Study opens pathway to better diagnosis and treatment of autoimmune diseases. Researchers from Washington University, Stanford University, and Oxford University have developed a method to identify protein fragments and immune cells that cause autoimmune reactions. Co-corresponding author K. Christopher Garcia, PhD, and co-first author Xinbo Yang, PhD, of Stanford Medicine.

New research offers a path toward transplants that can fix damage from a heart attack without causing life-threatening arrhythmias. “The arrhythmias are one of the key roadblocks. The investigators conducted an important study but will need to test more animals to show these genetically modified cells do not cause irregular rhythms and can improve heart function,” said Joseph Wu, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.

Purvesh Khatri has followed a winding path to medicine -- one that started with a hate for biology and a career in engineering.

Stanford (Calif.) Medicine surgeons are the first to transplant a beating heart into a patient. The first surgery, performed by Joseph Woo, MD, chair of cardiothoracic surgery, and his team, lasted only four hours. Surgeons received the heart from a cardiac-death donor via "Heart-in-a-Box" technology. The device keeps the heart pumping with oxygenated blood. The team sewed the beating heart into the patient.

In a study led by Stanford Medicine researchers, a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine that does not require refrigeration provided immunity in rhesus monkeys for one year. “Our motivation was to come up with a vaccine that would provide worldwide access to vaccination,” said Peter Kim, PhD, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor in Biochemistry. “In the case of the mRNA vaccines, for example, they are expensive, difficult to make and require storage in freezers. So, we wanted to solve those problems with this vaccine.”

Determining the order of authors on a scientific paper can be tricky. Unless you're a pair of video gaming graduate students. Recently Stanford researcher Garry Nolan, PhD, tweeted about an unconventional way two researchers in his laboratory who had each contributed equally to a study decided who should be listed first on the print version of the paper.

As the government moves to Plan B - what actually happens when you catch the new variant?

A Q&A with one of the foremost scientists studying UAPs, and what he hopes to learn by systematically studying bizarre and difficult-to-explain incidents. Dr. Garry Nolan is a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University. His research ranges from cancer to systems immunology. Dr. Garry Nolan has also spent the last ten years working with a number of individual analyzing materials from alleged Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.

The preliminary findings could partially explain why people living with obesity are at higher risk of severe covid-19. “This could well be contributing to severe disease,” senior author, Catherine Blish, an immunologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine, told the New York Times. “We’re seeing the same inflammatory cytokines that I see in the blood of the really sick patients being produced in response to infection of those tissues.”

Injections of blood from young adult mice that are getting lots of exercise benefited the brains of sedentary mice the same age, according to a study by the Stanford School of Medicine in California. 'The discovery could open the door to treatments that, by taming brain inflammation in people who don't get much exercise, lower their risk of neurodegenerative disease or slow its progression,' said Professor Tony Wyss-Coray, of the Stanford School of Medicine in California, which carried out the research.

Three of Stanford Medicine's Nobel laureates, including Andrew Fire, George D. Smith Professor of Molecular and Genetic Medicine and Professor of Pathology and of Genetics, offer advice to future winners about hearing the news and what to expect next in their careers.

If the immune system makes mistake--reacting late or getting the target wrong--it can amplify the damage wrought by SARS-CoV-2.

People with ulcerative colitis who are also taking statins have about a 50% decreased risk of colectomies and hospitalization, according to a Stanford Medicine study. Purvesh Khatri, PhD, associate professor of medicine and of biomedical data science, and his team tracked down a connection between a handful of drugs and decreased symptoms of ulcerative colitis.

Stanford is exploring consumer wearable devices, including Apple Watches and Fitbits, to monitor heart rates and predict COVID-19 symptoms. Michael Snyder, professor of genetics, leads many of the health systems' wearable projects and says it's up to health systems to quickly figure out whether the data's useful to doctors and how to efficiently extract it from the devices.

Stanford Medicine Scientists have devised a blood test to predict some cancer relapses after patients have already been treated.To understand whether ctDNA tracking might hint at relapse, Miklos, who heads Stanford Medicine's Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy division, Matthew Frank MD, PhD assistant professor of medicine, and their labs enrolled 72 patients with large B-cell lymphoma, who had received CAR-T cell therapy, which involves genetically engineering certain immune cells to find and eliminate specific cancer cells.

A team at Stanford University showed that a cancer vaccine made from induced pluripotent stem cells, together with an immune adjuvant, could protect against pancreatic cancer in mouse models. It induced strong T-cell and antibody responses while dialing down immune suppressor cells. Stanford Immunology researchers include Edgar G. Engleman, professor of pathology and of immunology and rheumatology and Joseph C. Wu, director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute and the Simon H. Stertzer, MD, professor of medicine and radiology.

'Resting' exhausted cancer-fighting immune cells enhances their tumor-killing activity, which may help people with blood and solid cancers. Crystal Mackall, the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family professor and professor of pediatrics and of medicine, and instructor Evan Weber are featured in this post.

Anxious to protect her children, Stanford immunology researcher Zina Good has enrolled her two young children Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial for kids. Yvonne Maldonado is also quoted in this post.

The team, composed of researchers at nine academic institutions, has published more than 100 papers and treated nearly 1,000 children with cancer in early-phase clinical trials. Eight Stanford Medicine scientists are among a group of pediatric cancer researchers being honored with the 2021 Team Science Award from the American Association for Cancer Research. Stanford Immunology recipients of this year’s award are Crystal Mackall, MD and Jennifer Cochran, PhD.

A revolutionary technique helps cure a 9-year-old girl who was Stanford Children's Health's 1,000th stem cell transplant patient. Alice Bertaina, associate professor of pediatrics in stem cell research, is mentioned in this post.

Protein levels in people’s blood can predict their age, a Stanford study has found. The study also found that aging isn’t a smoothly continuous process.

CAR-T cells are remarkably effective against blood cancers, but their effect can be transient as the cells become exhausted. Stanford researchers found a way to keep the cells effective in mice with human tumors.

Hongjie Dai, Julie Parsonnet and Joseph Wu are among the 90 regular members and 10 international members elected this year to the academy, which aims to provide independent, scientifically informed analysis and recommendations on health issues.

“Never could I have imagined the work I am doing now – not even ten years ago.” - Devavani Chatterjea, PhD, MPH

Researchers at Stanford and UCSF slowed the spread of a type of nonsmall cell lung cancer in mice by neutralizing a single protein that would otherwise set off a chain reaction, causing runaway tumor growth.

David Schneider, whose research focuses on resilience to infection and developing mathematical models to predict recovery and well-being, succeeds Peter Sarnow in post.

In the trial, a new drug proved safe and effective for hard-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis patients. A national organization of senior researchers named the trial one of the top 10 for 2016.

A common signaling pathway unites diverse fibrotic diseases in humans, Stanford researchers have found. An antibody called anti-CD47, which is being tested as an anti-cancer agent, reverses fibrosis in mice.

To develop a potential antiviral treatment, Stanford researchers adopted an unusual approach: Rather than trying to disable viral enzymes, they targeted proteins the infected individual makes — and the virus needs.

The researchers will be given funding by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to develop tools and technologies that support the organization’s goal of curing, preventing or managing every disease.