June 2014 News from the Medical Schools: Research

The Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) brings you the following compilation of the most recent updates and news on research from the academic medical centers in the state.

Researchers at the Academic Medical Centers

Neurobiologist Thomas Jessell to Receive $500,000 Gruber Neuroscience Prize
June 3, 2014 – Thomas Jessell, PhD, the Claire Tow Professor of Motor Neuron Disorders in the Departments of Neuroscience and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University, is the recipient of the 2014 Neuroscience Prize from the Gruber Foundation. Jessell is being honored with this prestigious international award for his seminal work on the development and wiring of spinal cord neurons involved in the control of movement. He is also co-director of the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, co-director of the Kavli Institute for Brain Science, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, all at Columbia.

Peter Palese, PhD, of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Elected Member of the Class of 2014 of the Prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences
June 2, 2014 – The American Academy of Arts & Sciences has announced its 2014 class of new members. Included among the list are leaders in the sciences, social sciences, humanities, arts, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector is Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai’s Peter Palese, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology.

Stockton Kimball Awardee is Noted Medical Physics Researcher
June 2, 2014 – Pioneering medical physicist Stephen Rudin, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of radiology and director of radiation physics, has received the 2014 Stockton Kimball Award for outstanding scientific achievement and significant service to the University at Buffalo.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants for Research

Tracking How Breast Cancer Spreads: Einstein Receives $10 Million NIH Grant
June 19, 2014 – The American Cancer Society predicts that 40,000 American women will die from breast cancer this year. Most of those deaths will occur due to cells from the primary tumor that spread to other parts of the body—the process known as metastasis. Now, the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $10 million grant to researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University to fund research into how breast cancer cells move and spread in the body, and how to predict which breast cancer tumors will metastasize.

University at Buffalo receives $4 million NIH grant to study oral health in postmenopausal women
June 11, 2014 – University at Buffalo researchers have received an interdisciplinary bioinformatics grant of $3,986,404 from the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the National Institutes of Health to conduct a prospective study of the oral microbiome and periodontitis in postmenopausal women.

Other Funds for Research

NYU School of Medicine and CUNY Receive CDC Grant to Establish NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center Focused on Reducing Cardiovascular Disease Inequities
June 6, 2014 – NYU School of Medicine and City University of New York (CUNY) announced that they received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to create a new public-private partnership, the NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center (NYU-CUNY PRC). Once opened on September 30th, 2014, researchers at the center will integrate evidence-based interventions into community-clinical approaches to reduce cardiovascular disease disparities in New York City, with a particular emphasis on ethnically diverse and immigrant communities.

New Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Established at Weill Cornell Medical College
June 5, 2014 – Weill Cornell Medical College announced today that through the generosity of longstanding benefactor Jill Roberts and the Jill Roberts Charitable Foundation it is establishing the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Dr. David Artis, one of the world’s leading immunologists, was recruited from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine to direct the institute, which is dedicated to understanding the molecular underpinnings of inflammatory bowel disease with the goal of translating basic research breakthroughs into the most advanced therapies for patients.

Study: New Test Preicts if Breast Cancer Will Spread

June 3, 2014 – A test that counts the number of locations in tumor specimens where tumor cells may invade blood vessels predicted the risk of distant spread, or metastasis, for the most common type of breast cancer. The study was led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI)—designated Albert Einstein Cancer Center of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care and was published online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

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© 2014 Albert Einstein College of Medicine. All rights reserved.

University at Buffalo Biochemist Discovers New Clues to Infertility in Study on Cholesterol

June 6, 2014 – High cholesterol levels may impair fertility in couples trying to conceive, according to a study co-authored by Richard W. Browne, PhD, associate professor of biotechnical and clinical laboratory sciences.

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© 2014 School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo. All rights reserved.

Mount Sinai Researchers Identify Protein That Keeps Blood Stem Cells Healthy as They Age

June 9, 2014 – A protein may be the key to maintaining the health of aging blood stem cells, according to work by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai recently published online in Stem Cell Reports. Human adults keep stem cell pools on hand in key tissues, including the blood. These stem cells can become replacement cells for those lost to wear and tear. But as the blood stem cells age, their ability to regenerate blood declines, potentially contributing to anemia and the risk of cancers like acute myeloid leukemia and immune deficiency. Whether this age-related decline in stem cell health is at the root of overall aging is unclear.

