Companies are working to develop new vaccines for COVID-19, and one of the many challenges is ensuring that clinical trials required to test the new medicines reflect the population at large in order to determine how effective the vaccines will be when offered to tens of millions of people throughout the United States. In this Q&A, Lynne D. Richardson, MD, Professor and Vice Chair of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Population Health Science and Policy, and Co-Director of Mount Sinai’s Institute for Health Equity Research, talks about the latest COVID-19 vaccines, why it is important for clinical trials to include a diverse population, and how well the pharmaceutical industry has done that. Take a closer look.

 

A new study that records patient volume at Stony Brook Medicine’s Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center reveals that follow-up telehealth visits are highly effective during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, published in the December issue of the Annals of Surgery, serves as an example that surgical practices can continue to thrive with the help of telemedicine during the pandemic. Take a closer look.

 

Some people with COVID-19 experience no symptoms whatsoever throughout the entire course of their infection. Learning how much these persistently asymptomatic individuals contribute to the spread of COVID-19 could shed light on the transmission of this virus and help us understand the illness severity spectrum seen in this disease, where some people have no symptoms while others develop fatal illness. Take a closer look.

 

Back in early March when most of the world was learning about COVID-19 for the first time, Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, clinical instructor of medicine, and Stephen Goff, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Microbiology & Immunology and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, were already examining early data from France and noticing a distinct pattern around viral load, the amount of virus detected in a PCR nasal swab, and patient outcomes. Take a closer look.

 

A single protein that appears necessary for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) virus to reproduce and spread to other cells is a potential weakness that could be targeted by future therapies. The molecule, known as transmembrane protein 41 B (TMEM41B), is believed to help shape the fatty outer membrane that protects the virus’s genetic material while it replicates inside an infected cell and before it infects another. Take a closer look.

 

For Covid-19 patients with serious lung disease, targeting endothelial cells –cells that comprise the blood vessel wall which regulate oxygen exchange between airways and the bloodstream– may be a novel approach restoring normal lung function. This hypothesis stems from a study by researchers in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and published in mBio, the leading journal for the American Society for Microbiology. Take a closer look.

 

People hospitalized with COVID-19 and neurological problems, including stroke and confusion, have a higher risk of dying than other COVID-19 patients, according to a study published online by researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the journal Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. These findings have the potential to identify and focus treatment efforts on individuals most at risk and could decrease COVID-19 deaths. Take a closer look.

 

As always, Albany Medical College researchers have taken part in helping to solve the most cutting-edge medical issues of our time. Ongoing COVID-19 research at Albany Med encompasses both basic research and clinic-based studies involving COVID-19 in the lab and COVID-19 patients. In 2020, investigators from the Departments of Medicine, Immunology and Microbial Disease and Molecular and Cellular Physiology submitted applications for COVID-19 research grants, including to the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and the American Heart Association. Take a closer look.

 

Researchers at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have developed a computational approach to make drug discovery faster and less expensive while also being safe and effective. The approach is implemented in a platform called CANDO (Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities) and was initially funded by a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award to generate therapeutic predictions of existing drugs that could be repurposed to rapidly tackle emerging disease outbreaks. Take a closer look.

 

Ovarian tumors can be made more sensitive to immunotherapy by blocking the recruitment of certain cells to the area surrounding the cancer, according to preclinical research by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. Unlike some other solid tumors, including lung cancer and melanoma, ovarian cancer generally does not respond to immunotherapy. In a study published Dec. 8 in Nature Communications, researchers looked at the role of a protein called UBR5, which is found at high levels, or amplified, in particularly aggressive cases of ovarian cancer. Take a closer look.

 

Mount Sinai researchers have solved one of the enduring mysteries of cancer immunotherapy: Why does it completely eliminate tumors in many patients, even when not all the cells in those tumors have the molecular target that the therapy is aimed at? The answer involves a protein called fas, and regulating fas may be a route to preventing cancer relapse, the researchers reported in a study published in Cancer Discovery in December. Take a closer look.

 

The risk of dying seven years after coronary artery bypass surgery was significantly lower in men receiving multiple bypass grafts rather than single grafts, but there was no apparent difference in mortality between these methods in women, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian and the University at Albany School of Public Health. The landmark finding raises important questions about why outcomes differ by sex and underscores the need for prospective clinical trials in women. Take a closer look.

 

Joseph Terrell Smith Jr., PhD, postdoctoral fellow in microbiology and immunology, has been awarded a three-year, $202,000 F32 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study the regulation of RNA in Trypanosoma brucei. Trypanosoma brucei is the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, which is spread from person to person by the bite of the tsetse fly. Take a closer look.

 

Two new studies from the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) have uncovered an association between vaping and mental fog. Both adults and kids who vape were more likely to report difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions than their non-vaping, non-smoking peers. It also appeared that kids were more likely to experience mental fog if they started vaping before the age of 14. Take a closer look.

 

With plans to pursue a career in surgery, Scarlett Tohme, New York Medical College School of Medicine Class of 2021, made a point to seek out opportunities to conduct research with the trauma surgery department after completing her recent obstetrics and gynecology rotation at Richmond University Medical Center in Staten Island, which ultimately resulted in her designing and leading a research project into the risks factors for deep vein thrombosis. Take a closer look.

 

High-grade gliomas, historically called glioblastoma multiforme or GBMs, are the most common and deadly of the primary brain cancers, with an average survival rate of 12 to 18 months and just a five percent, five-year survival rate even with current aggressive therapy. Throughout his years at New York Medical College, Eric Feldstein, School of Medicine Class of 2021, has continued his involvement in research he began before medical school to discover a new standard of care for this deadly illness. Take a closer look.

 

M. Kerry O’Banion, M.D., Ph.D. has been awarded $1.8 million from NASA to explore the effect space travel has on the immune system and bone marrow, and how that impacts brain function. The grant is one of 21 research proposals recently awarded by NASA to help answer questions about astronaut health and performance during future long-duration missions, including crewed missions to the Moon and Mars. Take a closer look.

 

At the end of March, George Hripcsak, MD, had expected to attend a symposium in England for a global interdisciplinary research collaborative whose coordinating center operates out of VP&S. Instead, on March 26, Hripcsak and fellow members of the leadership committee of the Observational Health Data Sciences and Informatics (or OHDSI, pronounced “Odyssey”) launched an 88-hour virtual study-a-thon with more than 300 investigators from dozens of countries in attendance. Take a closer look.

 

In collaboration with Northwell Health’s Division of Nephrology and the Davita Dialysis Center of Port Washington, the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine offered a rare glimpse into life on dialysis. The school’s Humanities in Medicine Program, the Osler Society, hosted a moving virtual theatrical performance of The Time Between, a play written by Hofstra University student Julie Spector. Take a closer look.

 

Upstate Medical University has been approved for its first fellowship in reconstructive urology, which is set to begin in 2021. The fellow will work alongside Upstate surgeons and physicians in the Department of Urology seeing patients, performing surgery and conducting research. Dmitriy Nikolavsky, MD, is director of reconstructive urology at Upstate and was instrumental in establishing the fellowship. Take a closer look.