Hopkins scientists use blood proteins to detect ovarian cancer
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers have designed a blood test to detect ovarian cancer using three proteins found in common in the blood of women with the disease. Their preliminary studies with the new test suggest a molecular signature exclusive to this deadly cancer, known for its ability to remain undetected and spread quickly. ...... The Hopkins test, described in the August 15...Johns Hopkins receives $24 million from Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to study sudden cardiac death
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded a four-year, $24 million gift from the Las Vegas-based Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to establish a multidisciplinary center focused exclusively on reducing the rate of sudden cardiac death. ......Scientists supported by the new Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center at Johns Hopkins will aggressively pur...Hopkins to found first center for comprehensive study of epigenetics
With a $5 million, five-year federal grant, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is establishing what is believed to be the first university-based research center devoted to studying epigenetics, an effort that will set the stage for learning as much about our epigenetics as the Human Genome Project taught about the sequence of building blocks that make up our genes....... Much as our...Hopkins scientists overcome main obstacle to making tons of short, drug-like proteins
Two Johns Hopkins scientists have figured out a simple way to make millions upon millions of drug-like peptides quickly and efficiently, overcoming a major hurdle to creating and screening huge "libraries" of these super-short proteins for use in drug development. ......"Our work dramatically increases the complexity of peptide libraries that can be created and the speed with which they can be ma...Hopkins Marine Station honored by the American Society for Microbiology
The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) will designate Hopkins Marine Station as a ''Milestones in Microbiology'' site during an event that begins at noon Friday, April 23, on the Hopkins campus on Oceanview Boulevard in Pacific Grove, Calif. The dedication will take place in the Monterey Boat Works Auditorium and is free and open to the public. For directions, visit .... ...The event will...Johns Hopkins gene hunters pinpoint new cancer gene target
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute have found mutations in a gene linked to the progression of colon and other cancers. The research findings, published online in the March 11 issue of , may lead to new therapies and diagnostic tests that target this gene. ...... The gene in which the mutations have been found, called PIK3CA, is part of a fam...Hopkins researchers identify transplantation antigens among Sioux Indians
Efforts to increase organ donation among Native Americans may get a boost from research by Johns Hopkins scientists that is identifying the specific genetic makeup of the HLA system of human transplantation antigens among different Indian tribes. HLAs, or human leukocyte antigens, are proteins on the surface of white blood cells and are used to determine the suitability of a match between an org...Hopkins researchers discover how nitric oxide prevents blood vessel inflammation
Johns Hopkins scientists investigating nitric oxide (NO) - the molecular messenger that contributes to body functions as wide-ranging as cell death, new blood vessel growth and erections - have figured out how it can block blood vessel inflammation and prevent clotting, a process that has long stumped biologists....... Reporting in the Oct. 17 issue of the journal Cell, cardiologist Charles J. Lo...Hopkins is first US institution to obtain powerful genotyping system
Ahead of other U.S. academic institutions, The Johns Hopkins University ...School of Medicine and its McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine ...have pooled resources to obtain a commercial system capable of processing ...hundreds of DNA samples and determining up to 600,000 genotypes a day.... ...The $1.5 million system, purchased from Illumina Inc. (San Diego, Calif.), ...has been instal...It lacks the warm bedside manner of Marcus Welby or Dr. Kildare, but a high-tech robot being tested at The Johns Hopkins Hospital could be used to link patients with their physicians in a whole new way. ... ...Vaguely resembling a human torso, in a Star Wars R2D2 sort of way, the robot sports a computer screen for a head, a video camera for eyes and a speaker for a mouth. It walks, in a manner...From Hopkins: Children may outgrow peanut allergies
Parents whose kids are allergic to peanuts may be relieved to know that ...it's possible their children could outgrow their allergy over time....... In a study of 80 children ages 4 to 14 with well-documented peanut ...allergies, researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Arkansas ...Children's Hospital found that some children completely lost their ...potentially serious or life-threaten...OXiGENE announces launch of ophthalmic clinical trial at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Watertown, Massachusetts, July 2, 2003 OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ: OXGN, XSSE: OXGN) today announced that The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will begin a Phase I/II clinical trial of the Company's lead vascular targeting agent, Combretastatin A4 Prodrug (CA4P). The study will be conducted in patients with a retinal degenerative disease known as wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD)...Hopkins researchers find potential new treatment for children with chronic hepatitis C
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and five other ...institutions have found that a drug recently approved for adults with ...chronic hepatitis C (CHC) also may be a safe and effective treatment for ...children with the disease. The study is believed to be the first to examine ...how the drug, peginterferon alfa-2a, affects the young. ......The hepatitis C virus (HCV), the leadi...Hopkins scientists uncover role of Fanconi's Anemia genes in pancreatic cancer
Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have identified three genes, long linked to a rare inherited disease known as Fanconi's Anemia (FA), that now appear to play a role in many cases of pancreatic cancer.... ...All of the genes identified, when functioning normally, are part of the DNA repair process. The work is reported in the May 15, 2003 issue of Cancer Research. ... ..."Wh...Johns Hopkins researchers devise methods to evaluate disaster drills
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Loma Linda universities have published what is believed to be the first peer-reviewed set of standards for planning and evaluating disaster drills anywhere in the world.... ..."Disaster simulation drills are widely used throughout the world and are considered a fundamental tool to evaluate and improve local disaster response," says lead author Gary B. Green, M.D.,...Johns Hopkins scientists create forgetful mouse
Studying mice, scientists from Johns Hopkins have successfully prevented a molecular event in brain cells that they've found is required for storing spatial memories. Unlike regular mice, the engineered rodents quickly forgot where to find a resting place in a pool of water, the researchers report in the March 7 issue of the journal Cell....... The experiments are believed to be the first to prov...A bed of microneedles: Johns Hopkins scientists' gadget measures muscle cell force
Using the same technology that creates tiny, precisely organized computer chips, a Johns Hopkins research team has developed beds of thousands of independently moveable silicone "microneedles" to reveal the force exerted by smooth muscle cells. ......Each needle tip in the gadget, whose development and testing is reported this week in the advance online edition of the Proceedings of the National...Hopkins researchers find genetic cause for multi-system disorder
Faulty cell communication is at the root of a complex and rare disorder that affects many of the body's structures and systems, including the eyes, face, teeth, fingers and toes, a Hopkins-led research team has discovered....... Studying genetic samples and medical histories from 17 families with the syndrome, known as oculodentodigital dysplasia, the scientists discovered that changes in a gene...Hopkins study finds combined PET-CT better at detecting ovarian cancer
Hopkins radiologists have found that a combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) detects cancer spread better than PET alone. In a study to be presented at the Radiological Society of North America (Abstract #1458, 10:57 AM, Thursday, December 5, Room S502AB), researchers reported that overall, PET-CT improves the ability to distinguish cancerous from normal...Hopkins researchers find postoperative fevers common following hemispherectomy
There is reassuring news for families and medical staff who care for children who spike fevers following hemispherectomy, a surgery in which half the brain is removed to relieve frequent severe seizures that medications cannot control. ... ...Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center report in the November issue of Pediatric Neurosurgery that these postoperative fevers are usually har...Wake Forest-Johns Hopkins team discovers prostate cancer gene
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Scientists in the Center for Human Genomics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions have discovered a gene that "may play an important role in prostate cancer susceptibility in both African-American men and men of European descent." ... The 31-member team reports in the October issue of Nature Genetics that mutations in the MSR1 (fo...Surprise, surprise, surprise: Hopkins scientists unexpectedly create epilepsy in rats
One of the brain's most important chemical messengers has led Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers on a wild ride. Primarily interested in how and why nerve cells die in neurodegenerative diseases like Lou Gerhig's disease, the scientists now find themselves with a new rat model of epilepsy, a disease characterized not by cell death, but by rapid and uncontrolled "firing" of brain cells....Hopkins scientists return to the mouse to overcome some obstacles in working with human stem cells
Learning about human stem cells requires working with them, but some Johns Hopkins researchers are turning to a clever new mouse model to learn things the human cells can't teach them....... The scientists were concerned with a control mechanism called "imprinting," in which the copy of a gene used by the cell to make proteins depends only on which parent passed it on. Some imprinted genes use th...Hopkins researchers to lead independent study of 'next generation' ethics issues
A pioneering Johns Hopkins stem cell expert and one of the institution's leading bioethicists have won a multi-year grant from the Greenwall Foundation to develop far-reaching recommendations on a "second generation" of ethical questions about stem cell research....... John D. Gearhart, Ph.D., and bioethicist Ruth Faden, Ph.D., M.P.H., say the "Ethics and Cell Engineering: The Next Generation" pr...Hopkins scientists reveal how sound becomes electric
Scientists from The Center for Hearing and Balance at Johns Hopkins have discovered how tiny cells in the inner ear change sound into an electrical signal the brain can understand. ...... Their finding, published in a recent issue of Nature Neuroscience, could improve the design and programming of hearing aids and cochlear implants by filling in a "black hole" in scientists' understanding of how...Need, potential for Hepatitis C vaccine highlighted by Hopkins study
"Our findings suggest that humans can acquire immunity that protects against the disease caused by hepatitis C virus."...... Humans may be able to develop immunity to hepatitis C virus, according to a study by Hopkins researchers published in the April 26 issue of The Lancet, findings that add to a growing body of evidence that immunity to the virus can be acquired. The findings are important b...Hopkins researchers test new molecular marker for prostate cancer
