From 3-D printed hyperelastic bones to the nuclear membrane of immature red blood cells, scientific images bring to life the range of research published by Feinberg faculty, trainees and students in 2016. Below is a selection of some of the most striking images of the year:
Crucial Step in Red Blood Cell Development Discovered
Northwestern Medicine research revealed a surprising phenomenon behind the production of red blood cells.
As immature cells differentiate into mature red blood cells, their nuclei and the genetic material inside them — called chromatin — condense, a process that scientists did not fully understand until now.
In a paper published in Developmental Cell, a team led by Peng Ji, MD, PhD, ’13 GME, assistant professor of Pathology, showed that a large opening forms on the nuclear membrane of immature red blood cells, allowing histones — proteins in the chromatin — to release from the nucleus and degrade.
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Pinpointing the Place Where Cancer Cells May Begin
In a study involving the fruit fly equivalent of an oncogene implicated in many human leukemias, Northwestern University scientists gained insight into how developing cells normally switch to a restricted, or specialized, state and how that process might go wrong in cancer. The study was published in eLife.
Because flies share with humans many of the same cancer-causing genes, scientists use the precisely made compound eye of Drosophila melanogaster (the common fruit fly) as a workhorse to study what goes wrong in human cancer.
A team co-led by Richard Carthew, PhD, professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, and Luís Amaral, PhD, professor of Medicine, discovered that the levels of an important protein called Yan start fluctuating wildly when the cell is switching from a more primitive, stem-like state to a more specialized state.
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Proposing a Novel Cause for Obesity
A Northwestern Medicine study characterized in detail how leaky lymphatic vessels, which help to rid the body of waste or other unwanted particles, can lead to obesity in mice and showed a way to restore function in these leaky vessels.
“What is exciting about this study is the restoration of the lymphatic function, we didn’t know that you could do that — you could put a gene back — and in this case restore function quite well,” said Guillermo Oliver, PhD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology and lead author of the paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight.
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Promising Biomaterial to Build Better Bones With 3-D Printing
A Northwestern University research team developed a 3-D printable ink that produces a synthetic bone implant that rapidly induces bone regeneration and growth. This hyperelastic “bone” material, the shape of which can be easily customized, one day could be especially useful for the treatment of bone defects in children. The findings were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The research was led by Ramille Shah, PhD, assistant professor of Surgery in the Division of Organ Transplantation at Feinberg and of Materials Science and Engineering at the McCormick School of Engineering.
Read the full story and watch a video here.
Age-related Infertility May Be Caused By Scarred Ovaries
Women’s decreased ability to produce healthy eggs as they become older may be due to excessive scarring and inflammation in their ovaries, reported a Northwestern Medicine study in mice.
This is the first study to show the ovarian environment ages and that aging affects the quality of eggs it produces. These findings could result in new treatments that preserve fertility by delaying ovarian aging.
The study, led by Francesca Duncan, PhD, executive director of the Center for Reproductive Science, was published in the journal Reproduction.
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Uncovering How Cells Sense Oxygen Levels
Mammals adapt to low-oxygen environments by producing extra red blood cells to efficiently carry oxygen to tissues. But until now, scientists haven’t understood exactly how cells become aware of oxygen levels to begin this physiological reaction.
In a study published in Cell Reports, Northwestern Medicine scientists revealed that mitochondria are responsible for detecting changes in oxygen levels and can activate a chain of events to respond to inadequate supply, a condition called hypoxia.
The study was led by Navdeep Chandel, PhD, David W. Cugell Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine.
Read the full story here.
Stem Cell Method Predicts Patient Response to Cancer Drug
A Northwestern Medicine study published in Nature Medicine showed that reprogrammed stem cells can be used to identify patients with cancer who are likely to experience a dangerous side effect of a common chemotherapy drug.
Doxorubicin, also known as Adriamycin, effectively treats a wide range of cancers, including breast cancer and pediatric leukemia. But for about 8 percent of patients, the drug causes cardiotoxicity — heart muscle damage so severe that it can lead to heart failure. Currently, healthcare providers can’t predict in advance who will fall into this subset of patients.
“We were interested in whether there is a genetic reason for why some patients experience cardiotoxicity and some do not,” said corresponding author Paul Burridge, PhD, assistant professor of Pharmacology and a member of the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University.
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Pinpointing the Origins of Prostate Cancer
Northwestern Medicine scientists identified a protein that acts as a marker for a population of cells in the prostate with both regenerative and cancer-initiating potential, according to a study recently published in Nature Communications.
“In this paper, we identified the cell of origin for prostate cancer, which is very important in determining if it is an aggressive cancer or not and maybe even the treatment response,” said Sarki Abdulkadir, MD, PhD, the John T. Grayhack, MD, Professor of Urological Research and professor of Pathology. Abdulkadir is also a member of the Lurie Cancer Center.
Read the full story here.
Capturing Blood Flow Through the Heart
Images of blood flowing through a human heart, captured at a single moment in time through a 4-D flow MRI, took first place in Northwestern University’s Scientific Images Contest, run by Science in Society.
Kelly Jarvis, a graduate student in biomedical engineering at Northwestern University, created the winning image. Jarvis conducts research in the lab of Michael Markl, PhD, professor of Radiology.
Read the full story here.
Aiding Recovery From Spinal Cord Injuries With Nanofibers
An image of nerve cells growing on a nanofiber gel that may aid recovery from spinal cord injuries was a winner in the 2016 BioArt competition from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
The image came from an NIH-supported study led by a team of scientists at Northwestern, including Samuel Stupp, PhD, professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine and director of the Louis A. Simpson and Kimberly K. Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology, as well as Zaida Alvarez Pinto and Mark McClendon.
Read the full story here.
