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Health
Study finds promise in combined transplant/vaccine therapy for high-risk leukemia
Two of the most powerful approaches to cancer treatment — a stem cell transplant and an immune system-stimulating vaccine — appear to reinforce each other in patients with an aggressive, hard-to-control form of leukemia, Harvard scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) have found. The researchers report that patients with high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or…
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Health
Low-carb diets linked to atherosclerosis and impaired blood vessel growth
Even as low-carbohydrate/high-protein diets have proven successful at helping individuals rapidly lose weight, little is known about the diets’ long-term effects on vascular health. Now, a study led by team of Harvard researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) provides some of the first data on this subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a…
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Campus & Community
Akpan named to Hermann Trophy Watch List
For the second consecutive season the National Soccer Coaches Association of America has named Andre Akpan ’10 to the Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy Watch List.
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Campus & Community
Preseason media poll votes Harvard Ivy favorite
Expectations are high for No. 23-ranked Crimson football team, who were named the Ivy championship favorite at the league’s annual media day.
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Health
Fragile period of childhood brain development could underlie epilepsy
A form of partial epilepsy associated with auditory and other sensory hallucinations has been linked to the disruption of brain development during early childhood, according to a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC). Described in today’s advance online edition of Nature Medicine, these new findings provide the first genetic link…
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Health
Prepping for H1N1, round 2
While questions still remain about the H1N1 flu’s potential virulence in the coming months, there is little doubt that this particular viral strain will return.
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Campus & Community
University fine-tunes response plan for H1N1
University officials, building on lessons learned after a cluster of H1N1 cases was identified at the Dental School last spring, are fine-tuning plans to respond to any “swine flu” cases that appear on campus this fall.
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Campus & Community
Katherine N. Lapp named Harvard executive vice president
Katherine N. Lapp, executive vice president for business operations for the University of California, will become Harvard University’s executive vice president, President Drew Faust announced today (Aug. 20). Lapp will assume her duties in early October.
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Arts & Culture
Making music and keeping the faith
The father of two young children and an amateur musician, Matthew Myer Boulton, HDS associate professor of ministry studies, is investigating the spiritual dimension of human experience through the use of song with his newly formed band Butterflyfish.
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Health
New metabolic safeguards against tumor cells revealed
Cells don’t like to be alone. In the early stages of tumor formation, a cell might be pushed out of its normal home environment due to excessive growth. But a cell normally responds to this homeless state by dismantling its nucleus, packing up its DNA, and offering itself to be eaten by immune system cells.…
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Health
Study supports DNA repair-blocker research in cancer therapy
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have uncovered the mechanism behind a promising new approach to cancer treatment: damaging cancer cells’ DNA with potent drugs while simultaneously preventing the cells from repairing themselves. The findings, reported in the Aug. 14 edition of Molecular Cell, help explain the promising results being seen in clinical trials of compounds…
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Campus & Community
Harvard Welcomes 20 Incoming Cross Country Runners
Director of track and field and cross country Jason Saretsky announced his incoming freshmen class for cross country Wednesday. The rookie class is made up of 12 men and eight women hailing from six states (California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York) and two countries (Canada and England).
