June Research Highlights Newsletter

LOS ANGELES (June 28, 2024) -- 

Newswise — Improving Prostate Cancer Screening for Transgender Women

Transgender women are still at risk for prostate cancer. A new study led by Stephen Freedland, MD, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association, concludes that current screening guidelines could miss early-stage prostate cancer in transgender women on hormone therapy. Read more>

Smidt Heart Institute Experts Selected to Join JACC Editorial Team

Aakriti Gupta, MD, and Michelle Kittleson, MD, PhD, cardiologists in the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai, have been selected to join the senior editorial team of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), effective July 1. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Investigators Create AI Tool to Analyze Medical Data for Specific Conditions Like Alzheimer’s Disease

A machine learning tool developed by Cedars-Sinai investigators led by Jason H. Moore, PhD, can answer questions about genes, drugs, and biochemical pathways associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other health conditions. Findings were published in the journal Bioinformatics. Read more>

Lali Medina-Kauwe, PhD, Named Associate Dean of Cedars-Sinai PhD Programs

Lali Medina-Kauwe, PhD, a nationally regarded expert in molecular engineering and nanoparticle cancer research, has been named associate dean of PhD programs and director of the PhD program in Biomedical and Translational Sciences at Cedars-Sinai. Read more>

Winners of 2024 Rubenstein Award for Excellence in Resident Research Named

More than 30 years after Paul Rubenstein, MD, became Cedars-Sinai’s first director of Medical Education, his legacy lives on. Last month, four Cedars-Sinai residents competed in his honor for the 2024 Rubenstein Award for Excellence in Resident Research. The top four finalists were residents Robert Kim, MD, PhD; Jeff Liang, MD; Joseph Lownik, MD, PhD; and Samuel Zhang, MD. Read more>

COVID Medication Also Helps Prevent Delirium

Delirium, a condition that can have long-term effects on brain health, is common among patients with lung injury and a variety of other conditions. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports and led by Shouri Lahiri, MD, found that a medication used to treat COVID-19 also reduces a patient’s chances of developing delirium or coma, which is a form of delirium. Read more>

Exploring Potential New Treatment for Ventricular Tachycardia

When electrophysiologist Eugenio Cingolani, MD, isn’t seeing patients, he can usually be found in his laboratory, investigating improved treatments for heart rhythm disorders. The Cedars-Sinai Newsroom recently talked with Cingolani, an associate professor of Cardiology, to learn more about his quest to find an effective new treatment for ventricular tachycardia. Read more>

International Consortium Identifies Multiple Genes Associated With Ovarian Cancer Risk

A collaborative group of Cedars-Sinai investigators led by Paul Pharoah, MD, PhD, alongside an international team of researchers known as the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium, has identified five previously unidentified regions of the genome—the body’s hub of genetic makeup—and confirmed 22 other known regions associated with the risk of developing ovarian cancer. The findings were recently published in The American Journal of Human Genetics. Read more>

Distinguished Stem Cell Investigator to Lead New Center at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s

Developmental biologist and stem cell investigator David Traver, PhD, has been named director of a new developmental biology and regenerative pediatrics center at Cedars-Sinai Guerin Children’s. The new center brings together investigators studying the cellular processes involved in development and renewal, including how the body grows, repairs and rebuilds. Read more>

Q&A: New Frontiers in ALS Research

Clive Svendsen, PhD, executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute and professor of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Cedars-Sinai, is developing new treatments and models for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using stem cells. Svendsen sat down with the Cedars-Sinai Newsroom to discuss his ALS research and new projects that a recent grant will help fund. Read more>

Still Growing the Cancer Workforce

The yearlong U-GROW (Undergraduates Gaining Research Opportunities for the Cancer Workforce) internship program is a partnership between Cedars-Sinai and eight California State University campuses. On April 27, Cedars-Sinai celebrated the latest graduates from the program, which gives participants an opportunity to intern with Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators for nine weeks during the summer and receive training and mentorship throughout the school year. Read more>

Not Immune to Clinical Excellence

Cedars-Sinai clinical fellows investigating ways to boost or modulate the body’s immune response have been selected as winners of the 2024 Clinical Fellows Award for Excellence in Research. Their studies evaluated therapies to reduce organ rejection among transplant patients and improve survival for patients with pancreatic cancer. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Pioneer in Neuroendocrinology Honored for Achievements

Shlomo Melmed, MB, ChB, executive vice president of Medicine and Health Sciences and dean of the Medical Faculty at Cedars-Sinai, received the Pituitary Society’s top honor for his four decades of pioneering achievements and leadership in the field of endocrinology. Read more>

Cedars-Sinai Investigators Discover Mechanisms of Immunity

A novel study, led by David Underhill, PhD, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature, shows how cells use a protein called PD-L1 to rally white blood cells to battle infections. With this knowledge, investigators developed a novel technique, termed PhagoPL, to identify all of the proteins involved in attacking different kinds of microbes. Read more>

Can Deep Brain Stimulation Help More Patients?

Cedars-Sinai investigators, in a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron, have shown that by varying the shape of electrical waves, they can produce controllable responses in individual brain cell populations. Senior author Costas Anastassiou, PhD, said this could lead to new applications for the therapy, allowing it to influence higher-level functions such as learning and memory. Read more>

COVID-19 Vaccination Protects People More So Than Prior Viral Infection

A new Cedars-Sinai study, led by Joseph Ebinger, MD, shows that immunity from vaccination, more than prior illness, protects against repeat infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. This is particularly the case for people age 60 and older. The findings are published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Read more>

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