Researchers engineered stem cell-derived heart tissues to study how tachycardia affects the heart and to uncover the inner workings of our body’s engine.

Circulating tumor DNA predicts recurrence and splits disease into two subgroups in Stanford Medicine-led study of Hodgkin lymphoma. New drug targets or changes in treatments may reduce toxicity.

Testing drugs “in a dish” using heart and blood vessel cells can speed drug development and reduce health care disparities, cardiologist says.

Children’s noses pack a punch that could help explain COVID-19’s typically mild course in young kids. Researchers hope to parlay that ‘nasal magic’ into increased protections for adults.

Data from wearables show that deviations from normal sleep and activity in pregnancy are connected to a risk for premature delivery, a Stanford Medicine-led study found.

Efforts to design a hepatitis C vaccine, understand the genetic causes of rare diseases, map genetic regulatory elements in organ systems and understand coronavirus immune responses garner over $40 million. The researchers are associate professor of pathology Scott Boyd, MD, PhD; professor of pathology Steven Foung, MD; associate professor of pathology and of genetics Stephen Montgomery, PhD; and assistant professor of pathology Ansuman Satpathy, MD, PhD.

Data suggest that between 10% and 30% of those who have had an acute SARS-CoV-2 infection will experience the persistent pattern of symptoms known as long COVID. Principal investigators of the Stanford Medicine site are Upinder Singh, MD, professor of infectious diseases and geographical medicine and of microbiology and immunology; PJ Utz, MD, PhD, professor of immunology and rheumatology; Catherine Blish, MD, PhD, professor of infectious diseases; and Yvonne Maldonado, MD, professor of pediatric infectious disease and of epidemiology and population health, as well as the Taube Professor of Global Health and Infectious Diseases. Additional collaborators within Stanford Medicine include the departments of Emergency Medicine and of Pediatrics.

Tobacco smoke blocks airway cells from making a protein that protects against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19. Now researchers at Stanford Medicine, including former instructor of allergy and immunology, Ivan Lee, MD, PhD, otolaryngologist Jayakar Nayak, MD, PhD, and microbiologist and immunologist Garry Nolan, PhD, have traced the path of infection from the time the virus latches onto cells in the nasal passages through its seemingly inexorable march to the lungs.

Stanford researchers have developed a synthetic, tumor-targeting molecule that promotes immune activation and tumor regression in laboratory mice after it’s injected into their bloodstreams. “We essentially cured some animals with just a few injections,” said Jennifer Cochran, PhD, the Shriram Chair of the Department of Bioengineering. “It was pretty astonishing. When we looked within the tumors, we saw they went from a highly immunosuppressive microenvironment to one full of activated B and T cells — similar to what happens when the immune-stimulating molecule is injected directly into the tumor. So, we’re achieving intra-tumoral injection results but with an IV delivery.” A paper describing the study published online Nov. 12 in Cell Chemical Biology. Cochran shares senior authorship with Carolyn Bertozzi, PhD, the Baker Family Director of Stanford ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and professor of chemistry; and Ronald Levy, MD, the Robert K. and Helen K. Summy Professor in the School of Medicine. The lead authors are graduate student Caitlyn Miller and instructor of medicine Idit Sagiv-Barfi, PhD.

A new documentary shines a light on the breakthroughs that are being made or are close to being made in finding cures to previously incurable diseases. In Experts such as Irving Weissman, the director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, offer some academic context to the individual stories and attests to the heated cultural wars that have stilted scientific progress.

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.