MD Anderson Vaccine Looks Promising in Fight against Breast Cancer

Researchers in Houston on Wednesday reported positive results with an experimental breast cancer vaccine, a promising development in an emerging field in cancer care.

The vaccine, one of many now in testing, significantly decreased the recurrence rate of breast cancer in women who had been treated for a common tumor type, according to a study led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

“If this vaccine and others continue to perform well in trials, they could change practice standards in breast cancer,” said Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, an MD Anderson surgical oncology professor and the study's principal investigator. Read more...

For Expectant Mothers, Chagas Disease Is Cause for Concern

by Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.

So far this series has focused on health issues that impact women and children in Africa, but now I would like to turn your attention closer to home, where a little-known neglected disease puts millions of pregnant women and their unborn children at risk each year. Chagas disease -- a parasitic infection transmitted through an insect commonly known as the "kissing bug" -- is one of the most common infections among pregnant women in the Western Hemisphere. It can be found all over Latin American, from Mexico and Central America to Paraguay and Argentina. Cases of Chagas disease are now widely prevalent throughout south Texas and may be spreading to other areas of the U.S. Read more...

National Academy of Sciences Elects Three Texans

On May 1, 2012, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced the election of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Included in the list of new members are three Texans: Wah Chiu, Ph.D., John B. Goodenough, Ph.D., and Ronald A. DePinho, M.D. Read more...

O'Donnell Awards Recipient, Nobel Laureate Honored As Texas A&M University Distinguished Professors

Five Texas A&M University faculty members have been appointed as university distinguished professors, effective Sept. 1. The title, which is bestowed in perpetuity, is awarded to a maximum of five faculty members each year.

The latest recipients of the highest academic honor awarded to Texas A&M faculty are: Paul S. Cremer, professor of chemistry, College of Science; Christopher Layne, professor, George Bush School of Government and Public Service; David M. Lee, professor of physics, College of Science; Timothy D. Phillips, professor of veterinary integrative biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and Guoyao Wu, professor of animal science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Read more...

Rice Students Work with Houston METRO to Sterilize Air, Kill Pathogens on Buses

The best place to enjoy a breath of fresh air may be a city bus, if Rice University students have their way. A team of graduating seniors has created a system for public transit that would continually clear the air of pathogens that can lead to tuberculosis (TB), flu and pneumonia.

The CityBusters – Joseph Spinella, Jerry Lue, Sundeep Mandava, Grace Ching and Shidong Chen, all seniors – have installed a $500 device on a METRO bus in Houston that has proven effective at killing 99.8 percent of the pathogens that circulate through the air-filtering system. The device, called FluProof, incorporates high-powered ultraviolet lamps that sterilize the air on the fly. Read more...

Dr. Nicholas Peppas Elected to Spain’s Prestigious Royal Academy

Nicholas A. Peppas, chair of The University of Texas at Austin’s Biomedical Engineering Department, has been elected a Corresponding Member of the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (Royal Academy of Pharmacy) of Spain.

Established in 1737 by King Philip V, the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Spain is one of the Royal Academies belonging to the Institute of Spain under the reigning king of Spain, Juan Carlos I. The academy is composed of 50 academics and 173 corresponding academics worldwide that represent excellence and the highest scientific and intellectual merit in the field.

Gregory Fenves, dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering, hailed Peppas’ induction into the Spanish academy as a testament to his fundamental research and educational contributions internationally. Read more...

Texas A&M Engineers Develop Fire-resistant, Environmentally Friendly Coating

A thin polymer coating developed by materials engineers at Texas A&M University could keep cotton clothing and polyurethane-foam-based furniture from going up in flames.

And the coating is environmentally friendly, too.

Dr. Jaime Grunlan, an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, works with polymer nanocomposites that have properties similar to those of metals and ceramics — conducting electricity, for instance — while maintaining properties of polymers, such as low density. Read more...

Texas Medical Center, Shape Up Houston Team Up to Fight Obesity

For Loretta Jones, setbacks have foiled an otherwise airtight plan to get healthy.

Specifically, she wants to lose weight - without surgery - to overcome high blood pressure and diabetes. Jones, a UTHealth administrative services officer, was taking walking breaks with co-workers until a few weeks ago when she fell and scuffed her knees. She said her daughter recently reminded her she's always been serious about her health, but not consistent.

So clad in sneakers Thursday, Jones decided to walk more than a half-mile from her building to the John P. McGovern Texas Medical Center Commons for Shape Up Houston's kickoff rally.

The new initiative aims to address the local obesity epidemic, starting with the Medical Center's 92,500 employees. Harris County has nearly 2 million adults who are overweight or obese and roughly 400,000 children who are too heavy. Read more...

BCM, Rice and MD Anderson Create New Chemo Technology

Researchers at Rice, Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center are developing new methods to treat cancer using a technology called plasmonic nanobubbles to inject chemotherapy drugs directly into cancer cells.

The process starts by attaching cancer antibodies to gold nanoparticles. The cancer cells then recognize these antibodies and allow the gold nanoparticles cross their membranes. Next, the gold nanoparticles are exposed to a short laser pulse, which converts the particle into heat. The medium around the nanoparticles in the cell then evaporates, creating a vapor nanobubble. The nanobubble makes a temporary hole in the cancer cell membrane and finally injects the cancer-fighting drug into the cell, according to Dmitri Lapotko, a faculty fellow in biochemistry and cell biology and in physics and astronomy at Rice. Read more...

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