URMC and Temple University Announce Drug Discovery Partnership

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) and Temple University School of Pharmacy have announced a partnership that will help translate novel medical research into new drugs for treating diseases.

Long-Term Health Effects of Environmental Factors Is Focus of New $1.75-Million Study

B. Paige Lawrence, Ph.D., associate professor of Environmental Medicine and of Microbiology and Immunology, has been awarded $1.75 million by the National Institutes of Health to study how early exposure to factors in the environment affect our immune system.

Microbiologists Discover How Cavity-Causing Microbes Invade Heart

Scientists have discovered the tool that bacteria normally found in our mouths use to invade heart tissue, causing a dangerous and sometimes lethal infection of the heart known as endocarditis. The work raises the possibility of creating a screening tool – perhaps a swab of the cheek, or a spit test – to gauge a dental patient’s vulnerability to the condition.

Mouth Microbes Are All the Talk in Rochester This Week

Scientists from around the nation will come to the University of Rochester Medical Center this week to trade data and swap the latest insights about the activities of hundreds of species of microbes that live, thrive, reproduce, jockey for a foothold, and die – all in our mouth.

A ‘Pacman Strategy’ to Boost the Immune System to Fight Cancer

A molecule that lies dormant until it encounters a cancer cell, then suddenly activates and rouses the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells directly, marks the latest step in scientists’ efforts to tap the body’s own resources to fight the disease.

What Obama & Congress Should Do for Health and Medicine

Amid much wrangling over how to allocate funds out of an increasingly out-of-control federal budget, the editors and writers at eight of the TechMediaNetwork’s sites sought the advice of dozens of researchers, technologists, futurists, analysts and business owners in fields ranging from space and Earth science to health and technological innovation.

A New Way to Attack Pathogens

Scientists have discovered a new way to attack dangerous pathogens, marking a hopeful next step in the ever-escalating battle between man and microbe.

In a paper published online Feb. 10 in the journal PLoS Pathogens, scientists demonstrate that by stopping bacteria’s ability to degrade RNA – a “housekeeping” process crucial to their ability to thrive – scientists were able to stop methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA both in the laboratory and in infected mice.

Unexpected Find Opens Up New Front in Effort to Stop HIV

HIV adapts in a surprising way to survive and thrive in its hiding spot within the human immune system, scientists have learned. While the finding helps explain why HIV remains such a formidable foe after three decades of research – more than 30 million people worldwide are infected with HIV – it also offers scientists a new, unexpected way to try to stop the virus.

Rochester Honors Two with Presidential Diversity Awards

The Department of Microbiology and Immunology, led by chair Stephen Dewhurst, and the undergraduate student group University of Rochester Genocide Intervention (URGI) have been named the 2011 Presidential Diversity Award recipients.

Researchers Unzip MRSA and Discover Route for Vaccine

University of Rochester Medical Center orthopaedic scientists are a step closer to developing a vaccine to prevent life-threatening methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections following bone and joint surgery.

Industry Scientists to Discuss Drug Discovery Challenges, Successes

Several industry scientists who have been instrumental in discovering new drugs and vaccines will visit the Medical Center this semester as part of a new course on drug discovery. The class is being offered through the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and has a special focus on antibiotics and vaccines

Bacteria Seek to Topple the Egg as Top Flu Vaccine Tool

Only the fragile chicken egg stands between Americans and a flu pandemic that would claim tens of thousands more lives than are usually lost to the flu each year.

For Your Teeth, Thanksgiving Dinner Is a Real Food Fight

If you’re lucky, it will all be kisses and hugs around the Thanksgiving dinner table, with friends and family near and dear gathered about, and puppies at your feet waiting for table scraps.

But peace won’t reign within the confines of the oral cavity, where Streptococcus mutans and other harmful bacteria will await their own holiday feast. Your meal will enable S. mutans to launch one of its biggest assaults of the year on your tooth enamel.

Mother Nature and Bioterrorists: Rochester Battles Both
with $11.9 Million Award

Flu viruses are a great threat, whether they stem from Mother Nature or are modified by human hands to create a deadly bioweapon. The University of Rochester Medical Center will tackle both scenarios head on with a five-year contract, totaling approximately $11.9 million, from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Researchers Target HIV-Related Brain Difficulties

During the last two decades, scientists and doctors have developed a potent mix of medications that nearly stops HIV in its tracks for most patients. This combination antiretroviral therapy, or cART, can knock down levels of the virus in the body to a thousandth or less of what it would otherwise be. That means more years of a healthy life for many HIV patients.

Targeting Amyloid to Stop HIV

During the last two decades, scientists and doctors have developed a potent mix of medications that nearly stops HIV in its tracks for most patients. This combination antiretroviral therapy, or cART, can knock down levels of the virus in the body to a thousandth or less of what it would otherwise be. That means more years of a healthy life for many HIV patients.