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© 2014 Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. All rights reserved.

Physical Activity Can Protect Overweight Women from Risk for Heart Disease

May 20, 2014 – For otherwise healthy middle-aged women who are overweight or obese, physical activity may be their best option for avoiding heart disease, according to a study that followed nearly 900 women for seven years. These findings were reported in a paper led by authors at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein, and published today in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

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DNA on the Witness Stand: Court Face Challenges When Linking Genetics to Criminal Behavior

June 10, 2014 – Studies suggest that some people may be at increased risk of criminal behavior because of their genes. Such research has the potential to help judges and juries with some of the difficult decisions they must make, but it also brings a substantial risk of misinterpretation and misuse within the legal system. Addressing these issues will be of critical importance in upholding principles of justice and fairness, according to a paper published in the June 4 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron.

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© 2014 Columbia University Medical Center. All rights reserved.

The Optogenetics Revolution

June 6, 2014 – Since the advent of modern neuroscience, scientists have sought to understand how the billions of neurons in our brains act separately but in concert to create what we experience as learning, thinking, memory, and behavior. However, the endeavor to understand the intricacies of the functioning brain has long been limited by the difficulty of observing and manipulating neurons as they work together in a live, behaving animal.

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© 2014 Columbia University Medical Center. All rights reserved.

New Evidence Links Air Pollution to Autism, Schizophrenia

June 6, 2014 – New research from the University of Rochester Medical Center describes how exposure to air pollution early in life produces harmful changes in the brains of mice, including an enlargement of part of the brain that is seen in humans who have autism and schizophrenia.

Sleep After Learning Strengthens Connections Between Brain Cells and Enhances Memory, NYU Langone Scientists Find

June 5, 2014 – In study published today in Science, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center show for the first time that sleep after learning encourages the growth of dendritic spines, the tiny protrusions from brain cells that connect to other brain cells and facilitate the passage of information across synapses, the junctions at which brain cells meet. Moreover, the activity of brain cells during deep sleep, or slow-wave sleep, after learning is critical for such growth.

Study Explores Roles of Dopamine Receptors in Prefrontal Cortex

June 3, 2014 – Zhen Yan, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics, has received $1.6 million to continue her study of human dopamine D4 receptor variants — a type of neurotransmitter receptor in the brain’s prefrontal cortex. She aims to identify molecular targets and key signaling components involved in the different functions of these variants. Her work could pave the way for future research leading to new treatments for diseases associated with abnormalities in dopamine function.

Neural Circuits and Motor Control: Q&A with Eiman Azim

May 29, 2014 – Researchers recently identified two types of neurons that enable the spinal cord to control skilled forelimb movement. The first is a group of excitatory interneurons that are needed to make accurate and precise movements; the second is a group of inhibitory interneurons necessary for smooth movement of the limbs.

Survival Differences Among Young Black and White Adults with Kidney Failure on Dialysis are Most Striking in Poor Neighborhoods

June 12, 2014 – Researchers have found that among young adult patients with kidney failure undergoing dialysis and living in poor neighborhoods, blacks have a significantly higher risk of dying while young compared with whites. The study, involving scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Montefiore Medical Center and other institutions, was published online today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The findings suggest that social factors need to be identified that might be worsening outcomes among young black adults with kidney failure.

TB Dogma Upended: Even Uninfected Cells Trigger Immune Defenses

June 11, 2014 – Experimenting with mice, infectious disease experts at NYU Langone Medical Center have found that immune system cells uninfected with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis trigger immune system T cells to fight the disease. The findings upend the long-held scientific belief that only cells, known specifically as dendritic cells, infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis could stimulate a broader, defensive immune system attack of the invading microorganism.

Albany Medical Center Physician Wins Sports Medicine Research Award

June 9, 2014 – A publication on soccer head injuries by Hamish Kerr, M.D., sports medicine specialist at Albany Medical Center and a physician at Capital Region Orthopaedics, has been chosen as the most outstanding research paper to appear in the journal Sports Health in 2013.

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