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Real People

The People Behind Your Vaccine

Vaccines have played an important role in significantly reducing the global burden of several serious infectious diseases. In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions available.1  Vaccinations are a medical marvel, but have you stopped to think that behind every syringe is a steadfast, dedicated team—a collective, synchronized effort of people, processes, and resources—all working towards a...

The Winding Road to Discovery: How Unexpected Data Led to Novel Insights into Cancer Treatment

The path to discovery rarely follows a straight line.In 2015, as a post-doc researcher at Pfizer, Michael Arensman got an early lesson in this maxim. At the time, he set out to study the protein xCT, a transporter that carries nutrients into cells, and its role in T-cell proliferation. As a young scientist, he was eager to have his results published and contribute to the field of immunology.But about a year into the study, his hypothesis failed. He took his unexpected results, however, and...

Next-Gen Scientific Changemakers: An Infectious Disease Specialist on a Mission to Develop Vaccines

Soldiers, firefighters and police officers likely come to mind when you think of professions that require a good amount of courage. But Iona Munjal, a physician and pediatric infectious disease specialist who helps design and oversee vaccine clinical trials for Pfizer, argues scientists should be counted among this group, too. “You have to be brave in research,” she says. “When you’re out there pushing the envelope, you have to expect to fail more times than you succeed — that’s an essential...

Next-Gen Scientific Changemakers: Following 'Good Science' to Attack Cancer on All Fronts

After earning her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010, Megan Kaneda was looking for a lab to do post-doc research. Her graduate studies focused primarily on nanoparticle drug delivery. But after reading a paper on the recruitment of immune cells into tumors by Judith Varner, a professor of pathology at the University of California San Diego, Kaneda switched paths in order to work with her in the emerging field of immunotherapy. “Honestly, I saw her...

Living & Wellbeing

How Excess Sugar Affects Your Health

It’s difficult to avoid added sugars in your food. Seventy-four percent of packaged foods — including staples such as bread and ketchup — contain added sugars, often listed in the ingredients as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, barley meal and rice syrup. [1] Even healthy-sounding foods, such as yogurt and whole-grain breakfast bars, can contain surprising amounts of sugar. [2] According to the 2015-2020 Dietary Recommendations for Americans, fewer than 10 percent of daily calories...

Unlocking the Secrets of Biology With Novel 3D Imaging Technology

Shoh Asano’s grandfather first taught him how to use a microscope as a child. He’d pull the antique instrument from its wooden box to examine leaves and other specimens gathered outdoors. “I’ve always been interested in looking deeper into the natural world to visualize life directly as it’s happening,” says Asano, who grew up in Germany. Three decades later, Asano is among a group of researchers recognized for using cutting-edge microscopy techniques to show the mouse brain in unprecedented...

Living & Wellbeing

Four Things to Know About Vaccination During Pregnancy

Maternal vaccines enhance the natural level of antibodies in pregnant women, which are then passed to babies in the womb to protect them against infections. Here are four things you need to know about vaccination during pregnancy. 1. Babies are very vulnerable in the first few weeks of life The risk of dying from infectious diseases is higher during the first few weeks of a newborn's life than at any other point. This susceptibility is primarily due to infant’s immature immune systems. Their...

Using "Molecular Glues" to Hijack the Body’s Garbage Disposal System

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} Proteins are the stuff of life. They comprise the hormones, enzymes and many other molecules that are essential to our body’s functioning. But sometimes these loyal workhorses can go rogue, leading to cancer, autoimmune diseases and a variety of neurological conditions.  Scientists who develop drugs are always looking for new ways to target these disease-related proteins — either to shut down their activities or to turn...

Living & Wellbeing

Are Health Apps Beneficial to Your Health?

This article originally published on GetHealthyStayHealthy.com We live in a digital world and health apps are certainly a part of it. Approximately 3.4 billion people use smartphones and tablets worldwide. According to mobile industry estimates, half of them have downloaded a health app. The question is, are health apps beneficial to our health? Can health apps really help? There are over 300,000 mobile health apps available, but it’s important to know that the vast majority of them are not...

Moving Beyond Clinical Trials: 4 Lessons From Real-World Data

Clinical trials continue to be the gold standard for studying the safety and efficacy of a new medicine. They are designed to take place in very controlled environments, in a well-defined population, to understand the effects of a medicine on the specific patients; however, these experimental conditions don’t always represent “real world” settings.   In recent years, drug makers, doctors and health insurance companies have been increasingly turning to real-world data to answer questions that...

Cytokines of Interest: Understanding Their Paths to Disease

In the diverse universe of cytokines, signaling proteins secreted by our cells that affect nearly every biological process in the body, there is a specific subset that scientists pay extra attention to for their role in autoimmune diseases, cancer, and other conditions.  What sets apart these "cytokines of interest" — 57 in total — from others is that they’re dependent on a pair of enzymes called Janus kinases (JAKs) to transmit their messages to a cell.  And in recent years, scientists have...

More than Just a Nuisance, Noise May Be Hurting Your Heart Health

People living in urbans areas might dismiss the sounds of honking horns, thumping jackhammers and screeching breaks as mere annoyances that disturb their peace and quiet.  But regular exposure to noise pollution may increase their risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. A recent review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology offers some insight into how chronic exposure to noise impacts us on a molecular level to increase our risk of cardiovascular conditions.  Tu...