Category: Health and Medicine

2025-26, Health and Medicine

The use of Probiotics can Mitigate the Damage Done by Microplastics in the Gut

By Julian Namerow, Class of 2026 Figure 1:The most commonly found microplastics in food are from the clear plastic wrapping surrounding this red tomato and all other vegetables. Micro- and nanoplastics are now present in human gastrointestinal tracts, derived primarily from food packaging materials, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET is essentially what all meat, fruits, and vegetables are wrapped in at grocery stores: the … Continue reading The use of Probiotics can Mitigate the Damage Done by Microplastics in the Gut

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

Hocus POCUS: Let’s Find The Lung

By Sajia Athai Class of 2026 Figure 1  Pneumothorax (PTX), the collapse of a lung, is an integral condition that existing techniques in the past have incorrectly diagnosed.  New advances show more accurate diagnosis methods, highlighting patient sensitivity and responsiveness. In trauma patients, there are established techniques that are utilized to detect pneumothorax (a collapsed lung), typically consisting of a supine chest x-ray. In a … Continue reading Hocus POCUS: Let’s Find The Lung

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

U-Found “Finds” The Prostate

By Sajia Athai, Class of 2026 Figure 1    The U-Found software tool was designed to detect cancer in the prostate based on analysis of the entire gland, rather than a few regions of interest. Dr. Joel Saltz, the Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Stony Brook University, is part of a team of researchers who have developed a new AI software … Continue reading U-Found “Finds” The Prostate

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

Your Skin as a Reflection of Your Behavior and Health

By: Judy Zhao, Class of 2029 Figure 1. A woman’s skin under the sun As one of the most vital organs of the human body, the skin serves as a protective barrier against environmental stressors. Research conducted under Dr. Lajos Kemény at Semmelweis University investigated neural pathways that link skin and hair color with the central nervous system (CNS). This link, referred to as the … Continue reading Your Skin as a Reflection of Your Behavior and Health

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

Shaping Future Physicians Through Service Learning

By: Judy Zhao, Class of 2029 Figure 1. A representation of the COVID-19 virus Just like education everywhere else, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the typical medical student’s experiences in the classroom. For millions of medical students worldwide, they suddenly lost access to the in-person and hands-on learning experiences that they were originally promised. A recent study by Dr. Lu from Stony Brook University and her … Continue reading Shaping Future Physicians Through Service Learning

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

EnCODE: Detecting for Disease by Color 

By: Kang Lai, Class of 2026 Current digital medicine relies heavily on complex laboratory equipment and fluorescence-based molecular tests. EnCODE, an enzymatic colorimetric encoding-based system, harnesses color and leverages it to detect biomarkers of disease. Beyond predicting simple positive or negative results, EnCODE has the potential to reveal diagnostic information about biomarker expression and disease states.  Much of digital medicine depends on the detection of … Continue reading EnCODE: Detecting for Disease by Color 

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

The Color of Fat Shapes Vascular Health and Control of Blood Pressure

By Kang Lai, Class of 2026 Obesity is a major risk factor for hypertension, a condition in which arterial blood pressure remains constantly elevated above normal levels. While white adipose tissue has long been associated with increased blood pressure and cardiometabolic disease, brown or beige fat has been linked with cardiometabolic protection and reduced odds of hypertension. What remains unknown, however, is the crosstalk between … Continue reading The Color of Fat Shapes Vascular Health and Control of Blood Pressure

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2025-26, Health and Medicine

Color Vision Recovery: an overlooked aftereffect of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: Papilledema, a form of optic disc edema (swollen optic nerve), often mimicking bilateral optic disk swelling, which is characteristic of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease Figure 2: Macular OCT depicting serous retinal detachment in the left eye, a symptom of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease is a systemic inflammatory condition characterized by autoimmune responses that target melanocytes and affect … Continue reading Color Vision Recovery: an overlooked aftereffect of Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

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Biology, Cellular and Molecular Science, Disease, Health, Medicine and Physiology, Molecular Biology

Watching Muscles Heal: A Zebrafish Model for Regeneration

Author: Diego Javier, Class of 2026 Muscle regeneration is a nuanced and important area of study in understanding how muscles recover from injury. Researchers have been trying to develop therapies for muscle-related diseases, and some have used zebrafish as a model organism given their ability to regenerate their heart and skeletal muscles. In order to study muscle regeneration. Eric Paulissen, in the lab of SBU … Continue reading Watching Muscles Heal: A Zebrafish Model for Regeneration

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Disease, Health and Medicine, Immunology, Microbiota

Specific protein, TlyC in bacteria Rickettsia plays a determining factor in the pathogenesis of Spotted Fever disease

Author: Kang Lai, Class of 2026 Ticks are commonly known vectors that transmit pathogens from one host to another. The genus of bacteria known as Rickettsia contains a hemolysin factor that causes disease progression through lysis of red blood cells. Several strains of Rickettsia are analyzed to deduce the key virulence factor behind its epidemiology of the Spotted Fever pathogenesis.  Bacterial hemolysins are toxins that … Continue reading Specific protein, TlyC in bacteria Rickettsia plays a determining factor in the pathogenesis of Spotted Fever disease

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Disease, Ecology, Environment, Natural World

Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases

Author:  Antonia Truta, Class of 2028 The World Health Organization’s definition of zoonosis is any disease or infection naturally transmissible from animals to humans, or vice versa. Animals are important to understanding disease transmission, with over 60% of emerging infectious diseases having zoonotic origins. Yet, to fully understand the context of zoonotic disease outbreaks, we must look at our interactions with nature in a larger … Continue reading Climate Change and Zoonotic Diseases

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Health, mental health, music, well-being

Cows’ Moo-sic: Raga and Chinese Five-Element Music on Cattle Performance and Welfare

Author: Maegan Diep, Class of 2029 The beneficial effects of music are garnering attention for their healing abilities and their impacts on physiological and psychological states on humans and animals alike. Research has implicated music in stress alleviation in laboratory animals, improvements in egg production and hatchability in quails, and extended resting periods in pigs. Cows, in particular, are currently being studied for their productivity … Continue reading Cows’ Moo-sic: Raga and Chinese Five-Element Music on Cattle Performance and Welfare

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