The Department of Biomedical Sciences is dedicated to the mission of the University through excellence in teaching, preeminence in scholarship and research, and a commitment to effective leadership in professional service. These goals are achieved through: daily contact with professional and graduate students involving didactic lectures, group interactions, and individual mentoring; significant contributions to science through innovative research; and, leadership roles in professional activities within the University, among local and state agencies, and at the National/International level in professional and scientific societies.
The Department of Biomedical Sciences
News
Preventing Triple Negative Breast Cancer From Spreading
Protein could be key to providing a precision medicine treatment to prevent the spread of cancer in people diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, MU study finds A breast cancer cell is like a house with three locks on the front door. Keys, or receptors, allow drugs to unlock the door and kill the cell. However, in triple-negative breast cancer, these keys are absent, thereby resulting in few options for drug therapy, until now. A protein called p53 suppresses and kills cancer in people. However, a defective, mutant form of p53 helps cancer cells grow and multiply. Researchers at the University…
Fighting Diabetic Blindness: MU Researchers Develop New Target to Study Potential Treatments
Diabetic retinopathy is a retinal microvascular disease that often causes blindness in adults who have had diabetes mellitus for 10 years or more. Estimates are that 600 million people will have some sort of diabetic retinopathy by 2040. Previously, no good animal models existed that scientists could use to study the disease, its diagnosis or potential treatments. Now, a team of researchers led by the University of Missouri has employed a mouse model exhibiting diabetic retinopathy symptoms that could lead to future translational research studies. “Diabetic retinopathy is a common retinal complication of diabetes mellitus that can be categorized in…
Combination Breast Cancer Therapy Targets Both Tumor Cells and the Blood Vessels that Supply them, MU Researchers Find
Each day, normal human cell tissues express a protein known as p53 that wages war against potential malignancies. However, between 30 and 40 percent of human breast cancers express a defective (mutant) form of p53 that helps cancer cells proliferate and grow. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that combining a cancer therapy, which activates mutant p53 and is currently under a clinical trial, with a second drug therapy that helps suppress tumor blood vessels found in cancer cells, can help significantly reduce the spread of breast cancer tumors while also causing cancer cell death. In a…
MU CVM Professor Receives NIH Grant to Study Obesity-related Cardiovascular Disease
Shawn Bender, PhD, an assistant professor in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Biomedical Sciences, was recently awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 research award to continue his laboratory’s work to further understanding of the cardiovascular consequences of obesity. Bender received the five-year $2.8 million grant entitled “Mineralocorticoid receptor-dependent coronary vascular dysfunction in obesity” from the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. The study will explore the possible role of smooth muscle mineralocorticoid receptors as central contributors to obesity associated coronary microvascular dysfunction. “This grant provides the resources to continue unique, proven collaborations and to…
Exploring All Avenues for Heart Health
College Avenue separates Patrick Delafontaine, MD, and Doug Bowles, PhD, but a mutual interest in unclogging arteries brought the two together. The dean of the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the chair of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Biomedical Sciences are collaborating on research that could help prevent heart attacks. For the last 15 years, Delafontaine and his team have conducted National Institutes of Health-funded research on atherosclerosis — plaque buildup in arteries. Specifically, Delafontaine has studied the effectiveness of the protein Insulin Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) in reducing plaque in the arteries of mice. “We have…
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