The use of viruses as vehicles for delivering genes to replace malfunctioning or missing ones holds promise for treating many disorders. Adeno-associated viruses are one type of vector being used increasingly in human gene therapy clinical trials and laboratory studies leading up to those trials. But differences in the way researchers determine the administered doses [...]

For Diane, a mother of three who started using a wheelchair after an injury, her breast cancer diagnosis at age 40 was a “wake-up call” to stay on top of her health. She is one of four breast cancer survivors who share their stories and encourage other women with physical disabilities to get breast cancer [...]

Hemophilia, a disease linked with legends of European monarchs, frail heirs and one flamboyant charlatan called Rasputin, still afflicts many people today. And the very treatments that can help can also put patients’ lives at risk. The standard treatment is infusion with an expensively produced protein that helps the blood to clot. But in some [...]

The University of Florida is seeking older adults between the ages of 70 and 89 to take part in a lifestyle interventions trial to determine whether exercise or health education can prevent or delay major movement disability in older adults. Field sites will be in both Gainesville and Jacksonville. Little is known about whether specific [...]

Doctors have a clearer picture than ever before of how much radiation reaches sensitive tissues during routine X-rays and similar imaging, thanks to sophisticated models of the human body being developed at the University of Florida. “We’re building a rich library of computer simulation tools and 3-D patient models that will make dose estimates much [...]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download The humble papaya is gaining credibility in Western medicine for anticancer powers that folk cultures have recognized for generations. University of Florida researcher Nam Dang, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues in Japan have documented papaya’s dramatic anticancer effect against a broad range of lab-grown tumors, including cancers of the [...]

Sonic hedgehog, a gene that plays a crucial role in the positioning and growth of limbs, fingers and toes, has been confirmed in an unexpected place in the embryos of developing mice — the layer of cells that creates the skin. Named for a video game character, Sonic hedgehog describes both a gene and the [...]

Source: Winfred M. Phillips, UF Vice President for Research, 352-392-9271 or wphil@ufl.edu. David Nelson, M.D., has been named director of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Florida. Nelson, a professor of medicine and a leader in liver transplantation and hepatology at the UF College of Medicine, is engaged in multidisciplinary approaches [...]

Pain affects people differently. For example, studies have shown that African-American and Hispanic people tend to have stronger responses to pain than white people. The question is why? With funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, University of Florida College of Dentistry researcher Roger Fillingim, Ph.D., has received a $713,000 revision to [...]

The director of the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Florida received the MetLife Foundation Awards for Medical Research in Alzheimer’s Disease during a scientific briefing and luncheon today (Thursday, Feb. 25) in Washington, D.C. Todd Golde, M.D., a professor of neuroscience in the College of Medicine, studies amyloid beta [...]