Scientists Identify Molecular Gatekeeper of Arthritis

Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate – survival or death – of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body’s own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis.

Better understanding how arthritis develops will offer scientists an opportunity to explore new types of treatments for patients whose arthritis has not been effectively treated with current therapies.

Rochester’s Pinpoint Gene Control Boosts Parkinson’s Research

A technology developed at the University of Rochester Medical Center that enables scientists to turn on genes exactly when and where they want in the nervous system is helping scientists in the hunt for an agent to stop Parkinson’s disease.

Old Drug Holds Promise against Opportunistic Lung Bug

A drug to treat inflammation plays a surprising role reducing the level of infection caused by an opportunistic bug that is deadly for AIDS and cancer patients and others with weakened immune systems.

UR Discovers New Way to Boost Vaccines, Seeks Patent

As the medical community searches for better vaccines and ways to deliver them, a University of Rochester scientist believes he has discovered a new approach to boosting the body’s response to vaccinations.

Amid the Murk of ‘Gut Flora,’ Vitamin D Receptor Emerges as a Key Player

Within the human digestive tract is a teeming mass of hundreds of types of bacteria, a potpourri of microbes numbering in the trillions that help us digest food and keep bad bacteria in check.

Despite Countless Changes, Original HIV Infection Lurks Within

Scientists have been surprised to learn that, despite thousands of changes that viruses like HIV undergo in rapid fashion to evade the body’s immune system, the original version that caused the infection is still present in the body months later.

URMC Receives $15.5M for Live Virus Vaccine Isolation Studies

This week, the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) announced plans to begin a cluster of bird flu vaccine trials, many of which will contain live, weakened viruses and require participants to remain in isolation for several days a time. Slated to start this summer, the studies are funded by a National Institutes of Health grant amounting to more than $15.5 million over five years.

Flu’s Evolution Strategy Strikes Perfect Balance

Scientists have uncovered the flu’s secret formula for effectively evolving within and between host species: balance. The key lies with the flu’s unique replication process, which has evolved to produce enough mutations for the virus to spread and adapt to its host environment, but not so many that unwanted genomic mutations lead to the flu’s demise (catastrophic mutagenesis). These findings overturn long-held assumptions about how the virus evolves.

Purple Periwinkles Battle Inflammatory Diseases

A widely and safely used plant extract acts as a novel anti-inflammatory agent that may one day be used for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, as well as other inflammatory conditions. There is an urgent need for new therapies for the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as COPD, otitis media (ear infection), and atherosclerosis (chronic inflammation in the walls of arteries), because the most effective and commonly used agents – steroids – often cause serious side effects, such as liver damage, which prevent long-term use.

Genome Sequence Marks Big Leap Forward for Frog Researchers

An African clawed frog has joined the spotted green puffer fish, the honeybee, and the human among the ranks of more than 175 organisms that have had their genetic information nearly completely sequenced.

Iglewski Named Director of International Programs

Barbara Iglewski, Ph.D., has been named director of International Programs for the University of Rochester Medical Center.

URMC Receives $4.5 Million in NYS Stem Cell Grants

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) has received a total of $4.5 million in funding from the Empire State Stem Cell Board for research in neurological disease, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and bone repair.

New URMC Clinic Tackles Little-Understood Dry Mouth, Eyes Disease

The University of Rochester Medical Center is taking steps to better understand and treat Sjogren’s disease, launching its first weekly clinic dedicated exclusively to area patients suffering from the frustrating dry eyes and mouth syndrome.

Sleeping Beauty Hooks Up with Herpes to Fight Brain Disease

Neuroscientists have forged an unlikely molecular union as part of their fight against diseases of the brain and nervous system.

Local Researchers Continue to Develop "Pandemic Vaccine"

Behind the scenes of the H1N1 flu pandemic, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center continue their work to make seasonal influenza and future pandemics less deadly. The head of U of R's Microbiology and Immunology Department says work is underway to develop a "pandemic vaccine". Dr. Stephen Dewhurst says it would protect against strains of the virus researchers know will arise, but aren't exactly sure what they'll look like.

Expert to Discuss Threat Posed by Flu, Efforts Toward New Vaccines

When microbiologist David Topham, Ph.D., began his studies on influenza 15 years ago, friends scoffed at his career choice, labeling influenza as “old news,” an unchallenging microbe that hardly posed a threat because a vaccine was available.

