(Press-News.org) DETROIT – Wayne State University Interim Vice President for Research Timothy Stemmler, Ph.D., announced today the university’s Board of Governors approved the creation of two research initiatives that aim to improve the health and lives of the Detroit community and beyond.
Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases
The Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases (CEID) will contribute to the ongoing advancement of diagnostic testing, enabling rapid and accurate identification of infectious agents. The center's researchers will engage with local and global communities to better understand disease transmission patterns, devise evidence-based strategies for prevention and control, and enhance public health preparedness. The epidemiological work that will take place within CEID will allow public health agencies to make informed decisions, particularly in times of urgent need, and allocate resources effectively.
“The mission of the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases is to develop, evaluate and implement effective countermeasures against existing and emerging infectious disease threats,” said Marcus Zervos, M.D., co-director of the center. “Along with co-directors Teena Chopra, M.D., MPH, and Paul Kilgore, M.D., CEID will conduct basic, clinical and applied research to accelerate development and introduction of vaccines and related interventions to control emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases affecting populations in Detroit, Michigan, the United States and around the world. This center will be a unique resource within the Wayne State University and Detroit communities and beyond that will enable rapid implementation of research teams to prepare clinical vaccine trials in outpatient, inpatient and community settings.”
CEDI’s programs will provide credible, evidence-based information to guide informed decision-making for participation in clinical trials as well as utilization of proven tools that enhance preparedness and protect communities from diseases of epidemic and pandemic potential.
“It is our goal to be an important resource for many to understand emerging and infectious diseases that have increased mortality and morbidity impact,” said Zervos. “In particular, communities such as Detroit often have less direct access to information, and the center will play a critical role in providing our citizens with critical communications that can ultimately impact the health of themselves as well as their friends and family.”
“CEID’s state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory has capabilities for rapid detection of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases,” said Chopra. “This will provide quality and timely care to Detroit residents.”
Hossein Salimnia, Ph.D., serves as the microbiology director of the lab and Chopra is the medical director.
Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health
The Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health (IBH) will advance the understanding of the brain’s structure, chemistry and function as it relates to both disease and the promotion of health and well-being. It will accelerate and promote team interactional science through biomedical imaging platforms, neurogenetics, addiction and pain biology, post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma neurobiology, gerontology nanotechnology, neurodevelopment, targeting and reducing health care disparities, and innovative and novel diagnostic and treatment development.
“The Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health will bring together transdisciplinary, cross-campus neuroscience researchers, as well as combine undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral neuroscience education to focus on health equity and challenges related to brain and behavioral health in urban environments, particularly in Southeast Michigan and Detroit,” said David Rosenberg, co-director of IBH. “It is our goal to make a significant impact on promoting brain health by targeting and accelerating diagnostic and therapeutic advances for real-world childhood and adult-onset brain disorders impacting our community and beyond.”
IBH aims to be a leader in translational neurosciences and inspire the next generation of students and researchers to improve the health and care of individuals affected by psychiatric or neurological disorders or injuries in the nervous system. The institute will identify mechanisms promoting brain health as well as enhancing the understanding of disease mechanisms as it can related to enhanced diagnosis and treatment, ultimately aiding many with real-world childhood and adult-onset brain disorders.
“IBH will work with strategic partners and faculty across campus to improve lives through important research and community outreach that will provide diagnosis and new treatments for many psychiatric and brain disorders,” said Rosenberg. “By building a large collaborative team, we are now better able to facilitate the important work that needs to be done to help the lives of so many impacted by brain health issues.”
“Wayne State University is committed to improving the lives of our community and beyond, and through the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases and the Ben L. Silberstein Institute for Brain Health, we are now well positioned to be a leader in Detroit for advancing research, technology development and education in these critical health areas,” said Stemmler. “Collaboration is a critical component of research, and these two institutes will be excellent examples of how bringing disciplines from across campus together can lead to groundbreaking discoveries that will improve lives.”
###
About Wayne State University
Wayne State University is one of the nation’s pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit research.wayne.edu.
END
A new method, developed at Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and SciLifeLab in Sweden, can identify unique immune cell receptors and their location in tissue, a study published in the journal Science reports. The researchers predict that the method will improve the ability to identify which immune cells contribute to disease processes and open up opportunities to develop novel therapies for numerous diseases.
