Focus: Hidden - New York Metro

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Columbia Engineering professor Elizabeth Hillman has developed SCAPE, a new microscope that images living things in 3D at very high speeds. Her approach uses a simple, single-objective imaging geometry that requires no sample mounting or translation, making it possible to image freely moving living samples. SCAPE’s ability to perform real-time 3D imaging at cellular resolution in behaving organisms could be transformative for biomedical and neuroscience research. (Study published on Nature Photonics's website 1/19/2015.)

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A group of white blood cells known as B cells, which play a key role in the human immune response, need a protein-targeting signal called M6P in order to proliferate, differentiate, and present immune cell–activating antigens.

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Scientists at the Mechanobiology Institute (MBI) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have discovered the molecular mechanisms responsible for the formation of the adherens junction at the nanoscale level. This research is published in Developmental Cell (Wu et al., Actin-delimited adhesion-independent clustering of E-cadherin forms the nanoscale building blocks of adherens junctions, Developmental Cell, 16 Jan 2015, doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2014.12.003).

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WCS and partners in Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru have published four significant contributions towards the conservation of the real Paddington Bear – the Andean bear (Tremarctos ornatus).

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A stem cell capable of regenerating both bone and cartilage has been identified in bone marrow of mice.

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Ágnes Mócsy, a theoretical physicist and tenured associate professor at Pratt Institute, one of the world’s prestigious art and design universities, hopes to convey the sense of awe she experienced seeing Brookhaven Lab's particle collider to the art students she teaches in physics and astronomy classes for non-physics majors.

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Neurobiologists at NYU Langone Medical Center found a surprising and paradoxical effect of abuse-related cues in rat pups: those cues also can lower depressive-like behavior when the rats are fully grown. This could shed light on why certain cues associated with early life abuse can reduce stress in those same individuals as adults.

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The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Governments of Tanzania and the United States, including USAID, announced the launch of a new joint program to save East Africa’s largest elephant population in the Ruaha-Katavi Landscape.

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Guanacos are back – and getting into trouble – says a team of scientists from WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) tracking these iconic hoofed mammals across a variety of landscapes on the Chilean side of the island of Tierra del Fuego.

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Peter S. Kim has been named the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Biochemistry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Established in 1994, Ludwig professorships have since been awarded to a total of 15 leading scientists at academic institutions affiliated with the six U.S.-based Ludwig Centers. With this appointment Kim also becomes a member of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine at Stanford.

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Novella Clinical, a Quintiles company (Novella), and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) today announced a preferred provider collaboration that will offer a set of clinical trial services to developers of cardiovascular drugs and devices.

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A team from Brookhaven Lab and Columbia University has paired up photovoltaic polymers that produce two units of electricity per unit of light instead of the usual one on a single molecular polymer chain. Having the two charges on the same molecule means the light-absorbing, energy-producing materials work efficiently when dissolved in liquids, which opens the way for a wide range of industrial scale manufacturing processes, including “printing” solar-energy-producing material like ink.

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A new study in the journal Early Childhood Research Quarterly finds that kindergartners and first graders with high maintenance temperaments showed less disruptive behavior and more active engagement and on-task behavior in the classroom, thanks to a program that helps teachers, parents, and students recognize and adapt to individual differences.

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A team of scientists has identified how a “sixth sense” in fish allows them to detect flows of water, which helps resolve a long-standing mystery about how these aquatic creatures respond to their environment.

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23andMe and Pfizer collaborate to establish new lupus research community.

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A study by the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found new interactions between two molecules involved in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), STAT3 and PRL-3, which may offer a new therapeutic target for cancer treatment. The scientists discovered that STAT3, a molecule which has the potential to cause cancer, associates with and regulates the levels of PRL-3, a gene which has been implicated in various types of cancers.

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Biogen Idec and Columbia University Medical Center have formed a $30 million strategic alliance to conduct genetics discovery research on the underlying causes of disease and to identify new treatment approaches.

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Scientists at Stony Brook University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory are using pioneering x-ray techniques to map internal atomic transformations of the highly conductive silver matrix formation within lithium-based batteries that may lead to the design of more efficient batteries. Their findings are published online today in the journal Science.

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A conductive silver matrix forming inside an otherwise poorly performing battery enhances its efficiency and potential applications. X-rays revealed where, when, and how these nanoscale “bridges” emerge.

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A Stony Brook University research team has been awarded $2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) to develop an active air conditioning vent capable of modulating airflow distribution, velocity, and temperature designed for commercial or residential units. Led by Ya Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the goal of the project is to create a vent that results in up to 30 percent energy savings through directed localization of existing building heating/cooling output.

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While nanotechnology has led to countless advancements, a group of Israeli researchers are now raising a flag of caution about its effects on our health. They say exposure to tiny silica-based particles can play a big role in increasing heart attack and stroke risks.

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The Mount Sinai Health System today announced the launch of its “Promoting Innovations in Emergency Medical Services” project, in collaboration with University of California, San Diego Health System.

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A new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society shows that habitat alteration may be less important than other factors– such as human behavior– in driving the effects of “exurban” development on bird communities. These unexpected results are fueling more questions that may ultimately lead to informed landowners lessening their impacts on local wildlife.

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In early December, the Center of Disease Control officials warned that the year's flu season could result in more fatalities than in other years. CDC Director Tom Frieden noted that the dominant flu strain circulating this season, H3N2, tends to lead to a greater number of hospitalizations and fatalities than other strains. About half of the flu samples tested in the early stages of this year's flu season were a new H3 subtype of the virus that this year's vaccine is not well prepared to fight.

