Medical & Health Sciences
The National Science Teachers Association
Founded in 1944, the Virginia-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) is the largest organisation in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. In this exclusive interview, we talk to Executive Director of...
Dr Fei Hu – Virtual Reality and Robot-Based Rehabilitation for Post-Stroke Recovery
Stroke survivors often lose some of their motor functions, and recovery can be a long and expensive process. By integrating virtual reality, robot, and motion capture technology, a low-cost solution can be developed that is more effective and accessible than current...
Dr Annarita Di Lorenzo – Sphingolipids: Fats that Protect the Heart
Despite current therapies, cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, suggesting that alternative drug targets are urgently needed to preserve cardiovascular health. Sphingolipids – a class of biologically active molecules and components of cell...
Professor Wenxuan Zhong – New Statistics for Smelling Out Disease
Cutting-edge scientific techniques are generating a wealth of details about biological systems. This information could enable the rapid detection of disease and toxic substances, and provide insights into the mechanisms behind complex diseases. However, teasing out...
Dr Sharon Brennan-Olsen – The Social Gradient in Musculoskeletal Health
Disease is as much a social and economic phenomenon as a biological one. Dr Sharon Brennan-Olsen and her team at the University of Melbourne, and the Australian Institute for Musculoskeletal Science (AIMSS), are investigating musculoskeletal disorders as a...
Count Down To The Future
At the NASA Ames Research Center in California, the next generation of space biologists are working to understand the effects of long duration space flight on model organisms, and are developing ways to protect the health of future astronauts. The human body has...
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences
As one of the 27 Centers, Institutes and Offices within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) supports basic research that increases our understanding of biological processes, laying the foundation for...
Professor Roy Robins-Browne – Disarming Bacterial Virulence
With antibiotic resistance rapidly emerging among many important bacterial pathogens, it is imperative that new classes of antimicrobials are developed. Professor Roy Robins-Browne and his team at The University of Melbourne are taking a novel approach to...
Dr Arun Srivastava – The AAV Club: Applying AAV Vectors to Gene Therapy
The sci-fi vision of gene therapy for curing genetic diseases is fast becoming a reality as more therapies are entering clinical and commercial development. Dr Arun Srivastava and his team at the University of Florida are investigating the use of the next generation...
Dr Ashley Cowart – Small Scale Roots of Metabolic Disease
Although metabolic diseases plague Western countries, we still don’t fully understand the molecular mechanisms that trigger these diseases. Therefore, biochemists such as Dr Ashley Cowart at the Medical University of South Carolina strive to uncover the cellular...
Outcomes of the 2017 Global Research Council meeting co-hosted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Comprising the heads of research funding agencies worldwide, the Global Research Council (GRC) is an organisation dedicated to fostering multilateral research and collaboration across continents to benefit both developing and developed nations. The GRC holds annual...
Neurofibromatosis (NF) Center
The STEM Education Coalition
The STEM Education Coalition was founded more than 15 years ago with a mission to raise awareness in the U.S. Congress, the administration, and on the state level about the critical role that STEM education plays in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and...
Smartnanotox
Professor Mary Galea – Playing for Recovery
Improving recovery after nervous system injury has been Professor Mary Galea’s lifelong goal. Harnessing the power of video games, Professor Galea and her team at the University of Melbourne have developed the ‘Hand Hub’ to significantly enhance upper limb...
Health Measures
Travis M Whitfill | Azim Munivar – Harnessing Skin Bacteria to Fight Skin Disease
The brainchild of Azim Munivar and Travis M Whitfill, Azitra Inc. is a microbiome start-up with big ambition. Beginning with eczema and Netherton’s Syndrome, the Azitra team are set to change the landscape of skin disease treatment. Azitra Inc. is a company with one...
Taher Saif | Dr Andrew Holle – Mechanobiology – Exploring the Mechanics of Cell Behaviour
Understanding how cells interact with the physical world around them is at the core of mechanobiology, a growing subfield connecting the arenas of cell biology and bioengineering. Two leading researchers, Professor Taher Saif and Dr Andrew Holle, with the support of...
