Researchers from the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky have been able to confirm anecdotal information on patients with both Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) using mouse models in two different studies.
The findings of these two studies, which were recently published in Acta Neuropathologica and Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, have potentially significant implications for patients with both disorders.
Both papers studied CVD in Alzheimer's disease mouse models using different lifestyle factors.
Scientists at the University of Kentucky, led by nano-biotechnologist Peixuan Guo, have made some critical discoveries over the past year into the operation of biomotors, the molecular machines used by viruses and bacteria in the packaging of DNA.
Biomotors function similarly to mechanical motors but on a nano-scale. Last year, Guo's team reported the discovery of a new, third class of biomotor, unique in that it uses a "revolution without rotation" mechanism. Rotation is the turning of an object around its own axle, as the Earth does every 24 hours.
Not all learning experiences are created equally – and at the Learning Center at Linlee, an innovative partnership with the University of Kentucky College of Medicine allows young students to get rich, hands-on experience in the sciences and better their chances of succeeding in college and beyond.
As part of the Fayette County Public School System, The Learning Center (TLC) is an alternative school for at-risk students who are facing personal challenges that might impede their ability to learn. These include socioeconomic factors, and, perhaps surprisingly, intellectual giftedness.
UK HealthCare and Norton Healthcare are building upon their history of collaboration to expand research and educational collaborations between the two institutions, with the goal of improving health and health care for all Kentuckians.
Beginning July 1, educational and research initiatives between UK and Norton will be lead by Dr. Stephen Wyatt, who most recently served two successful terms as the founding dean of the University of Kentucky College of Public Health.
The University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging is participating in a landmark multi-center clinical trial of an experimental drug that has the potential to prevent Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The A4 Study will recruit 1,000 participants ages 65-85 to test an amyloid antibody that may prevent memory loss caused by Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid is a protein normally produced in the brain that can build up in older people, forming plaque deposits in the brain.
New researchers in any field face challenges--limited research experience, competing demands for time, diminished levels of and increased competition for funding.
The Barnstable Brown Kentucky Diabetes and Obesity Center hosted its fourth annual Diabetes Day on Tuesday, May 20. With a focus on current findings in obesity and diabetes research, the day's program featured presentations by nationally prominent physician-scientists as well as regional researchers chosen from abstract submissions.
Scientists at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine have gained a new understanding of an enzyme essential for breaking down plant starch, a process used in agriculture, manufacturing and biotechnology.
Dr. Matthew Gentry and Dr. Craig Vander Kooi, associate professors of molecular and cellular biochemistry at the University of Kentucky, and graduate student David Meekins, have decoded the natural process plants use to break down starch.
A multidisciplinary team of doctors, researchers, and informaticists the University of Kentucky is working to improve identification of lung cancer patients who are eligible to participate in clinical trials for novel treatments.
Clinical trials are critical for advancing research into new and better treatments for patients, and the need for improved treatment of lung cancer is dire: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Its burden is especially significant in the Commonwealth, where rates of lung cancer incidence and mortality are the highest in the country.
The future looks bright for cancer research in Kentucky – on May 22, the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center held its annual Markey Cancer Center Research Day, highlighting the work of UK students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty from the past year.
As the cancer center has grown, Markey’s research programs have become even more robust, helping propel the center into becoming the state’s first and only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center.
“The NCI is pretty much all about research – it’s a huge part of what they’re looking for when they award the designation,”
Growing up in the small rural town of Paintsville, Kentucky, Hilaree Frazier always loved science. She remembers that from a young age she was interested in pursing a PhD in science, but when she finished her bachelors of science at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), she was intimidated by the prospect of going straight into a doctoral program. Even though she was interested in UK's Integrated Biomedical Sciences PhD program, she didn't apply.
"I think I just didn't have enough confidence," she said.
The UK Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) has launched a new website that is especially oriented to researchers who currently use or could benefit from CCTS resources, including research services, funding opportunities, and education and career development.
The CCTS offers a spectrum of multidisciplinary support to assist investigators across the entire cycle of clinical and translational research, from protocol development and participant recruitment to regulatory affairs and evaluation.
At the University of Kentucky, the gross anatomy course that introduces students to the intricacies of body systems is reserved for graduate-level students. But, as Dr. April Richardson-Hatcher has discovered, real-world rules can be bent in a virtual universe.
A professor of anatomy and neurobiology in the UK College of Medicine, Hatcher teaches Anatomy 309: An Introduction to Regional Anatomy, a course that meets weekly in the 3-D virtual world of Second Life.
A team of nanotechnology researchers at the University of Kentucky has discovered new methods to build heat resistant nanostructures and arrays using RNA.
The research, led by Peixuan Guo, professor and William Farish Endowed Chair in Nanobiotechnology at the UK College of Pharmacy and Markey Cancer Center, is reported in an article titled "RNA as a Boiling-Resistant Anionic Polymer Material To Build Robust Structures with Defined Shape and Stoichiometry," coauthored by Emil F. Khisamutdinov and Daniel L.
We all know that exercise is good for us — it can help us lower blood pressure and cholesterol, maintain a healthy weight, and even improve mood and sleep. But can exercise improve the brain, especially as we age?
A multidisciplinary group of University of Kentucky researchers is working to answer that question.
Translational research — the process of moving a laboratory discovery into clinical applications — is a long and complex process requiring diverse expertise, ranging from basic science and regulatory affairs to participant recruitment and rclinical application. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it can take more than a decade for a lab discovery to result in a new treatment, medical device, or prevention method.
When Premi Haynes was growing up in Pune, India, she attended Stella Maris High School, an English language convent school founded by Swiss nuns. Her second grade singing class used a book of English songs. One of the songs was "My Old Kentucky Home." At that time, Haynes had never heard of Kentucky, had no idea where it was, and had no particular ambition to go there.
Some 20 years and a twist of fate later, today Haynes is defending her Ph.D.
In addition to providing high quality health care, the University of Kentucky is also committed to finding new treatments, tests, and cures for diseases. Now, patients at UK can contribute to that effort by agreeing to participate in the Research Registry and Specimen Bank, or the "biobank."
When you have a medical procedure that involves, for example, drawing blood or sampling tissue, there is often material left over from the testing process that would otherwise be thrown away.
