March Today, just 1 in 5,000 experimental compounds proves safe and effective enough to reach patients. For new drugs, the road to hospitals and clinics is steep and long. Researchers screen countless promising compounds, but they choose only a few to begin clinical trials. Of those selected, roughly 9 out of 10 will fail. For that […]
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Taking Aim at Addiction
April The headline in The Washington Post said it all: “A young couple died of overdose, police say. Their baby died of starvation days later.” The article that followed recounted a tragic story. It was specific to a community 60 miles outside Pittsburgh, and to a young family who lost their lives. But it also […]
Cut Carbs, Cut MS Symptoms?
May Dr. Scott Plafker likes medical solutions that don’t come in pill bottles. In his OMRF lab, he’s studied how a compound naturally produced in broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts can protect eyes as they age. “Because it’s readily available in vegetables, people can get it with ease, and they can get it without […]
A Different Kind of Basic Training
June OMRF has welcomed military academy students to its labs since 2009. For Dr. John Saxon III, the connection was one worth making. “Some people may not think of basic science and the military as linked, but I thought that I could use OMRF’s work as an opportunity to stimulate some basic bench science interest with cadets […]
Mending the Wounds That Time Cannot
July A pair of OMRF scientists take a different approach to the study of healing. Time, it’s said, heals all wounds. But we all know that’s not quite true. “Everything must work just right for proper wound healing to take place,” says OMRF’s Dr. Lorin Olson. “It’s a delicate balance.” Olson studies a compound in the […]
Next Question, Please
August For Dr. Holly Van Remmen, “research is a puzzle.” As a child, Holly Van Remmen loved to figure out how things worked. Even her younger sister’s supposedly impregnable Fisher-Price transistor radio fell prey to her inquiring mind. “I used butter knives, screwdrivers and all kinds of things to get inside it,” she says. “I just […]
