GCB News

Struggle for dominance leaves a mark on genes and speeds up aging

Some guys have it all: the muscle, the power, the high social status, the accelerated aging.

But wait. Faster aging? Who wants that? For male baboons, it’s the price they pay to be at the top.

Anne Yoder is among four senior faculty members, and 252 people in total, to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year.

Founded in 1780, the Academy honors exceptional scholars, leaders, artists, and innovators and engages them in sharing knowledge and addressing challenges facing the world.

Highlights to the current issue include:

Research led by Duke Cancer Institute’s Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi, MD, PhD could have implications for the successful treatment of certain types of ovarian, breast and kidney cancer.

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has named Jen-Tsan Ashley Chi, MD, PhD, as co-winner of the 

Here are summaries of a selection of the papers published by GCB faculty in March 2021:

AGING

Terrie Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi and team used the Dunedin cohort to examine the pace of aging. By examining 19 biomarkers throughout various ages, they were able to see that some people age faster than others, putting them at higher risk for age-related illnesses earlier in life. Read more  

People grow old at different rates, regardless of what the calendar says. And for those whose bodies age more quickly, the cumulative effects show up as early as midlife, when signs of dementia and physical frailty begin to emerge, according to a study led by Duke researchers.

Editor’s note: This is one in a series of first-person essays by members of the Duke community reflecting on a year living with COVID-19.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States. One in eight women will develop the disease. Typically, patients respond well to initial treatment, which usually includes some combination of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and hormone treatment.

However, some people, even after being in remission for years, can develop recurrent breast cancer tumors, which are often more aggressive and less responsive to the therapies employed in initial cases.

RNA viruses mutate constantly, but sequencing efforts are scant

As a next step in Duke University’s exhaustive, campus-wide testing program during the Covid pandemic, the university is employing the Sequencing and Genomic Technologies core facility in downtown Durham to identify the specific strains of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that have been found on the campus and in the Duke Health system.

2018 GCB Summer Scholar Naeema Hopkins-Kotb is rounding out her Duke undergraduate career and looking toward medical school.