|
Research at Boston University 2005
 |
Genetic Key to Blindness
The gene responsible for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – the leading cause of vision loss in the elderly – was recently identified by scientists at the BU School of Medicine , the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and Sequonom, Inc. |
 |
Of Women and Science
Debate has been swirling around the dearth of women in the upper echelons of academic science, but, according to Boston University sociologist Laurel Smith-Doerr, this is not true in the biotechnology industry. Her research shows that female Ph.D.s are nearly eight times as likely to be in leadership positions in biotech firms as they are in academia. And, her research reveals, the strongest factor influencing gender equity in an organization is how it is structured. |
 |
Saturn's Auroral Secrets
Aurora on Saturn behave in ways different from how scientists have thought possible for the last 25 years, according to new research by a team of astronomers led by John Clarke, a professor in BU’s Department of Astronomy and in the department’s Center for Space Physics. The team’s findings have overturned theories about how Saturn’s magnetosphere behaves and how its aurora are generated. |
 |
Designing Better Medicine
The ability to select and develop compounds that act on specific cellular targets has just gained a computational ally — a mathematical algorithm that predicts the precise effects a given compound will have on a cell’s molecular components or chemical processes. Using this tool, drug developers can design compounds that will act on only desired gene and protein targets, eliciting therapeutic responses free of unwanted side effects. |
 |
Hearts Beat to the Rhythm of Biological Clocks
In a first-ever finding, physicists from Boston University and physiologists from Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have found that the body’s biological clock affects the patterns of heart-rate control in healthy individuals independent of sleep/wake cycle or other behavior influences. |
|
Lia: Now Starring at the National Academy of Sciences
Lia, a science-savvy, teen-aged Latina operative in a secret global organization dedicated to using technology to tackle the world’s problems recently learned she’ll be moonlighting as the animated star of the National Academy of Sciences’ (NAS’s) soon-to-be-launched website, iWASwondering.org. |
 |
Help for Failing Hearts
Researchers know that a group of molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in the enlargement of the myocytes, but until recently little was known about the specific mechanisms that lead to hypertrophy. An investigation by a group of researchers headed by Wilson Colucci, chairman of the department of cardiology at the School of Medicine and chief of cardiology at Boston Medical Center, recently shed new light on this process, opening the way for the development of new treatments for this all too common disease. |
|
