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How Our Immune System Causes Heart Attacks (and Cancer)

by Giulia Notarangelo figures by Abagail Burrus A drug that might significantly reduce the risk of heart attack and lung cancer is being hailed by researchers as the biggest breakthrough in the treatment of cardiovascular disease since the introduction of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins over 30 years ago. Despite the fact that drug companies sell over $30 billion worth of statins annually, roughly 600,000 people still … Continue reading How Our Immune System Causes Heart Attacks (and Cancer)

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November 15 – High-Stake Steaks: the science of prions, Mad Cow, and other neurologic diseases

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, November 15th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Noah Bloch and Vicky Chou For a decade between the mid-1980’s to the mid-1990’s, the outbreak of Mad Cow disease shook up the meat industry and the scientific community. How Mad Cow disease could spread from cow to cow, and from cow to humans puzzled scientists and … Continue reading November 15 – High-Stake Steaks: the science of prions, Mad Cow, and other neurologic diseases

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How stress can change your DNA

A first link between chronic stress, genetics, and mental illness has recently observed in mice. Researchers have discovered that the genes of mice exposed to chronic stress change over time. Modifications were most associated with genes related to a variety of mental illnesses, such as depression, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia.1-3 How exactly are genetics, stress, and mental illness related? DNA, serves as instructions for cells and is broken up into … Continue reading How stress can change your DNA

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CRISPR 2.0: Genome engineering made easy as A-B-C

CRISPR 2.0 is causing quite the ruckus in the scientific community. Why? Imagine that you had written a note in permanent marker, but later decided you wanted to change a single word. Without the ability to erase, your options would be limited, and further changes might make the note illegible. New CRISPR technologies, or “base editors,” behave as molecular erasers. These molecular erasers enable you to very precisely … Continue reading CRISPR 2.0: Genome engineering made easy as A-B-C

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November 8 – This Is How We Do It: From Sex Evolution to Sex Education

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, November 8th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Michael Miyagi and Malinda McPherson At first glance, it seems like we all know what sex is. But there are many scientific subtleties to sex. In this lecture we will begin by providing an evolutionary context for sex, probing why sex drive is so strong and important, … Continue reading November 8 – This Is How We Do It: From Sex Evolution to Sex Education

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November 1 – What Genes Cannot Tell: The role of epigenetics in determining who we are

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, November 1st Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Nava Gharaei, Kalki Jukreja, and Jenny Zheng All the cells in our body have the same DNA, and yet a stomach cell is able to digest food while a heart cell pumps blood. Similarly, genetically identical individuals have the same DNA, yet they develop into unique individuals … Continue reading November 1 – What Genes Cannot Tell: The role of epigenetics in determining who we are

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October 25 – Here Comes the Sun: Harnessing the power of renewable energy

Time: 7-9 p.m., Wednesday, October 25th Location: Armenise Amphitheater at Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston (link to directions) Speakers: Emily Kerr and Justin Teesdale Over the last few years, electricity generation from renewable sources has grown at a remarkable pace and is projected to almost double by 2025. As we rely more on these green energy sources, how do we transform a power source that only … Continue reading October 25 – Here Comes the Sun: Harnessing the power of renewable energy

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Bacteria May Help Protect Cancer Cells

Developing cancer drugs is challenging. Often, scientists will find a drug that kills cancer cells in a petri dish but fails to act on an actual tumor. Ravid Straussman from the Weizmann Institute of Science and Todd Golub from Harvard Medical School think that in situ, bacteria can protect cancer cells from drugs. To test their theory, Staussman and Golub mixed some healthy skin cells with cells from a … Continue reading Bacteria May Help Protect Cancer Cells

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Harvard and MIT are making tattoos to monitor your health

Tattoos are often whimsical, traditional, beautiful—but can they also be medical? The Dermal Abyss project, a collaboration of researchers at Harvard and MIT, is trying to develop a tattoo that can monitor an individual’s health. They have already created “bio-ink” capable of fluorescing at different colors in response to certain variables in the body. In theory, a diabetic inked with one of these tattoos would … Continue reading Harvard and MIT are making tattoos to monitor your health

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