all Harvard Medical School stories

Harvard Medical School grad heads for International Space Station

404132862 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:01:00 -0500

In an era when elementary schoolchildren can create exciting new worlds and explore them with the click of a computer mouse, will we again see bold explorers like Lewis and Clark or the Mercury Seven astronauts? Will we follow modern Jasons and their Argonauts through space in an age in which the nation’s deficit is soaring and equally alluring worlds in our body’s cells offer the potential to cure disease and extend life?

Robert Satcher says we will.

Researchers ‘NOTCH’ a victory in war on cancer

404132862 — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:09:01 -0500

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).

Researchers exploit genetic ‘co-dependence’ to kill treatment-resistant tumor cells

404132862 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:00:53 -0400

Cancer cells fueled by the mutant KRAS oncogene, which makes them notoriously difficult to treat, can be killed by blocking a more vulnerable genetic partner of KRAS, report scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

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.

From stem cells to functioning strip of heart muscle

404132862 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0400

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and collaborators at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has taken a giant step toward the possibility of using human stem cells to repair damaged hearts.

Stimulus funds provide welcome research boost

705287540 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:15:58 -0400

In remarks last month at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., President Barack Obama said not only do we need stimulus money to create thousands of jobs in the sciences and technology, but also to get the progress of the nation’s research back on track.

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.

Harvard team reports major step forward in cell reprogramming

404132862 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0400

A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers has made a major advance toward producing induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, that are safe enough to use in treating diseases in patients.

Jack Szostak 2009 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine

404132862 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:01:59 -0400

Jack Szostak, a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for pioneering work in the discovery of telomerase, an enzyme that protects chromosomes from degrading.

The work not only revealed a key cellular function, it also illuminated processes involved in disease and aging.

Not having health insurance is expensive

404132862 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:00:00 -0400

New findings from researchers at Harvard Medical School (HMS) demonstrate that individuals who were either continuously or intermittently uninsured between the ages of 51 and 64 cost Medicare more than those who had continuous insurance coverage in the years prior to Medicare eligibility.

Donald Ingber awarded the 2009 BMES Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship for outstanding achievements, originality and leadership

404132862 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:00:54 -0500

Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, has been awarded the Biomedical Engineering Society’s prestigious Pritzker Distinguished Lectureship for 2009. The lectureship recognizes outstanding achievements, a high level of originality and leadership in the science and practice of biomedical engineering.

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).

Huybers and Mahadevan named MacArthur Foundation Fellows

404132862 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:36:02 -0400

Two Harvard faculty members who study present and past ice sheets and the science behind familiar objects and everyday events have been named recipients of prestigious MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants.

New study finds 45,000 deaths annually linked to lack of health coverage

404132862 — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:00:22 -0400

Nearly 45,000 annual deaths are associated with lack of health insurance, according to a new study published online today by the American Journal of Public Health. That figure is about two and a half times higher than an estimate from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002.