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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.

Tiny, light-sensitive chips could one day restore sight to the blind
April 18, 2018 - Stanford News
Millions are slowly losing their vision to diseases of the retina like age-related macular degeneration. A device from Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty member Daniel Palanker, supported by a Stanford Bio-X IIP Seed Grant, may help some of them see again.

Tumors caused by pluripotent stem cells can be tackled with radiation
July 27, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Joseph Wu, Patricia Nguyen, Irv Weissman, and Edward Graves and Stanford Bio-X Fellow Andrew Lee have found that, in mice, it’s possible to halt or reverse the growth of human teratoma cells arising from the injection of pluripotent stem cells with radiation.
Social influences can override aggression in male mice
July 27, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty members Nirao Shah and Surya Ganguli and Stanford Bio-X Fellow Niru Maheswaranathan find that a male mouse’s susceptibility to aggression depends on whether it has been housed with other mice or in isolation.
It takes a village (of proteins) to raise an endothelial cell
July 26, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Ngan Huang and Trevor Hastie have devised a way to quickly assess the effect of many combinations of proteins on the differentiation of stem cells into endothelial cells to pinpoint the ones most likely to be clinically useful.
New method of testing patients with heart muscle disease promising
July 25, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Francois Haddad, Euan Ashley, and Joseph Wu explore uses of treadmill exercise testing with heart sonograms as an improved method of determining treatment plans for patients with two types of cardiomyopathy.
New camera designed by Stanford researchers could improve robot vision and virtual reality
July 21, 2017 - Stanford News
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty member Gordon Wetzstein has developed a 4D camera with an extra-wide field of view. It could improve robotic vision and augmented reality.
Stanford researchers develop a new type of soft, growing robot
July 19, 2017 - Stanford News
A newly developed vine-like robot from Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Allison Okamura can grow across long distances without moving its whole body. It could prove useful in search and rescue operations and medical applications.
RNA circles can spur immune response, protect cells against viruses, Stanford researchers find
July 19, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Howard Chang has uncovered an unexpected immune function of circular RNA molecules that appears to protect cells from viral infection.
Rift Valley fever virus illustrates interdependence between environment, global health
July 19, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Recent cases of Rift Valley fever virus warrant vigilance given its potential effects on local and national economies, says Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Desirée LaBeaud.
Inducible loops enable 3D gene expression studies
July 18, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty members Kevin Wang and Sharon Pitteri have devised a way to use the immensely popular gene editing tool CRISPR/Cas9 to loop together any two DNA segments.
Imaging reveals how well PTSD patients will respond to psychotherapy
July 17, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty members Amit Etkin and James Gross measured brain activity in PTSD patients before and after psychotherapy and found that they could predict how well patients would respond to treatment.
Stanford scholars examine ecological underpinnings of rural poverty
July 14, 2017 - Stanford News
A first-of-its-kind effort from researchers including Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Giulio De Leo combines economic, ecological and epidemiological models. The lessons learned could inform interventions to lift people out of poverty.
Virtual reality system helps surgeons, reassures patients
July 11, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Stanford Medicine, including Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Gary Steinberg, is using a new software system that combines imaging from MRIs, CT scans and angiograms to create a 3D model that physicians and patients can see and manipulate.
A new ‘high rise’ chip breaks computing’s data bottleneck in two ways
July 11, 2017 - Stanford Engineering
Silicon chips are single story, but using new semiconductor materials developed by Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Subhasish Mitra, H.-S. Philip Wong, and Roger Howe, computer logic and memory can be stacked like floors in a building.
Stanford researchers find intriguing clues about obesity by counting steps via smartphones
July 10, 2017 - Stanford News
From steps counted by smartphones, Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Jure Leskovec and Scott Delp and Stanford Bio-X Fellow Jennifer Hicks discover “activity inequality.”
Researchers observe unexpected flipper flapping in humpback whales
July 10, 2017 - Stanford News
