isolated HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are the winners of the Tenth Annual Warren Alpert Foundation Prize.

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Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have characterized the function of a subunit of the NMDA receptor, a specialized molecule on nerve cells that admits calcium when activated by the neurotransmitter glutamate. The subunit, dubbed NR3A, appears to regulate the activity of the NMDA receptor in ways that may protect nerve cells from damage. Their findings are published in the May 28 Nature.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a protein that partners with the mammalian CLOCK protein to regulate circadian rhythms. Together, the two proteins appear to induce transcription of circadian rhythm genes. Their findings are published in the June 5 Science.

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Viruses are normally all together too good at entering our cells. But when scientists alter them to carry desirable genes for genetic therapy, they usually have difficulty getting into the cells where their cargo is needed. Harvard Medical School researchers seem to have overcome this obstacle by building these weighty, less pugnacious viruses a bridge.

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A Harvard Medical School study suggests that in certain cases, medical practice guidelines and the treatment recommended by practicing physicians may be two different things. The researchers say that evaluations of medical practice, part of the basis of practice guidelines, should be founded on the beliefs not only of expert panels but also of practicing physicians.

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A gene mutation responsible for a form of mental retardation affecting one in 600 males has been located on the X chromosome, report Harvard Medical School researchers in the September Nature Genetics. The identification of the defect of the PAK-3 gene may shed insight on brain development.

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The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International and Harvard Medical School have established the JDF Center for Islet Cell Transplantation at Harvard Medical School with the goal of developing a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

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Researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered an early step in the progression of stroke, a finding that could provide a new target for antistroke therapies. Stroke afflicts an estimated half million Americans each year. The study is published in the September 29 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Harvard Medical School has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health to provide community-based health care for women--especially focusing on the health needs of minority women.

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A multi-institution study has found that the donation community has little idea how well or poorly it is doing in collecting available organs. The study's authors, however, report that analyzing five key hospital variables make it possible to generate accurate estimates of donor potential in a geographic region. The findings are reported in the November American Journal of Public Health.

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1. Minorities, the Elderly and Children More Likely to Perish in Residential Fires; 2. Exploring the Pathways Linking Oral Health and Heart Disease; 3. Many Doctors Overlook First Step in Diagnosing Eating Disorders; 4. Lobster Neurons Display Puritan Work Ethic; 5. Lessons In Diversity; 6. Center of Excellence in Women's Health Emphasizes Health of Minority Women

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Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Children's Hospital in Boston and the Center for Blood Research have made a discovery that could help solve one of the central riddles of biology--how the brain, with its dazzling display of cell types, develops from a relatively undistinguished pool of progenitor cells.

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A team of Harvard Medical School and Howard Hughes ivestigators has gotten to the heart of the problem of how an organ develops and acquires its characteristic shape. They have identified a gene called Irx-4 that opens doors to understanding how the heart chambers form. The findings appear in the February 19 Science.

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Mice lacking a gene for making telomeres -- chromosomal elements with a conjectured but controversial role in aging and cancer -- were found to go gray, lose hair faster, and recover less easily from the stress of surgery and chemotherapy than normal animals, reports a team of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School researchers.

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Harvard Medical School/Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have found that the transferrin cycle has a more limited role in iron transport than previously believed. The findings may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of iron metabolism disorders.

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A mechanism the immune system uses to detect and eliminate dysfunctional T cells has been identified by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School researcher reported in the May 14 Science. The study clarifies a long-standing puzzle about the development of systemic autoimmune diseases.

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1. Project Success: Hands-on Science For High School and College Students 2. History of Medicine Exhibit: Magical Stones and Imperial Bones 3. Center for Conservation Medicine Studies Ecosystem-Human Health 4. Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Indigenous People.

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Teaming tumor-attacking viruses with an approved chemotherapeutic drug may be more effective than either agent alone for treating multi-site brain cancers, reports a team of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School researchers.

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One in four Bosnian adults who fled the Bosnia-Herzegovina war may be functionally disabled due to psychiatric disorders, according to a study from Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. The findings underline the need to address mental health issues when creating redevelopment programs in war-torn countries.

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According to a study in the August 17 Annals of Internal Medicine, physician guidelines are inadequate in helping physicians counsel women about whether to take postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy. The study's authors say that future guidelines should instruct physicians to incorporate patients' perspectives into the counseling process.

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From the belly to the brain, a new study by Boston researchers shows how the fat hormone leptin works in the brain to trigger the nerve cells that control eating. The study adds important details about how leptin, which is released into the blood stream from fat, may control the cognitive aspects of feeding behavior.

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Harvard Medical School and Simon & Schuster today launched a web site that continuously updates the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide as new health and medical information becomes available. The whole book is not online. Access is free.

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The timeliness and quality of care for elderly patients with acute myocardial infarction who are covered by non-profit health maintenance organizations is equal to, or better than, the care provided under fee-for-service insurance, according to Harvard researchers.

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Harvard researchers have created the first atomic-resolution image of a donut-shaped enzyme, or helicase, that unwinds the DNA double helix to expose its genetic letters for DNA replication. The researchers worked out the X-ray crystallographic structure reported in the October 15 Cell.

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In the October 29 Science, Harvard Medical School researchers describe how they used a series of screens to fish out of a library of chemical compounds the first known small-molecule inhibitor to a motor protein involved in cell division.

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Harvard researchers in the November 25 New England Journal of Medicine report both a racial disparity in access to kidney transplantation, and that this disparity was not the result of patient preference.