Keck School of Medicine of USC will launch a new research initiative focused on extending the human health span with a $10 million transformative gift from R. Rex Parris and his wife Carrol Parris. The USC Parris Longevity Accelerator, to be led by Denis Evseenko, MD, PhD, professor of orthopedic surgery and regenerative medicine, will bring together experts from engineering, stem cell research and gerontology to uncover predictive biomarkers of aging and develop early interventions for age-related diseases.  The USC Parris Longevity Accelerator aims to create treatments for major age-associated conditions like osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disorders, with the goal of bringing them to clinical trials within a few years.

University of Texas at Dallas bioengineers, in collaboration with UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers, are developing an enhanced light-activated immunotherapy approach that could one day treat patients with stomach cancer that has spread throughout the abdomen.

The approach uses lab-designed molecules and far-red or near-infrared light to “prime” the immune system to help it attack stubborn cancer cells, said Dr. Girgis Obaid, assistant professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science.

The near-bottom water on the U.S. Northeast continental shelf provides a critical cold-water habitat for the rich regional marine ecosystem. This “cold pool” preserves winter temperatures, even when waters elsewhere become too warm or salty during the summer.

•           The U.S. Northeast coastal ocean has experienced accelerated warming in recent years, compared to the global average. Now, scientists using salt as a tracer are investigating how much the influx of salty offshore water onto the continental shelf contributes to the observed “erosion” of the seasonal cold pool.

•           This paper provides the first evidence for a seasonal salinification of the cold pool on the US Northeast continental shelf, as consistently observed in the multi-year mooring record of the [Ocean Observatories Initiative] Coastal Pioneer Array.

The University of Texas at Arlington-based Texas Manufacturing Assistance Center, known as TMAC, is helping the state's manufacturers reduce pollution with real-time sensors that track their environmental impact. The innovative effort is producing results that could transform how companies protect air and water quality. The program recently earned TMAC an Environmental Excellence award from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality issued by Governor Greg Abbott for technical innovation.