2008 Press Releases
April 30, 2008
MLB umpires to visit Comer Children's Hospital May 7
Major League Umpires Ted Barrett and Lance Barksdale will visit the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital Wednesday, May 7, at 10:15 a.m. This special visit, organized by BLUE for Kids, a non-profit organization founded by MLB umpires, captures the spirit of the Build-A-Bear Workshop experience and brings it to the hospital.
April 25, 2008
Drug developed at the University of Chicago wins FDA approval
Methylnaltrexone, a drug developed to relieve one of the major side effects of pain therapy for cancer patients, received marketing approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration on April 24, 2008, for use in the treatment of opioid-induced bowel disorders in patients receiving palliative care for advanced illness such as cancer.
April 16, 2008
Genome analysis reveals new protein associated with breast cancer progression
A novel systems-based approach that combines comprehensive gene expression profiling with genome-wide transcription factor analysis and protein-protein interaction has led researchers to an important genetic marker that can help physicians know which breast cancer patients are at highest risk and will require more aggressive treatment, a research team based at the University of Chicago Medical Center reports in the April 15, 2008, issue of the journal Molecular Systems Biology.
April 10, 2008
Top Chef's Ted Allen honorary chairman for April 16 Celiac Disease Center benefit
Ted Allen, the top judge of Bravo’s "Top Chef" TV program, is this year’s honorary chairman for "Spring Flours," the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center benefit, which will be held Wednesday, April 16.
April 9, 2008
Gene variant increases risk of asthma RL module
A tiny variation in a gene known as CHI3L1 increases susceptibility to asthma, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and decline in lung function, researchers report early online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
March 28, 2008
Medical school, graduate bioscience programs tops in state according to national survey
Two bioscience graduate programs--paleontology and ecology/evolutionary biology--were ranked the best in the United States, and the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine tied for 16th in the latest U.S. News & World Report ranking of the nation's best graduate schools.
March 13, 2008
Study provides clues to prevent spread of ovarian cancer
A drug that blocks production of an enzyme that enables ovarian cancer to gain a foothold in a new site can slow the spread of the disease and prolong survival in mice, according to a study by researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, but only if the drug is given early in the disease process.
March 6, 2008
Chicago neuroscientist contributes to book on brains and baseball
Steven Small, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and psychology at the University of Chicago, and colleagues Ana Solodkin and John Milton, are among a group science writers and neuroscientists featured in Your Brain On Cubs: Inside the Heads of Players and Fans, a new book that explores how the brain functions when people participate in sports as athletes, coaches and fans.
March 5, 2008
Newly developed anti-malarial medicine treats toxoplasmosis
A new drug that will soon enter clinical trials for treatment of malaria also appears to be 10 times more effective than the key medicine in the current gold-standard treatment for toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by a related parasite that infects nearly one-third of all humans--more than two billion people worldwide.
March 3, 2008
New target for cancer therapy may improve treatment for solid tumors
Targeting and killing the non-malignant cells that surround and support a cancer can stop tumor growth in mice, reports a research team based at the University of Chicago Medical Center in the March 1, 2008, issue of the journal Cancer Research. The discovery offers a new approach to treating cancers that are resistant to standard therapy.
February 28, 2008
Gene expression differences between those of European and African ancestry affect response to drugs and infections
Differences in gene expression levels between people of European versus African ancestry can affect how each group responds to certain drugs or fights off specific infections, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Expression Research Laboratory at Affymetrix Inc. of Santa Clara, CA.
February 22, 2008
2008 DeLee Humanitarian Award goes to Leon Speroff, MD, of Oregon Health Sciences University
A leader in the field of reproductive endocrinology, menopause, hormone replacement therapy and contraception, Leon Speroff, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health Sciences University, will receive the 2008 Joseph Bolivar DeLee Humanitarian Award from the Board of Directors of Chicago Lying-in Hospital, part of the University of Chicago Medical Center.
February 15, 2008
Personalized medicine can cut breast cancer risk
The time has come for breast cancer risk assessment, counseling and genetic testing to move from cancer specialists to the realm of primary care, according to a presentation at the AAAS annual meeting, held this year in Boston.
