RESEARCH DISCOVERIES AT STANFORD
What are the benefits of using animals in research?
Important discoveries create cures for both humans and animals.
2013: Thomas Südhof, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Thomas Südhof, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared with James Rothman of Yale University and Randy Schekman of UC Berkeley, "for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells."
Psychiatric and neurologic disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and Parkinson's disease are all at least partially caused by a defect in how brain cells (neurons) communicate with each other. Dr. Sudhof’s work using laboratory mice over the past few decades has culminated in our present understanding of how normal neurons function.
Understanding what is normal allows scientists to understand what is abnormal, which will eventually lead to therapies for these disorders.
Read more: Thomas Südhof Wins Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine >>
2006: Andrew Fire, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Andrew Fire, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; shared with Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, for recognizing that certain RNA molecules can be used to turn off specific genes in animal cells.
Fire and Mello are part of a team of researchers credited with recognizing that certain RNA molecules can be used to turn off specific genes in animal cells. The discovery marked the first time biologists were able to selectively "silence" the voice of one gene in the cacophony of the tens of thousands that give a cell its marching orders from development to death. Their description of the process, called RNA interference or RNAi, opened up previously inaccessible areas of research.
Stanford Discoveries
– Stanford News CenterGenes behind rapid deer antler growth, hardening identified
Stanford scientists and their collaborators have identified two key genes responsible for the rapid growth of deer antlers. They hope their insights will open the door to new approaches for treating bone diseases and fractures.
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Image credit: Vlad Sokolovsky/Shutterstock
– Stanford NewsTreat tapeworm infection to improve academic performance
Tapeworm infection from eating contaminated pork can damage the brain, causing learning impairments and possibly enforcing cycles of poverty. A new study is the first to look at infection rates within schools and propose solutions targeting children. Read more >>
Image credit: John Openshaw
– ScopeAdvanced cell-labeling technology identifies suspect cell type, possible new therapeutic approach to multiple sclerosis - Scope
Researchers have identified an immune cell type with an apparently critical role in multiple sclerosis, and a way to block its entry into the brain.
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Image credit: Tom Deerinck and Mark Ellisman, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research
– ScopeCoordinately altered protein/receptor combo could eliminate side effects of promising anti-cancer therapy - Scope
A promising anti-cancer therapy works great at first, but then loses its punch. A clever workaround may provide high-octane efficacy, without side effects.
Read more >>
Image credit: Josh Edelson/HHMI permission
– News CenterCancer vaccine eliminates tumors in mice
Activating T cells in tumors eliminated even distant metastases in mice, Stanford researchers found. Lymphoma patients are being recruited to test the technique in a clinical trial.
Image credit: Steve Fisch
– ScopeA look into the causes of epilepsy with a Stanford neuroscientist - Scope
John Huguenard and his team are learning what role electrical excitability of brain cells plays in epilepsy — and how we might someday control it.
Image credit: Clker
– News CenterResearchers discover previously unknown bacterial species in dolphins
The findings could help scientists detect potential health problems facing marine mammals due to climate change, as well as answer a mystery about how dolphins digest whole fish.
Image credit: National Marine Mammal Foundation
– News CenterToenail trim saves lab mice from common, life-threatening skin condition
A new Stanford-developed technique helps preserve valuable research mice from a condition that is the most common, preventable reason for euthanasia.
Image credit: Sean Adams, DVM, PhD, DACLAM
– Mail OnlineHope of fresh treatment for seven cancers after single antibody is found to shrink tumours from all of them
The tests on human tumours transplanted into mice gave dramatic results showing the cancer either shrank or disappeared - leading the researchers at Stanford University to plan human trials within two years.
Credit image: Shutterstock
– Fox NewsNew Stem Cell Study 'Huge Leap Forward' in Regenerative Medicine
Researchers have transformed ordinary mouse skin cells directly into neurons, bypassing the need for stem cells or even stemlike cells and greatly speeding up the field of regenerative medicine.
