John Krystal

The Neurotech Justice Accelerator at Mass General Brigham will equip scientists with skills to listen deeply to patients and communities affected by novel neurotechnologies and to share their science in a way that informs policy solutions. Learn about the core programs of this new Dana Center: https://lnkd.in/emBt847A #DanaxMGB #neuroscience #neurosociety #neurotechnology #publicengagement #neuroethics Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz PhD, JD

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We are delighted to announce that Yiqiu Shen, recent PhD graduate from CDS and current CDS-affiliated Assistant Professor of Radiology at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, has won this year’s NYU Outstanding Dissertation Award. Dr. Shen’s dissertation, co-supervised by Kyunghyun Cho, CDS Professor of Computer Science, and Krzysztof J. Geras, CDS-affiliated Assistant Professor of Radiology, focused on developing AI models for medical imaging that can explain their decisions in a way that doctors can understand, without needing humans to laboriously label each image. He applied these models to two important areas: breast cancer screening and predicting COVID-19 complications. For breast cancer, Dr. Shen created an AI model called GMIC that can accurately locate cancers in mammograms. In a study on over 229,000 mammograms from NYU Langone Health, GMIC outperformed 14 radiologists, cutting the error rate nearly in half. This could help catch more cancers early while reducing false alarms. For COVID-19, Dr. Shen combined GMIC with another AI technique to predict which patients are at risk of getting sicker. The model generates “saliency maps” that highlight areas in chest X-rays associated with complications, potentially discovering new early warning signs of severe COVID-19. Before joining CDS, Dr. Shen worked at a hedge fund. He left to pursue research that could help people, and now continues this important work at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. #AI #deeplearning #medicalimaging 

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I’m thrilled our paper about a novel CAR therapy treating human solid cancers is out today in Science Advances. Kudos to MD-PhD student Christopher Nishimura and all co-authors!! During the past seven years, we have developed a new CAR:  TMIGD2 optimized potent/persistent (TOP) CAR. Compared to the second and third generation CAR with CD28-4-1BB as costimulatory domains, our TOP CAR showed superior anti-tumor activity, survival/expansion/persistence, CD8/CD4 T cell ratio, mitochondrial metabolism, and generated less cytokines and exhaustion. Our TOP CAR is a new platform to treat various human solid cancers. As the first example in this paper, we used TOP CAR-T targeting B7-H3 (CD276) in in vivo orthotopic models of human pancreatic cancer, glioblastoma, and lung cancer. Einstein has intellectual property protection with three pending patents for this novel technology,  and is seeking commercial partners to move this novel TOP CAR therapy into clinical trials in the near future, including for cancer of the brain, liver, pancreas, ovary, prostate, lung, bladder, colon, and others. Paper PDF: TOP CAR with TMIGD2 as a safe and effective costimulatory domain in CAR cells treating human solid tumors: https://lnkd.in/e-47t2X9

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Save the date! 📆 Join us in-person or online this Thursday, May 16. John Tsang, PhD will deliver our monthly research seminar: "Systems Immunology of Human Immune Setpoints and Health." 🦠 🧪 📈 John is Professor of Immunobiology and Biomedical Engineering at Yale School of Medicine, Founding Director of the Yale Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology, and scientific conceiver and Yale lead of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network NY. 📆 Thursday May 16, 12 - 1 p.m. 📍 100 College St, Floor 11, 1116 🥪 Lunch will be provided. Zoom available: https://lnkd.in/eW93YuPR I will first briefly provide a recent history of human immunology and how recent advances in immune profiling technologies and computational and machine learning approaches have been empowering multiscale measurements and predictive/quantitative modeling of human immune system behavior. I will then present our systems immunology work on and the concepts of human immune setpoints and metric of immune health. I will highlight the new Yale Center for Systems and Engineering Immunology, which serves as a cross-departmental home and center of research for systems, quantitative, and synthetic immunology at Yale. If time permits, I will also highlight the new CZ Biohub NY, a collaborative research hub linking Yale University, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Columbia University supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to harness the immune system to monitor health and eradicate disease. #immunology #chanzuckerberginitiative #czbiohub #quantitativebiology #quantitativemedicine #systemsimmunology #computerscience

