DNA serves as a blueprint for the protein repertoire that comprises the human body and its functions. To construct these proteins while also ensuring that its DNA remains safely tucked away in the nucleus, the cell generates disposable and short-lived copies of its active genes, called messenger RNA (mRNA). An array of molecular machines then(...)
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Targeting Diabetes with a High-Fiber Diet: It’s All in Your Gut!
Posted by | Did You See This?Right this moment, your gastrointestinal tract is crammed with a vast number of different microbes, together referred to as the human gut microbiota. Don’t be too alarmed though, as this complex gut microbial ecosystem maintains a mutual and beneficial relationship with you. Given the bad reputation some bacteria have as being infectious and antibiotic-resistant, you(...)
Insilico Medicine: A Hopkins Startup Using AI to Enhance Biomedical Research
Posted by | Did You See This?Remember that time you Googled something and it showed up on your Facebook newsfeed the next day? These oftentimes unnerving, targeted advertising strategies are driven by gradations of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning software, which constantly improve and build in sophistication. The power in these programs lies in their ability to find patterns between(...)
Who Let the Dogs Out?
Posted by | Did You See This?I occasionally find myself walking through the dark underbelly of the Johns Hopkins medical campus along “designated laboratory transport” routes. These concrete tunnels allow researchers to transport equipment or mice from animal facilities to laboratories without passing through patient areas. I always feel a pang of sadness when I see stacks of dog food in(...)
Revolutionizing with R3: A New Ph.D. Program Seeks To Train Scientists As Critical Thinkers
Posted by | Did You See This?During graduate school, it can be easy to get lost among the tomes of information that we all must memorize in time for our exams. This background knowledge helps fuel our research and lets us know what topics have already been explored so that we have an idea of the paths to take in our(...)
To Infinity and Beyond
Posted by | Did You See This?On Tuesday, Feb. 6, SpaceX launched the Falcon Heavy rocket, sending one of Elon Musk’s Teslas into space. The rocket has an awesome amount of power, with nine main rocket engines and 27 total engines used to send the vehicle into space. This is the most engines a rocket has ever used! In fact, Musk(...)
Choosing to Be Irrational: How Neuroscience Incorporated Economics, and Vice Versa
Posted by | Did You See This?The Department of Neuroeconomics and Neuromarketing sounds like a title chiseled on the wall of a corporate division in a dystopian future; the highlight of a consumerism episode of Black Mirror. But Dino Levy, a researcher in this seemingly dystopian department at Tel Aviv University, was quick to readjust our preconceived notions of what his lab studies(...)
Developing a Laboratory Model for Inclusion Body Myositis
Posted by | Did You See This?If you were diagnosed with a disease, there are two questions you would immediately want answered: 1. How can we treat it? 2. What caused the disease? Those two questions are the foundation of my Ph.D. thesis. I study a muscle disease called inclusion body myositis (IBM), which is sometimes referred to as the “Alzheimer’s(...)
Fresh or Frozen Embryos? Equal Live-Birth Rates Among Infertile Women
Posted by | Did You See This?, Recently PublishedAbout 40 years ago (July 1978), Louise Joy Brown was born at Oldham General Hospital in England, weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces. This birth may sound like any ordinary baby story, but the conception and delivery of Louise, the first human conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF), symbolized the possibility of having children for women(...)
Do You Want to Write For Us?
Posted by | Did You See This?Do you blog? Journal? Write in your spare time? Are you interested in pursuing communications at any level in parallel with your professional training? We need you! Biomedical Odyssey: Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine is a newsfeed dedicated to showcasing the accomplishments of the students, postdocs, residents and fellows here at the Johns(...)