RECENT POSTS 
One late evening in a coffee shop near McGill University, Jeff Karp overheard two students talking about drug delivery and tissue engineering. Jeff, an undergrad, listened closely as the students discussed two graduate level courses. At the time Jeff was questioning his major. He had switched from biology to chemical engineering but found himself bored in class; uninterested in the details of how refrigerators work. That night at the coffee shop Jeff learned about two classes that he became desperate... Read more
You know that burning, painful feeling that comes when you eat chili peppers? It comes from a molecule within the pepper called capsaicin, a colorless, odorless compound capable of causing an extreme, and not always pleasant, sensation. First isolated in 1846, by the late 1990s, scientists all over the globe were on the hunt for the elusive capsaicin receptor. These receptors are special because they’re located on sensory neurons which, when activated by capsaicin, transmits the painful stimulation to the... Read more
Kary Mullis was driving his car up the Northern California coast late one Friday night in the spring of 1983. His girlfriend lay asleep in the seat next to him. As he drove on the dark highways he wrestled with a scientific problem. His lab was able to make small pieces of DNA but they couldn’t construct rare sections of DNA, such as specific genes. He dreamed up a sophisticated technique where he could use the natural ability of DNA... Read more
Rebecca was 8 months pregnant with their first child when her husband started acting strangely. He began to experience a debilitating stomach pain. He shrugged off the pain as the flu, intent on focusing on his wife and soon-to-be daughter. Conceiving a child had not been easy for the couple. Now, here they were, on the verge of becoming parents; about to get the family they wanted. Rebecca, however, was becoming increasingly uneasy about her husband who, in all their... Read more
In 2007, Anne Morriss and her partner brought their newborn son home from the hospital. They were brand new parents, filled with both fear and delight at the tiny little person they held in their arms. At the hospital, their new son had received a blood test, commonly given these days to detect genetic disorders. Their son had been home only a few days when they received the phone call that all parents dread. After a quick introduction, the doctor... Read more
In the middle of an October night six years ago, a nine-month-old girl reached out and lightly touched the hand of her doctor. In that moment a bond was formed between doctor and patient. For Dr. John Kheir, a first year fellow in pediatric critical care at Boston Children’s Hospital, it was a moment that would influence the course of his life. The infant was suffering from pneumonia, her breath labored and heavy as she was admitted to the top-ranked... Read more
Posted in 