Category: 2025-26

2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

White Fur, Hidden Cells: The Albino Rat Mystery

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: A male albino rat  Melanocytes in the hair matrix produce melanin, which gives hair its color. The various color combinations within their fur, which depend on the distribution pattern of hair follicles containing melanocytes, give rise to the coloration patterns observed in most terrestrial mammals. Albino rats do not genetically produce melanin, leaving their coats white, but … Continue reading White Fur, Hidden Cells: The Albino Rat Mystery

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

Protecting the Brain: How a CRISPR Mutation Safeguards Neurons

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: A Niemann Pick cell in the spleen Acid sphingomyelinase (aSMase) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes sphingomyelin (SM) to ceramide and phosphocholine. Niemann-Pick Disease (NPD) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by impairment or loss of aSMase. It presents in two forms: Type A, which is severe, and Type B, which is milder. The gene that codes … Continue reading Protecting the Brain: How a CRISPR Mutation Safeguards Neurons

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2025-26, Cellular and Molecular Science

Reclassifying the “Waste”: Phenotypic Characterization and Clinical Insights into Cancer-Associated Macrophage-Like Cells

By Adil Ali Khan, Class of 2029 Figure 1: Schematic view of the tumor microenvironment Polyploid giant cancer cells (PGGCs), found in tumors, have long been dismissed as excessive inflammatory waste with no biological or clinical relevance. Yet recently, numerous researchers have described the existence of PGGCs in solid tumor masses that appear to correlate with tumor progression, also appearing as cancer-associated macrophage-like cells (CAMLs) … Continue reading Reclassifying the “Waste”: Phenotypic Characterization and Clinical Insights into Cancer-Associated Macrophage-Like Cells

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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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2025-26, General Neuroscience

My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Image of the Eurasian common shrew The Eurasian common shrew (S. araneus) has two rare traits. One is seasonal brain size plasticity, where the brain shrinks during winter and regrows in spring. The other is extensive chromosomal rearrangements, or structural differences in chromosomes, within the species. In a study examining S. araneus, William R. Thomas and his … Continue reading My Brain Is Shrew-nking: Connections Between Eurasian Common Shrew’s Evolutionary History and Their Seasonal Neuroplasticity

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  Retinal fundus photographs of the right and left eyes in a patient with acute optic neuritis, a common presenting manifestation of multiple sclerosis. Acute optic neuritis (ON) is a common first symptom for a later diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). It is known that high-contrast visual acuity—the ability to read black letters on a white background—tends to … Continue reading A Real Eye-Opener: How Demyelination May Be Linked to Poor Color Vision

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2025-26, General Psychology

Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 Figure 1.  An image of the Stony Brook University campus depicting natural green tones and strong warm colors. College students experience many changes in their mental and physical health while on campus, and the colors of a campus may directly contribute to their health. Yingjie Li and his colleagues at Shandong Agricultural University and the Shandong Academy of Forestry … Continue reading Feeling blue: How different colors on campus can affect student mental health

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2025-26, General Neuroscience

The Pandemic on the Brain: How COVID-19 may be affecting the nervous system

By Katie Au, Class of 2029 COVID-19, a disease that notably affects the respiratory system, has also been shown to affect the nervous system. While some have initial experiences of insomnia and even stroke, others continue to have long-term neurocognitive changes like memory loss after the initial acute symptoms, which researchers have labeled as neurological post-acute sequelae (N-PASC). Xiaohua Yang and colleagues from the Renaissance … Continue reading The Pandemic on the Brain: How COVID-19 may be affecting the nervous system

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