Dengue, a virus endemic to Latin America and Southeast Asia, infects about 400 million people and causes about 25,000 deaths each year by dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). To date there is no cure for dengue, and its toll hits hardest in areas with poorly developed medical systems. Due to the deadly consequences of this virus,(...)
Perspectives in Research
The ‘GRExit’: Cause and Effect
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchWithin the past few years, a growing number of biomedical Ph.D. programs across the country have been ditching the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) as an admissions requirement and moving toward a more holistic approach. With arguably little information about each applicant to use for admissions decisions, admissions committees rely on GRE scores as part of(...)
Responsibility Without Blame: An Interview with Philosopher Hanna Pickard
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchHanna Pickard, D.Phil., is a professor and chair of philosophy of psychology at the University of Birmingham, and is a recently announced Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor. Her work focuses on philosophy of mind, moral psychology and clinical ethics. Her philosophy is grounded in real-world issues, informed by her clinical experience and biomedical research, and(...)
Left- vs. Right-Brained: Why the Brain Laterality Myth Persists
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchYou might have heard artists say they’re right-brained or mathematicians say they’re left-brained. Maybe when you were a kid someone noticed you were left-handed and told you that meant you were creative. The idea that some of us are “left-brained” and others are “right-brained” is extremely popular. But, like so many other appealing ideas, the(...)
Tales of Dinosaurs Past
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchDo you remember sitting in your first or second grade class learning about dinosaurs? I distinctly remember being taught that a huge rock hit the Earth, causing a tumultuous series of events that ultimately lead to their demise. What I didn’t know is that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to suggest that the asteroid hitting the(...)
It’s a Twin Thing
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchIn NASA’s most comprehensive study ever on the physiological and molecular consequences of living in space for a prolonged period of time, scientists from across the country collaborated to investigate various aspects of human biology using samples from famous twin astronauts, Scott and Mark Kelly. Though a handful of astronauts had previously lived in space(...)
Cancer and the Mutation Paradox
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchIt has long been known — thanks largely to work by Johns Hopkins’ own Bert Vogelstein — that cancer is a disease generally caused by an accumulation of genetic mutations. This is sometimes referred to as the somatic mutation theory.1 This hypothesis states that each time a cell divides and grows, there are opportunities for(...)
An Evolving Situation: Measles and the 21st Century Vaccination Crisis
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchOn the Johns Hopkins “Measles: What You Should Know” page, the last Q&A states: Q: What should I do to protect myself and my family? A: Get vaccinated. It seems like such a simple solution to a global problem. Yet so many children, about 7% in the United States, remain unvaccinated well into elementary school.(...)
Johns Hopkins Police Bill Signed into Law, Despite Student and Community Objections
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchFor years, a fence stood between the Johns Hopkins medical campus and the East Baltimore community. While the physical barrier has been torn down, Johns Hopkins is now pursuing a new way to insulate itself from the surrounding community: a private police force. The police department swelled into a contentious issue over the last year(...)
Persistent Parasite Proteins: How Protein Clearance in Malaria Infection Can Impact Diagnostics
Posted by | Perspectives in ResearchFinding new treatments for infectious diseases is often the focus of clinical research, but recent research has demonstrated the importance of both developing and improving diagnostic tools in the fight against malaria. Malaria is a disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and mosquitoes spread it. In 2017, there were over 219 million cases of(...)