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A study of nearly a half-million Americans has found that following cancer prevention guidelines from the American Cancer Society may modestly reduce your overall risk of developing cancer and have a greater impact on reducing your overall risk of dying. Having a healthy body weight and staying active appeared to have the most positive impact.

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Monolingual infants expect others to understand only one language, an assumption not held by bilingual infants, a study by researchers at New York University and McGill University has found.

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23andMe and Genentech are partnering to analyze the genetic patterns associated with Parkinson's Disease.

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Fire consumes wood ferociously, in a deadly blaze—but the substances used to treat wood to resist burning can also be noxious and toxic. A Stony Brook University Materials Science Professor guided an undergraduate and two Long Island high school students as they developed a patent-pending, environmentally sustainable way to render the wood used in construction flame retardant—and 5x stronger—using natural materials.

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Elderly patients admitted to ICUs are 35 percent more likely to die within five years of leaving the hospital if they develop an HAI. Preventing HAIs increases survival odds and cuts costs of care by more than $150,000.

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A member of a cooperative of small-scale farmers, many of whom are former poachers, played a key role in the recent arrests by the Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) of two wildlife traffickers attempting to trade ivory as part of a major syndicate involved in the illegal wildlife trade.

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Thyroid disease affects approximately 200 million people worldwide, and if left undiagnosed and untreated it can cause conditions such depression, tremors, muscle weakness and constant fatigue.

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Many patients undergoing lumpectomy surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center for the removal of an early detected breast tumor – the surgical option of choice for this diagnosis -- are benefitting from new intra-operative technology that detects microscopic amounts of cancer cells on removed tumor tissue not visible during or following surgical intervention.

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Low alcohol consumption and a plant-based diet, both healthy habits aligning with current cancer prevention guidelines, are associated with reducing the risk of obesity-related cancers, a New York University study shows.

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From new insights into the building blocks of matter to advances in understanding batteries, superconductors, and a protein that could help fight cancer, 2014 was a year of stunning successes for Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University today named Steven A. Porcelli, M.D., the new chair of the department of microbiology & immunology. A noted immunologist, Dr. Porcelli is currently the Murray and Evelyne Weinstock Chair in Microbiology & Immunology and professor of medicine at Einstein.

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WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) released today ten favorite camera trap images of 2014 taken by its scientists from around the world.

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A new study reveals that certain features of metal surfaces can stop the process of oxidation in its tracks. The findings could be relevant to understanding and perhaps controlling oxidation in a wide range of materials—from catalysts to the superalloys used in jet engine turbines and the oxides in microelectronics.

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Each year on January 1st, Americans make goals for the New Year, ranging from getting in shape and spending more time with their families to decreasing debt. This year, make a resolution that will not only improve your health, but also save you money— quit smoking. According to the Surgeon General’s most recent tobacco-related report, cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and premature death worldwide.

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Columbia University School of Nursing experts are available to discuss the impact of New York’s Nurse Practitioner Modernization Act, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2015.

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Weizmann’s Dr. Jacob Hanna and Cambridge University scientists have made a first-in-the-world breakthrough: creating human primordial cells. The group has turned back the clock on human cells to create primordial germ cells: the embryonic cells that give rise to sperm and ova. Scientists worldwide have been pursuing this goal for several years.

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Architecture and medical students at New York Institute of Technology have created an international, interdisciplinary competition to generate ideas for mobile healing environments suitable for areas hit by epidemics and pandemics.

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Social impact design is a growing trend in architecture, aimed at focusing on public interest and community needs. Student architects from New York Institute of Technology and the University of Puerto Rico have joined forces to envision a new modular beach pavilion design as a method to spur improvements to a once-popular beach destination.

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A team of NUS researchers led by Associate Professor S K Panda from the NUS Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, is currently putting the final touches to a robotic sea turtle that does not use a ballast system which is commonly used in underwater robots for diving or sinking functions. Without this ballast system, it is much smaller and lighter, enabling it to carry bigger payloads so that it can perform more complicated tasks such as surveillance, water quality monitoring in Singapore reservoir or energy harvesting for long endurance. The turtle robot, which can self-charge, is also able to do a dynamic dive or sink vertically, ie it can enter vertical tunnels or pipes in the seabed with very small diameters.

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A new test may reveal which patients will respond to treatment for graft versus host disease (GVHD).

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People with autism have a wide range of symptoms, with no two people sharing the exact type and severity of behaviors. Now a large-scale analysis of hundreds of patients and nearly 1000 genes has started to uncover how diversity among traits can be traced to differences in patients’ genetic mutations.

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Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and elsewhere say that a vaccination they have developed to fight a brain-based, wasting syndrome among deer and other animals may hold promise on two additional fronts: Protecting U.S. livestock from contracting the disease, and preventing similar brain infections in humans.

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Sharmila Makhija, M.D., M.B.A., has been named professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women’s Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System. An internationally-recognized expert in cancer prevention, she assumes her new position on April 1, 2015. Dr. Makhija joins Einstein and Montefiore from the University of Louisville School Of Medicine, where she serves as chair and professor of obstetrics and gynecology.

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Shopping, traveling, and spending time with the family—the holiday season is an overwhelming combination of joy and stress. For many former tobacco smokers, stress is a trigger to reach for a cigarette. Stay smoke-free during the holidays with these tips.

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The Mount Sinai Health System is pleased to announce that Ron Shapiro, MD, is the new surgical director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at The Mount Sinai Hospital’s Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute.