Like many other cells and organs within the body, cardiac cells possess a type of asymmetry that may play an important role in healthy heart formation and could serve as the basis for interventions to prevent congenital heart defects.
An enzyme activated in diabetics has been found to cause previously aligned cells in a blood vessel to reverse their orientation, creating misalignments that allow veins and arteries to leak three times more blood proteins than normally constructed blood vessels.
Zinc deficiency – long associated with numerous diseases, e.g. autism, lung cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancers – can lead to activation of the Hedgehog signaling pathway.
Tissue engineering and stem cell expert Leo Q. Wan has received a prestigious Basil O’Connor Starter Scholar Research Award.