Beyond the Abstract

Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell because of their important function in producing energy. During cell division (also known as mitosis), a cell has to duplicate everything from its DNA to proteins to organelles - including mitochondria - and distribute them equally between two cells. However, no one really knows how exactly these mitochondria get distributed. In this episode, Da...

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has revolutionized cancer treatment by engineering our own immune cells to recognize and fight cancers that are resistant to treatments like radiation and chemotherapy. But can we use CAR T cells to treat other diseases too, like cardiac fibrosis? Cardiac fibrosis, or scarring of the heart, is common following heart attacks or prolonged hypertension....

Why do some diseases affect more men than women, or more women than men? Science has been unable to explain many of these sex-biased diseases until just recently. In this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Derek invites Dan Weiner, an MD/PhD student at Harvard Medical School, to talk about a recent breakthrough in neuropsychiatric and autoimmune genetics and how the key to these sex-biased difference...

This week on Beyond the Abstract, Derek and Ellen talk about Derek's newest first-author publication in Developmental Biology. They discuss the role of myosin in Sertoli cells and how mutations can affect male fertility. More importantly, Ellen recounts a science celebrity sighting from our time working at the NIH. This article was featured as the cover article of the February 2021 issue of Develo...

Do declining antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 mean long-lasting immunity is impossible? What do mutations in the virus mean for vaccine effectiveness? Can we use sewage water to monitor the pandemic? On this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Derek and Ellen talk about three recent papers related to these important COVID-19 issues. Note: Since recording this episode, there have been more documented cases of...

After a short break, Derek and Ellen are BACK with a quick update episode! They discuss New Years resolutions, COVID, grad school progress, TV shows watched, and more. Stay tuned for more episodes discussing the latest, cutting-edge research in a way that just about anyone can understand.

CRISPR is a genome-editing technology that has revolutionized medical research and created new therapies for previously incurable diseases. But what is CRISPR exactly, where does it come from, and how does it work? In this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Ellen and Derek explore how scientists have created a method of using CRISPR to treat Sickle Cell Disease, a genetic disease of the blood that ca...

COVID-19 is a devastating disease, and the elderly and those with chronic medical conditions are especially at risk. But why is it that some seemingly healthy people also get so sick that they have to be put on a ventilator? The answer may lie in our immune system. This week on Beyond the Abstract, Ellen and Derek explore a new paper that begins to investigate how differences in our immune respons...

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, a lot remains unknown about SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19. While we race to understand the true nature of the virus and create a vaccine, our best defense against the pandemic is social distancing. Understanding how our immune systems will respond to the virus is key in answering the questions of how dangerous the virus really is, how we can creat...

Extremely premature infants are those that are born at less than 28 weeks, and often weigh less than two pounds at birth. Medical advancements have pushed the limits of viability to permit survival of infants at 22-23 weeks, but these infants suffer from high rates of mortality. Those that survive are all but guaranteed chronic complications related to organ prematurity. In a bioengineering feat t...

The novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) is a respiratory virus originating from Wuhan, China that has spread to many countries, causing an outbreak. Headlines on its rapid spread have dominated media and news sites globally, and a lot remains unknown about how the virus infects humans, how it spreads, and how deadly it really is. In this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Ellen and Derek tackle a pape...

Alcoholic hepatitis is a severe, life-threatening type of liver disease, but not for all patients. Some patients seem to have worse outcomes than others, but what differentiates these patients and how do we treat them? In this episode, Derek and Ellen invite Sam McCright, an MD/PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania studying the microbiome, to talk about a new paper that discovers the poten...

One in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer, but how exactly breast cancer metastasizes and spreads to other organs still isn't clear. E-cadherin is a protein that acts as 'molecular glue' that helps cancer cells stick together, but controversy exists within the cancer field about its exact role in cancer spread. This week on Beyond the Abstract, Derek and Ellen take on a pape...

Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day and over 2 billion times a lifetime. The heart keeps up with wear and tear because it has a strong yet flexible cytoskeleton, the 'framework' of the cell. But what happens when the cytoskeleton malfunctions, and more importantly, how do we fix it? On this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Derek and Ellen chat with cell biologist and PhD candidate Brittany Ma...

Deep vein thromboses (DVTs) are clots in the blood system that can travel from the legs to the lungs, causing severe damage and even death. This week on Beyond the Abstract, Ellen and Derek are joined by John Welsh, PhD as they dive into John's recent paper on how DVTs are formed. To our surprise, Dr. Welsh discusses how current measures in the hospital to prevent DVTs may not work as well as we t...

On this episode of Beyond the Abstract, Derek and Ellen invite Lindsey Avery Fitzsimons, a PhD student at the University of Maine, to discuss new research in the intersecting worlds of heart valve disease and cell biology. A new paper combining mouse genetics and human genome sequencing data uncovers a new role for primary cilia, which are small 'sensors' on cells, in causing mitral valve prolapse...

This week on Beyond the Abstract, Derek, Ellen, and fellow MD/PhD classmate Jacob are talking about Parkinson's disease. A recent paper highlights how a new drug targets astrocytes and microglia, two types of brain cells, in order to treat Parkinson's disease by reducing inflammation and brain cell death. Listen as they discuss the importance of this discovery in the field of neurodegenerative dis...

In this inaugural episode of Beyond the Abstract, our hosts Ellen and Derek along with their guest and fellow MD/PhD classmate Jenna discuss a paper on interspecies chimeras to create "Franken-organs." They discuss the potential medical implications of the paper, the promise that this research holds for organ transplantation, and what this could mean for the thousands of patients currently wa...