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Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering Member Akiko Iwasaki, Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Professor of Dermatology and of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) at Yale School of Medicine; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2024 by TIME. Profiled by Anthony Fauci, Akiko has “a deep appreciation of the regulation of the human immune system [allowing] her to lead the way in delineating the mechanisms of how it reacts to COVID-19, and the consequences of Long COVID. Her expertise in innate immunity—or how the immune system first reacts to pathogens—is providing key insights into Long COVID, validating patient experiences and informing treatment strategies.” https://buff.ly/3W5Yu3e #biology #epidemiology #COVD #longCOVID #immunobiology #immunity

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Congratulations to TPCB alumni Zac Hann, Ph.D. and Michaelyn Lux on their recent papers describing new structural and mechanistic insights into the ubiquitin conjugation cascade. Working with a team of colleagues in the labs of Prof. Christopher Lima and Prof. Derek Tan, both at MSK, they developed a chemical biology approach to trap thioesterification reaction intermediates as more stable dithioacetal analogues. This enabled structural characterization of this dynamic process using cryo-electron microscopy, resulting in 29 structures that were deposited in the Protein Data Bank and Electron Microscopy Data Bank! The product of a 10-year collaboration, the work was published in Nature, with first author Dr. Tomasz Kochanczyk, and Organic Letters, with co-first author Avelyn Mae Delos Reyes.   #tpcb #chemicalbiology #chembio #structuralbiology #biochemistry #proteindegradation #cryoem   Read more at MSK: https://lnkd.in/evSmVVXh   Read the structure article in Nature: https://lnkd.in/eTEuCGdQ   Read the chemistry article in Org Lett: https://lnkd.in/eFeCd_K2 Read more about TPCB: https://lnkd.in/egk_nziW

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With Erickson Discovery Grant support over summer 2024, biochemistry major in the Penn State Eberly College of Science Anant Pothakamury aimed to elucidate the role of intestinal NAD+ metabolism in maintaining NAD+ homeostasis to understand how the gut dysbiosis during intestinal inflammation influence this balance with faculty adviser Melanie McReynolds. Current Penn Staters looking for funding to support an independent research project can apply now for an Erickson Discovery Grant before the Feb. 16 deadline at urfm.psu.edu.

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Five questions with Dr. Paul Liu! Liu, professor of surgery at Brown University and co-founder of PAX Therapeutics, brings precision and passion to the field of tendon and ligament repair. In his Providence Business News interview, he unveils how PAX Therapeutics is transforming recovery through groundbreaking gene therapy. Highlights include: 💡 Addressing common injuries like "avocado hand" with advanced healing solutions 🚀 Ongoing clinical trials at Yale and Rhode Island Hospital 🤝 The role of the R.I. Life Science Hub in accelerating innovation Discover how this startup is shaping the future of life sciences.

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Dartmouth College Engineers Help Develop New Way to Understand Long-Term Damage Following Traumatic Brain Injury Professor Irene Georgakoudi and PhD student Yuhang Fu are co-authors on "Synergistic label-free fluorescence imaging and miRNA studies reveal dynamic human neuron-glial metabolic interactions following injury" published yesterday in Science Advances. The study presents a multidisciplinary platform to better understand the damaging metabolic changes that often follow traumatic brain injury.

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A team of researchers led by Huanyu (Larry) CHENG (#PennStateESM) tested the use of wearable sensors paired with a “tiny” machine learning algorithm to automatically monitor and evaluate general movements in infants. The new technology may help identify neuromotor disease symptoms in infants.   Learn more ➡ https://bit.ly/4aFTTsQ   #PennState #PennStateEngineering #EngineeringScience #EngineeringMechanics #NeuromotorDisease #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning

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In 2020, vaccines developed to protect against COVID-19 showed the world the promise of mRNA to revolutionize medicine. Now, two University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers, with support from The National Institutes of Health, are helping to advance this progress by developing a novel approach toward efficiently, reliably, and cost effectively synthesizing novel strands of specialty “long RNA.” Future genetic research into everything from basic cell biology to advanced therapeutics depends in part on having just the sort of complex, modified RNA that Craig Martin, UMass professor of chemistry, and Sarah Perry, associate professor of chemical engineering, will be working to make widely available. “A deeper understanding of RNA and its potential applications can advance our knowledge of living systems and can have profound impacts on human health,” said Carolyn Hutter, director of the Division of Genome Sciences at the National Human Genome Research Institute, part of the NIH. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3XEyNay #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #HealthResearch #Vaccines #VaccineResearch #RNA #NIH #NIHResearch