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Health
NIH renews Harvard Center for AIDS Research grant for another five years
The National Institutes of Health has renewed for five years – and $18.1 million – the funding for the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research (Harvard CFAR). Harvard is one of only 20 NIH CFAR sites in the U.S. and first received the designation in 2004. The award, under the umbrella of the Harvard Initiative…
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Health
Researchers discover chemical that kills cancer stem cells
A multi-institutional team of Boston-area researchers has discovered a chemical that works in mice to kill the rare but aggressive cells within breast cancers that have the ability to seed new tumors. These cells, known as cancer stem cells, are thought to enable cancers to spread — and to reemerge after seemingly successful treatment. Although…
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Health
Kauffman Foundation awards researcher entrepreneurial fellowship
Praveen Kumar Vemula, a postdoctoral researcher in the Karp Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, is one of 13 researchers to receive the Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurial Postdoctoral Fellowship Award. Vemula was selected in part for his entrepreneurial vision to take lab research to market and for his recent breakthrough research with Jeffrey Karp, instructor in…
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Science & Tech
Research team at Harvard to develop small-scale mobile robotic devices
A multidisciplinary team of computer scientists, engineers, and biologists at Harvard received a $10 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Expeditions in Computing grant to fund the development of small-scale mobile robotic devices. Inspired by the biology of a bee and the insect’s hive behavior, the researchers aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact…
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Health
Postdiagnosis aspirin use reduces risk of dying from colorectal cancer
Regular use of aspirin after colorectal cancer diagnosis may reduce the risk of cancer death, report Harvard researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In today’s edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the study’s authors also find that the aspirin-associated survival advantage was seen…
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Science & Tech
After bloody revolution: Bringing science back to Liberian classrooms
Adam Cohen and Ben Rapoport needed materials to conduct a science experiment, but supplies were hard to come by. Cohen, assistant professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Rapoport, an M.D./Ph.D. student at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer…
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Science & Tech
Chu urges U.S. to anticipate its energy future
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu described the U.S. failure to anticipate changes in the global energy supply during a talk at the John F. Kennedy School of Government Aug. 6. Chu cited the discovery of lithium batteries as just one of the many advanced technologies that the United States has surrendered over the decades to…
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Health
New steps forward in cell reprogramming
Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have substantially improved the odds of successfully reprogramming differentiated cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) by blocking the activity of the gene that instructs the cells to stop dividing. Konrad Hochedlinger and colleagues at the MGH Center for Regenerative Medicine also found that…
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Campus & Community
Former homeless man takes part in Harvard Business School seminar
Ron Brummitt, who has a degree in psychology and is an ordained minister, was at Harvard in July to take part in Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, a weeklong, HBS seminar that aids senior executives from the nonprofit sector in developing leadership strategies.
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Health
Economy shaping health care reform effort
Political and philosophical differences aside, it’s the economic crisis that’s driving the current national health care reform debate. “Every day the president gets an envelope [that] says, ‘Whoa! Bigger [deficit] this day than yesterday,’” noted Robert J. Blendon, professor of health policy and management, speaking at the Harvard School of Public Health on Tuesday. Couple…
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Nation & World
‘Inventing Equal Opportunity’
New research from Harvard University traces the history of how human resource managers, not legislatures or courts, have defined equal opportunity and anti-discrimination policies in the workplace.
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Campus & Community
Baseball-themed picnic a ‘hit’ with Cambridge seniors
Sponsored by the Office of the Mayor for Cambridge and the Office of the President of Harvard University, the annual Harvard Yard Picnic draws hundreds of senior members from the local community to Harvard Yard to enjoy food, friends, and music.
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Health
Freshwater fish at top of food chain evolve more slowly
Since evolving to eat other fish, freshwater fish at the top of the food chain have remained relatively unchanged compared with their insect- and snail-eating cousins, according to new research. Scientists report in the journal Evolution that once these fish, known as centrarchids, became top predators in aquatic ecosystems, natural selection put the brakes on…
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Campus & Community
Harvard Allston Farmers’ Market hosts health and nutrition fair Friday
In addition to the market’s fresh, seasonal produce from local farmers, this family event will feature a variety of health related displays for people of every age. The Joseph Smith Health Center will be conducting free glucose, cholesterol, and blood pressure screenings. The Fair will offer information on walking and biking in Boston…
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Health
Scientists create energy-burning brown fat in mice
Harvard researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that they can engineer mouse and human cells to produce brown fat, a natural energy-burning type of fat that counteracts obesity. If such a strategy can be developed for use in people, the scientists say, it might open a novel approach to treating obesity and diabetes. A…
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Campus & Community
Faust shares research techniques with Crimson Summer Academy students
Budding young scholars met with one of the University’s top scholars to learn about the finer points of academic research, the field of history, and what it’s like to be the president of Harvard.
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Science & Tech
Scientists expect wildfires to increase as climate warms in the coming decades
As the climate warms in the coming decades, atmospheric scientists at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and their colleagues expect that the frequency of wildfires will increase in many regions. The spike in the number of fires could also adversely affect air quality due to the greater presence of smoke. The study,…
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Health
Maternal, paternal genes’ tug-of-war may last well into childhood
An analysis of rare genetic disorders in which children lack some genes from one parent suggests that maternal and paternal genes engage in a subtle tug-of-war well into childhood, and possibly as late as the onset of puberty. This striking new variety of intra-family conflict, described by Harvard researchers in today’s edition of the Proceedings…