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CVM Researcher Uses Plasticity to Combat Neurodegenerative Diseases
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher who predated Socrates, famously said, “Change is the only constant in life.” The truth of this paradox is found throughout the biological world. Organisms adapt to changes in their environment, or even differences between their various habitats. Plasticity is the modern byword for this quality of being readily molded or changeable. “Plasticity is when you’re exposed to something again and again, over time, you’re going to start to adapt to it; you’re going to develop plasticity,” says Nicole Nichols, PhD, a researcher and assistant professor in Biomedical Sciences at MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM). “It’s…
MU CVM Researchers Develop Gene Therapy Vector in Quest to Conquer Childhood Disease
Monir Shababi, an assistant research professor in veterinary pathobiology, and Christian Lorson, College of Veterinary Medicine professor and associate dean for research and graduate studies, have invested countless hours during the past five years to solving a cruel medical mystery. A family who has endured the agonizing ordeal of having two children born with the same disease has invested funding for the research being conducted at MU’s Bond Life Sciences Center. The disease is called spinal muscle atrophy with respiratory distress, or SMARD. SMARD is a progressive motor neuron disease that has no treatment or cure. At least, not yet….
CVM Research Day
University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine students, house officers and post-doctoral fellows share their scientific exploration from the previous 12 months during the annual Research Day.
New Mizzou Company to Produce Promising Spinal Muscular Atrophy Drug
Shift Pharmaceuticals developed by team of MU researchers, Office of Technology Management and Industry Relations Approximately one out of every 40 individuals in the United States is a carrier of the gene responsible for spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease that causes nerves to die and muscles to weaken over time. In 2014, Chris Lorson, an investigator in the Bond Life Sciences Center and associate dean of research in the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, and his team developed a molecule that was found to be highly effective in animal models exhibiting SMA. Now, testing of that compound has…
BPA Can Induce Multigenerational Effects on Ability to Communicate
Findings could shed light on human health concerns and autism Past studies have shown that biparental care of offspring can be affected negatively when females and males are exposed to bisphenol A (BPA); however, previous studies have not characterized how long-term effects of BPA exposure in grandmothers and grandfathers might affect offspring communication ability. In a study published today in the journal PLOS One, researchers at the University of Missouri found that mice pups whose grandparents had been exposed to BPA, had different vocalization patterns. This, in turn, could also affect the amount of parental care they received. Scientists believe…
New Tools Could Uncover Important Answers for Alzheimer’s Researchers
Alzheimer’s disease currently affects more than 5.5 million Americans and is one of the costliest diseases to treat, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Characterized by a buildup of plaque in the brain, few animal models exist that researchers could use to study this devastating disorder. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Missouri, publishing in PLOS One, developed a rat model that can be used to study the buildup of amyloid plaques and vascular abnormalities in the brain. “One of the defining traits of Alzheimer’s is the progressive accumulation of amyloid-β plaques in the brain,” said Yuksel Agca,…
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…
Lorson Named Associate Dean for CVM Research and Graduate Studies
University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Carolyn J. Henry has named Christian Lorson as the associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies. Lorson, PhD, has served as the interim associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies since Aug. 1, 2017, when then-associate dean Henry was appointed interim dean of the CVM. After earning a bachelor of arts in biology at Colorado College in Colorado Springs in 1991, Lorson pursued graduate studies at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in the Molecular Microbiology and Immunology Department. In 1997 he completed a PhD with his focus on parvovirus gene…
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…
Inaugural Class of the Mizzou 18 Tabs Two CVM Standouts
Susheel Bhanu Busi and Michael Fink, scholars at MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) were included in the inaugural class of the Mizzou 18, announced Feb. 27. Susheel Bhanu Busi, MS, is a doctoral candidate in MU’s Molecular Pathogenesis and Therapeutics program, a joint graduate program of the CVM’s Department of Veterinary Pathobiology and the School of Medicine’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. In 2016, Busi received a travel award to present his study at the Allied Genetics Conference in Orlando, Florida, about the possible relationship between gut microbiota and colon cancer. Last year, Busi won the People’s Choice…
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