Stony Brook University News

Lyme Disease Vaccine Shows Promise in Clinical Trials

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:24:41 PST

The results of a phase 1/2 clinical trial in Europe of an investigational Lyme disease vaccine co-developed by researchers at Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and at healthcare company Baxter International S.A., revealed it to be promising and well tolerated, according to a research paper published online in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The vaccine was shown to produce substantial antibodies against all targeted species of Borrelia, the causative agent of Lyme disease in Europe and the United States. Baxter conducted the clinical trial of the vaccine.

Stony Brook Pharmacology Professor Receives Feldstein Medical Foundation Grant

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:11:56 PST

Markus Seeliger, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacological Sciences at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, has received a $60,000 grant from the Feldstein Medical Foundation to fund a project titled “New tools to hit moving targets in cancer therapy.” The purpose of the project is to use new computer technology to speed up the creation yet reduce the development cost of targeted cancer therapies.

“Survival of the Fittest” Now Applies to Computers

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:30:00 PST

Darwin’s theory of "survival of the fittest" originally referred to natural selection in biological systems, but new research from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University scientists shows that this evolutionary theory also applies to technological systems.

Clinical Trials for Cellulite Treatment on the Horizon

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:38:51 PST

Projected to start in the second half of 2013, researchers at Stony Brook University plan to begin phase IIa placebo-controlled clinical trials using a drug treatment method developed here to treat cellulite. The treatment method is licensed to BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (“BSTC”), sublicensed to Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (“Auxilium”), and uses clostridial collagenase histolyticum (“CCH”), an injectable form of the enzyme collagenase.

SBU Professors Collaborate on NSF-Funded 'Materials Genome Initiative"

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:00:00 PST

Three Stony Brook University researchers have been selected to receive an $800,000 Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The MGI is a multi-agency White House supported initiative whose goal is to reduce by half the current time and cost for transitioning breakthroughs from the laboratory to the marketplace – a process that can take as long as two decades.

SBU Led Research Finds That Most Fame Isn't Fleeting

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:00:00 PST

Contemporary scholarship has conceptualized modern fame as an open system in which people continually move in and out of celebrity status. However, according to new research, “Only 15 Minutes? The Social Stratification of Fame in Printed Media,” published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, researchers led by Arnout van de Rijt, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Stony Brook University, reveal that most fame isn’t fleeting after all.

SBU Mechanical Engineering Professor Invents Portable Mobility Assist Device

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:00:00 PST

Five years ago, Anurag Purwar, a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University, received a request to fashion a medical device to help the mobility of a friend and retired physician suffering from the debilitating effects of post-polio syndrome. The physician had a walker, but unless another person was around to help, he couldn’t raise himself out of a chair to use it.

Four Stony Brook Professors Receive NSF CAREER Awards Totaling Nearly $2 Million

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:00:00 PST

Four faculty members at Stony Brook University were selected to receive the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program award. The award, which includes a substantial grant to support research over a five-year period, is given to promising young faculty members who exemplify the role of teacher-scholar through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of both education and research.

SBU Cancer Center Uses Breakthrough Procedure for Liver Cancer

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:42:50 PST

Stony Brook University Cancer Center is the only cancer program in Nassau/Suffolk Counties using a new minimally invasive infusion system to treat patients with liver cancer. The new procedure, approved by the FDA in June 2011, delivers cancer-fighting agents directly to tumors, without surgery.

Scientists Estimate More Than 100 Million Sharks Killed Annually

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:00:00 PST

The number of sharks killed each year in commercial fisheries is estimated at 100 million, with a range between 63 million and 273 million, according to the research “Global Catches, Exploitation Rates and Rebuilding Options for Sharks,” published in the journal Marine Policy on February 28, 2013. The article was co-authored by Dr. Demian Chapman, assistant professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and assistant director of science at the Institute for Ocean Conservation at Stony Brook University.

Scientists Discover a New Understanding of Why Female Primates Outlive Males

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST

Are females the safer sex? Yes, according to researchers studying aging in an endangered lemur in Madagascar known as the Milne-Edwards’ sifaka. After observing these animals for more than two decades in the wild in Madagascar, co-author Patricia Wright, Director at the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments, a Professor of Biological Anthropology at Stony Brook University and Executive Director of Centre ValBio, had a hunch that females were living longer than their male counterparts. The findings, "Risky business: Sex differences in mortality and dispersal in a polygynous, monomorphic lemur," have been published online in the February 28 issue of Behavioral Ecology.