February 15, 2008
Metabolic syndrome linked to cold tolerance
Researchers from the University of Chicago have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes.
February 15, 2008
Pritzker students selected by peers for humanism awards
The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine will recognize 18 fourth-year students on March 4 at the Third Annual Gold Humanism Honor Society Induction Ceremony. The event will include keynote speaker Michael Mendoza (AB'96, MD'01), Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine.
February 13, 2008
Location matters, even for genes
Moving an active gene from the interior of the nucleus to its periphery can inactivate that gene report scientists from the University of Chicago Medical Center in an article to be published early online Feb.13, 2008, in the journal Nature.
February 13, 2008
New findings show additional similarity between opiate and nicotine addiction
New research published in the February 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience indicates that the effects of nicotine and opiates on the brain's reward system are equally strong in a key pleasure-sensing areas of the brain–--the nucleus accumbens.
February 1, 2008
Study of successful drug targets could hasten development of new medications
Guidance from an innovative computational approach could speed up the process and cut down the cost of new drug development, researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center and Columbia University suggest in a study to be published in the February 2008 issue of Genome Research, available early online.
February 1, 2008
Pritzker students awarded for public health trip
Students from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine recently received the first Outstanding REMEDY Program Award for service in medicine provided during a public health trip to the Dominican Republic, one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere.
January 31, 2008
Inherited individual variations influence patterns of gene shuffling
The first large-scale, high-resolution study of human genetic recombination has found remarkably high levels of individual variation in genetic exchange, the process by which parents pass on a mosaic-like mixture of their genes.
January 31, 2008
Only two-thirds of Illinois public schools provide comprehensive sex education
A study of sex education in Illinois public schools found that one out of three teachers did not meet a very forgiving definition of comprehensive instruction, researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center report in the February 2008 issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.
January 22, 2008
Louis Sullivan, former head of HHS, to speak at Martin Luther King ceremony
Louis W. Sullivan, MD, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 1989 to 1993 and founding dean and president emeritus of Morehouse University School of Medicine, will deliver the keynote address at the University of Chicago Medical Center's 32nd annual ceremony in honor of Martin Luther King's life and teachings.
January 21, 2008
Program brings latest information to patients with diabetes
"Living Well With Diabetes," a free, four-hour symposium at the University of Chicago Kovler Diabetes Center, will present the latest advances in prevention, management and treatment of diabetes.
January 18, 2008
Close-knit bond links patients, staff
The Forefront Stitchers knit and crochet chemo caps and healing shawls for patients in the Cancer Resource Center, and tiny hats and blankets for babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
January 18, 2008
Renovation project wins historical honors
The Hyde Park Historical Society has awarded the 2008 Marian and Leon Despres Preservation Award to the University of Chicago Medical Center for "the excellent restoration" of the façade and of the first floor main lobby of the American School of Correspondence Building, 850 E. 58th Street.
January 16, 2008
Sense of personal control influences Latinas' decisions about sexual debut
A sense of personal control over sexual behaviors strongly influences Latina women's decisions of when to first engage in sex, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
January 8, 2008
Robotic surgery marks Chicago breakthrough for pediatric patients
On January 7, ten-year-old Jaime Bazan returned to school and sports activities--a monumental feat considering that only 11 days earlier, he became the first Chicago pediatric patient to undergo robot-assisted urologic surgery.
January 8, 2008
Recurrent genetic deletion linked to autism
Loss of a small portion of chromosome 16, known as 16p11.2, is significantly associated with autism, report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in an article, published December 21, 2007, online by the journal Human Molecular Genetics.
January 8, 2008
New book reveals an evolutionary journey of the human body
Paleontologist Neil Shubin unites the discoveries of fossils and the sciences of paleontology and genetics with his experience of teaching human anatomy into a written voyage of evolution, titled Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body.
January 3, 2008
Internists say they prescribe placebos on occasion
In the first study examining American physicians' use of placebos in clinical practice in the 21st Century, 45 percent of Chicago internists report they have used a placebo at some time during their clinical practice researchers report in the January issue of Journal of General Internal Medicine.