News

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 24, 2020) — Dr. Reshma Ramlal of the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center was recently named the 2020 Lexington Woman of the Year by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 22, 2020) — Early this spring, University of Kentucky virologist Rebecca Dutch answered some of our initial questions about COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease. We asked her to take another look at the coronavirus pandemic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 21, 2020) — A $3.2 million grant will support University of Kentucky College of Medicine research that could pave the way for a treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI).

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 14, 2020) — A new study by researchers at the University of Kentucky identifies a novel function of the enzyme spermine synthase (SMS) to facilitate colorectal cancer growth.

SMS is an enzyme that produces spermine from spermidine, which has been shown to be important for cell growth. However, excessive accumulation of spermidine can have harmful effects on cell viability. How cancer cells maintain a relatively high level of spermidine but below the toxic threshold to facilitate tumor growth is not well understood.

A University of Kentucky College of Medicine researcher has been awarded $1.9 million to continue research examining molecular pathogenesis of Noonan-like syndrome. Emilia Galperin, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry, was awarded a prestigious R35 Maximizing Investigator’s Research Award Grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences that will fund her lab’s research over the next five years. Normal human cell growth is controlled by complex signaling pathways, and errors in these signal transmissions can have serious consequences inclu

The long-running study on aging and brain health at the University of Kentucky’s Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (SBCoA) Alzheimer’s Disease Center has once again resulted in important new findings – highlighting a complex and under-recognized form of dementia. The work was recently published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): Neurology. “One of the things that we’ve learned in the last decade or so is that a lot of people that we think have dementia from Alzheimer’s disease, actually don’t.

Dr. Daniel Moore, from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, recently conducted a study looking at the frequency and use of racial and ethnic data in ophthalmology literature published throughout 2019. He wrote an article outlining his findings which was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association: Ophthalmology. Moore says the description of racial and ethnic data in human trials is relatively unregulated which can lead to confusion and inconsistent reporting.

Recent lab studies by chemists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany) in close collaboration with virologists at Freie Universität Berlin have shown that extract from the medicinal plant Artemisia annua, also known as Sweet Wormwood, is active against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic. The new potential treatment has been added to the University of Kentucky’s innovative clinical trial for experimental COVID-19 therapies, which was launched by leaders from UK’s Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy in May.

The Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) Program in the University of Kentucky College of Medicine is accepting applications to fill one position. Applications are due July 17, 2020.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 18, 2020) — Alpacas Big Boy, Blue Eyes and Emperor may hold the key to combating COVID-19. Their antibodies could offer a defense against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

University of Kentucky College of Medicine researchers are using the special antibodies made by alpacas, called nanobodies, to help understand the novel coronavirus and potentially develop a treatment that could protect people from being infected. 

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine and UK HealthCare have launched a new clinical trial designed to assess the prevalence of COVID-19 in central and eastern Kentucky.

The University of Kentucky’s six health colleges and UK HealthCare hosted a unified event on Friday afternoon to recognize racism as a public health crisis and show commitment to social justice. Faculty, staff, and learners met in the Jacobs Science Building courtyard to stand safely in solidarity as they listened, learned, and later knelt together for 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence to honor the memory of Black lives lost to racist violence. Stephanie White, MD, MS, associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the College of Medicine, emceed the event.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 12, 2020) — In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, University of Kentucky experts quickly mobilized and pivoted their research to unite in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

UK researchers across many disciplines are addressing COVID-19’s medical challenges and beyond — including developing new personal protective equipment (PPE) materials, designing testing and diagnostic equipment, and examining the wider societal, economic and legal implications of the pandemic.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 8, 2020) – A study led by University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researchers showed that patients who already used opioids, sedatives or antidepressants prior to colorectal surgery experience significantly more complications post-surgery.

The NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases, in collaboration with the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) announce the availability of limited funds to support pilot projects focused on research examining obesity-associated diseases. Emphasis for support will be placed on pilot projects that examine the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, COVID-19, cancer, or neurodegenerative diseases.  These pilot grants are intended to assist investigators new to this area o

When Blake Herald began his journey at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, he sensed there was something missing, something that would ensure a more inclusive environment for him and his fellow medical students. A collaboration with his peers and University leadership led to a solution.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 22, 2020) — University of Kentucky College of Medicine scientist Matthew Gentry is one of 20 recipients of a prestigious R35 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders (NINDS) for his research on energy metabolism in the brain.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 26, 2020) — The COVID-19 pandemic, with reported cases in more than 200 countries, is a worldwide crisis challenging all aspects of health care systems around the globe. Managing the pandemic has required some drastic changes and allocation of resources. This is affecting the delivery of care for health conditions that can be unrelated to COVID-19. Experts in various fields across health care are working to adjust to the changes to ensure they provide the best care during this time while also protecting themselves and their colleagues.

Mere days after the COVID-19 pandemic forced limitations on research in laboratories, a team of neuroscience-related researchers from the UK College of Medicine figured out a way to keep the important discussions going, virtually.

The team’s solution: developing an online seminar series discussing a wide variety of topics in neuroscience, which is one of the six research priority areas in the UK Vice President for Research’s Research Priorities Initiative.

Since the $87 million HEALing Communities Study was announced just over a year ago, the University of Kentucky and its community and state partners have been working diligently to lay the groundwork to get the project up and running.