New Clot Removal Devices Show Promise for Treating Stroke Patients

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:56:25 PST

Specialists at Stony Brook Medicine’s Cerebrovascular and Stroke Center (CVC) are treating patients with a new generation of blood clot removal devices that show promise in successfully revascularizing stroke patients, including those with large vessel blockages. The Solitaire Flow Restoration Device and the Trevo device, approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2012 to treat stroke caused by the sudden obstruction of a brain blood vessel (acute ischemic stroke) showed improved results over a previous standard and first generation clot-removal device in clinical trials.

Scientists Find Way to Image Brain Waste Removal Process Which May Lead to Alzheimer's Diagnostic

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:00:11 PST

A novel way to image the entire brain’s glymphatic pathway, a dynamic process that clears waste and solutes from the brain that otherwise might build-up and contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, may provide the basis for a new strategy to evaluate disease susceptibility, according to a research paper published online in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Through contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other tools, a Stony Brook University-led research team successfully mapped this brain-wide pathway and identified key anatomical clearance routes of brain waste.

New Research on Migratory Behavior of Endangered Oceanic Whitetip Sharks Can Help Shape Conservation Strategies

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:00:00 PST

As the nations of the world prepare to vote on measures to restrict international trade in endangered sharks in early March, a team of researchers has found that one of these species – the oceanic whitetip shark – regularly crosses international boundaries. Efforts by individual nations to protect this declining apex predator within their own maritime borders may therefore need to be nested within broader international conservation measures.

Placental Mammal Diversity Exploded After Age of Dinosaurs

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 14:00:00 PST

An international team of researchers has reconstructed the common ancestor of placental mammals—an extremely diverse group including animals ranging from rodents to whales to humans—using the world’s largest dataset of both genetic and physical traits. In research published today in the journal Science, the scientists reveal that, contradictory to a commonly held theory, placental mammals did not diversify into their present-day lineages until after the extinction event that eliminated non-avian dinosaurs, and about 70 percent of all species on Earth, some 65 million years ago. This finding, and the visualization of the placental ancestor—a small, insect-eating animal— was made with the help of a powerful cloud-based and publicly accessible database called MorphoBank. The Science article is the result of a multi-year collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Assembling the Tree of Life program.

Study Shows One in Three Children with MS has Cognitive Impairment

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:05:48 PST

Data from the largest multicenter study accessing cognitive functioning in children with multiple sclerosis (MS) reveals that one-third of these patients have cognitive impairment, according to a research paper published in the Journal of Child Neurology. Led by Lauren B. Krupp, MD, Director of the Lourie Center for Pediatric Multiple Sclerosis at Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, the study indicates that patients experience a range of problems related to cognition.

Stony Brook University Announces Collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. on New Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:00:00 PST

Stony Brook University has reached a research collaboration agreement with Janssen for the development of a new inactivated polio vaccine based on novel highly attenuated polio viral seed strains. These strains, when inactivated, have the potential to be as effective and as safe as the current inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV).

Stony Brook University Mentors Four Intel Finalists

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 08:30:00 PST

Stony Brook University faculty have mentored four of the 40 high school students chosen as finalists in the prestigious 2013 Intel Science Talent Search which accounts for 10 percent of the 40 finalists announced by Intel. All four finalists participated in the Simons Summer Research Program at Stony Brook where they worked in Stony Brook University labs with Stony Brook faculty members and graduate students.

Martian Underground Could Contain Clues to Life's Origins

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 13:00:00 PST

STONY BROOK, NY, January 20, 2013 – Minerals found in the subsurface of Mars, a zone of more than three miles below ground, make for the strongest evidence yet that the red planet may have supported life, according to research “Groundwater activity on Mars and implications for a deep biosphere,” published in Nature Geoscience on January 20, 2013.

Stony Brook University Faculty Mentors 35 Semifinalists in 2013 Intel Science Competition

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 12:00:00 PST

Stony Brook University mentors have guided 35 high school students into the semifinals of the 2013 Intel Science Talent Search Competition, one of the two national competitions in which budding high school researchers conduct and present their research to nationally recognized professional scientists. This number accounts for more than 10 percent of the 300 semifinalists nationally and more than 50 percent, 27 of 53 semifinalists from Long Island.