PITTWIRE - The University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute was recognized for its commitment to building programs that accelerate innovations from the laboratory and research into commercialization at the recent Deshpande Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Higher Education. Alumni EVAN FACHER (HUGEN ’97) is interim director for the institute.
MIT NEWS - The stretchiness that allows living tissues to expand, contract, stretch, and bend throughout a lifetime is the result of a protein molecule called tropoelastin. HUGEN's ZSOLT URBAN, says “elastin is necessary for the proper working of stretchy organs such as blood vessels, heart valves, and lungs. However, the full structure of tropoelastin was unknown until now."
HUGEN's RYAN MINSTER talks about how his interest in body composition and obesity led him to Samoa. "Polynesians and Micronesians have some of the highest rates of overweight and obesity in the world." He and his lab explored genetic factors that could be leading to increases in weight in a sample of Samoans.
MEGAN HAGER (MS/MPH '18) won in the master's category and TERESA CAPASSO (PhD '21) received the doctoral prize.
Congratulations to first place winner CELESTE SHELTON (HUGEN '19). Second place was awarded to CRISTIAN CHANDLER (BCHS '18) and third to CANDICE BIERNESSER (BCHS '18).
On April 28, 2018, Pitt Public Health celebrated recent graduates with awards given upon the culmination of a degree program. Delta Omega's honor society inductees were announced and outstanding thesis/essay and dissertation awards were conferred. Outstanding Student Awards were also given at both the master's and doctoral level, as well as Dean's Service Awards.
TRIB LIVE – LifeX will tackle some of medicine’s biggest challenges for its initial focus. They announced a $2 million grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to help it get off the ground. “The LifeX team is proud to have the Hillman Foundation's support as we continue this longstanding legacy of facilitating cures to the most devastating and prevalent causes of suffering and death”, says CEO of LifeX and HUGEN’s DIETRICH STEPHAN.
PITTWIRE - Doctoral alumna MALIHA ZAHID ( HUGEN '09) aims to reduce the amount of radiation that patients are exposed to when undergoing diagnostic imaging. Her creation, to be used during cardiac stress tests, was a previous Pitt PInCh winner.
“It’s not about doing the cool work. It’s about doing the work that is necessary for that community,” says RUTH MODZELEWSKI (HUGEN '96) in a discussion featuring faculty and alumni about their impact on local communities, including collaboration between the private and public sector, the value of community based participatory research, empowering communities with early access to data, and acknowledging the “invisible” Latino community in Pittsbu...
UCSF NEWS - A study that involved combing through more than 50 years of data to assess the link between asthma and daycare and preschool attendance may provide welcome reassurance to working parents. Early child care does not boost children’s risk for developing this common respiratory disease, according to the study led by researchers including JUAN CELEDON, EPI and HUGEN professor.