Immune cells such as T and B cells are central to the body’s defence against both infections and tumours. Both types of immune cells express unique receptors that specifically recognise different parts of unwanted and foreign elements, such as bacteria, viruses ...
INDIANAPOLIS— Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have uncovered vital insights regarding a liver trigger that blocks an undesired immune response from gene therapy, surprisingly resulting in the activation of specific immune cells, despite the liver's typical role in suppressing immune responses. The findings, published in Molecular Therapy, may pave the way for change in immunomodulation strategies for desired and long-lasting effects of gene therapy.
Gene therapy treatments involve replacing or introducing a healthy copy of ...
East Hanover, NJ – December 07, 2023 – Kessler Foundation, a leader in rehabilitation research, and Virtualware, an international leader in immersive and interactive technologies, expand their collaboration with a new agreement to further research and development aimed at advancing spatial neglect rehabilitation using virtual reality (VR) and tele-rehabilitation technology. This latest development stems from a strong, ongoing partnership initiated in 2018 between the VR innovator and the New Jersey-based disability-focused non-profit.
The intervention, ...
North Carolina State University researchers have developed a weeklong high school curriculum that helps students quickly grasp concepts in both color chemistry and artificial intelligence – while sparking their curiosity about science and the world around them.
To test whether a short high school science module could effectively teach students something about both chemistry – a notoriously thorny subject – and artificial intelligence (AI), the researchers designed a relatively simple experiment involving pH levels, which reflect the acidity or alkalinity of a liquid solution.
When testing pH levels on a test strip, color conversion charts provide a handy ...
LONDON, DECEMBER 6, 2023 – Bering Limited, a London-based medical AI company, today announced it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for its AI-powered chest X-Ray triage solution, ‘BraveCX’. With the FDA clearance, the company is now able to commercially provide the AI solution to medical professionals and healthcare institutions in the U.S.
Bering’s BraveCX is a radiological computer-assisted triage and notification software that analyzes adult (≥18 years old) chest X-ray (CXR) images for the presence of ...
Paleontologists are getting a glimpse at life over a billion years in the past based on chemical traces in ancient rocks and the genetics of living animals. Research published Dec. 1 in Nature Communications combines geology and genetics, showing how changes in the early Earth prompted a shift in how animals eat.
David Gold, associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of California, Davis, works in the new field of molecular paleontology, using the tools of both geology and biology to study the evolution ...
African honeyguide birds understand and respond to the culturally distinct signals made by local human honey hunters, suggesting cultural coevolution between species, according to a new study. Although the animal kingdom is full of interspecific mutualism, systems in which humans successfully cooperate with wild animals are rare. One such relationship involves the greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator), a small African bird known to lead humans to wild bees’ nests. Humans open the nests to collect honey, and the honeyguides eat the exposed beeswax. Human honey hunters in different parts of Africa often use ...
The controlled creation of quantum entanglement with molecules has been a long-standing challenge in quantum science. Now, in two new studies, researchers report a method for tailoring the quantum states of individual molecules to achieve quantum entanglement on demand. Their strategy presents a promising new platform for the advancement of quantum technologies such as computation and sensing. Quantum entanglement is one of the key defining features of quantum mechanics. It is central to many quantum applications. Because of their rich internal structure ...
Annual tree-ring growth records from more than 122 species of trees show that trees growing in wetter forests are more sensitive to increasing drought. The findings – which tackle a research question that has yielded contradictory results in the past – suggest that land management and policy focused solely on drought effects in drier regions overestimates the resilience of forests in wetter regions. Forests cover roughly 30% of Earth’s surface and, in addition to providing a host of valuable ecosystem services and harboring huge biodiversity, they play a crucial role in the planet’s carbon cycle, absorbing more atmospheric carbon than all other terrestrial ...
A massive new review of ancient atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels and corresponding temperatures lays out a daunting picture of where the Earth’s climate may be headed. The study covers geologic records spanning the past 66 million years, putting present-day concentrations into context with deep time. Among other things, it indicates that the last time atmospheric carbon dioxide consistently reached today’s human-driven levels was 14 million years ago—much longer ago than some existing assessments indicate. It asserts that long-term climate is highly sensitive to greenhouse gas, with cascading effects that may evolve over many millennia.
The ...
