Basic Science News at Duke School of Medicine

When Felicia Pagliuca arrived at Duke as a first-year undergraduate student from Asheville, she was only 16, but she was already fascinated by biology and physics. She knew she wanted to do scientific research “someday.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded grants to two Duke University School of Medicine faculty members through the NIH Common Fund’s High-Risk, High-Reward (HRHR) Research Program. 

Doug Marchuk, PhD, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Aravind Asokan, PhD, professor in surgery, have been awarded a three-year $1.9 million grant from the Department of Defense to develop less invasive treatment options for familial cerebral cavernous malformations (CCM).

The new scholars are outstanding first-year students from historically under-represented or underserved backgrounds who are pursuing a PhD.

Duke School of Medicine Symposium on Oct. 2-3 celebrates Robert Lefkowitz's 50- year career at Duke and honors his legacy of Nobel Prize-winning insights that transformed modern medicine.

Scientists at Duke University School of Medicine are the first to decode the genetic makeup of Akkermansia, a gut bacterium that could help manage cholesterol levels and be used as a next-generation probiotic.  

Akkermansia thrives in the mucus layer of the intestine and has a knack for breaking down a type of sugary protein called mucin. This unique skill could be important for our health.  

Decades of work by a series of Duke investigators yields new drug, patents and a startup company

In animal studies, the fat molecule encourages stem cells to generate new cells that produce the brain’s white matter.

A process of surgically joining the circulatory systems of a young and old mouse slows the aging process at the cellular level and lengthens the lifespan of the older animal by up to 10%.

Circular DNA, thought to be an accidental byproduct, is borrowing the cell’s DNA repair mechanisms to copy itself.