When the Human Genome Project wrapped in 2003, we assumed this ginormous data set would provide the much needed parts-list to fill in the blanks of human health and disease. But in the last 10 years it’s become exceedingly clear that things are just not that simple. Yes, our genes are obviously more than a ...
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced its plan to put $100 million toward building a network map of the human brain. World leading network scientist and Northeastern Distinguished Professor Albert-László Barabási is excited about the new project, but says the so-called “connectome” of neural interactions in the brain is but one network of many ...
Like all humans, scientists come in every shape, size and color imaginable. Every now and then I run into a real character. That is most certainly the case with the subject of my story on the News@Northeastern today. Professor Michail Sitkovsky is a burly man with a mutinous brow and thick accent that makes everything ...
I’ve written a lot about the ways technology can improve healthcare since coming to Northeastern. We have a great new graduate program dedicated to the subject and a slew of brilliant researchers here are looking at it from a unique, patient-facing angle. But there’s another side to technology and health that I just got my ...
I love starting the week off with a bang. The topic of this morning’s symposium, hosted by the Institute on Urban Health Research, just totally gets my engines going. Four experts in personal health technology came from all over the country to talk shop. As IUHR Interim Director Alisa Lincoln said, there were people from ...
Sepsis is a whole-body inflammatory response to an overwhelming infection by bacteria or other microogransim. At first glance, it may not seem like a big enough issue to dedicate a whole day toward. But consider the following and then decide: Every 3-4 seconds, someone dies of sepsis. 70% of all infant deaths worldwide are due ...
Since you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably heard of network science and big data by now. It’s the field of research in which scientists leverage the amazing amounts of data we have these days to understand the world’s myriad networks, be they social, genetic or even transportation-based (ie., the network of airline flights across the ...
If I were to ask you how to protect yourself from osteoporosis, what would you say? Probably something like, “drink more milk,” or “take a calcium or vitamin D supplement,” right? I recently met with Katherine Tucker, professor of nutritional epidemiology in the department of health sciences, and she said that while calcium and vitamin ...
Over the weekend I watched Night at the Museum 2 with my nephew. In it, Robin Williams’ Teddy Roosevelt character says that the secret to happiness is diet and exercise. I was delighted by that line — so true…and yet so difficult. Why is that? We all know that a good diet and regular exercise ...
An article in the journal Body Image caught my attention recently: “Considering J.Lo and ‘Ugly Betty:’ A qualitative examination of risk factors and prevention targets for body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and obesity in young Latina women.” When I got down and dirty with the article, I was even more hooked. Deb Franko is a professor ...
A couple weeks ago I attended the pharmaceutical sciences research expo, where, as you might imagine, a bunch of pharmaceutical scientists got together to present their current work. Among a slew of other cool things I learned, I discovered that we have something called the Center for Translational Neuro-Imaging on campus. If you want to ...
Today I met a pretty awesome person (who looks uncannily like my uncle). Professor of pharmaceutical sciences Ban-An Khaw is an immunology guy, or at least that’s how he classified himself when I asked for his background story. And what an interesting story it is! A few decades ago, Khaw figured out a way to ...