Thursday, September 14, 2023
UMSOM Researchers Identify Important New Signaling Molecule Involved in Vascular Health
In the 25 years since the Nobel Prize was awarded for discovering the role that nitric oxide (NO) plays in the cardiovascular system, researchers have been racing to learn more about how this mysterious signaling molecule works to repair blood vessels damaged by a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular event. University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers and their Wake Forest University (WFU) colleagues today announced an important missing piece of the puzzle.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
Internationally Renowned Dermatologist and Physician Scientist Shawn Kwatra, MD, Named New Chair of Dermatology at the UM School of Medicine and Chief of Service of Dermatology at UM Medical
Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, announced today that Shawn Kwatra, MD will become the next Chair of the UMSOM’s Department of Dermatology and Chief of Service of Dermatology at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC)
Thursday, September 07, 2023
NIH Awards $13.7 Million Grant to Enhance Inclusive Excellence Among New Faculty
The University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) were awarded a 5-year, $13.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to enhance efforts at recruiting and training junior faculty from underrepresented groups in biomedical science. The grant comes from the NIH Common Fund, the Faculty Institutional Recruitment for Sustainable Transformation (FIRST) program, founded last year for the purpose of supporting efforts to hire diverse groups of early-career research faculty.
Monday, August 07, 2023
AI Transformation of Medicine: Why Doctors Are Not Prepared
As artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT find their way into everyday use, physicians will start to see these tools incorporated into their clinical practice to help them make important decisions on diagnosis and treatment of common medical conditions. These tools, called clinical decision support (CDS) algorithms, can be enormously helpful in helping guide health care providers in determining, for example, which antibiotics to prescribe or whether to recommend a risky heart surgery.
Monday, July 24, 2023
Structure of Opioid Receptors May Reveal How to Better Design Pain Relievers, Addiction Therapies
Opioids remain the most potent and effective pain relievers in medicine, but they’re also among the most addictive drugs that can halt a person’s ability to breathe during an overdose — which can be deadly. Researchers have been racing to develop safer pain reliever drugs that target a specific opioid receptor, called the kappa opioid receptor, that is only found in the central nervous system and not elsewhere in the body, like other opioid receptors. Previous research suggests that such drugs may not lead to addiction or death due to overdose, but the currently known drugs that target these kappa opioid receptors have their own set of unacceptable side effects, including depression and psychosis.
Wednesday, July 19, 2023
New Innovation in CAR T-Cells Paves Way for Less Toxic Therapy Against Multiple Myeloma
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers engineered a new type of CAR T-cell therapy that, in preclinical studies, selectively attacked cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, potentially reducing the likelihood of toxic side effects from this innovative cancer treatment. The cells were designed specifically to attack multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells found in the body’s bone marrow.
Monday, July 17, 2023
Researchers from the Institute of Human Virology Discover that a Bacterial Protein Causes Genomic Instability and Contributes to Reduced Fertility, and Birth Defects
A team of researchers from the University of Maryland School of Maryland’s (UMSOM) Institute of Human Virology (IHV), a Center of Excellence of the Global Virus Network (GVN), published new findings that emphasize the crucial role of the urinary and genital tract microbiota in adverse pregnancy outcomes and genomic instability that originate in the womb during fetal development.
Friday, June 30, 2023
Lessons Learned from World’s First Successful Transplant of Genetically-Modified Pig Heart into Human Patient
A new study published today in the Lancet has revealed the most extensive analysis to date on what led to the eventual heart failure in the world's first successful transplant of a genetically-modified pig heart into a human patient. This groundbreaking procedure was conducted by University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) physician-scientists back in January 2022 and marked an important milestone for medical science.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
Dr. Wonder Puryear Drake Appointed to the Role of Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Director of New Center of Excellence at UM School of Medicine
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, announced today that Wonder Puryear Drake, MD has been named Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Director of the Sarcoidosis Program at UMSOM, and faculty member in the Department of Medicine.
Thursday, June 22, 2023
Mpox Vaccine Trial for Adolescents, Children Begins at UM School of Medicine
A 2022 outbreak of mpox (formerly monkeypox) sickened more than 30,000 people and caused 38 deaths in the United States. It highlighted the lack of an approved vaccine for those under 18 years old. To address this pressing need, faculty-scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) recently launched a phase 2 safety trial to test a vaccine in adolescents ages 12 to 17.