SSB Probe Newsletter #1- February 2024
Message from the Editors
Hi everyone! We’re Probe, the journal of Stanford Students in Biodesign (SSB). Our goal is to be an accessible source of information about medical and healthcare innovation at Stanford and beyond. We publish a bi-weekly newsletter (which you’re reading right now), long-form articles, and art about topics in biomedical science and health innovation.
Have a topic you’d like to see covered? We’d love to hear from you – please contact the Probe chairs with tips for future articles and newsletters. Thanks for reading!
Best,
Leyla Yilmaz and Dhruv Kapadia
SSB Probe Co-Chairs
Upcoming Events
Bioengineering Talk from Dr. Vayu Hill-Maini
When: February 6th, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Where: Shriram 104
Dr. Vayu Hill-Maini, a current postdoc at Berkeley, will give a seminar talk about his research on engineering edible fungi to attain more sustainable food sources. His talk will be of interest to anyone fascinated with synthetic biology, bioengineering, or gastronomy.
Biology Seminar Series: Xin Guy
When: February 5th, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Where: Clark Center, Clark Auditorium
As part of the Biology Seminar Series, Dr. Xin Gu, a neurobiologist at Harvard, will present her research. Dr. Gu has identified novel proteasomal degradation pathways that enable degradation of important transcriptional regulators, which can be altered to control brain function.
What We’re Reading
Exercise and Diet Linked to Telomere Length in Children with Obesity
Author: Audrey Jung
Telomeres, “caps” at the end of chromosomes, are known to protect genetic material from degradation. Because they shorten with age, greater telomere length is often associated with longer longevity. A recent study by the Stanford School of Medicine has also linked exercise and a healthy diet to an increase in telomere length in children with obesity.
In the study, 158 children with obesity participated in a six-month nutritional and physical exercise program. Researchers measured the children’s telomere length at the program’s end and a year later. On average, telomere length was found to increase after the program then partially reversed in the year’s end follow-up.
This study was the first of its kind in tracking youth telomere length over time. Its findings suggest that telomere length could be a good biomarker to reflect an individual’s health status, providing more information than the traditional measure of body mass index (BMI). This discovery might lead to improvements in diagnosis and how we approach child obesity treatments in the future.
Psychoactive drug shown to have profound effects on traumatic brain injury in military veterans
Author: Dhruv Kapadia
Most military veterans sustain many physical wounds over their career, but some of their deepest injuries come in the form of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). TBIs can change brain function and structure, contributing to a wide array of neuropsychiatric symptoms and high rates of depression and suicide among veterans. However, a team of Stanford Medicine researchers led by Nolan Williams, MD, have found that the combination of a plant-based psychoactive drug, ibogaine, and magnesium effectively reduced the effects of TBI.
In a study that involved 30 special operations veterans with histories of TBIs, participants were evaluated for clinically significant levels of disability. They then traveled to a clinic in Mexico to receive the treatment due to ibogaine’s designation as a Schedule I drug in the USA. Participants experienced average reductions of 87% in depression symptoms and 81% in anxiety symptoms. These impacts appear to be long-lasting with no serious side effects. “The results are dramatic, and we intend to study this compound further,” Dr. Williams said.
Contact the Editors
Reach out with any article suggestions, feedback, or if you’d like to guest-write a piece for Probe!
Leyla Yilmaz: lyilmaz@stanford.edu
Dhruv Kapadia: dkapadia@stanford.edu
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Learn more about Stanford Students in Biodesign here.