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Brown to lead $9.7M grant to advance theory of aging

September 6, 2016

A new multi-university research effort will seek to determine whether rogue elements of DNA promote or even cause aging and whether interventions against them could help people live longer and more healthfully.

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From DNA to disease, study describes rare, new brain disorder

September 5, 2016

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists shows how mutations in the gene GPT2 lead to a rare developmental and potentially degenerative brain disease.

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Rhode Island’s role in promising new Alzheimer’s results

August 31, 2016

Important components of a clinical trial with positive results for an Alzheimer’s drug occurred at Brown University, Butler Hospital and Rhode Island Hospital.

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Mitosis study finds potential cancer target

August 30, 2016

By drilling down to the atomic level of how specific proteins interact during cell division, or mitosis, a team of scientists has found a unique new target for attacking cancer.

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Profiles in Summer Research: Sophia Gluskin-Braun

August 26, 2016

With a passion for problem-solving, the engineering concentrator is focused on the fundamentals of light and playing a role in promising research on next-generation solar cells.

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Profiles in Summer Research: Nari Lee

August 26, 2016

A progression of summer experiences with faculty has left the rising senior with an expanding set of research skills and medical school aspirations.

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For planetary science students, a summer of science in space with NASA

August 24, 2016

For Brown planetary science graduate students, a “mission-planning bootcamp” at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena offers an insider’s view of how to conduct research in space.

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Among some veterans, painkiller misuse strongly linked to starting heroin

August 23, 2016

In a study that followed thousands of veterans over a decade, initiating non-medical use of opioid painkillers was associated with a more than 5-fold risk of also beginning to use heroin.

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Study validates new tool for diagnosing dehydration in children

August 22, 2016

A simple new method for assessing dehydration from diarrhea, which kills hundreds of thousands of children each year worldwide, has proven accurate and reliable.

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Mathematicians, police join forces on the mathematics of crime

August 19, 2016

Researchers used real data from the City of Providence to look for interesting trends and patterns that might help police analyze criminal activity.

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Study shows how mutations disrupt ALS-linked protein

August 18, 2016

Structural biologists provide a new explanation for how ALS-associated genetic flaws interfere with the proper function and behavior of the protein TDP-43.

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On the bay with BELL, a call to environmental action

August 18, 2016

At the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab, high school students learn the skills they need to create change on environmental issues facing their local communities and the planet as a whole.

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R.I. Department of Health, Brown School of Public Health launch partnership

August 17, 2016

Rhode Island's two accredited public health entities — the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Brown University School of Public Health — launched a new academic partnership.

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In summer at sea, adventurous student continues a personal academic journey

August 16, 2016

Driven by a love of marine life and the memory of his grandfather, Peter Baek set out this summer on a six-week sailing voyage to study a delicate ecosystem south of the Equator.

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Declining fishery production in critical African lake pinned to climate change

August 5, 2016

Warming water over the past 150 years is causing declining fish stocks in Lake Tanganyika, a large freshwater lake that supplies food for millions of Africans.

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Major treatment expansion could essentially eliminate hepatitis C in R.I. by 2030

August 5, 2016

As the state takes a deep look at its hepatitis C epidemic, Brown University researchers have crunched the numbers to project what could be done to lift Rhode Island’s burden of death and disease.

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To think about thinking, hundreds of scholars convene at Brown

August 3, 2016

For the first time ever, the International Conference on Thinking is taking place in the United States, bringing more than 250 scholars of cognition to Brown this week.

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Researchers image brain cells’ reactions to concussive trauma

August 2, 2016

Using a laboratory device that can deliver concussive impacts to cell cultures and image the aftermath in real time, researchers from Brown are gaining new insight into how brain cells react to trauma.

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Task force may be too stringent in not yet recommending melanoma screening

July 26, 2016

In an editorial in JAMA, two experts including Brown University dermatologist Dr. Martin Weinstock question a USPSTF determination that there isn't enough evidence to recommend that clinicians visual screen for skin cancer, such as melanoma.

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New theory explains how beta waves arise in the brain

July 25, 2016

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team led by Brown University neuroscientists proposes a new theory — backed by data from people, animal models and computational simulation — to explain how beta waves emerge in the brain.

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Process could make key biodegradable polymer stronger and longer-lasting

July 25, 2016

The creation of a new polymer morphology in a material called PLA could lead to better medical implants and drug-delivery devices.

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Newly found, ‘thrifty’ genetic variant influences Samoan obesity

July 25, 2016

A new study reports that a genetic variant that affects energy metabolism and fat storage partly explains why Samoans have among the world’s highest levels of obesity.

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World’s most sensitive dark matter detector completes search

July 21, 2016

At a conference in the United Kingdom, scientists with the LUX dark matter experiment present results from the detector’s final 20-month run.

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Asteroid that formed Moon’s Imbrium Basin may have been protoplanet-sized

July 20, 2016

The research, published in Nature, has implications for our understanding of the early solar system.

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For frozen embryos in dispute, scholars propose guidelines

July 18, 2016

In a new paper, two scholars — one medical, one legal — propose a set of practical guidelines to prevent the bitter arguments over frozen embryos that have confounded U.S. courts.

