Ep. 74: “Diabetes Drug Discovery” Featuring Dr. Shuibing Chen

Guest:

Dr. Shuibing Chen from Weill Cornell Medical College discusses her work on stem cells and diabetes.

Resources and Links

A Ban on Antibacterial Soap – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned soap products containing 19 active ingredients, including the notorious chemical triclosan, marketed as antiseptics.

A New Book all about Cursing? – A cognitive scientist Benjamin Bergen’s new book – What the F – examines the nature of profanity and the implications of obscene words for understanding human brains and minds.

Mosquito Moms Can Pass Zika to Offspring – This article reveals that Aedes aegypti mosquitoes don’t need to bite someone to pick up Zika virus; youngsters can inherit the virus from their moms according to lab tests.

Zika Mosquitos Now in Miami Beach – This article reports that Florida officials confirmed that the Zika virus was detected in three mosquito samples from a small area in Miami Beach.

New Info about Bacteria Causing Stillbirth Revealed – Group B Streptococcus secretes protein-filled balloons that can travel up into the uterus causing premature labor and stillbirth.

Will Embryonic Stem Cells Ever Cure Anything? – Douglas Melton tries to find ways to replace beta cells of the pancreas using new tissue manufactured from embryonic stem cells.

MMP-9 and MMP-2 Contribute to Neuronal Cell Death in iPSC Models of Frontotemporal Dementia with MAPT Mutations – This article reports that matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 production is elevated in human neurons with microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) mutations contributing to stress-induced neuronal cell death.

Researchers Use a Single Molecule to Command Stem Cells to Build New Bone – Researchers from the University of California, San Diego induce human pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into functional bone-building cells by feeding them adenosine, a naturally occurring molecule in the body.

Scientists Engineer Stem Cells to Find Potential Therapy for Medulloblastoma – Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have created a system to study an aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma, which is a rare pediatric brain tumor that generally has a very poor prognosis.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Shuibing Chen