Common Pain Relievers May Dilute Power of Flu Shots

Richard P. Phipps, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and of Pediatrics, has been studying this issue for years and recently presented his latest findings to an international conference on inflammatory diseases. (http://bioactivelipidsconf.wayne.edu/)

Viagra Relatives Shrink Abnormally Large Hearts

Compounds related to Viagra, which is already in clinical trials to prevent heart failure, may also counter the disease in a different way, according to a study published online today in the journal Circulation Research. The results hold promise for the design of a new drug class and for its potential use in combination with Viagra or beta blockers.

Experimental Drug Lets B Cells Live and Lymphoma Cells Die

An investigative drug deprived non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells of their ability to survive too long and multiply too fast, according to an early study published recently in the journal Experimental Hematology.

Dioxins in Food Chain Linked to Breastfeeding Ills

Exposure to dioxins during pregnancy harms the cells in rapidly-changing breast tissue, which may explain why some women have trouble breastfeeding or don’t produce enough milk, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study.

Computer Simulation Captures Immune Response to Flu

Researchers have successfully tested for the first time a computer simulation of major portions of the body’s immune reaction to influenza type A, with implications for treatment design and preparation ahead of future pandemics, according to work accepted for publication, and posted online, by the Journal of Virology.

Autoimmunity Center of Excellence Recharged with New Funding

Earlier this month, the University of Rochester Medical Center again became one of only nine institutions nationwide to receive a new wave of National Institutes of Health dollars designed to pave inroads into unraveling – and treating – autoimmune diseases.

Study Reveals Current Multi-Component Vaccines May Need Reworking

Current strategies for designing vaccines against HIV and cancers, for instance, may enable some components in multi-component vaccines to cancel the effect of others on the immune system, eliminating their ability to provide protection, according to an article to be published shortly in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Stephen Dewhurst to Lead Department of Microbiology & Immunology

After an in-depth, national search, a leading researcher in the design of next-generation vaccines for HIV and influenza has been chosen as the new chair of the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. The appointment will be effective July 1, 2009, pending approval by the University Trustees.

A Worm-and-Mouse Tale: B Cells Deserve More Respect

By studying how mice fight off infection by intestinal worms – a condition that affects more than 2 billion people worldwide – scientists have discovered that the immune system is more versatile than has long been thought. The work with worms is opening a new avenue of exploration in the search for treatments against autoimmune diseases like diabetes and asthma, where the body mistakenly attacks its own tissues.

Researchers Block Immune Cell Rush Behind Deadly Sepsis

Researchers have found a way to block the ability of white blood cells to sprint toward the sites of infection when such speed worsens the damage done by sepsis, the often fatal, whole-body bacterial infection, according to a study published today in the journal Blood.

$1.9M to Help Explore Why Lupus Therapies Work for Some, Not Others

Bolstered by a five-year, $1.9 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health, Jennifer Anolik, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of Medicine and of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, plans to probe why certain targeted therapies prove effective for some lupus patients, but not others.

URMC, Lighthouse Biosciences Awarded U.S. Patent for Diagnostic Technology

The University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) has received a U.S. patent for a diagnostic technology that can rapidly and accurately screen for organisms such as bacteria and other infectious agents. Lighthouse Biosciences, Inc., a Rochester-based life sciences company, is the exclusive worldwide license holder of the technology.

Nose-Spray Vaccine Against Botulism Effective in Early Tests

A preclinical study found a new nasal spray vaccine to provide complete protection against a major botulism toxin, according to a study published today in the Nature journal Gene Therapy.

Researchers Identify Toehold for HIV’s Assault on Brain

Scientists have unraveled in unprecedented detail the cascade of events that go wrong in brain cells affected by HIV, a virus whose assault on the nervous system continues unabated despite antiviral medications that can keep the virus at bay for years in the rest of the body.

Area Families Sought for Flu Surveillance Study

Beginning immediately, University of Rochester researchers hope to recruit 100 area families for a multi-year surveillance study that aims to better understand how the body fights flu.

Gelbard Named Director of Center for Neural Development and Disease

Harris A. Gelbard, M.D., Ph.D., professor of neurology, pediatrics and of microbiology and immunology, has been named director of the Center for Neural Development and Disease at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Renowned Immunologists Join Medical Center

Husband-and-wife scientists who are reshaping the frontiers of immunology are among the first high-profile recruits to join the Medical Center as part of the new strategic plan.

Nose Spray Anthrax Vaccine Effective in Early Tests

Early studies show that a new mucosal vaccine against anthrax has the potential to provide military personnel with more effective and efficient protection against a “popular” bioweapon, according to a study published today in the journal Clinical and Vaccine Immunology (CVI).

Anti-Parasite Drug Provides New Way to Attack HIV

A drug already used to treat parasitic infections, and once looked at for cancer, also attacks the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a new and powerful way, according to research published today online in the open access journal Retrovirology.