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GAGA may be the secret of the sexes — at least in insects

July 14, 2016

Without simple repeating sequences of the DNA “letters” GA on the X chromosome, distinct genders could never have evolved, at least in flies and mosquitoes.

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Rhode Island childcare centers using federal nutrition subsidy served healthier food

July 14, 2016

A new analysis of survey responses from more than 100 child daycare center directors suggests that stronger nutritional guidelines, like those enforced by a federal food subsidy program for low-income kids, lead to healthier meals.

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Tiny ‘racetracks’ show how bacteria get organized

July 13, 2016

The new research sheds light on the surprisingly complex collective movements of bacteria in confined spaces.

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Alpert Medical School, Hope Hospice extend affiliation

July 12, 2016

A new five-year agreement continues the formal educational partnership between the Alpert Medical School and Hope Hospice & Palliative Care.

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Study explains how a protein deficiency causes spinal muscular atrophy

July 11, 2016

Research that reveals what goes wrong in SMA and suggests that a mild version of the same genetic defect may protect relatives against infection, which could explain why SMA is relatively common disease.

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Meeting of the minds leads to brain science technology venture

July 11, 2016

After researchers spent years developing an artificial intelligence technology to monitor lab animal behavior, a team of recently graduated entrepreneurs is investigating its commercial potential.

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Study finds no substantial harm from primary care melanoma screening

July 8, 2016

Experts concerned that primary care screening for melanomas could lead to widespread misdiagnoses or overtreatment can take comfort in the results of a new study that found no such problems.

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$19.5M grant to bridge gaps between medical research, health care in Rhode Island

July 6, 2016

With a new five-year federal grant, the Rhode Island Center for Clinical Translational Science will strengthen connections between scientific discovery and health around the state.

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MRI technique induces strong, enduring visual association

June 30, 2016

Volunteers in a brain science experiment learned associations between patterns and color such that when shown the patterns later, they were still biased to perceive the color even if it wasn’t really there.

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Researchers develop key power-splitting component for terahertz waves

June 29, 2016

The new device could be useful in future terahertz communications networks, which would have a much higher data capacity than current cellular and wireless networks.

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Research uncovers spleen’s role in shaping blood cells

June 27, 2016

Computer models developed by Brown University mathematicians help to describe an underappreciated function of the spleen.

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A new ‘dashboard’ for Rhode Island’s overdose crisis

June 27, 2016

Full of practical, graphical guides for the general public and up-to-the-minute epidemiological data for healthcare providers and policymakers, a new website aims to use information to prevent overdose deaths

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Delirium at nursing home admission a risky sign for seniors

June 25, 2016

A large Brown University study finds patients who exhibited delirium at the time they entered a nursing home were significantly more likely to die or return to the hospital within 30 days and were less likely to recover fully if they returned home.

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R.I. Foundation awards Brown health research grants

June 21, 2016

Seed funding of $25,000 per project will jump-start five studies related to medical concerns and basic research.

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Research bolsters case for a present-day subsurface ocean on Pluto

June 21, 2016

An updated thermal model for Pluto suggests that liquid water beneath the dwarf planet’s ice shell may not be frozen yet.

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Amid Egyptian uprisings, doctors’ care for patients takes on political significance

June 20, 2016

The conditions in which medical personnel and volunteers worked during the period of military rule in Egypt challenged the established understanding of medical neutrality, a new study reveals.

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As Olympics near, study finds low levels of physical activity in Brazil

June 14, 2016

A large study confirms that physical activity provides Brazilians with significant cardio-metabolic health benefits, but reports that fewer than three in 10 participants are active.

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Technique could help climate models sweat the small stuff

June 3, 2016

Research led by a Brown University physicist reveals a way to include small-scale dynamics into computer simulations of large-scale phenomena, which could make for better climate models and astrophysical simulations.

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Study shows how judgment of sensory simultaneity may develop in the brain

June 3, 2016

In a study using tadpoles, neuroscientists tracked how the brain develops its sense of whether two sensory inputs — for example, vision and touch — happened at the same time.

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Software turns webcams into eye-trackers

June 1, 2016

Developed by computer scientists at Brown, the new software could help web developers to optimize content and make websites more user-friendly.

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NIH awards Brown $11.5M for computational biology research

June 1, 2016

Brown University will launch a Center for Biomedical Research Excellence in Computational Biology of Human Disease to expand its research using sophisticated computer analyses to understand and fight human diseases.

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Study finds that protein puts the brakes on melanin

May 27, 2016

Skin, eye and hair pigmentation requires a delicate balance of acidity within the cellular compartments where melanin is made – that balance is partly regulated, scientists now know, by a protein called TPC2.

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Student’s senior thesis becomes Gates Foundation-funded project

May 26, 2016

Wilson Cusack, a senior computer science concentrator, developed a text-message-based trading platform that helps connect farmers and buyers. With a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he’ll pilot the project in the West African nation of Ghana.

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Where meter meets mainframe: An early experiment teaching poetry with computers

May 23, 2016

A recently unearthed film from 1974 documents an early foray into the digital humanities by two Brown professors.

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Taking control of key protein stifles cancer spread in mice

May 20, 2016

In a new study in mice, researchers overcame a process by which cancer co-opts a fundamental protein into protecting it against the body’s defenses.

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