Lab Notes

Student, mental health and depression with anxiety, burnout and sad for exam results, fail or mistake while sitting outdoor. Young man, stress and tired and depressed on university or college campus.

Report: Mental Health Crises Spike Among Youth

Suicide related emergency room visits for young people have increased every year since 2011

May 2, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery UConn Health
Load it up. Column (a) shows how the high dose, slow release microneedle antibody patch (MA) works. PLGA is a biodegradable polymer that can be tuned to degrade faster or slower. The middle image shows microneedles made of differently tuned PLGA represented by different colors. The graph on the bottom shows how the patch keeps blood levels of antibodies (Ab) in a certain range, with little spikes as the different PLGA microneedles dissolve and release their antibodies into the bloodstream over 30 days. Column (b) shows the high dose powder-filling method the team developed. It can deliver doses of 4 to 5mg of antibodies per square centimeter of patch. The traditional technology shown in column (c) can deliver only much lower doses.

Less Painful, More Convenient Antibody Treatments

A timed-release patch made of biodegradable polymer could make antibody treatments more accessible and safer

April 11, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery
An older man covers his face with his hands in a sign of severe depression.

Depressed, and Aging Fast

UConn Center on Aging researchers have found that older adults suffering from depression age faster than their peers

March 22, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery UConn Health
The figure’s x-axis compares two subpopulations of microglia cells (the brain’s ‘waste disposal team’.) One group causes inflammation; the other group repairs damage. The figure’s y-axis shows that the T-cell receptor signaling pathway (a known major immune-regulatory mechanism) is significantly more active in the blue cells repairing damaged tissue. On the other hand, the immune system is relatively suppressed in the red cells causing inflammation.

Brain’s Garbage Collectors May be to Blame in Alzheimer’s

Instead of being the primary cause of the disease, perhaps the plaques and tangles of Alzheimer’s are a symptom

March 10, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery
A health care worker wearing blue rubber gloves draws a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine into a syringe.

The Stronger the Side Effects, the Longer Lasting the Vax

'Prior infection with COVID meant you were more likely to have a sustained immune response'

March 6, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery UConn Health
Depressed senior man sitting on the hospital bed alone at night, he feels lonely and abandoned.

Mitochondria Linked to Major Depression in Older Adults

'One problem feeds into another, and make what began as a small issue into a much larger one'

February 7, 2023 | Kim Krieger

Research & Discovery UConn Health
A still life photo of a petri dish on top of an illustration of the human body. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

The Heart of the Matter: New Drug Reduces Inflammation During Coronary Catheterization

UConn Assistant Professor of Immunology Zhichao Fan and his collaborators were exploring a treatment for one condition when they happened on an entirely new use of the white-blood cell-inhibiting drug

February 6, 2023 | Loretta Waldman, for UConn Research

Research & Discovery UConn Health
Mapping Center cells

UConn Center on Aging to Transform our Understanding of Cellular Senescence in Human Aging with NIH-Funded Tissue Mapping Center Discoveries

The journal Nature Aging has highlighted the new NIH-funded SenNet Consortium that includes an NIH Common Fund U54 Tissue Mapping Center at UConn Health/JAX to better understand senescent cells which underlie aging and chronic disease development.

December 22, 2022 | Lauren Woods

Research & Discovery
Dr. Erica Chen presents a poster

Uncovering Brain Cancer’s Molecular Signature

UConn Health, The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine among few in the world able to analyze tumors with elite precision

November 30, 2022 | Christopher DeFrancesco '95 (CLAS)

Research & Discovery UConn Health

Aging, Frailty, and our Microbiomes: UConn Health/JAX Study Findings in Nature Aging

Study shows our microbiomes—the trillions of microbes that live on and within us—play central roles in our health and susceptibility to different diseases. And as we age, our microbiomes change too, with important health implications over time.

October 21, 2022 | Mark Wanner/JAX

UConn Health