all Children's Hospital Boston stories

Darkness with the light

404132862 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:36:17 -0400

Adult survivors of childhood cancer have an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, even decades after their cancer treatments have ended, according to a study led by Harvard researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI).

Bringing new meaning to the term scientific paper

404132862 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:00:57 -0400

An insight from the labs of Harvard chemist George M. Whitesides and cell biologist Donald Ingber is likely to make a fundamental shift in how biologists grow and study cells – and it’s as cheap and easy as reaching for a paper towel.

Three Harvard teams to receive $9 million each in federal funding for stem cell research

404132862 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:11:45 -0400

Three teams of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers are slated to receive $27 million over seven years in National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) grants for the development of stem-cell based tools and treatments to understand and treat cardiovascular and blood disorders. The NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium will consist of nine research hubs, each involving multidiscplinary teams from two academic medical centers.

NIH funds risky, potentially transformative research by Harvard faculty members

404132862 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:17:05 -0400

Eighteen faculty members at Harvard and Harvard-affiliated institutions are among 115 scientists nationally whose promising and innovative work was recognized today with the announcement of three grant programs by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Researchers discover chemical that kills cancer stem cells

705287540 — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:38:41 -0400

Five years ago, as she was walking into Caritas Holy Family Hospital and Medical Center in Methuen, Mass., Patricia Fay saw a priest she knew and cornered him. “I’m like ‘Oh, Father Peter! And I sort of grabbed him by his arm,” she recounts.“I said, ‘What are you doing here? Father Peter! I could use a prayer right now. He asked me what was going on and I told him, “They found a brain tumor and I’m about to get set up for radiation. It’s cancer.”

“Father Peter put his hand on the top of my head, closed his eyes, and started saying a prayer,” Fay continues. But all she could think was, “Oh no! He’s blessing the wrong side!”

Glimpsing the birth of our earliest reproductive cells

404132862 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:20:24 -0400

It has long been a mystery how the developing embryo designates those rare, precious cells destined to produce sperm and eggs -- enabling us to have offspring - since these primordial germ cells' existence is fleeting and hard to spot with the tools of biology.

Harvard Medical School fetes scholar, names chair

50443248 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:01:27 -0400

Harvard Medical School (HMS) will endow a new chair named for child psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, the School’s longtime Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine, starting July 1.

Emeritus since 1993, Eisenberg has taught and mentored generations of physicians at Harvard (since 1967) and elsewhere (since 1947).

At 86, Eisenberg is still an active medical scholar and writer. Most recently, he has pressed for a rigorous ethical code to avoid conflicts of interest in medical practice – and for screenings for depression in the primary care setting.

Protein in urine may lead to test for appendicitis

50443248 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 08:00:14 -0400

A urine test for appendicitis?

50443248 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:18:17 -0400

Harvard researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have identified a protein in the urine of appendicitis patients that they believe may provide the basis of a quick, noninvasive, accurate, and inexpensive test for the common condition.

Acute inflammation of the vermiform appendix, commonly known as appendicitis, is one of the oldest emergencies in the annals of medicine, but its diagnosis still can be challenging, leading to delays and mistakes that can result in complications and death. But all that may be changing.

Urine could provide test for appendicitis

50443248 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:51:10 -0400

A Urine Test for Appendicitis

50443248 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:55:47 -0400

Experimental Urine Test Spots Appendicitis

50443248 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:46:24 -0400

Researchers solve 'bloodcurdling' mystery

50443248 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:03:45 -0400

By applying cutting-edge techniques in single-molecule manipulation, researchers at Harvard University have uncovered a fundamental feedback mechanism that the body uses to regulate the clotting of blood. The finding, which could lead to a new physical, quantitative, and predictive model of how the body works to respond to injury, has implications for the treatment of bleeding disorders.

Preventive care savings calculator devised

50443248 — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:05:42 -0400