News

UMass Chan supports translational research from faculty with internal funding mechanism.

The study aimed to understand the link between viral infections such as HCMV and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Jennifer Adair, PhD, will join UMass Chan as associate director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center vice chair of the Department of Genetic & Cellular Medicine.

Victor R. Ambros, PhD, has garnered international media attention after he was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in the discovery of microRNA.  

Students in the Ambros lab at UMass Chan Medical School and 2006 Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, PhD, celebrated their mentor, Victor Ambros, PhD, as he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Gary Ruvkun, PhD, for their discovery of microRNA.  

The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ largest qualifying class was honored in a ceremony on Sept. 11. Four PhD candidates received the Zelda Haidak Award in Cell Biology.  

Andrés Colubri, MFA, PhD, and his lab have partnered with a team at Massachusetts General Hospital on a mobile app that enables infectious disease research and can keep international travelers healthy.

Awards of $50,000 were distributed to support ground-breaking and interdisciplinary research in the neurosciences.

The UMass Chan Medical School Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems is now the Department of Microbiology, according to Beth McCormick, PhD.  

Research by Andrei Korostelev, PhD, and Anna Loveland, PhD, shows that the ribosome plays an unexpected role in the activation of angiogenin, allowing it to cleave transfer RNA, thereby halting protein production. These findings shed new light on angiogenin functioning and may have important implications for the design of cancer therapeutics and neurodegenerative disease treatments.  

UMass Chan Medical School and pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma Inc. have entered into a sponsored research agreement to proceed with research for an adeno-associated virus vector mediated gene therapy for the treatment of Alexander disease, a fatal, ultra-rare disease.

The 12-month program is the longest-running professional development program at UMass Chan Medical School and has nearly 300 graduates.

Researchers in UMass Chan Medical School’s Center for Microbiome Research are exploring the causal mechanisms by which bacteria in the gut influence chronic illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Crohn’s disease and in autoimmune disorders and other conditions.

In a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast, John P. Haran, MD’07, PhD’18, and Ethan Loew, MD/PhD student, shed light on their ongoing research to better understand the connection between the gut microbiome and cognitive health, particularly how it impacts older people.

Transcript

Top story: Boston toddler Noa Greenwood, who was one of the first to receive an investigational gene therapy for Canavan disease developed at UMass Chan Medical School, delivered a very special “thank you” to the research team in a visit with her parents earlier this year.

UMass Chan Medical School hosted 23 science teachers from six Worcester middle schools to train them on the light microscopes recently donated to their classrooms by the Medical School, thanks to a grant from the Moderna Foundation.

The UMass Chan Medical School light microscopy core facility, Sanderson Center for Optical Experimentation, announced a new collaboration with Leica Microsystems.

Elizabeth M.C. Hillman, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering & radiology at Columbia University, will present the annual lecture on high-speed 3D microscopy.

Beth A. McCormick, PhD, has been named the new chair of the Department of Microbiology & Physiological Systems (MaPS), and Michael P. Stauff, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Orthopedics & Physical Rehabilitation.

The BRIDGE Fund supports critical research milestones for inventions and discoveries that have high potential to change the course of disease and continues to grow, increasing from approximately $1 million per year in 2019 to $3 million in 2024.

Boston toddler Noa Greenwood, who was one of the first to receive an investigational gene therapy for Canavan disease developed at UMass Chan Medical School, delivered a very special “thank you” to the research team in a visit with her parents earlier this year.

Beth McCormick, PhD, and Vanni Bucci, PhD, are leading a $3 million effort to explore engineering the gut microbiome to counteract the effects of radiation exposure and total body irradiation.

Josué Flores Kim, PhD, is one of five scientists to receive a 2023 Smith Family Award for Excellence in Biomedical Research from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation.

Dozens of new microscopes will be delivered to six Worcester middle schools thanks to a partnership between UMass Chan Medical School and Moderna.

In a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast, Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, and Heidi Leftwich, DO, discuss their research on the role the gut microbiome plays in our overall health.

In a one-on-one interview, Terence R. Flotte shares what inspired him to pursue a career in medicine and what he’s learned in his role as provost and dean of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine at UMass Chan.

PhD candidate Suk Namkung has lived on three continents. He aims to investigate and advance a new generation of gene therapy viral vectors.

Jun Xie, PhD, and Guangping Gao, PhD, received funding from End AxD, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the research and treatment for Alexander disease, to investigate an RNA silencing gene therapy for the rare genetic central nervous system disorder.

The 2023 Gruber Genetics Prize is being awarded to molecular biologists Allan Jacobson, PhD, of UMass Chan Medical School, and Lynne Maquat, PhD, of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

UMass Chan Medical School has signed a three-year sponsored research agreement with NeuShen Therapeutics Inc. to investigate a gene therapy treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Jun Xie, PhD, and Guangping Gao, PhD, are leading the project for UMass Chan.

After college, MD/PhD student Ethan Loew was torn between practicing bench science or becoming a clinician, but his postgraduate experience in a lab and a hospital showed him how he could combine the two.

UMass Chan Medical School has licensed the rights to develop and commercialize a novel second-generation gene therapy to treat spinal muscular atrophy developed by Jun Xie, PhD, Guangping Gao, PhD, and colleagues to global biopharmaceutical company CANbridge Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Evan S. Bradley, MD, PhD and Vanni Bucci, PhD, of the Program in Microbial Dynamics at UMass Chan, established a link between the oral microbiome and COVID-19 in patients needing in-hospital respiratory support.

