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
Feline Genetics Help Pinpoint First-Ever Domestication of Cats, MU Study Finds
Cat genes reveal how invention of agriculture bonded cats with people in ancient Mesopotamia, leading to worldwide feline migration with humans. Nearly 10,000 years ago, humans settling in the Fertile Crescent, the areas of the Middle East surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made the first switch from hunter-gatherers to farmers. They developed close bonds with the rodent-eating cats that conveniently served as ancient pest-control in society’s first civilizations. A new study at the University of Missouri found this lifestyle transition for humans was the catalyst that sparked the world’s first domestication of cats, and as humans began to travel…
Think all BPA-free Products are Safe? Not so Fast, Scientists Warn
MU scientists find BPA alternative, bisphenol S, could negatively affect both a mother’s placenta and potentially a developing baby’s brain Using “BPA-free” plastic products could be as harmful to human health — including a developing brain — as those products that contain the controversial chemical, suggest scientists in a new study led by the University of Missouri and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For decades, scientists have studied BPA extensively in animal models with results indicating the chemical plays a role in early pregnancy loss, placental diseases and various negative health outcomes after birth. As…
Is Laziness a Choice or Genetic Trait?
MU researcher pinpoints gene associated with physical inactivity Regular physical activity is a crucial part of living a healthy lifestyle. However, a majority of American adults spend their waking hours sitting, which leads to a variety of health issues such as obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Now, a researcher from the University of Missouri has identified a specific gene related to physical inactivity in rats that could potentially play a role in sedentary behavior in humans as well. “Previous research has shown us that genes play some role in physical inactivity,” said Frank Booth, a professor in the MU College…
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…
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