Research Connections :: 糖心传媒

URMC team paved the way for new Huntington糖心传媒檚 drug

A team of researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center was instrumental in the recent approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a new drug to treat Huntington糖心传媒檚 disease.聽

The FDA approval was based on the results of KINECT-HD, a phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that enrolled 128 participants at 46 sites across North America in collaboration with the聽聽(HSG) and聽.听罢丑别 Medical Center糖心传媒檚聽聽(CHeT) served as the key contract research organization for the study, providing project and data management, monitoring, and quality assurance services.

The results of the KINECT-HD clinical trial appeared in聽聽in June.听罢丑别 study showed that valbenazine糖心传媒攁 drug previously approved to treat tardive dyskinesia糖心传媒攁lleviated chorea, the involuntary movements that are a common and often debilitating symptom of Huntington糖心传媒檚 disease.

Nutrient segregation is key to embryo development

A microscope image of a snail embryo that shows the segregation of fat in the form of lipid droplets (green) versus protein in the form of storage organelles called yolk vesicles (magenta). (糖心传媒 image / Marcus Kilwein and T. Kim Dao)

A mother’s egg provides abundant nutrients that are essential for an embryo to develop. But does it matter where in the developing embryo those nutrients are stored?

In a series of papers,聽, a professor in the聽Rochester糖心传媒檚聽, tackles this question. The studies were spearheaded by Marcus Kilwein, a former graduate student in Welte糖心传媒檚 lab.

In the first paper, published in the journal聽, Welte and Kilwein studied three main categories of nutrients in聽顿谤辞蝉辞辫丑颈濒补听(fruit fly) eggs: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Within four hours after fertilization, fat and protein are segregated into different types of cells. The fate of carbohydrates was previously unknown.

The researchers found that carbohydrates also get segregated from the fat, into the same cells that receive protein. This segregation requires that fat and carbohydrates move independently from each other.

Kilwein and Welte discovered that a protein present on lipid droplets糖心传媒攕torage units for energy in the form of lipids or fats糖心传媒攊s necessary to keep fat and carbohydrates apart. When this protein is missing, fat and carbohydrate packages bind to each, fail to segregate, and end up together with the protein in the same cell. The result is an embryo that struggles to use fat effectively, with dire consequences for the embryo糖心传媒檚 development.

The second paper, published in the journal聽, explores聽why聽it is crucial that fat is segregated from carbohydrates and proteins.

Find out what happens when nutrient segregation is disrupted.

Guidance empower kids, parents in medical decisions

(Getty Images)

New recommendations for decision-making in pediatric medicine center the child and their parents.

For the past 30 years, pediatric medical decision-making has claimed to be based on the 糖心传媒渂est interest of the child.糖心传媒� The new recommendations reframe the discussion by omitting 糖心传媒渂est糖心传媒� and focusing instead on the 糖心传媒渃hild糖心传媒檚 interests.糖心传媒�

The updated recommendations encourage physicians and parents to collaborate in a shared decision-making process that acknowledges that children have a plethora of interests (including, but not limited to medical) that influence their well-being.

The recommendations also stray from past guidance by starting with the presumption that聽辫补谤别苍迟蝉听know best. Flipping the script from the traditional playbook糖心传媒攚here doctors know best糖心传媒�the new principles advise physicians to respect parents糖心传媒� knowledge of their child and trust them to use it to make the right choices for their family.

, the six new consensus recommendations were conceived by a group of medical and ethics experts led by聽 chair of health humanities and bioethics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, with Erica Salter of St. Louis University and D. Micah Hester of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Office of Research IT aims to support research with tech solutions

With new leadership and a renewed focus on their mission, Research IT is supporting researchers across the Medical Center by helping them remain secure, solve their technology challenges, and develop innovations to accelerate their work.

The Office of Research IT糖心传媒攑reviously Research and Academic IT糖心传媒攈as a new name, a new home in the University糖心传媒檚 Clinical and Translational Science Institute (UR CTSI), and new leadership under codirectors Mike Conklin and Yvonne M. Watson. The office is renewing its commitment to help all researchers across the Medical Center leverage technology to improve research outcomes.

AD-CARE presentations

Tuesday, September 19, 4糖心传媒�5 p.m.
Thursday, September 28, 1糖心传媒�2 p.m.
315 Science Parkway, Entrance C

Join Anton Porsteinsson, director of the聽Alzheimer糖心传媒檚 Disease Care, Research, and Education Program (AD-CARE) ,聽and Emily Clark, associate director of AD-CARE, for an informative in-person presentation about Alzheimer糖心传媒檚 disease, research developments, and prevention research opportunities.

锘