Guangping Gao, PhD, will be honored by the National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association for his work in identifying the Canavan gene, revitalizing gene therapy, and his many accomplishments leading to potential treatments for Canavan disease.

Mary Munson, PhD, is one of 22 scientists named a fellow of the American Society for Cell Biology for 2022.

The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences honored the new doctoral candidates during its annual Qualifying Exam Recognition Ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 14, at which Dean Mary Ellen Lane encouraged the honorees to continue “growing, learning and stretching out of your comfort zone.”

Led by Doyle Ward, PhD, researchers at UMass Chan Medical School have developed a web application that allows epidemiologists, public health officials and other scientists to access genetic information about SARS-CoV-2 virus from Central Massachusetts.

The 2022 Dan and Diane Riccio Fund for Neuroscience seed grants will support four teams of researchers collaborating on multidisciplinary projects.

BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development at UMass Chan Medical School has awarded $2.2 million to seven faculty-led biomedical research projects.

John P. Haran, MD, PhD, is studying neurological long-COVID symptoms in working-age, generally healthy people who were vaccinated prior to infection.

A paper from the Horae Gene Therapy Center at UMass Chan Medical School may settle a longstanding debate about how to best manufacture adeno-associated virus vectors for gene therapy.

Guangping Gao, PhD, and Dan Wang, PhD, show the first evidence that a suppressor transfer RNA therapy, delivered by a recombinant adeno-associated virus, can restore protein production up to six months after treatment in a mouse model of the rare genetic disease mucopolysaccharidosis type I.

The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Diversity Interest Group celebrated Women’s History Month by hosting a Women in STEM panel on Thursday, March 24, at which four women discussed their experiences, challenges and successes as scientists.

Erin Schuman, PhD, will present “Protein Synthesis at Neuronal Synapses” at the 21st annual Fred Fay lecture. The in-person scientific seminar is the first of the series to be held since 2019.

UMass Chan Medical School will use a $2 million grant from the Baker-Polito administration and the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to acquire a super-resolution microscope that can detect, track and investigate viruses of pandemic potential.

Researchers from UMass Chan Medical School have received a five-year $13.6 million program project grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop new gene therapy models for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a chronic, debilitating genetic lung disease that shortens the lifespan.

Scientists from the McCormick lab at UMass Chan Medical School and the University of Bath have identified a new connection between molecules produced by the microbiome and the function of a human protein that impacts gut inflammation.

Funded projects led by faculty, students, staff and community partners have the potential to improve the health of Central Massachusetts residents, particularly those who are economically or educationally disadvantaged or underrepresented.

The benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women and their babies are backed by solid, ongoing research, according to UMass Medical School faculty.

With the funding, Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, will tailor a novel diet created at UMass Medical School to patients in Puerto Rico with different food availability and preferences.

An interactive online science program for middle school students developed and presented by UMass Medical School researchers will deepen its partnership with Worcester Public Schools this fall.

The Dan and Diane Riccio Fund for Neuroscience has awarded four teams of UMass Medical School researchers $50,000 seed grants for interdisciplinary collaborations leading to innovative discoveries that deepen understanding of normal brain function and what goes awry in neurological diseases.

UMass Medical School has entered into a three-year, collaborative research agreement with Pfizer to evaluate determinants that influence the manufacturing quality and yield of viral vectors used in gene therapy. The research at UMMS is being performed under the direction of Guangping Gao, PhD, and Dan Wang, PhD.

Six UMass Medical School scientists are among the members of the National Institutes of Health’s Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium to publish a paper in Nature outlining the program’s goals.

New research by Kaleido Biosciences, Inc., and UMass Medical School’s John P. Haran, MD, PhD, and Beth McCormick, PhD, shows that the company’s microbiome metabolic therapy candidate produced positive results in patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

John P. Haran, MD, PhD, explains research into coronavirus mutations, what is known about vaccines’ ability to fend off the new strains and the implications for what we can all do to stay healthy.

In a piece written for The Conversation, Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, explains why the army of microbes living inside your gut is essential for fighting off threats, including the virus that causes COVID-19.

Ana Maldonado-Contreras, PhD, studies the gut microbiome and chronic disease, in particular inflammatory bowel disease, and is now working to understand how gut microbes can predispose patients to severe COVID complications.

A new study by Elizabeth Shank, PhD, shows that transparent soil substitutes can be used to replicate the interactions of bacteria and fungi in soil, opening up a new approach to learning how soil microbes contribute to a healthy ecosystem.

UMass Medical School’s RNA Therapeutics Institute and Sanderson Center for Optical Experimentation have partnered with Technocopia Inc., a nonprofit community makerspace in downtown Worcester, to develop ScienceLIVE, a virtual outreach program to deliver science to middle school students during the pandemic.

The Foundation to Fight H-ABC has announced sponsored research agreements with UMass Medical School and Yale University to advance a targeted gene therapy for this rare degenerative children's disease. Guangping Gao, PhD, is leading the work at UMMS.

An influential scientific journal’s list of top translational biotech researchers for 2019 includes Guangping Gao, PhD. Rankings are based on total patents for the year, among other factors.

A report in the journal mBio, published by the American Society for Microbiology, describes a prototype vaccine candidate developed at UMass Medical School for the bacterium that causes gonorrhea.