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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intestinal epithelial cells

How beneficial bacteria talk to intestinal cells

Guest post from Courtney St Clair Ardita, MMG graduate student and co-author of the paper described. Happy Halloween!

In the past, reactive oxygen species were viewed as harmful byproducts of breathing oxygen, something that aerobic organisms just have to cope with to survive. Not any more. Scientists have been finding situations in humans and animals where cells create reactive oxygen species (ROS) as signals that play important parts in keeping the body healthy.

One example is when commensal or good bacteria in the gut cause the cells that line the inside of the intestines to produce ROS. Here, ROS production helps repair wounds in the intestinal lining and keeps the environment in the gut healthy. This phenomenon is not unique to human intestines. It occurs in organisms as primitive as fruit flies and nematodes, so it could be an evolutionarily ancient response. Examples of deliberately created and beneficial ROS can also be found in plants, sea urchins and amoebas.

Researchers led by Emory pathologist Andrew Neish have taken these findings a step further and identified the cellular components responsible for producing ROS upon encountering bacteria. Postdoctoral fellow Rheinallt Jones is first author on the paper that was recently published in The EMBO Journal. Read more

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Dispelling confusion about probiotic bacteria

While humans have been consuming fermented foods such as yogurt and kimchi for centuries, a visitor to a modern grocery store can see the recent commercial enthusiasm for adding probiotic bacteria to foods. A recent article in Slate explores the confusion over potential health benefits for these added bacteria.

The bacteria that live inside us seem to play an important role regulating metabolism, the immune system and the nervous system, but scientists have a lot to learn about how those interactions take place.

Researchers at Emory have been clarifying exactly how probiotic bacteria promote intestinal health. Andrew Neish and his colleagues have found that the bacteria give intestinal cells a little bit of oxidative stress, which is useful for promoting the healing of the intestinal lining.

Beneficial bacteria induce reactive oxygen species production by intestinal cells, which promotes wound healing.

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment