Health and Medicine

Tort reform that would cap the non-economic damages that can be recovered in a health-care liability suit would have a significant adverse impact on women and the elderly, according to research conducted by a professor in the University at Buffalo Law School.

With almost 500 University at Buffalo physicians practicing in more than 17 primary and specialty-care areas, choosing a university-associated doctor may seem like a daunting task. But now it's been made much easier, thanks to the "Find-a-UB-Physician" Web site developed last fall by the Office of Medical Computing in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Researchers with the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA) have been awarded a four-year, $1,569,584 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to study the development of drinking problems by young adults.

University at Buffalo epidemiologists have received a $2.4 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to conduct a four-year investigation of breast cancer, examining genetic susceptibility, tumor characteristics and dietary intake of fruits, vegetables and alcohol as they relate to breast-cancer risk.

Daniel Fischer, Ph.D., who coordinates the bioinformatics track at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel, has been named director of educational programs for the University at Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics.

Endocrinologists from the University at Buffalo have shown for the first time that insulin suppresses production of vascular endothelial growth factor, a compound known to play a role in the development of blindness in persons with diabetes, a condition called diabetic retinopathy.

Thirty-two new graduates of School of Public Health and Health Professions at the University at Buffalo were honored with scholarships and awards during the school's recent commencement ceremony.

University at Buffalo endocrinologists have shown for the first time that the concentration of a proinflammatory compound known as MIF is increased in the blood plasma of the obese, and that metformin, a standard medicine prescribed for diabetes, suppresses its formation.

A decade ago, high school students who aspired to life sciences careers foresaw a future full of pipettes and beakers; today, high school students with similar aspirations are honing their skills at the computer as much as at the lab bench. Toward that end, nine high school students will learn the basics of bioinformatics -- the interface where life science meets computational science -- at the University at Buffalo's Summer High School Workshop in Computational Science.

Scientists at the University at Buffalo's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, working with colleagues at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), have developed a non-release, nanoparticle drug delivery system for photodynamic cancer therapy.