Showing results for Karen Spataro

Ttransplant surgeon, Burcin Ekser, MD, PHD, an assistant professor of surgery, is exploring 3D bioprinting as a solution to the shortage of viable organs.

COLTON MOORE was just 16 months old when he was diagnosed with X-linked hypophosphatemia, or XLH, an uncommon, painful and deforming bone disease. His mother was devastated. She had good reason to be. Debbie Moore was also diagnosed with XLH as a toddler. She spent much of her childhood wearing leg braces and underwent several surgeries in an effort to straighten her legs. By the time she graduated from high school, she needed a walker. Today, she relies on a wheelchair to […]

MOLLY DUMAN SCHEEL, PHD, has worked much of her career on wiping out mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria and dengue fever. Now, realizing that dream looks increasingly possible every day. Ever since Zika climbed from South America, through the Caribbean and into Miami residential areas in summer 2016, grant-awarding agencies have wanted to fast-track getting a mosquito-control solution to populations in need. The problem became urgent: Pregnant women were giving birth to babies with microcephaly, and the disease was discovered to be sexually transmittable. Scheel, an […]

A PAIR of Indiana University School of Medicine faculty members are using nanoparticle technology to develop a therapy to dissolve life-threatening blood clots while eliminating the risks associated with current treatments. Roughly 900,000 Americans develop blood clots each year, and as many as 100,000 people die from them, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clots are especially dangerous when they travel to the lungs, a condition known as a pulmonary embolism. “A pulmonary embolism can cause the right side of the heart […]

RESEARCH INDICATES that exercise can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The problem, however, is that we don’t know why. By understanding the precise processes happening in the body when we exercise, Bruce Lamb, PhD, who holds the Roberts Family Chair in Alzheimer’s Disease Research, hopes to replicate the mechanisms with new drugs or therapies. Specifically, Lamb will study what role exercise may play in reducing inflammation and how this is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. By understanding the precise processes happening in the body […]

Helen Brown is accustomed to living in pain. Some 20 years ago, she was diagnosed with gastrointestinal carcinoid tumors, a slow-growing cancer that wreaks havoc on the digestive system. She suffers through vomiting and sometimes debilitating diarrhea, and can experience intestinal block-ups that leave her doubled over in so much agony that her blood pressure spikes. On top of all that, she has spinal stenosis. “So it’s a combination of the two of them that really tears her up,” her […]

JUST LIKE every other year, Sandra Chapman went in for her annual mammogram in October 2016. But this time, something was different. A few days later, she got a call. Doctors had spotted a pea-sized spot and wanted to take a closer look. In the weeks that followed, Chapman underwent additional imaging tests and a biopsy. “The Monday after Thanksgiving, I was informed it was cancerous,” said Chapman, a mother of three who is an investigative reporter for WTHR in […]

THIS YEAR alone, 266,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. Some 40,000 women will die from the disease. “While we have made major strides in the treatment of breast cancer, the reality is that today’s therapies are still inadequate,” said Indiana University School of Medicine Dean Jay L. Hess, MD, PhD, MHSA, who lost his mother to breast cancer when he was in college. “Far too many women still die from this disease, and others endure long-lasting side effects […]

A Q&A with JAY L. HESS, MD, PHD, MHSA, the 10th dean of Indiana University School of Medicine, the largest medical school in the United States. You’re now concluding your fifth year as dean. Looking ahead, where is the school headed?We have a great deal of important work to do to improve health in Indiana in areas like infant mortality, smoking reduction, mental health and the problem of opioid addiction. We have articulated very specific goals for health in this […]