Disrupt the circadian clock, and metabolism will change. Alter the microbiome and, again, metabolism will change. Would altering the circadian clock affect the microbiome? Dr. Derek O’Neil, a postdoctoral fellow in obstetrics and gynecology at Baylor College of Medicine took on the project to answer this question and he found the first evidence that a … Continue reading
For many cancer patients, the problem is metastasis – the dissemination of tumor cells to other organs – after the primary tumor has been eliminated. Metastases, however, tend to respond differently than the primary tumor to the treatment in part due to residing in a different organ with a different microenvironment. Recreating biological microenvironments in … Continue reading
It all began on a Thursday, the day Dr. Daryl Scott goes to clinic to visit patients. One of the patients was a young male with intellectual disability, developmental delay, macrocephaly (enlarged head) and very flexible joints. The genetics lab indicated that the patient did not seem to have any known genetic changes that could explain … Continue reading
Envision the following possible future clinical scenario: a patient in a hospital develops an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that is untreatable or only treatable with the most toxic of antibiotics. During the 48 hours it takes to identify the bacterial species and strain, physicians and scientists also screen a library of bacterium-killing viruses at hand, select … Continue reading
Meet Caenorhabditis elegans, a 1-millimeter-long, transparent, free-living roundworm that is the center of attention of many research laboratories around the world, including Dr. Meng Wang‘s lab at Baylor College of Medicine. C. elegans is a simple organism that nonetheless shares essential characteristics with human biology. The worm starts its 2 to 3 week long lifespan … Continue reading
From the Labs 