Hopkins cancer researchers have identified a new genetic culprit-with dietary links-in the initiation of prostate cancer. Their findings are reported in the April 15, 2002, issue of Cancer Research.... ... Cells taken from prostate cancers show a nine-fold increase in expression by a gene called AMACR (x-methylacyl-CoA racemase), a team of Hopkins investigators report. "This gene appears to play...The next generation of scientists recognized at Johns Hopkins
The best of the best. The cream of the crop. Clichs may accurately describe the winners of this year's Young Investigators' Day awards at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, but their work is anything but run of the mill....... Now in its 25th year, Young Investigators' Day recognizes the substantial contributions of all graduate school and medical students, postdoctoral fellows an...For the tenth straight year, the National Institutes of Health annual summary of grants to medical schools ranks The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine the top recipient of federal research dollars in the United States.... ...The rankings, covering fiscal year 2001 (October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2001), showed that Hopkins earned $334 million in grants, a $33 million increase over 2000...Hopkins Bioethics Institute receives $9.9 million from Pew Trusts
The Phoebe R. Berman Bioethics Institute at The Johns Hopkins University has received a three-year, $9.9 million grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts to establish the Genetics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The center's first initiative will focus on ethical and public policy issues related to genetics and human reproduction. ...... Kathy Hudson, Ph.D., will direct the new center,...Hopkins researchers find eye drops preferable to eye patch in treating children's amblyopia
Researchers at Johns Hopkins and 54 eye-care centers across North America have found two competing methods of correcting a mild form of children's amblyopia -- pejoratively called "lazy eye"-- are equally effective in correcting the vision disorder. ......But the researchers also found parents generally preferred atropine treatment, in which the child receives painless eye drops that blur the un...Hypoglycemia may affect newborn's brain cell function, says Hopkins researcher
Hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, may have a significant effect on activity patterns in a newborn's brain, say researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia. Their study of piglet brains, which are metabolically and structurally close to that of humans, is reported in this month's Brain Research.... ..."While some researchers question...Johns Hopkins scientists find brain's nose plug
Scientists from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and elsewhere have found the brain's "nose plug" - the switch in the brain that lets us stop smelling something, even though the odor is still there.... ... "The ability to desensitize to odors is important for our well-being," says Randall Reed, Ph.D., a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator and a molecular biologist a...Stool test for colon cancer reported by Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins
Scientists at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins* have developed a safe and reliable stool test that can detect the earliest, curable stages of colon cancer. Early studies of the test, which uses a newly developed technology to detect and highlight a key genetic marker of the disease, are reported in the January 31, 2002, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine,...Race influences outcome of liver transplants, according to Hopkins study
African Americans and Asians have a worse outcome than white Americans and Hispanics after liver transplantation, both in terms of graft rejection and survival, according to a new Hopkins-led study reported in the Jan. 26 issue of The Lancet....... Scientists analyzed data on age, sex, race, blood group, and cause of death of donors and recipients from the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS)...Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins invest $10 million to combat major human diseases
BLACKSBURG, Va., Jan. 24, 2002 -- Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Bloomberg School of Public Health have announced a $10 million bioinformatics research collaboration to target human infectious diseases. Each university will invest a minimum of $1 million per year for five years to better understand tuberculosis, AIDS, malaria, measl...Hopkins scientists identify molecular details of water transport in the lung
We may sputter and gasp when our drink goes down the wrong pipe, but fluid is vital to a healthy lung. The crucial movement of water across cell membranes in the lung was long thought to be a passive process, but a team of researchers from Hopkins and the University of Aarhus in Denmark have demonstrated that a specific protein plays a major role. The discovery may lead to new treatments for so...Genetically and physically male babies born with a condition called "micropenis" are more likely to achieve psychological and sexual well-being in adulthood if raised male, according to a new study by researchers at Johns Hopkins and three other centers. Their report in this month's Hormone Research is the first comprehensive, long-term study examining psychological and sexual outcomes for both m...The finding, reported in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, also represents a major step forward in identifying the genes responsible for normal bone formation in children and adults, a process that has largely mystified scientists....... "This new knowledge will allow us to design medical treat...Johns Hopkins researchers find more extensive bone defects caused by bladder exstrophy
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Childrens Center and St. Vincent de Pauls Hospital in Paris have learned that bone defects associated with classic bladder exstrophy are more extensive than previously thought. Their findings, reported in this months Urology, will enable surgeons to better correct these bone defects that cause the bladder to develop outside of the body.... ..."We believe surgeons alre...