Mathematicians and cancer scientists have found a way to simplify complex biomolecular data about tumors, in principle making it easier to prescribe the appropriate treatment for a specific patient.
Recent news from The Johns Hopkins University
This section contains regularly updated highlights of the news from around The Johns Hopkins University. Links to the complete news reports from the nine schools, the Applied Physics Laboratory and other centers and institutes are to the left, as are links to help news media contact the Johns Hopkins communications offices.
Souped-up Walker to Help Get Pediatric ICU Patients on Their Feet
An undergraduate student design team is developing a walker designed to help get pediatric ICU patients up and moving as quickly as possible.
Smartphone ‘Scores’ Can Help Doctors Track Severity of Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms
Parkinson’s disease, a progressive brain disorder, is often tough to treat effectively because symptoms, such as tremors and walking difficulties, can vary dramatically over a period of days, or even hours. To address this challenge, Johns Hopkins University computer scientists, working with an interdisciplinary team of experts from two other institutions, have developed a new approach that uses sensors on a smartphone to generate a score that reliably reflects symptom severity in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Science and Health News Tips from Johns Hopkins
These news tips come from stories in the winter issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine.
JHU Researchers Elected Into National Academy of Engineering
Two Johns Hopkins University researchers were awarded one of the highest professional distinctions for engineers: election into the National Academy of Engineering.
JHU Finds How Brain Instantly Tells Trash from Treasure
Johns Hopkins University neuroscientists have found how the brain can detect an object’s value almost as soon as we see it.
Mind of a Medalist: Scientists Explain How the Brain Can Lead to Olympic Gold
Any athlete who’s made it to the Olympics has speed or strength or whatever physical skills it takes to lead the world in their sport. But Johns Hopkins University scientists say those who ultimately bring home gold have also honed the mind of a medalist.
Kidney Disease Expert Wins University’s Frontier Award
Deidra Crews, an expert on chronic kidney disease and on racial disparities in the condition’s impact and treatment, is the 2018 winner of the university’s $250,000 President’s Frontier Award. With video of surprise presentation.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Super Bowl Marks the Season’s End, But Concussion Concerns Continue
During this year’s Super Bowl, K.T. Ramesh, a biomechanics expert at Johns Hopkins University, will pay more attention to the collateral damage that can occur during football games: head injuries. He is developing a technological tool to help better diagnose concussions and predict where related brain damage has likely occurred.
Johns Hopkins Engineering Students Build Custom Walker for Special Needs Toddler
Santa’s helpers made a visit to the Port Deposit, Maryland, family this week, delivering a gift that promises to make their holiday season especially happy and bright: a walker that was custom-designed and constructed for the family’s smallest member by a group of Johns Hopkins engineering students.
Johns Hopkins Scientists Explain Rudolph, Grinch, Scrooge
This festive season, Johns Hopkins University researchers dug deep into their reserves of scientific expertise to explain how these unexplainable plot lines in holiday classics like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, The Grinch That Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Carol just might be (almost) (possibly) possible.
New Computer Model Sheds Light on Biological Events Leading to Sudden Cardiac Death
Some heart disease patients face a higher risk of sudden cardiac death, which can happen when an arrhythmia—an irregular heartbeat—disrupts the normal electrical activity in the heart and causes the organ to stop pumping. However, arrhythmias linked to sudden cardiac death are very rare, making it difficult to study how they occur—and how they might be prevented. To make it much easier to discover what triggers this deadly disorder, a team led by Johns Hopkins researchers constructed a powerful new computer model that replicates the biological activity within the heart that precedes sudden cardiac death.
Researchers Devise Sensors and Phone App to Find Early Signs of Sickness in Newborns
A Johns Hopkins University team that includes biomedical engineering faculty and graduate students, global health experts and technology specialists will receive a $100,000 grant to support their plan to enable mothers in remote villages to use novel, low-cost sensors and a simple cell phone app to spot serious health problems during their newborn babies’ critical first week. The university’s NeMo team, short for Neonatal Monitoring, was named as one of 51 new Grand Challenges Explorations winners in an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Don’t Let These Creepy Skeletons Get Under Your Skin
On Halloween night, from their haunted hiding places beneath Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus, scary skeletons will come to life in the dark depths of Hackerman Hall—and begin to dance!
Johns Hopkins Scientists Help Show Links Between Genes, Body Tissues
Johns Hopkins University scientists are part of a research team assessing how a person’s genetic profile affects his body. The results could help show how individual genetic differences contribute to disease and guide treatments for heritable disorders such as Alzheimer’s, high cholesterol or Type I diabetes.
JHU Undergrads’ ‘Nasal Relief’ Team Named Finalist in Collegiate Inventors Competition
A Johns Hopkins student team that wants to help people breathe easier has scored a coveted finalist spot in the 2017 Collegiate Inventors Competition, organizers of the event have announced. The students devised a simple, discreet device to open obstructed nostrils, a common problem that can cause snoring and other sleep disruptions, as well as exercising difficulties.
Science and Health News Tips from Johns Hopkins
These news tips, from stories in the fall 2017 issue of Johns Hopkins Magazine, include an engineer/fisherman’s idea for a “smart” lure and the need for a really high SPF sunscreen for a new solar probe.
MEDIA ADVISORY: More Hurricane Experts from Johns Hopkins University
This is an additional list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with Hurricane Harvey and now Hurricane Irma
MEDIA ADVISORY: More Hurricane Harvey Experts from Johns Hopkins University
This is a third list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
MEDIA ADVISORY: More Hurricane Harvey Experts from Johns Hopkins University
This is a second list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on issues associated with the onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
MEDIA ADVISORY: Hurricane Experts from Johns Hopkins University
A list of experts from the Johns Hopkins University on various issues associated with the formation, onslaught and aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. This list will be updated as warranted.
Materials Scientists Probe Protein’s Role in Speeding Ebola Spread
Two Johns Hopkins materials science graduate students and their professors played a key role in a multi-institution research project that pinpointed how a tiny protein seems to make the deadly Ebola virus particularly contagious.
Method Determines Cell Age More Accurately, Could Help Elderly Patients
Led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University, a team of researchers is reporting progress in developing a method to accurately determine the functional age of cells, a step that could eventually help clinicians evaluate and recommend ways to delay some health effects of aging and potentially improve other treatments, including skin graft matching and predicting prospects for wound healing.