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IFH & Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School associate professor Auriel A. Willette, PhD, MS discusses his latest research in Nutrients on the impacts of drinking green tea, black tea and coffee on brain activity. 🍵☕ For context, he notes: "More neural activity is considered “good” for aging, whereas less neural activity is “bad” and may represent an early risk factor for Alzheimer’s.” “These findings may provide insights into how commonly consumed beverages like coffee and tea may influence overall cognitive function, as well as Alzheimer’s disease risks in older adults.” 🔗: https://lnkd.in/g5mubpVA

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UMass Boston researcher, Niraj Kumar, working with an undergraduate student, has developed a remarkable mathematical model to investigate how physical exercise enhances immune function and suppresses tumor growth. From a Physics World article: “We developed this model to study how the interplay of exercise intensity and exercise duration can lead to tumor suppression and how the parameters associated with these exercise features can be tuned to get optimal suppression,” explains senior author Niraj Kumar from UMass Boston. Read the article: https://lnkd.in/eFbNJbnQ Read the paper in Physical Biology: Unraveling the role of exercise in cancer suppression: insights from a mathematical model https://lnkd.in/ezsMmk6E #CancerResearch #TumorSupression #UMB #UMassBoston #UMassBostonResearch

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The immune environment of #pancreaticcancer makes it one of the most challenging cancers to treat, with tumors adept at suppressing immune responses and resisting conventional therapies. UMass Chan researchers have developed a dual therapeutic approach that suppresses tumor defenses and activates the immune system to fight back. In animal studies, this approach achieved remarkable results, shrinking or eliminating tumors in 8 out of 9 cases. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gtK2RvUZ #clinicaltrialawareness #clinicaltrials #clinicalresearch #healthcareinnovation UMass Chan Medical School

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Every year, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) work to advance the global understanding of cancer and develop new therapies, and 2024 was no exception. “MSK scientists continue to expand our understanding of cancer and to apply what we learn in the lab to improve the lives of patients," says MSK President and CEO Dr. Selwyn Vickers. "The discoveries that we’re making today provide the foundation for the therapies of tomorrow.” Learn about some of the most exciting scientific discoveries reported over the past year, in chronological order: https://lnkd.in/e_Q8JhuG

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Dr. Craig Thompson, a cell biologist and former President & CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and his colleagues in the Cancer Biology and Genetics Program at MSK's Sloan Kettering Institute, have discovered a new process in mitochondria. Their findings published in Nature describe that in cells under stress, mitochondria create two distinct subpopulations to satisfy two competing demands: making ATP energy and building new cell structures. Through a dramatic and dynamic process of physical and chemical transformation, researchers found the P5CS enzyme controls the mitochondrial division of labor. The new findings not only answer a fundamental question about cell biology, they also have direct implications for understanding cancer — the epitome of a stressful biological event. Read more of their research here: https://bit.ly/48GhklC

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Diego Chowell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Oncological Sciences, and Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, led the study. It was titled “Prediction of checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy efficacy for cancer using routine blood tests and clinical data” and published today in the journal Nature Medicine. “Immune checkpoint inhibitors are a promising cancer treatment, but they don’t work for everyone,” Dr. Chowell said. “Right now, doctors use expensive tests, like genetic or immune system analysis, to try to predict which patients will benefit. These tests can be costly, time-consuming, inaccurate and not always available in every hospital. SCORPIO changes that by using routine blood tests that doctors already use to monitor their patients. This makes predicting treatment success faster, simpler, more accurate and more affordable.” https://lnkd.in/eDE9fqnY

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The University of Massachusetts Amherst has received a 5-year, $12 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop the field of computational decarbonization, or CoDec, a new branch of computer science and engineering that applies data-driven approaches to automate decarbonization across the electrical grid, the built environment, transportation and even computing itself. “The crux of this project is to reduce the carbon footprint of societal infrastructure,” explains Prashant Shenoy, Distinguished Professor and associate dean for the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, UMass Amherst and principal investigator for this research initiative. CoDec aims to use computer science tools to automate, coordinate, and maximize carbon efficiency based on this time and location puzzle across four domains of infrastructure: computing, electricity, buildings and transportation. The project will then create software interfaces to optimize our most carbon-intensive activities with the greenest energy possible. Learn more about this project: https://bit.ly/4bxY8qK #UMassAmherst #UMassAmherstResearch #SustainabilityResearch #LowCarbonComputing

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