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Highlights

Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty members and fellows are generating scientific advances that expand our understanding of how the body works and will ultimately improve human health. These news stories and press releases describe some of those breakthroughs.

2021-2022 RFP LIVE! Visiting Scholar or Visiting Postdoc Fellowships @ Stanford Bio-X funded by Novo Nordisk Foundation
November 22, 2021
RFP LIVE NOW: the Stanford Bio-X Program and the Novo Nordisk Foundation have opened its call for applications for the Visiting Scholar or Visiting Postdoc Fellowships @ Stanford Bio-X!

Stanford scientists find a previously unknown role for the cerebellum
March 20, 2017 - Stanford News
Researchers believed that the cerebellum did little more than process our senses and control our muscles. Bio-X affiliates Liqun Luo and Mark Schnitzer have studied the most densely packed neurons in our brains to reveal that it may do much more.
Studies of scientific bias targeting the right problems
March 20, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
The biggest single source of bias across all fields of science comes from so-called small-study effects, Stanford researchers including Bio-X affiliate John Ioannidis report.
Moderate exercise may benefit patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
March 17, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Bio-X affiliate Euan Ashley finds that moderate exercise may be safe for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and could provide important health benefits.
Stanford scientists create three-dimensional bladder reconstruction
March 16, 2017 - Stanford News
Bio-X affiliates Audrey Bowden and Joseph Liao, with Travel Awardee Kristen Lurie, have created a 3D computer reconstruction of a patient’s bladder. The technique could help doctors locate tumors or other disorders and prepare for surgery.
Stanford scientists reveal how grass developed a better way to breathe
March 16, 2017 - Stanford News
Bio-X affiliate Dominique Bergmann discovered how grasses produce stomata that make them better able to withstand drought or high temperatures than many other plants, which could someday lead to crops that can better survive climate change.
Antibody fights pediatric brain tumors in preclinical testing
March 15, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Antibodies against the CD47 “don’t eat me” signal were shown to target 5 kinds of pediatric brain tumors, say Bio-X affiliates Samuel Cheshier, Irving Weissman, Griffith Harsh, Michelle Monje, Ravindra Majeti, Gerald Grant, and Gary Steinberg.
Unproven stem cell 'therapy' blinds three patients at Florida clinic
March 15, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
After three patients were blinded following a treatment marketed as a stem cell clinical trial, Bio-X affiliate Jeffrey Goldberg calls for increased patient education and regulation.
Taking painkillers with sleeping pills is an increasingly risky business
March 14, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Researchers including Bio-X affiliate Sean Mackey have determined that taking strong prescription painkillers together with sleeping pills is associated with greater risk of overdose.
As Moore’s law nears its physical limits, a new generation of brain-like computers comes of age
March 13, 2017 - Stanford News
Normal computer chips aren’t up to the challenges of next-generation devices. Bio-X affiliate Kwabena Boahen has laid out a way forward, using ideas built in to our brains.
Pancreatic cancer, diabetes link explored by Stanford researchers
March 13, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Bio-X affiliate Seung Kim and former Stanford research associate Jonghyeob Lee have devised a way to mimic the earliest stages of pancreatic cancer development using human pancreatic cells implanted into mice.
So long stiffness: Stanford engineers create a stretchable plastic electrode
March 10, 2017 - Stanford News
Paving the way for flexible electronics, Bio-X affiliates Zhenan Bao and Christian Linder and Travel Award recipient Noelle Rabiah have developed a plastic electrode that stretches like rubber but carries electricity like wires.
Memorization tool bulks up brain’s internal connections, scientists say
March 8, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Bio-X affiliate Michael Greicius found that teaching ordinary people a technique used by “memory athletes” not only boosted their recall ability but also induced lasting changes in the organization of their brains.
Stanford Bio-X remembers William Bowes
March 7, 2017
Among philanthropist William Bowes’s many contributions to science are hundreds of interdisciplinary graduate students he supported through Bio-X Bowes Fellowships. He passed away in December 2016.
The beadnik: Polly Fordyce uses something tiny to do something big
March 6, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Bio-X affiliate Polly Fordyce uses microfluidic tools to understand protein interactions in the body — knowledge that could help researchers develop therapeutics for a variety of diseases. She collaborates with Bio-X affiliated faculty members Matthew Bogyo and Martha Cyert, and the latter collaboration is supported by a Stanford Bio-X IIP Seed Grant.
Stanford study seeks to make cycling safer and more comfortable