Professor Ian A. Blair – Of Metabolites and Men: Applications of Metabolomics to Medicine
Diseases are often characterised with a distinctive chemical spectral ‘fingerprint’ that reflects the profound metabolic changes brought on by disease pathogenesis. Professor Ian Blair and his team at the University of Pennsylvania use the emerging science of...
Professor Dale Tang – Unravelling the Mystery of Chronic Asthma
Understanding the underlying processes that contribute to the progression of asthma is essential to improve our limited knowledge of the disease, and to assist in the generation of novel therapies. Professor Dale Tang and his team in the Department of Molecular and...
Dr Gábor Csányi – Macropinocytosis: The Macrophage Drinking Problem Behind Atherosclerosis
Dr Gábor Csányi and his team at the Vascular Biology Center of Augusta University explore the molecular mechanisms involved in an alternative pathway of macrophage LDL cholesterol uptake, with hopes of finding new targets for the treatment of atherosclerosis. HDL, LDL...
Professor Jeff Keelan – Preventing Preterm Birth and Improving Infant Outcomes
Professor Jeff Keelan and his colleagues at the Western Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Initiative are on a mission to lower rates of child morbidity and mortality through research into the prediction, treatment and prevention of premature labour and birth. ...
Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz – Mitochondria – A Novel Target in the Fight Against Cancer
There is an urgent need for new therapies to target challenging, difficult-to-treat cancers such as glioblastoma. To meet this need, Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz, a renowned researcher in the field of mitochondrial biology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in...
Dr Frederick A. Moore & Dr Lyle Moldawer – The Sepsis And Critical Illness Research Center: From Patients To The Bench And Back
By taking a complex disease and breaking it down to its basics, The Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center (SCIRC) has evolved into an organisation with the unique ability to tackle sepsis from biological, clinical and translational standpoints. What is Sepsis?...
Dr Petra C. Kienesberger | Dr Thomas C. Pulinilkunnil – Illuminating Pathways to the Future of Health
Non-communicable diseases, such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, kill more people worldwide than any other disease. Drs Petra Kienesberger and Thomas Pulinilkunnil at Dalhousie University have dedicated their careers to understanding the molecular...
Professor Robert Fairman – Twists and Turns in Protein Assembly
In nerve cells, the accumulation of protein into bundles of insoluble fibres is the underlying cause of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Robert Fairman and his team at Haverford College are developing cutting edge techniques to unravel this process....
The American Society for Cell Biology
Founded over half a century ago, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is an inclusive, international community of biologists studying the cell – the fundamental unit of all life on Earth. The Society aims to advance scientific discovery, advocate sound...
Spirometry 360: Asthma Management Gets an Upgrade
Dr Jim Stout and his multidisciplinary team at the University of Washington are on a mission to improve asthma care. Through novel training schemes, quality improvement methods and research into health disparities, these researchers are determined to reduce...
Professor Zamir Punja – Ensuring Quality Aspects of Medicinal Marihuana
Professor Zamir Punja, an expert in plant pathogens, tissue culture and molecular biology at Simon Fraser University, turns his attention toward the under-studied, but medically important field of cannabis research. Humans have consumed and cultivated cannabis...
Professor Michael Roth – Uncovering New Pathologic Mechanisms of Asthma
Professor Michael Roth, Head of the Pulmonary Cell Research unit at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, has been investigating the pathologic causative mechanisms behind asthma and COPD for the last 30 years, with the aim of developing novel treatments...
DIGS-BB: Setting the Standard for Modern PhD Training
Over the past decade, the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering (DIGS-BB) has risen to the forefront of PhD student training. The program combines cutting edge research projects with innovative mentoring strategies to train...
Professor Matilde Inglese – Imaging Multiple Sclerosis: Searching for Patterns in the Brain
Professor Matilde Inglese, Director of the Neurology Imaging Laboratory in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is at the forefront of using sodium MRI as a means to better monitor and understand the pathophysiological changes caused during multiple...