Bugs as Drugs: Engineered gut bacteria show promise against pancreatic cancer

Research by Ralph Weichselbaum and Mark Mimee suggests that an engineered bacteria strain can improve pancreatic cancer treatment.

READ MORE NEWS AT THE FOREFRONT AND SCIENCE LIFE

Hypoglossal nerve stimulation for sleep apnea

Neil Kondamuri studied an alternative to PAP machines that may lower the risk of diabetes and high blood pressure.

Gut microbiomes follow distinct trajectories during urbanization across South Asia

Maanasa Raghavan and team studied the impact of urbanization on gut microbiomes across India and Sri Lanka.

Q&A with Marcelo Nóbrega, Chair of Human Genetics

A conversation with Marcelo Nóbrega as he begins his tenure as Chair of the Department of Human Genetics.

Hospitals embracing more high-risk investments

Joseph Dov Bruch found that nonprofit hospitals collectively hold nearly $300 billion in investment securities.

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

SuperAging is not simply the opposite of Alzheimer's disease

Emily Rogalski shows that exceptional memory aging cannot be explained simply by low inherited Alzheimer's disease risk.

New method boosts crop yield and drought resistance using plants' own genes

Techniques developed by Chuan He's lab lifted rice harvests by using plants’ own protein, with implications for other crops.

Healing the Gun Violence Epidemic through Health System Action

In this interview with NEJM Catalyst, Selwyn Rogers reframes gun violence as a chronic public health problem shaped by social drivers of health, neighborhood conditions, and repeated risk rather than as a series of isolated events.

HONORS AND ACCOLADES

Bree Andrews named Vice Dean for Academic Advancement

Andrews will provide strategic leadership for academic advancement and faculty engagement efforts across the Biological Sciences Division and Pritzker School of Medicine.

Nishant Agrawal named inaugural Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery

Following the recent approval from UChicago to establish OHNS as an independent department, Agrawal will serve as its inaugural chair.

RESOURCES

Claude Enterprise office hours

The UChicago Claude Enterprise support team will host simultaneous in-person and Zoom office hours to help University of Chicago faculty, other academic appointees, postdocs, and staff answer their technical questions about accessing Claude Enterprise and using the Claude tools.

Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to noon CT and 1 to 3 p.m. CT, In-person and via Zoom

Spotlight on the Bioinformatics Core Facility

The Bioinformatics Core Facility (BiCF) is within the Center for Research Informatics (CRI). The analysis of high-throughput assays and translating data into biologically meaningful information can present a challenge to clinical, translational, and basic researchers. The CRI Bioinformatics Core offers services and expertise designed to allow Biological Science Division (BSD) and UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCCCC) investigators to take full advantage of high-throughput technologies.

LAB NOTEBOOK

More research publications and viewpoints from our faculty and trainees:

PBX-dependent and -independent Hox programs establish and maintain motor neuron terminal identity. Manasa Prahlad, et al. Development.

Recent GGSB graduate (and BSD communications myCHOICE extern) Manasa Prahlad recently published a portion of her thesis, investigating how Hox genes and their PBX co-factors establish cholinergic MN identity along the anterior-posterior axis of the C. elegans ventral nerve cord. Prahlad's confocal image of a C. elegans neuronal ganglion (above) was also selected as the journal cover.

Artificial intelligence assessment of endoscopic severity and extent: A machine learning approach to continuous evaluation of endoscopic inflammation in ulcerative colitis. Alvin T. George, David T. Rubin, et al. Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

Prevalence and Distribution of Goiter Among Commercially Insured, Working-Age Adults in the United States. Joseph Krongold, Kerim Kaylan, Xavier M. Keutgen, Peter Angelos, Megan K. Applewhite, et al. Thyroid.

PUM1 and PUM2 promote translation of chromatin regulators to ensure mammalian spermatogenesis. Eugene Yujun Xu, et al. Science Advances.

Phase 1/2 study of IMC-C103C, a T cell receptor bispecific (MAGE-A4×CD3) ImmTAC targeting MAGE-A4-expressing malignancies. Randy Sweis, et al. Journal of Immunotherapy of Cancer.

BCAR: A fast and indel-tolerant barcode-sequence mapper. Bryan Andrews , Rama Ranganathan. Bioinformatics.

Understanding adipocyte heterogeneity across species, depot, and disease. Elizabeth S. Kitto, Shiri Kult Perry, Margo P. Emont. Biochemical Society Transactions.

Effect of moderate or high versus low dose daily vitamin D on COVID-19 incidence: A double-blind, parallel-group randomized clinical trial. David O. Meltzer, Andre W. Schram, Alexandra Tate, Max J. Hyman, John F. Cursio, Tamara Vokes, Kiang-Teck J. Yeo, Micah Prochaska, Julian Solway, et al. Clinical Nutrition.

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