March 2, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Bio-X affiliate Michael Eisenberg is conducting the Stanford CYCling and Lower Effects (CYCLE) study to hone in on the factors affecting the comfort and safety of cycling.
Brain scans could help predict adolescent drug use before it starts
February 22, 2017 - Stanford News
Impulsive behavior in teens can go hand in hand with drug use, but the link is weak and doesn’t necessarily predict future behavior. Bio-X affiliate Brian Knutson and colleagues think they can do better, using images of the brain.
Toddlers’ grammar skills not inherent, but learned, new research says
February 22, 2017 - Stanford News
Bio-X affiliate Michael Frank and other researchers used a novel statistical approach to analyze children’s early speech and found evidence that toddlers develop knowledge of grammar with time and practice.
Brain-computer interface advance allows fast, accurate typing by people with paralysis
February 21, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
In work by Bio-X affiliates Krishna Shenoy, Jaime Henderson, and Paul Nuyujukian, supported by the Bio-X NeuroVentures Program, three participants with movement impairment controlled an onscreen cursor by imagining hand movements.
Listening in on the brain: A 15-year odyssey
February 21, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Bio-X affiliates Krishna Shenoy and Jaime Henderson have worked together to develop an experimental technology that could one day allow people with paralysis to affect the world around them using only their minds.
Drug combination defeats dengue, Ebola in mice
February 27, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
To develop a potential antiviral treatment, Bio-X affiliates Shirit Einav and Claude Nagamine, with support from a Bio-X IIP Seed Grant, adopted an unusual approach: they targeted proteins the infected individual makes, and the virus needs.
Stanford-developed nanostraws sample a cell’s contents without damage
February 20, 2017 - Stanford News
Supported by a Bio-X IIP Seed Grant, Bio-X affiliates Nicholas Melosh, Joseph Wu, and Sergiu Pasca work on tiny nanostraws that sample cells' contents without damaging them, which could help us understand cell processes and improve medical treatments.
Stanford researchers say extracting uranium from seawater could help nuclear power play a larger role in a carbon-free energy future
February 17, 2017 - Stanford News
A new way of extracting uranium from seawater described by Bio-X affiliates Yi Cui and Steven Chu could help even countries without uranium mines harness nuclear power.
Pancreatic islet cells in animals can ‘flip’ their fate to produce insulin
February 16, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Alpha cells can convert to insulin-producing beta cells in mice when just two genes are blocked, a new Stanford study from Bio-X affiliates Seung Kim and Stephen Quake shows. A similar mechanism may occur in people with diabetes.
A possible step forward for gene therapy: making mice glow like fireflies
February 16, 2017 - Stanford News
A collaboration under Bio-X affiliates Robert Waymouth, Paul Wender, and Chris Contag produced a new way of inserting the code for modified proteins into the cells of mice. If successful in humans, this could be useful for vaccines or cancer therapies.
Scientists create scorecard index for heart-damaging chemo drugs
February 15, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Stanford researchers under Bio-X affiliates Joseph Wu, Alice Fan, and Sean Wu have developed a test that may help screen for cardiotoxicity in new chemotherapy drugs.
Simple test may predict which children develop severe TB
February 15, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Bio-X affiliate Jason Andrews and his colleagues found that a screening test for tuberculosis was a good predictor of whether children infected with the bacteria would become sick.
Needless shocks from heart devices can trigger extra health costs
February 14, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Heart patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators often undergo a series of health care procedures when they receive shocks from the devices, regardless of whether the shocks are necessary, Bio-X affiliate Mintu Turakhia says.
Circuit clarifies how stress exacerbates pain and meditation eases it
February 13, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Researchers under Bio-X affiliates Gregory Scherrer, Karl Deisseroth, Scott Delp, Robert Malenka, and Liqun Luo identify a neural circuit in the brain that helps explain how the body uses enkephalins, which have potent painkilling properties.
Researchers personalize virtual reality displays to match a user’s eyesight
February 13, 2017 - Stanford News
Researchers under Bio-X affiliate Gordon Wetzstein are developing a type of virtual reality display that adapts to differences in how we see, which could reduce headaches or nausea caused by existing VR headsets.
A Darwin Day delve into how the chipmunk got its stripes
February 10, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Researchers under Bio-X affiliate Gregory Barsh found that a gene that normally causes pale belly fur has been co-opted to help create a pattern of light and dark stripes on the backs of both striped mice and on distantly-related chipmunks.

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