Behind the Paper
The real stories behind the latest research papers, from conception to publication, the highs and the lows
Highway into the brain: a mouse model to study newborn neurolisteriosis
Bacterial infections of the central nervous system (CNS) are devastating with neonates being the population at the highest risk. Preventive measures, such as hygiene regimens and antibiotic intrapartum prophylaxis have decreased the incidence of neonatal CNS infections. However, mortality rates remain substantial and serious long-term sequelae, such as deafness or mental retardation are frequently observed. Knowledge about the pathogenesis CNS infection as a result of mucosal pathogen exposure is scant, mostly because of a lack of suitable animal models. And that´s where our story started…
The natural history of our changing planet
For me it all started with a telephone call, sometime in 1984, from Joop Jukema, a farmer and specialist potato grower.
Genetically engineered human muscle transplant enhances murine host neovascularization and myogenesis
Vascularization is a fundamental aspect of tissue engineering and a major challenge when aiming to construct thick tissues, such as skeletal muscle.
Growers: Hard to kill
Last year, tuberculosis (TB), caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) killed 1.5 million people, overtaking HIV/ AIDS – this reflects massive advances in treatment of HIV, which haven’t been matched in the treatment of TB. Although almost all cases of TB are curable, the treatment is extremely long, and no progress has been made in shortening treatment in 40 years, since the introduction of the drug rifampicin: which reduced the regimen duration from 18 to 6 months.
Artificial Intelligence in Colonoscopy
In our Nature Biomedical Engineering paper, we developed a deep learning algorithm for the detection of polyps in colonoscopy images and videos, and validated it with a large-scale collection of newly acquired data. The new technology could help to improve adenoma detection rate during colonoscopy.
