Read article – David Leib, chair and a professor of microbiology and immunology, is featured in an article about his Geisel School of Medicine study in collaboration with Thayer School of Engineering into the role of antibodies in fighting herpes simplex virus infections. “Despite three decades of trying, the scientific community has been unable to develop an effective vaccine against herpes, and I think the main issue has been that we haven’t fully understood what we need, in terms of antibodies and their specific functions, to protect against this disease,” Leib said.

Read article – David Leib, chair and a professor of microbiology and immunology; Margaret Ackerman, a professor of engineering; Matthew Slein, Guarini; and Iara Backes, Guarini ’22, MED ’24, are featured in an article about their study into how antibodies function when fighting herpes simplex virus infections. “Another important aspect of the work that Matt and Iara have done is that we now have some really good monoclonal antibodies that we’ve made in the lab that could potentially be used directly as a medication to treat acute neonatal herpes infections, which are life-threatening to newborns,” Leib said.

Read article – James Bernat, a professor emeritus of neurology, is quoted in an article about declaring a patient brain dead. “It’s hard to imagine on how there could be agreement,” Bernat said. “It could open a Pandora’s box.”

Read article – James Sargent, a professor of pediatrics, biomedical data science, and community and family medicine, is quoted in an article about how members of Dover Youth 2 Youth are advocating for stricter enforcement of alcohol labeling laws to protect minors. Sargent said Joe Camel ads were so ubiquitous and seductive that a study found the camel was “recognized as commonly as Mickey Mouse” amongst children.

Read article – Megan Romano, an associate professor of epidemiology, is cited as a contributing author to a study into the impacts of exposure to phthalates on preterm birth rates. The study found that phthalate exposure in more than 5,000 American mothers has been linked to an increased risk of lower weight and gestational age among newborns.

Read article – Surachai Supattapone, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology and of medicine, is quoted in an article about chronic wasting disease. “All the current studies suggest that CWD, in its current states is not highly likely to jump across species barriers into human and livestock that we commonly eat,”  Supattapone said.

Read article – Surachai Supattapone, a professor of biochemistry and cell biology and of medicine, is quoted in an article about chronic wasting disease, a highly lethal, highly contagious neurodegenerative disease that is devastating North America’s deer, elk, and other cervids. “This is kind of like a ticking time bomb,” Supattapone said.

Read article – Dartmouth’s Steven Woloshin and co-authors say that the FDA and FTC need to do more to protect patients from potential harm and misleading information on social media platforms in their new opinion piece in STAT News.

Read article – Thomas Thesen, an associate professor of medical education, is featured in an article about using AI to diagnose patients. Thesen co-created the AI Patient Actor app to help train medical students on diverse patient scenarios. “What I see coming in the next decade is AI increasingly supporting doctors by streamlining their work and contributing to certain limited diagnostic processes,” Thesen said. “However, the expert judgment of a trained doctor will remain crucial for final diagnosis and treatment plans.”

Read article – An opinion piece by Dan Rockmore, a professor of mathematics and computer science, about the limitations of mathematical models. Rockmore credits David Roberts, MED ’75, a professor emeritus of surgery and neurology, and Keith Paulsen, Thayer ’84, ’86, a professor of biomedical engineering and of radiology and surgery, with an example of how common mathematical modeling now is. “Today, descendants of the Roberts and Paulsen model are routinely used to plan neurosurgeries. Modelling, in general, is now routine,” Rockmore writes.