News

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.

A group of University of Kentucky professors and scientists efforts to identify possible direct therapeutic approaches to treat COVID-19 was published in the Perspectives section of the most recent issue of Science, a journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Clinical leaders from the University of Kentucky’s Markey Cancer Center, College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy have launched a clinical trial for experimental therapies to treat patients infected with COVID-19. The trial will investigate the effectiveness of azithromycin, ivermectin and camostat mesylate—drugs that could inhibit replication of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease.

University of Kentucky College of Medicine researcher Sidney Whiteheart has been awarded a prestigious Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Heart, Blood and Lung Institute (NHBLI) for his research on how platelets function in hemostasis and during immune responses. The $6.6 million grant will fund the Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry professor’s research over the next seven years. The study, which Whiteheart is leading in collaboration with researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the University of Pennsylvania,

Lung cancer is a complex and devastating disease, especially in the Commonwealth. In fact, Kentuckians are twice as likely as the rest of U.S. citizens to develop squamous cell carcinoma and small-cell lung cancer, both of which are very serious cancers that typically have low survival rates.