Scientists have been aware since Watson and Crick first reported the double helix structure of DNA in 1953 that water had an important relationship with the biomolecule. But finally observing the spectroscopic signature of the column of water is a breakthrough with implications for cancer drugs and other biomedical research.

Notre Dame researchers are improving the speed and practicality of detecting disease To detect an illness in the body, common diagnostic tests like the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are used. Unfortunately, ELISA takes hours to process and requires expert analysis, limiting its benefits for developing countries and those who require...

Biochemist Brian Baker was struck with an idea for potentially treating cancer when he considered the relationship between a type of treatment being tried on babies with blood cancers, and a molecule that attacked the hepatitis C virus in a liver transplant patient. Baker, a researcher with the Mike and...

For people living in the US, the Zika epidemic of 2016 seemed to have come out of nowhere and to have now almost disappeared. Zika infections and microcephaly in newborns were daily headline news. Now where are we?  Alex Perkins, PhD, Eck Family Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological...

The interdisciplinary team of Structured Immunity patented a new technology for the field of immunology that can increase drug efficacy to kill cancer cells, while decreasing the possibility of side effects. The start-up shared the grand prize in the McCloskey Business Plan competition in April.

Professor Xin Lu, the John M. and Mary Jo Boler Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, has been awarded a Young Investigator Award from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). This award provides salary support and seed funding for the period of one year, as well as access to...

Researchers have discovered a way to make influenza visible to the naked eye, by engineering dye molecules to target a specific enzyme of the virus.

Professor Cody J. Smith The Indiana State Department of Health and the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI) has awarded Cody J. Smith, the Elizabeth and Michael Gallagher Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and affiliated member of the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, a Spinal Cord and...

Director Bradley Smith On Tuesday, May 9th and Wednesday, May 10th, the Notre Dame Integrated Imaging Facility (NDIIF) will host its annual Midwest Imaging and Microanalysis Workshop. The event will feature presentations from faculty across the region, including Purdue University and the University of Michigan, and focus on highlighting new...

There are currently four open Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute grant opportunities. The Indiana CTSI is seeking applicants for the Collaboration in Translational Research (CTR) Pilot Grant Program. The objective of the Indiana CTSI CTR pilot grant program is to foster and encourage collaboration across the Indiana CTSI partner...

Professsor Marv Miller presented the seminar, “Conjugation of an acinetobacter selective sideophore to Daptomycin generates a sideromycin with potent activity against acinetobacter baumannii” at the Antimicrobial Drug Discovery Symposium at the Solutions for Drug-Resistant Infections (SDRI) conference in Brisbane, Australia, April 3-5. SDRI 2017 brought together leading scientific, medical and industry experts to discuss new...

The University of Notre Dame is highlighted in a new report on the importance of scientific research to economic growth. The study, which was conducted by The Science Coalition, identifies more than 100 companies that exist due to funding received by academic researchers from federal government agencies, including the Department...

Congratulations to the 2017 Research Like a Champion program winners. This was the most successful year for the program with the highest number of applicants and the most innovative projects.  Students: Marwa Asem and Carlysa Oyama Project Title: Tunneling Nanotubes in Cancer: When Your Healthy Cells Betray Your Body Mentor:...

The new system for high-throughput sequencing supports health and environmental research From cancer to vector-borne diseases, and from drug development to monitoring invasive species, DNA sequencing is vital to the research being done at the University of Notre Dame. To support these research efforts, the Genomics and Bioinformatics Core Facility...

  Professor Kasturi Haldar has received the 2016 Rodney F. Ganey, Ph.D., Community-Based Research Award for a project that has helped improve rare disease recognition and treatment in northern Indiana. The award is a $5,000 prize presented annually to a regular faculty member at the University of Notre Dame who has completed at least...

Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease is a rare, genetic, cholesterol storage disorder that is always fatal, primarily striking children before or during adolescence, and it has a long history with the Notre Dame family. In 1994, Notre Dame alumni Cindy and Michael Parseghian founded the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation...

The WHO names Tuberculosis (TB) as one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and over 95 percent of those deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. To improve the global health community’s understanding of TB and provide information that could help treat it, Notre Dame researchers have developed...

  Siyuan Zhang, Nancy Dee Assistant Professor of Cancer Research, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and affiliated member of Harper Cancer Research Institute at the University of Notre Dame, recently won a grant from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). Awarded Pilot Funding for Research Use of Core...

New research in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters shows scientists have developed a method to track perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the body. PFAS are potentially toxic chemicals found in stain-resistant products, nonstick cookware, fire-fighting foams and — most recently — fast food wrappers. For the first time,...

Jeff Schorey In the time it takes to read this article, half a dozen people will have died from tuberculosis (TB). It is a cruel and persistent killer, claiming 1.8 million lives each year, an estimated 200,000 of which are children, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Considering the...