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty member Jeremy Goldbogen has found that humpback whales flap their foreflippers, which helps explain whale maneuvering and could improve designs inspired by their movement.
Study shows which children with autism respond best to oxytocin
July 10, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
The brain hormone may help treat social impairments in children with autism whose baseline oxytocin levels are low before treatment, according to findings from Stanford Bio-X affiliates Karen Parker, Joseph Garner, and Antonio Hardan, with support from a Stanford Bio-X Seed Grant.
Greenland’s summer ocean bloom likely fueled by iron
July 5, 2017 - Stanford Engineering
Research from Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty member Kevin Arrigo finds that iron-rich meltwater from Greenland’s glaciers are helping fuel a summer bloom of phytoplankton.
New strategy against glioblastoma tumor: molecular scissors release drug
June 29, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Heike Daldrup-Link, Jianghong Rao, Sam Gambhir, Samuel Cheshier, and Frederick Chin are trying to deliver drugs by way of an enzyme that sticks out from glioblastoma cells.
Sleep disturbances predict increased risk for suicidal symptoms
June 28, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Among young adults at risk for suicide, highly variable sleep patterns may augur an increase in suicidal symptoms, independent of depression, a study from Stanford Bio-X affiliate Rebecca Bernert has found.
The radiation-exposed corals of Bikini Atoll may hold insights on cancer
June 28, 2017 - Stanford News
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Stephen Palumbi is exploring how corals that re-colonized Bikini Atoll after nuclear bomb tests 70 years ago have adapted to persistent radiation. The work is featured in a PBS series.
Researchers develop technique for assessing, reducing risk of future stroke
June 28, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Using health records, Stanford Bio-X affiliate Nigam Shah's group developed an algorithm for scoring the risk of stroke patients experiencing atrial fibrillation, a major risk factor for a second stroke.
Stanford engineers design a robotic gripper for cleaning up space debris
June 28, 2017 - Stanford News
Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty Mark Cutkosky's group combined gecko-inspired adhesives and a custom robotic gripper and tested it in multiple zero gravity settings, including the International Space Station.
Progress in search for vaccine for scourge of developing-world infants
June 27, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Stanford Bio-X affiliates Harry Greenberg and William Robinson zeroed in on a few structural components of rotavirus that appear to be similar enough from one strain to the next that a single vaccine might generate antibodies effective against all strains.
New method could take a snapshot of the whole brain in action
June 26, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
The research, from Stanford Bio-X affiliated faculty member and Clark Center faculty member Alice Ting, emerged out of neuroscientists’ frustration with their inability to capture a fine-grained picture of what the whole brain was doing in experiments.
Stanford scientists create a cellular guillotine for studying single-cell wound repair
June 26, 2017 - Stanford News
Bio-X affiliate Sindy Tang developed a microscopic guillotine to try to learn how single cells repair wounds, which could lead to self-healing materials and machines.
Early cardiology care linked to lower risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation
June 26, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Atrial fibrillation patients who got early cardiology care had a reduced risk of stroke, Bio-X affiliates Mintu Turakhia, Sanjiv Narayan, and Paul J. Wang found.
Stanford health researcher wins prize for using statistics to prevent rapes in Kenya
June 22, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Bio-X affiliate Mike Baiocchi applies statistics in ways that could improve global health. His latest project is a study on a massive rape-prevention program in Kenya.
U.S. policies on drugs and addiction could use a dose of neuroscience
June 22, 2017 - Stanford News
The nation’s drug policies are based on unproven assumptions about addiction. Bio-X affiliates Brian Knutson and Rob Malenka explain that neuroscience could help shape more effective policies and save lives.
Researchers use long-read genome sequencing for first time in a patient
June 22, 2017 - Stanford Medicine News Center
Bio-X affiliates Euan Ashley, Stephen Montgomery, and James Ford and 2010 Bio-X SIGF Fellow Aaron Wenger have used a technology called long-read sequencing to diagnose a patient’s rare genetic condition that current technology failed to diagnose.
What tiny antennae on our cells can tell us about the genetics of obesity
June 21, 2017 - Stanford Medicine Scope
Researchers including Bio-X affiliates Peter Jackson and Edward Plowey have not only solved one of the thornier mysteries about how obesity works, they’ve made a discovery they think could help tame the global obesity epidemic.

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