Friday, July 16, 2021
New High-Tech Portal Launched to Speed Innovations to Reverse Hearing Loss
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have launched a new online tool that could more quickly advance medical discoveries to reverse progressive hearing loss. The tool enables easy access to genetic and other molecular data from hundreds of technical research studies involving hearing function and the ear. The research portal called gene Expression Analysis Resource (gEAR, umgear.org) was unveiled in a study last month in Nature Methods. It is operated by a group of physician-scientists at the UMSOM Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) in collaboration with their colleagues at other institutions.
Thursday, July 15, 2021
University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center Earns Renewal of Highest Designation for Cancer Center Excellence from National Cancer Institute
The University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC) has earned renewal of its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation as a Comprehensive Cancer Center for another five years. The prestigious distinction recognizes the cancer center’s high caliber of scientific leadership and robust programs in basic, clinical and population science research, placing it in the top echelon of cancer centers nationwide.
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
UM School of Medicine Researchers Develop Two Rapid Tests for COVID-19 Using Innovative Techniques
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have developed two rapid diagnostic tests for COVID-19 that are nearly as accurate as the gold-standard test currently used in laboratories. Unlike the gold-standard test, which extracts RNA and uses it to amplify the DNA of the virus, these new tests can detect the presence of the virus in as little as five minutes using different methods.
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
Overcoming Pandemic Challenges, Third-Year Medical Students Celebrate Annual Student Clinician Ceremony
The annual Student Clinician Ceremony at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) was held in Leadership Hall on July 2, 2021, to formally welcome the third-year medical students to their clinical rotations. In their rotations, students begin seeing patients alongside doctors and residents as they gain experience in primary care and medical specialties.
Tuesday, July 06, 2021
UM School of Medicine Researchers Receive NIH Avant-Garde Award for Out-Of-Box Concept to Cure HIV and Treat Co-Existing Addiction
Linda Chang, MD, MS, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), received the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2021 Avant-Garde Award (DP1) for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder Research — a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award. This prestigious award supports researchers with exceptional creativity, who propose high-impact research with the potential to be transformative to the field.
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
University of Maryland Children’s Hospital Opens First Trauma-Informed Children & Adolescent Psychiatric Unit In Maryland
Children and teens experiencing acute mental health crises have a safe and healing space to recover in the newly-opened Children & Adolescent Psychiatric Unit at the University of Maryland Children's Hospital (UMCH). The 16-bed, state-of-the-art unit is the first in the state designed both architecturally and clinically to deliver "trauma-informed" care for children spanning 5 to 17 years old. Trauma-informed care is a framework for treating patients who have endured abuse, neglect, violence, school issues and other traumatic events—which not all, but many young patients have experienced.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
IN MEMORIAM: Longtime UM School of Medicine Department Chair, John Kastor, MD
The Department of Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine is saddened to announce the passing of former Chairman, John Kastor, MD. Dr. Kastor was recruited to the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1984 and served for 13 years as the first Theodore E. Woodward Professor of Medicine and the 11th Chairman of the Department of Medicine.
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Recycling of the Eye’s Light Sensors Is Faulty in Progressive Blindness of Older Adults, University of Maryland School of Medicine Researchers Show
With the National Eye Institute reporting that about 11 million older adults in the U.S. endure a condition that leads to progressive blindness, known as age-related macular degeneration, University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers are starting to understand what goes wrong in the disease, in order to develop new therapies to treat it.
Monday, June 21, 2021
UM School of Medicine Researchers Discover Genetic Cause of Neurodevelopmental Disorder
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers identified a new gene that may be linked to certain neurodevelopmental disorders and intellectual disabilities. The researchers believe that finding genes involved in certain types of developmental disorders, provide an important first step in determining the cause of these disorders and ultimately in developing potential therapies for treating them.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
UM School of Medicine Researchers Awarded $5 Million NIH Grant to Improve Use of Genetic Risk Scores in Diverse Populations
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) have received a $5 million federal grant to pool genomic information from existing and new datasets – predominantly in African and African American populations -- in order to calculate the risk of developing specific diseases. They will use sophisticated modeling and genetic datasets to calculate the risk, known as a polygenic risk score, with an emphasis on studying people from different ancestries.