GCB News

No recent medical event has generated such extensive reporting of scientific concepts, data and science-driven policy as the novel coronavirus. Since mid-March, the American public has been immersed in science — not unlike an immersion course in a foreign language. Complex scientific and epidemiological concepts have infiltrated daily conversations, and the news is filled with references to the immune system, diagnostic and antibody tests and “flattening the curve.”

Here are summaries of a selection of the papers published by GCB faculty in April 2020:

DEVELOPMENT

Amy Goldberg and team created a model that provide a framework to quantitatively study assortative mating under flexible scenarios of admixture over time. Read more

DNA methylation plays an important role in both normal human development and risk of disease.

Nature Communications published their list of the 50 most read physics articles from 2019. A publication from Shangying Wang in the You lab, made the list: Massive computational acceleration by using neural networks to emulate mechanism-based biological models.

2019 Summer Scholar Tatyana Dunn has been accepted into the Early Medical School Selection Program (EMSSP) at Boston University.

Duke mental health experts present ways to deal with isolation and anxiety.

Neeraj (“Neil”) Surana, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics, immunology, and molecular genetics and microbiology in the School of Medicine, is one of 12 recipients of the 2019 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award, according to The Hartwell Foundation. Surana will receive three years of research support at $100,000 per year for his project, “Developing Bacteria-Derived Therapies to Cure Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”

The surprising function of the human version of a bacterial protein solves a long-time mystery.

GCB FACULTY AMONG MEDX COLLOQUIA AWARD RECIPIENTS

Duke GCB faculty are represented in each of the three 2020 MEDxColloquia Awards. These colloquia are designed to bring together physicians, engineers, computer scientists, data analysts, and basic and/or clinical researchers with a desire to pursue an interdisciplinary approach to solve complex problems and inspire innovation in medicine. 

Three teams co-led by investigators from the Pratt School of Engineering and School of Medicine were selected for funding. 

People age at different rates determined by both their environment/ lifestyle and genetics. Biological aging is the gradual and progressive decline in body integrity that occurs over time eventually leading to loss of vitality or illness/ disability in some cases. Measures of biological aging can be standardized.