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BU's Science and Technology Day on March 26 presented nearly 130 outstanding research posters by graduate students from both the Charles River and the Medical Campuses. Only 10 posters could be singled out for awards, but the judges remarked on the extraordinarily high quality of all the research, as well as the enormous diversity and range of disciplines represented. "Research Briefs" is highlighting this graduate research. For a list of awards, and access to abstracts of the work presented, visit http://www.bu.edu/research/ScienceDay/sciday2002.html. Heavy lifting. Roger Fielding, an associate professor
of health sciences at Sargent College, is a pioneer in establishing that
weight training, even in the frail elderly, can rebuild muscle mass, strength,
and power. Now one of Fielding's students, Nathan LeBrasseur (SAR'95,'97,'02),
a doctoral candidate in applied anatomy and physiology, has conducted
a novel in vivo study examining the cellular processes that lie behind
the benefits of resistance training. Putting on the brakes. Named Molecule of the Year by the
journal Science in 1993, the protein known as p53, and its associated
gene, plays a vital role in the suppression of tumors. P53 literally puts
on the brakes, stopping cell division when it senses that a cell's DNA
is damaged and the cell is likely to reproduce in the uncontrolled manner
that leads to cancerous tumors. A defect in the p53 gene has been implicated
in an estimated 60 percent of human cancers, including those of the breast,
lungs, liver, skin, prostate, bladder, cervix, and colon. Although much
has been learned about how p53 functions -- and malfunctions -- the mechanisms
that lead to its activation remain largely unclear.
"Research Briefs" is written by Joan Schwartz in the Office of the Provost. To read more about BU research, visit http://www.bu.edu/research. |
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April 2002 |