A potential tool to combat the HIV epidemic in Baltimore is gaining attention, and it may involve an unlikely location — the church. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the University of Memphis School of Public Health have identified church attendance as a possible way to encourage communication about sexual […]
Perspectives in Research
Multiple Mechanisms Underlie Human Motor Learning
Posted by Kevin Monk | Perspectives in ResearchHow do musicians know how to move their arms and fingers — and in some cases, feet — to create beautiful chords and harmonics? How are athletes able to acquire skills that make them so awe-inspiring? How do humans generally learn a motor skill and learn how to control all of our limbs in a […]
May 21, 2015
A Promising Therapeutic Target for Heart Failure
Posted by Soroosh Solhjoo | Perspectives in ResearchApproximately 50 percent of patients with heart failure die within five years of diagnosis due to lack of an effective cure. Scientists are working to improve this statistic. Heart failure can be caused by several of the most common medical conditions, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, which can compromise the […]
May 15, 2015
Suicide: A Disturbing but Preventable Problem
Posted by Xin Liu | Perspectives in ResearchRecently on Facebook, I saw a post from my friend about her sadness in reaction to two of her friends committing suicide. The situation was even more devastating because both of them were only in their late 20s. Suicide has become a prominent issue, especially for young adults in our society. Surprisingly, according to statistics […]
May 8, 2015
The CRISPR Craze: 3 Ways Genome Editing Is Changing Gene Therapy
Posted by Xuan Pham | Perspectives in ResearchGo to any laboratory, talk to any scientist, ask any graduate student about a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and just about everyone will have heard it and used it before. In a few years’ time — if not already — the CRISPR-Cas9 system will likely achieve the same level of pervasiveness. CRISPR-Cas9 (clustered […]
May 7, 2015
Snapshot of a DNA Photocopier in ‘Hibernate’ Mode Reveals Potential Origin for Dwarfism
Posted by Shannen Cravens | Perspectives in ResearchWhen attempting to elucidate the function of biological macromolecules, visual representations can be extremely useful tools. Often, these tools can help pinpoint the structural origin of a particular function and are invaluable for understanding how complex systems work. Sometimes it’s just easier to grasp something when you can see it. That said, obtaining these structures […]
Apr 29, 2015
BRCA Testing: The Hidden Cost of Knowledge
Posted by Xuan Pham | Perspectives in ResearchIn late March 2015, Angelina Jolie penned a new op-ed, “Diary of a Surgery,” in which she detailed her continued struggles with hereditary cancer risks. After having a preventive mastectomy in 2013, she recently shared her decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, in an effort to prevent a cancer that killed three […]
Apr 13, 2015
Johns Hopkins Scientists Discover a Novel Mechanism for β-Lactam Antibiotic Synthesis
Posted by Kevin Monk | Perspectives in ResearchSome oft-prescribed antibiotics, including penicillin and cephalosporin, share a common motif in their chemical structure: a small group of atoms arranged in a ring, called a β-lactam. These β-lactam antibiotics utilize this unusual structure to disrupt the cell wall synthesis in bacteria, greatly inhibiting their ability to spread throughout the body. Unfortunately, how these ring […]
Apr 6, 2015
Can Tasty Food Reduce Stress?
Posted by Soroosh Solhjoo | Perspectives in ResearchAccording to the World Health Organization, more than 1 billion adults in the world are overweight, making them candidates for chronic disease and disability. Many of these people have one thing in common: They unconsciously start eating sweet and high-calorie foods to deal with stress and anxiety. And though later detriments to health may ultimately […]
Mar 31, 2015
Hopkins MD/PhD student is a Kut above the rest
Posted by Kirstie Keller | Perspectives in ResearchWhile most graduate students are worried about their next exam or an upcoming experiment, Carmen Kut, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Biomedical Engineering Department at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is quietly immersed in her latest endeavors to create meaningful medical products for those in need. Since her time as an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins […]
Mar 25, 2015