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Nicholas “Nick” Heaton, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University, has been selected to receive a Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Award to support his work exploring the role of virally induced inflammation in the development of asthma.

Kate D. Meyer, PhD, an assistant professor of biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine, has been named a Searle Scholar for 2018 for her work exploring how RNA regulatory pathways control gene expression in the brain.

Five School of Medicine faculty were awarded distinguished professorships. Distinguished professorships recognize both exceptional achievement and the potential for future achievement. They are awarded to our most distinguished faculty who have demonstrated extraordinary scholarship in advancing science and improving human health.   

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Cathleen Colon-Emeric MD, MHSc, has been appointed associate dean for research mentoring for the School of Medicine, it was announced today by Dean Mary E. Klotman and Vice Dean for Faculty Ann Brown. In this position, Dr. Colon-Emeric will lead two existing grant programs, the K-Club (to assist faculty writing career development awards) and the Path to Independence Program (to assist faculty writing their first R-grant). She succeeds Dr. Mark Dewhirst, who will continue to work with the program as executive director of research mentor training.

More than 2 million people worldwide live with inherited and untreatable retinal conditions, including retinitis pigmentosa, which slowly erodes vision. Developing treatments is challenging for scientists, as these conditions are caused by more than 4,000 different gene mutations. But many of these mutations have something in common -- a propensity for creating misfolded proteins that cells in the eye can’t process. These proteins build up inside cells, killing them from the inside out.

Four School of Medicine faculty members were elected to the Association of American Physicians at the AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Annual Meeting held April 20-22. Membership in this organization is a distinction recognizing excellence and outstanding achievement:   Adrian Hernandez, MD, Medicine Vice Dean for Clinical Research

A vaccine that elicits broadly neutralizing antibodies could block this transmission  Mother-to-child transmission of HIV has been reduced dramatically worldwide with the use of anti-retroviral therapies (ART), but even with these effective drugs, approximately 400 babies a day become infected before, during and after birth.

Jacqueline S. Barnett, DHSc, MSHS, PA-C, associate professor of community and family medicine, has been named program director, Duke Physician Assistant Program, effective June 1, 2018. Barnett has served as associate program director since late 2015. The decision was made after a national search conducted by an internal committee led by Kenyon Railey, M.D., assistant professor of community and family medicine. In the interim, Patricia McKelvey Dieter, MPA, PA-C, professor of community and family medicine and PA division chief, has served as program director.

    Molecules called aptamers could form new, safer chemotherapy delivery systems Using chemotherapy along with aptamers – lab-made molecules that function like antibodies – Duke Health researchers showed that they can zero in on and kill prostate cancer tumors in mice while leaving healthy tissue unscathed. The finding suggests that aptamers could form the basis of new cancer therapies if additional studies in animals and humans bear out.