Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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donated blood

The age of blood

Nature Medicine has a nice feature from Jeanne Erdmann highlighting the debate over how long donated blood can be stored. It sets the stage for two prospective clinical trials (RECESS and ABLE), which recently concluded but are still being analyzed. The trials were looking at how the age of stored blood affects patients undergoing cardiac surgery or in intensive care, respectively. Erdmann also mentions that the NIH’s Clinical Center already has tightened its standards for blood storage time.

Emory Blood Bank director John Roback and cardiologist Arshed Quyyumi have been participants in this debate, both theoretically and experimentally. In 2011, they proposed that depletion of the messenger molecule nitric oxide limits the benefits donated blood can provide to patients. In addition to nitric oxide depletion, the “storage lesion” is likely to include several changes, such as lysis of red blood cells, mechanical alterations in the remaining cells, and other chemical changes.

Since then, Emory research has shown that transfusion of donated blood more than three weeks old results in impaired blood vessel function in hospitalized patients, but in contrast, not in healthy volunteers. This information could allow doctors to prioritize fresher blood for patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Quinn Eastman in Heart Leave a comment