March in North Carolina brings out one of the country’s greatest rivalries. No, I’m not talking about UNC vs Duke basketball. I’m talking about when the flowers start to bloom…
Continue ReadingCancer is an immensely complex disease to treat. The number of mutations and combinations of mutations that can lead to its development make each “cure” more of a patch to…
Continue ReadingEarwax stickiness. Neanderthal ancestry. Caffeine metabolism. Tasting soap when you eat cilantro. Direct-to-consumer genotyping companies like 23andme boast this kind of information in exchange for a tube of your finest…
Continue ReadingChemists and engineers are in the process of making on-demand production of pharmaceuticals less of an idea from a movie, and potentially a viable option for situations where medicines may…
Continue ReadingWhen most people think about “Finding Nemo,” they likely think about Nemo, the adventurous young clownfish who got caught up in a fishy situation (no pun intended) and ended up…
Continue ReadingHave you ever read the Nutrition Facts on a diet soda or sugar-free gum? If so, you might have noticed a bolded sentence that reads: PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE. In the…
Continue ReadingAs early as 1999, a scientific study in Denmark found that patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) are less likely to develop cancer when compared to their healthy relatives and the…
Continue ReadingWhile the shock of an electric eel sounds like more of a medical nightmare than a fortunate asset, researchers at the University of Michigan were inspired to simulate the power…
Continue ReadingThe Human Genome Project (HGP) was an amazing endeavor to map the full human genome, and so intense an effort that it required an international collaborative research team. One of…
Continue ReadingAlzheimer’s disease is both debilitating and fatal. Its associated memory loss is more than a sign of normal aging, and Alzheimer’s is a leading cause of death in the United…
Continue ReadingThe month of February is a big month for hearts. Between Valentine’s Day and American Heart Month, you cannot escape heart-shaped decorations and reminders to exercise daily. And while many of…
Continue ReadingNo bread. No sugar. No rice, potatoes, corn, soy, milk, onions, garlic, chocolate, processed meats, or alcohol. Is this a starvation diet or a method of torture? Actually, this is…
Continue ReadingLet’s start at the very beginning. When a mammalian egg is successfully fertilized by a single sperm, the result is a single cell called a zygote. A zygote has the…
Continue ReadingT cell-based therapies, or “living drugs” as coined by Dr. Carl June, utilize the potent killing activity of T cells, an arm of the immune system, to target cancers. In…
Continue ReadingYou’ve heard of MRSA. You may even have heard of XDR-TB and CRE. The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections in our communities has been both swift and alarming. But how did…
Continue ReadingEvery medication for every ailment, from headaches to heart disease, goes through clinical trials before it becomes available to patients. Clinical research is necessary to determine whether potential new drugs…
Continue ReadingInfluenza is a virus that straddles two worlds: that of the past and that of the future. Responsible for more deaths than HIV/AIDS in the past century, the flu is…
Continue ReadingAll we know around us is constructed of atoms that are connected to form molecules. The types of atoms and their arrangement can change the function and characteristics of these…
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