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At the age of 19, Sasha Rabchevsky was a strong safety on the Hampden-Sydney College football team when a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.

Rabchevsky has transformed that dreadful turn of events into a meaningful career searching for ways to repair spinal cord damage and improve the lives of those living with spinal cord injury (SCI).

"After my accident, I knew I wanted to pursue research to understand what my condition was and if not cure it, figure out and understand why there was no cure," he said.

The 4th Annual Meeting of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Physiological Society will be held on Thursday, March 24, 2016 on the campus of the University of Kentucky.  The day will include scientific sessions with presentations by trainees and invited speakers, career development lectures and the an

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine recently hosted the eighth annual Postdoctoral Poster Presentation Session where three students received top honors for significant research in diverse medical science subjects. Nineteen posters from the basic and clinical sciences were presented in the atrium of the Biomedical Biological Sciences Research Building in December. The program is designed as a training exercise to prepare postdoctoral students for presenting research at conferences.

Assistant Professor Joe Abisambra, researcher at the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging, has demonstrated for the first time that tau impairs protein synthesis — a key component in memory loss. "Though the exact mechanisms leading to memory loss in tauopathies are not yet known, the scientific community has acknowledged for years that in Alzheimer’s disease brains, tau associates with ribosomes, the hub of protein production. " said Abisambra. Ribosomes are our cellular "factories," tasked with making the proteins essential to proper cellular function.

Congratulations to Moriel Vandsburger, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Saha Cardiovascular Research Center and Department of Physiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky.  He was recently named a “Researcher to Watch” by The Lane Report, a Kentucky regional business and economic magazine.

Read the magazine article by clicking here.

 

Every day throughout 2015, University of Kentucky physiologist Ken Campbell laced up his running shoes and took off for a 5-kilometer run, regardless of his schedule, plans or location.

Regular running routes were plotted through his neighborhood and around the university’s campus. When traveling on business, he explored new territories and scenery on his runs. He also logged many miles running next to students on treadmills at the Johnson Center. Nothing stopped Campbell from completing a "5K a day." 

Dr. Brad Taylor’s lab in the Medical Sciences Building in the Department of Physiology has openings for 2 part time positions for undergraduates or temporary staff interested in research.  Both positions are 12 month commitments, including summer research.

University of Kentucky researcher Bradley Taylor recently received a five-year, $3 million research grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to better understand the physiological mechanisms of chronic pain. For many patients recovering from an injury, pain disappears after the injury heals, but for others, pain persists for months, years or even decades.

The National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) has awarded a five-year, $1.6 million grant to John C. Gensel, Ph.D., of the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC), to study the potential role of the immune system in repairing spinal cord injuries. Spinal cord injuries can result in permanent paralysis. Macrophages, white blood cells involved in immune responses, migrate to wounded areas of the spinal cord following an injury, where they assume M1 (i.e. pro-inflammatory) or M2 (i.e. pro-tissue repair) functions.

The University of Kentucky recently hosted the first-ever conference of the International Society of Gastronomy.  The scientist and chefs involved in the events are working to solve issues affecting cancer patients and many others with issues affecting their sense of taste.  The Department of Physiology’s own Ti

Two women, seated at a table, told their stories in quiet tones.  A group of chefs, some standing, others seated, leaned forward eagerly, clearly interested in what these two women had to say. They peppered the women with questions: did food taste better cold or hot?  Was texture an issue? Did a glass of wine before dinner help or hurt the flavor experience?

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) has awarded Joe Abisambra, Ph.D., of the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging a five-year, $1.6 million grant to study a group of diseases called tauopathies. Tauopathies are a group of more than 20 neurodegenerative disorders that affect nearly eight million Americans. These disorders all share one common characteristic: deposition of a protein called "tau" into sticky bundles inside brain cells.

Flanked by Gov. Steve Beshear and legislative leaders, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto Friday announced the beginning of work on a research facility unique in the country — a building dedicated to addressing health challenges and disparities in Kentucky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (September 8, 2015) – The University of Kentucky has been awarded research grants totaling over $400,000 by the American Heart Association.

These grants will fund research within the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Saha Cardiovascular Research Center .

The grants are:

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Sept. 8, 2015) -- Inflammation is on the research community's "Most Wanted" list as the possible culprit in many diseases, including cancer, heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Nikolova-Karakashian in the Department of Physiology at the UK College of Medicine.  The person fulfilling this position will be involved in mentored research on the role of sphingolipids in hepatic inflammation, as it relates to aging and liver disease. 

 A recent Ph.D in any ares of cellular/molecular biology and 0 to 1 years of experience is required. 

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jun. 12, 2015) — A researcher from UK's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging has received four different grants in six months to explore both disease processes and potential treatments for Alzheimer's and related diseases.

 

The University of Kentucky’s fifth annual Barnstable Brown Obesity and Diabetes Research Day was held on May 20 at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital Pavilion A.

Since 2011, the event has focused on current findings in obesity and diabetes research and features presentations by nationally prominent physician-scientists as well as the work of regional researchers and UK students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty chosen from abstract submissions.

The 18th Annual Gill Heart Institute Cardiovascular Research Day is scheduled for October 2, 2015.  The event will take place at the Lexington Convention Center.  This year, the event is thrilled to host Gary Gibbons, MD as Keynote Speaker.  Dr. Gibbons is Director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institute of Health.  Our Featured Speakers will include Peter Tontonoz, MD, PhD from UCLA and Mike Synder, PhD from Stanford University.