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“Dr. Impossible” aims to bring brain tech to the peopleTake a trip into the Alabama BRAIN Lab in UAB’s Spain Rehabilitation Center, where a team led by neuroengineer Jamie Tyler, Ph.D., is working with patient groups to test promising neuromodulation treatments for chronic pain, insomnia and more.Why do super-agers skew female? These researchers are drilling into the hottest hypotheses.In a search that encompasses geckos, bats, sex-switching fish and more, the NSF-funded IISAGE team is seeking data to explain lopsided lifespans. A key question: How much wiggle room is there in aging?This med student is on a mission to make tattoo inks safe
A chemical mystery drew Matthew Kiszla into tattoo research: Why are red inks most likely to cause rashes and other reactions? Now he is working to analyze commercial inks and looking for collaborators both scientific and artistic.
Innovation Institute hosts country’s first metahealth symposium, Feb. 28The event will explore a future of health care that “is going to be anchored in the metaverse” and be the first such symposium to be held both live and in the metaverse itself, according to Rubin Pillay, M.D., Ph.D., executive director of the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation.Four high-tech health devices being tested at UAB nowTake a look at new technologies being studied at UAB for treatment of depression, sleep apnea, traumatic brain injury and tic disorders.
3 UAB chemists break down their formulas for fighting cancerNew treatments emerging from the labs in the Department of Chemistry rely on split-second timing, tiny cargo bubbles and supercomputer-powered predictions.Researchers hack adaptive cruise control, then show how to make it saferDriver assistance tech that comes standard on new vehicles can be tricked into causing accidents — but there is a way to alert humans in time. A UAB grad student and his mentor will share their findings this month at a global conference.
First-of-its-kind scan tracks immune invaders to explore puzzling brain diseasesPatients with multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome will soon be able to enroll in the clinical trial of a PET agent that can capture evidence of brain infiltration by white blood cells and could eventually guide treatment.Salt boosts blood pressure for some people. UAB study asks: Who?By alternating high-salt and low-salt diets, a new clinical trial aims to find out how common salt sensitivity of blood pressure is in the general population. The researchers are also exploring whether the immune system plays a role.Researchers pioneering long-read sequencing studies explain why long reads matterNew technologies are filling in gaps in the human genome and opening major areas for discovery. Zechen Chong, Ph.D., and Robert Kimberly, M.D., explain the pros and cons and how they are using long reads at UAB.UAB study: Could this five-second obesity management strategy keep the pounds off?American adults tend to gain a pound or two per year. Researchers are testing a new approach to halt this creeping weight gain. They give participants a digital scale that graphs their weight over time and one job: step on it daily.This long-running study proves that nice people finish firstMore than 100 different UAB researchers have been first authors on papers based on the REGARDS study thanks to its innovative design — and a uniquely “friendly and welcoming team.”Exploring simulations, a philosopher finds clues to overcoming “failure of imagination”Lindsay Brainard, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy, delves into the tools modern scientists use to generate new hypotheses in biology, medicine, astronomy — and philosophy.Feeling proud: UAB researcher’s work on touch cited in 2021 Medicine Nobel PrizeProfessor Jianguo Gu, Ph.D., was the first to publish direct evidence that the Piezo2 channel is the sensor for light touch in 2014. His lab continues to pioneer research that could ease the burden of chemotherapy, excruciating facial pain and other conditions.Researchers identify new phase of disaster during pandemic: the sandbarIn a new paper, UAB experts in counseling and health behavior adapt the widely used Phases of Disaster Model to help colleges and universities respond to unique needs during COVID.Hackathon yields AI-inspired ideas to fight cancerTwelve teams competed for cash and prizes across two action-packed days in the AI Against Cancer hackathon. This is the third iteration of the UAB-sponsored event, which applies big data and artificial intelligence techniques to fight disease.UAB trial studying diet composition — with no weight loss — to treat Type 2 diabetesClinical trial investigates diet as a way to remodel the body by re-partitioning energy away from metabolically harmful lipid stores.Researchers are learning how to understand stigma and bring people back from ‘social death’Fear and self-loathing play a role in conditions from cancer to HIV and COVID-19, spurring a flood of new NIH funding for stigma research. This summer, UAB researchers led — and participated in — a first-of-its-kind “crash course” to bring more investigators into the field.How many more COVID variants will we see?Two UAB researchers — a SARS-CoV-2 expert and a vaccine researcher — discuss the prospects for future mutations.
Virtually all Alabamians could benefit from gene-based drug prescribing, statewide study findsAnalyzing gene sequencing data and prescriptions for more than 3,300 participants in the Alabama Genomic Health Initiative, UAB researchers estimate 98.6% of Alabamians have actionable genotypes and “a significant proportion are currently prescribed affected medications.”