by: Quinn Spencer Did you know that there are more bacterial cells in your body than there are human cells? It has long been known that these bacterial associations play an important role on human health (probiotics anyone?), but the Eisen Lab at UC Berkeley has recently begun research that looks further into how these […]
Three Parent Babies: The Quest for a Healthier Population
by: Miranda Hurtado While rare, mitochondrial diseases can often be deadly for those who inherit them. Recent research has focused on finding ways to cure these diseases or to eliminate them altogether. One noteworthy milestone in this research is the birth of the world’s first “three parent baby” using MRT, mitochondrial replacement therapy. This “three […]
High-Throughput Toxicity and Phenotypic Screening of 3D Human Neural Progenitor Cell Cultures on a Microarray Chip Platform
by: Jianne Jung 19,500,000 animals die every year from animal experiments for various purposes, including effectiveness test for medicines, safety tests for cosmetics, and toxicity testing of commercial chemicals. One of the most significant purposes of animal testing is preclinical drug analysis. All over-the-counter pills, like Advil and Tylenol, were proven to be safe based […]
Decoding the Illusion of Speech: Scientists Investigate the Brain’s Mechanism for Understanding Sound
by: Chelsey Rodriguez In 1953, cognitive scientist Colin Cherry puzzled the world with what is known as the “Cocktail Party Effect.” This phenomenon questions how it is that we are able to focus on a particular sound in any given setting- such as a single conversation in a loud party. For at least a decade, […]
Dementia with Lewy Bodies: How Alpha-Synuclein Affects Patients with Visual Hallucinations
by: Brenda Martinez There comes a time when some people start forgetting their meaning in life. Not only are they affected by this problem, but the families are as well. In a study done in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, published in January 10, 2017, stated that “patients with dementia with Lewy bodies often […]
Accuracy of Mobile Phone and Handheld Light Microscopy for the Diagnosis of Schistosomiasis and Intestinal Protozoa Infections in Ivory Coast
by: Aman Upadhyay Her hands are calloused, storied from the years of work on a cocoa bean plantation which she started when she was forced to leave school at the tender age of 5 to help her parents make ends meet. There is something else on her hands, however. Dotted along the length of her […]
Racism and Heart Disease: How Being Racist and Receiving Racism Both Have Negative Implications for Your Health
by: Isabel Marchand Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Michael Brown are all recognizable names at the frontlines of the current debates regarding race relations and racism in America, representing a new wave of a push for civil rights. At such a pivotal time in our country’s history, issues regarding race are consistently on the front […]
How to be a Mind Reader: Brain-Computer Interface Gives a Voice to Those Who Cannot Speak
by: Katerina Furman Until now, mind-reading seemed like a distant fantasy. However, with the new Brain Computer Interface developed by the BioX scientists of Stanford University, it has become a feasible reality. The brand new technology directly reads brain signals to type out words as they are thought. The interface is working on methods of […]
Hope for Prion Research: A New Cell-Model to Study Prions
by: Kathyna Thai The Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea practiced cannibalism of the deceased as a way to “return the life force among the living”. The first documented cases of a disease relating to cannibalism erupted here in the 1950s. Individuals experiencing uncontrollable tremors, painful headaches, and unsteady gait were reported as having “Kuru”. […]
Beyond Bug Bites: Analyzing the Routes of Vertical Transmission of Zika Virus
by: Sasha Narain Since May 2015, it is estimated that up to 1.3 million people in Brazil alone have been infected with Zika virus (ZIKV). Zika was initially isolated in Uganda in the 1940s in mosquitoes and monkeys. Beginning in 2015, this little-known disease quickly spread throughout tropical climate regions, ranging from South and Central […]