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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stent

Blood vessels aren’t straight tubes

For years, scientists like Hanjoong Jo have been telling us that blood vessels are like rivers and streams. Fluid dynamics are important; the patterns of curvature and current influence where sediment — or atherosclerosis — builds up.

One of the biggest possible perturbations of fluid dynamics in a blood vessel would be to stick a metal tube into it. Of course, cardiologists do this all the time. During percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), doctors place a stent, basically a metal tube, inside a blood vessel to relieve an obstruction and restore blood flow to the heart muscle.

Habib Samady, Emory Healthcare’s director of interventional cardiology, is leading a clinical trial looking at the effects of stent introduction on blood vessels that are not straight, but curved or angulated. To be eligible for the study, the patient’s blocked vessel has to bend more than 30 degrees. The study will look at patients who have undergone PCI for a heart attack and follow them over the course of a year. Less “disturbed flow” should mean better heart healing for the patient down the road. The study uses OCT (optical coherence tomography) and IVUS (intravascular ultrasound) to monitor the blood vessel and see how healing is affected by fluid dynamics after stent placement. Read more

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Quinn Eastman in Heart Leave a comment