I've told you about many of the ways we're exploring the use of focused sound waves to do brain surgery without actually cutting into the skull, but here's a new one: Dr. Nathan Fountain is testing focused ultrasound to treat a rare brain mass that causes unintentional giggling, seizures and…
Our Irina Bochkis, PhD, has made a discovery that suggests we could cure or prevent fatty liver disease, diabetes and other metabolic diseases -- and possibly even reverse aging itself -- by removing wrinkles inside our cells. Much as our skin wrinkles with age, so does the membrane surrounding our…
Skulls may be a symbol of death, but we're using them to make a better life for some of our youngest patients. Dr. Jonathan Black, one of our plastic surgeons, is using life-sized, 3D-printed skulls to prepare for surgery on tiny babies born with skull deformities. His youngest patient was…
The physical proximity of the School of Medicine to UVA's School of Engineering is a tremendous asset for us, especially as the overlap between medicine and engineering grows by the year. (For example, I've already told you about our Duchenne muscular dystrophy project.) To capitalize on that proximity -- and…
This is one of my favorite stories: Our M. Mitchell Smith built an amazingly powerful microscope, piece by piece, and now he and collaborator Dean H. Kedes have used it to reveal how a cancer-causing virus attaches itself to our DNA. That knowledge could let scientists figure out how to…
This was Donate Life Week at the School of Medicine, and we had a weeklong series of events recognizing April as Donate Life Month. As part of that, our popular therapy dogs, who regularly visit with patients to lift their spirits, came out for a special organ donation event. The…
