ISB News

Lifestyle coaching improves cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease trial.

Personalized Coaching Decreases Cognitive Decline in Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease Patients

Supplementing the standard of treatment for Alzheimer’s disease patients with personalized lifestyle coaching leads to less cognitive decline compared to standard of treatment alone, according to an ISB-led two-year study. The results were published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Sarah Clemente

AmeriCorps Member Sarah Clemente Joins ISB as Systems Thinkers in STEM Ambassador Coordinator

Sarah Clemente recently joined ISB as a Systems Thinkers in STEM Ambassador Coordinator, and is the third AmeriCorps member to work with us. In this Q&A, Clemente shares what drew her to ISB, what she hopes to accomplish over the next year, and more. 

COVID-19 Vaccines and Boosters Are Essential for Maternal-Fetal Health

In light of the recent FDA and CDC decision to approve two updated messenger RNA COVID-19 booster shots, it is imperative to alert the pregnant population of the importance and effectiveness of these vaccines and boosters. 

Baliga Postdoctoral Fellow Training

Genetic Tools Probe Microbial Dark Matter

ISB researchers Nitin Baliga, Serdar Turkarslan, Mario Arrieta-Ortiz and Yaqiao Li collaborated with the University of Washington to present the first glimpse of the molecular mechanisms behind the unusual lifestyle of a group of tiny microbes called Patescibacteria. The breakthrough was made possible by the discovery of a way to genetically manipulate these bacteria, an advance that has opened a world of possible new research directions.

High School Duo Named Champions in DOE-Sponsored AlgaePrize Competition

High school students Ashwin Mukherjee and Rohan Chanani worked with ISB Research Scientist Dr. Jacob Valenzuela on a project to build a machine learning algorithm to count algal cells from microscope images taken from a cell phone. In April, the team was recognized as champions in the DOE-sponsored AlgaePrize competition.

Drs. Jennifer Hadlock and Samantha Piekos

COVID-19 Vaccines and Boosters Associated with Lower Rates of Stillbirth, New ISB Study Shows

Pregnant people who are vaccinated are less likely to contract COVID-19 than unvaccinated pregnant people, and those vaccinated and boosted are less likely to get COVID than those who are vaccinated only, according to the first-ever large study of boosters and pregnancy.

Spotlight on ISB Education graphic

2022-23 School Year ISB Education Highlights

From planning, creating and executing workshops for educators to forging new relationships to elevate students, the ISB Education team has been in high gear. Each month throughout the 2022-2023 academic year, we will highlight some of the top projects the team is working on.

Three Collaborative Projects Announced for ISB’s 2023 Innovator Award Program

ISB kicked off the seventh year of our successful Innovator Award Program by announcing three collaborative projects. This internal program is designed to support novel research ideas that cut across disciplines and research groups.

Dr. Leroy Hood, Popular Mechanics

Leroy Hood Wants To Show You How To Live for a Really, Really Long Time

Popular Mechanics interviewed ISB Co-founder and Professor Dr. Lee Hood for an article titled “Leroy Hood Wants To Show You How To Live for a Really, Really Long Time.” The story features Hood’s big-data approach and a focus on disease prevention – all in the quest to help us live longer.

Revolutionizing Healthcare: Exploring the Age of Scientific Wellness for Optimal Health and Disease Prevention

In their new book, “The Age of Scientific Wellness: Why the Future of Medicine is Personalized, Predictive, Data-Rich, and In Your Hands,” Drs. Lee Hood and Nathan Price introduce a new way of thinking about healthcare – a focus on preventing diseases and optimizing overall wellness.

LA Times Image

New Alzheimer’s drugs are costly and controversial. Are we going about this all wrong?

There is tremendous market and media frenzy around new Alzheimer’s disease drugs, but their efficacy is contested while the potential of prevention is untapped and underreported, Drs. Lee Hood and Nathan Price wrote in an opinion piece published by the Los Angeles Times.

“Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” podcast welcomes Lee Hood and Nathan Price

Drs. Lee Hood and Nathan Price, authors of “The Age of Scientific Wellness,” were interviewed by actor and podcaster Dax Sheperd about their new book, and they discussed how AI is changing the medical industry, how infectious disease has impacted our world, the effectiveness of prescriptions, and much more.

Dr. Hadlock

Dr. Jennifer Hadlock Promoted to Associate Professor

Dr. Jennifer Hadlock – an expert in machine learning, immune-mediated inflammatory disease, and maternal/fetal health – has been promoted to associate professor. The Hadlock Lab is an interdisciplinary team that aims to accelerate translational research by integrating clinical data into systems biology at scale.

Beyond the Scale: How Multiomics and Biological BMI Can Help Achieve Optimal Health

ISB researchers have constructed a biological BMI that provides a more accurate representation of metabolic health and is more varied, informative and actionable than the long-used classical BMI. ISB Senior Research Scientist Dr. Noa Rappaport discussed biological BMI in a Research Roundtable presentation. 

The AI Will See You Now

This essay published by The Wall Street Journal is adapted from “The Age of Scientific Wellness,” the new book by Dr. Lee Hood, co-founder and professor of the Institute for Systems Biology, and Dr. Nathan Price, chief science officer of Thorne HealthTech.

Building a Better BMI

ISB researchers have constructed biological body mass index (BMI) measures that offer a more accurate representation of metabolic health and are more varied, informative and actionable than the traditional, long-used BMI equation. The work was published in the journal Nature Medicine. 

How Immune Cells ‘See’ and Respond to Mutations in Cancer Cells

In a just-published paper in the journal Nature, a collaborative team of researchers from ISB, UCLA, PACT Pharma, and beyond analyzed T-cell responses in melanoma patients who were treated with different immune checkpoint inhibitors, and how those responses evolved over time.

How Bacteria Build Communities That Can Impact Your Health

Bacteria are much more than single-celled organisms swimming around. Bacteria also form communities called biofilm, and work together to maintain the microbial community. Biofilm is just one research area of ISB’s Kuchina Lab. In this Research Roundtable presentation, ISB Assistant Professor Dr. Anna Kuchina details her work studying biofilms.