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.

CAR-T cell therapy works for many types of blood cancers, but more than half of patients relapse. A Stanford study provides a clue as to why. The researchers showed a correlation between the density of the target molecules on the cell surface and the likelihood that a patient will respond well to CAR-T cell therapy. They also devised a way to assess the function of engineered CAR-T cells before they are used in patients. Crystal Mackall, MD, the Ernest and Amelia Gallo Family Professor and a professor of pediatrics and of medicine and David Miklos, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and chief of bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy are co-senior authors of the study, which was published online July 26 in Nature Medicine.

Certain additives can strengthen vaccines to protect the body from a broad range of viruses, researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine found in a study published in late June in Cell. Lead author Florian Wimmers found that a chemical can boost immune defenses to various viruses when added to vaccines.

A study looks beyond T and B cell responses to show how the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine elicits a strong innate immune response. The Scientist spoke with lead author Bali Pulendran, an immunologist at Stanford University, about what he and his colleagues found regarding the Pfizer vaccine’s effects on the immune system.

A new way to deliver mRNA as a COVID-19 vaccine may avoid side effects and increase customization to prevent infection. Now immunologist and oncologist Ronald Levy, MD, and chemists Paul Wender, PhD, and Robert Waymouth, PhD, are exploring another way to get viral mRNA into cells using a novel technique I wrote about in 2018. They published their results recently in ACS Central Science.

In COVID-19 patients whose symptoms were mild, Stanford researchers found that they were more likely than sicker patients to have signs of prior infection by similar, less virulent coronaviruses. Senior author, Mark Davis, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology; director of Stanford’s Institute for Immunity, Transplantation and Infection; and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and first author, postdoctoral fellow Vamsee Mallajosyula, PhD, first confirmed that some portions of SARS-CoV-2’s sequence are effectively identical to analogous portions of one or more of the four widespread common-cold-causing coronavirus strains.

Scientists and companies are trying to harness the mRNA technology to develop vaccines against cancer and other diseases. Bali Pulendran, Violetta L. Horton Professor And Professor Of Microbiology And Immunology and of Pathology, comments on the future on vaccines.

A detailed molecular analysis of tissue from the brains of individuals who died of COVID-19 reveals extensive signs of inflammation and neurodegeneration, but no sign of the virus that causes the disease. Tony Wyss-Coray, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford, shares senior authorship with Andreas Keller, PhD, chair of clinical bioinformatics at Saarland University.

Air levels of pollen and mold spores in the San Francisco Bay Area are elevated for about two more months per year than in past decades, and higher temperatures are to blame, a Stanford Medicine study has found, led by senior author, Kari Nadeau, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and of pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine.

The 2021 Faculty Women’s Forum Awards honor individuals for their outstanding work supporting women at Stanford through role modeling, allyship, leadership and sponsorship. Stanford Immunology faculty Dr. Joy Wu, an associate professor of medicine (endocrinology, gerontology and metabolism) in the School of Medicine is honored in the Allyship Award category.

Stanford researchers found that data from smartwatches can flag early signs of some health conditions and predict the results of simple blood tests. Scientists from the lab of Michael Snyder, PhD, professor and chair of genetics, tracked data from smartwatches, blood tests and other tests conducted in a doctor’s office in a small group of study participants.

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.