Top 10 P&S Research Highlights of 2013

Here are some samples (in chronological order) of CUMC research we’ve covered in our newsroom this year.

1. Study Appears to Overturn Prevailing View of How the Brain is Wired 

A study shows that sensory information travels not only to the brain’s mid-layer (where most axons lead), but directly to its deeper layers.

2. Clinical Trials for Cancer, One Patient at a Time

Researchers in the new Department of Systems Biology reverse engineer tumors to tailor cancer therapy to the individual patient.

3. Study Reveals Genes That Drive Brain Cancer

A study has found 18 new genes that drive an aggressive form of brain cancer, doubling the number of known driver genes of glioblastoma.

4. A Major Cause of Age-Related Memory Loss Identified

Deficiency of a protein in the hippocampus is a major cause of age-related memory loss, and this form of memory loss is reversible, according to Columbia researchers.

5. Test Could Identify Which Prostate Cancers Require Treatment

A new genetic test may help determine which men with early prostate cancer can avoid surgery or other invasive treatment.

6. Bone Hormone Influences Brain Development and Cognition

Hormone from skeleton alters brain, memory, and mood.

7. Hair-Regeneration Method is First to Induce New Human Hair Growth

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have devised a hair-restoration method that can generate new human hair growth, rather than simply redistribute hair from one part of the scalp to another.

8. New Method Predicts Time from Alzheimer’s Onset to Nursing Home, Death

A Columbia-led research team has clinically validated a new method for predicting time to nursing home residence or death for patients with Alzheimer’s.

9. Study Finds Vulnerability in Malaria Parasite

Findings raise the possibility of a new approach to combating malaria, one of the world’s deadliest diseases.

10. Human Stem Cells Converted to Functional Lung Cells

For the first time, scientists have successfully transformed human stem cells into functional lung and airway cells.