News From U-M
U-M awarded $4.9 million to help reduce obesity in preschool children
The USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded $4.9 million to the University of Michigan to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity among Head Start preschoolers in Michigan. Julie C. Lumeng, M.D., a behavioral pediatrician at the U-M's C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, will lead a research team of faculty from the U-M School of Public Health, the U-M Center for Human Growth and Development, and Michigan State University. Read More
First lab researchers move to U-M’s North Campus Research Complex
The first laboratory-based researchers have moved into the U-M’s North Campus Research Complex (NCRC), bringing with them cutting-edge research that uses stem cells to create new heart muscle and focuses on the crucial squeezing action of the heart. The two researchers, Eric Devaney, M.D., associate professor of cardiac surgery, and, Todd Herron, Ph.D., assistant research professor of Internal Medicine in the Center for Arrhythmia Research, are the first of about 60 researchers in a cardiovascular research cluster moving to the NCRC. The University’s DNA sequencing unit, which provides DNA analysis to researchers, also has moved in 23 staff and about $10 million worth of equipment to NCRC. Read More
U-M develops a potential ‘game changer’ for pathologists
A technique designed by a team, lead by U-M Pathology Informatics director Ulysses Balis, aims to make computer-aided tissue analysis better, faster and simpler. Spatially-Invariant Vector Quantization (SIVQ) can pinpoint cancer cells and other critical features from digital images made from tissue slides. The technology – developed in conjunction with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School – differs from conventional pattern recognition software by basing its core search on a series of concentric, pattern-matching rings, rather than the more typical rectangular or square blocks. Read more
Targeted therapy shrinks aggressive prostate cancer in mice, cells
Researchers at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a potential target to treat an aggressive type of prostate cancer. The target is a gene called SPINK1. In a study reported in the March 2 issue of Science Translational Medicine, researchers led by Arul Chinnaiyan showed that a ‘blocking’ antibody to SPINK1 could slow the growth of prostate tumors in mice that were positive for the SPINK protein. Read more
Prototype drug targets metabolism, halts disease that limits bone marrow transplantation
A prototype drug already shown to hold promise for treating autoimmune disorders like lupus, arthritis and psoriasis halts established graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in mouse models of bone marrow transplantation, research at the University of Michigan and the University of Florida shows. The research, published in the Jan. 26 issue of Science Translational Medicine, also offers new insights into how the cells that cause GVHD and other immune disorders make adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP), the primary source of energy used by cells. [Read more...]
Venture Accelerator opens at NCRC; first tenants move in
U-M on Tuesday officially opened its Venture Accelerator at the North Campus Research Complex to provide space and resources for new businesses based on U-M technology. The Venture Accelerator will provide laboratory and office space, as well as business services, to startup companies emerging from the pipeline of new ventures at U-M Tech Transfer. One U-M startup company has already moved in and four others are expected to be there within weeks. The first tenant, Life Magnetics, arrived Dec. 20. The other four companies are Phrixus Pharmaceuticals, EngXT, 3D Biomatrix and Civionics. [Read more...]
Resolving mom’s grief after preterm birth key to infant’s longterm health
Having a baby prematurely can be traumatic experience for parents and is typically characterized by feelings of loss and grief that can persist for months after a baby is discharged from the hospital. New research by the University of Michigan Health System and the University of Wisconsin shows that the degree to which a mother can resolve these feelings is thought to affect attachment between the mother and infant. That attachment has long-term implications for the infant’s social and emotional development. “Mothers with resolved grief following a preterm birth are three times as likely to have securely attachedinfants, compared with mothers with unresolved grief,” says Prachi E. Shah, assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at the U-M C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital. [Read more...]
U-M researchers find indirect path to attack breast cancer stem cells
Scientists at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a potential new way of attacking breast cancer stem cells, the small number of cells in a tumor that fuel its growth and spread. Researchers found that breast cancer stem cells are regulated by a type of cell derived from bone marrow, called mesenchymal stem cells. These cells are drawn from the bone marrow to the cancer and create a “niche” for the cancer stem cells, allowing them to replicate. “The importance of this is that we may be able to attack breast cancer stem cells indirectly by blocking these signals from the niche,” says study author Max S. Wicha, Distinguished Professor of Oncology and director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. [Read more...]
McDonnell Foundation grant supports computer studies of juvenile diabetes
University of Michigan diabetes researcher Santiago Schnell, has won a three-year research award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation. Schnell is known for his work in mathematical and computational modeling of reactions and metabolism. His project will investigate the processes that trigger protein misfolding and accumulation in cells. Aberrant protein folding is believed to be closely linked to a variety of diseases, including permanent neonatal diabetes or type1B diabetes. The results of this research could be very important in the search for drugs aimed at modulating diseases such as type 1B diabetes, as well as cataracts, medullary carcinoma and pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, and even neurodegenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's disease. [Read more...]