John Deaver, MS            Gene editing has made headlines in recent years as a promising new technology opening new avenues in research, as well as precision medicine.            The ability for researchers and physicians to perform genetic editing has been around for decades, but historically, it has been an extremely slow and expensive process. One of the reasons for this is that they all rely on using protei...

Ming Li, MSAngelina Jolie, an Oscar-winning actress, announced to have a surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes to reduce her risk of developing ovarian cancer in 2015. She has already undertook a preventative double mastectomy earlier. She made this difficult decision because she has a strong family health history (FHH) of ovarian cancer. FHH, a record of the diseases and health conditions in one’s family, plays a significant role in early disease detection and prevention. By f...

Chelsea Goodenough, PhDFrom a young age, we are told “You have to learn to walk, before you can run.” Cell function is no different.Proteins dictate cell function, but what proteins are found in our cells are dictated by the messaging transcriptsthat code for their production. The amounts and types of those coding transcripts, known to scientists asmessenger RNA (mRNA), dictate protein levels and ultimately reflect cellular function. When the transcriptionrate of certain mRNA molecul...

Christina Bennett, M.S.You have probably seen the headlines touting the latest football player to be diagnosed with the rare degenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE was first diagnosed in NFL football player Mike Webster in 2002 and has continued to grab the public’s attention.Experts believe that repeated hits to the head are the cause of CTE. These brain injury events include both those labeled as concussions and brain injuries less severe. People at...

Jiling Liu, M. EdRegular physical activity (PA) is important for children’s health and development. Exercising daily can reduce heart disease, obesity, and bone problems. Regular PA burns out stress and makes people feel good. Children’s academic learning can also improve through habitual exercises.Recently, PA opportunities for children are becoming fewer. One reason is that schools have focused more on students’ academic performances. At the same time, schools have cut down t...

Seung Kim, M.S.Do you exercise regularly? If so, what benefits do you expect from exercise? Ever wonder whether you’re exercising in appropriate ways? Except for few people who are addicted to exercise, the main reason most people spend time and money for exercise is to maintain/improve their health. In general, the benefits of exercise include health-related risk factor reduction, anti-aging effects, prevention/improvement of disease, etc.However, there are things to carefully consider re...

Divya Talwar, BDS, MPHIn late summer, 2013, Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie, accompanied by her partner Brad Pitt, revealed at a press conference that she underwent a preventive double mastectomy due to a “faulty gene”. The “faulty gene” that led to Jolie’s difficult decision was the BRCA1 gene, and the preventive procedure reduced the risk of breast cancer from 87% to just 5%. Jolie could have kept the decision private; instead, she chose to share this news with t...

Kevin Shimkus, B.S.As is well known, physical gains become slower and more difficult to achieve as athletes reach a more elite status.  For those involved in strength- and power-based sports, improvements in strength and mass eventually plateau, and even rigorous workout and nutritional prescriptions may yield only minimal increases.  So it is little surprise that many in the athletic world are starting to pay more attention to some very special mice.      &nbs...