NEW YORK (March 18, 2005) -- Weill Medical College of Cornell University researchers have made the startling discovery that renin -- a kidney-secreted enzyme crucial to blood pressure regulation -- is also synthesized and secreted by mast cells within the heart.Renin breaks down a precursor, angiotensinogen, to form angiotensin. Because angiotensin is a major culprit in the development of cardiovascular diseases, the discovery that renin is produced outside the kidneys could revolutionize our therapeutic approach to these conditions.
Although most people think of bats as stealthy mammals that flit about in the night sky, at least one species has evolved a terrestrial trot never before seen in bats, according to a recent study.
On March 9, MBA students taking International Political Risk Management, a course taught by Elena Iankova, a lecturer at the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, heard Fuad El-Hibri, chairman and CEO of Bioport's parent company, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., discuss the hurdles his firm faces in making and marketing its products abroad.
The so-called "gay adolescent" soon will disappear, predicts a Cornell University expert on teenage sexuality in a new book. These adolescents will still have the same desires, fantasies and attractions, he writes, but they no longer will need or want to identify themselves as gay. "The new gay teenager is in many respects the non-gay teenager," says Ritch Savin-Williams, professor and chair of human development in Cornell's College of Human Ecology in his new book, The New Gay Teenager (Harvard University Press, 2005). Savin-Williams is an expert on issues concerning gay, lesbian and bisexual youths and is a licensed clinical psychologist who works with gay youths and their families.
Ruling that it could find no rational basis in the record, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Albany today unanimously upheld Tompkins County Supreme Court Justice Robert C. Mulvey's June 9, 2004, decision ordering the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission to grant the approval sought by Cornell University for a replacement parking lot proposed as part of its West Campus Residential Initiative. This ruling is the latest of three successive judicial rulings in Cornell's favor. "The West Campus Residential Initiative is an exciting part of Cornell's academic program for the future. We hope that now, with this decision, this matter is finally resolved and Cornell and the city can move forward cooperatively," said Cornell Vice President Thomas Bruce, commenting on today's ruling by the appellate court in Albany.
Although most people think of bats as stealthy mammals that flit about in the night sky, at least one species has evolved a terrestrial trot never before seen in bats, according to a recent Cornell University study.
The old news is that students in small schools do better and have brighter outcomes than students in larger schools. The latest news, however, is that when small schools close in rural communities to consolidate with large schools, the local community is a big loser. A Cornell University study shows that on almost every indicator of economic and social well-being, rural communities with their own schools fare significantly better than rural communities that no longer have schools. (March 16, 2005)
Cornell University will present a student benefit concert, Big Red Relief, to raise money for victims of the December 2004 tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean. The concert, which will include an array of talented student performers from across the Cornell campus, is Sunday, April 3, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Barton Hall. Everyone is welcome, and doors open at 6 p.m.
George Georgiou, the Joe C. Walter Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, will deliver the 18th annual Julian C. Smith Lectures in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University Monday, April 18, and Tuesday, April 19. Both talks will be given at 4 p.m. in 255 Olin Hall and will be preceded by a 3:15 p.m. reception in the Fred H. Rhodes Lounge in 128 Olin Hall. Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Cornell University experts predict that the 104th beast created for the annual Dragon Day parade on campus will emerge from its lair Friday, March 18, and the university has issued the following traffic warning and road-closure alert: Vehicular access to central campus will be restricted from 12:30 p.m. to approximately 3:30 p.m. Buses could be rerouted or delayed when the dragon begins its journey across campus from Rand Hall at approximately 1 p.m. The beast will travel east on University Avenue, then south on East Avenue, then west on Campus Road. It will lumber through Ho Plaza and enter the Arts Quad, between Uris and Olin libraries, before proceeding to the south side of Sibley Hall.
Vaccines that train the immune system to seek out and destroy malignant cells are at the cutting edge of cancer treatment. Now, joint research – conducted by researchers at Weill Medical Cornell and at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Branch in New York – has pinpointed two proteins that seem ideal targets for a vaccine against multiple myeloma.
NEW YORK (March 16, 2005) -- Two compounds that zero in on cancer cells spreading throughout the body, while ignoring primary tumor cells, could someday give doctors a whole new weapon in the fight against tough-to-treat metastatic disease, according to Weill Medical College of Cornell University researchers.The compounds, called synthetic migrastatin analogues, prevented 91 to 99 percent of metastatic breast cancer cells in mice, and are the first to target only metastatic cells.
