Tick Talk

A red-and-black deer tick crawls on a leaf.

Monday, August 28, 2023

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in Maryland, spread by bacteria found in the bite of black-legged ticks, also known as deer ticks. Though it’s common, the disease can be difficult to diagnose, sometimes resulting in debilitating symptoms that may have been prevented with proper, timely diagnosis and a simple course of antibiotics.

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End of NCI-MATCH Trial Positions Precision Medicine and Genetic Sequencing for Next Big Push

A crab, representing cancer, targeted in crosshairs, representing precision medicine

Thursday, August 24, 2023

NCI-MATCH aimed to determine whether certain cancer therapies could be used more broadly. If a medicine is effective against one type of cancer with a specific mutation, the trial asked, could it treat other cancers with the same mutation? After the eight-year trial, scientists say an answer is coming into view

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Celebrate Safely with Fireworks

Silhouette of a young person holding a lighted sparkler against the sky at sunset

Monday, August 21, 2023

Warm, sunny weather in summer and fall is perfect for outdoor celebrations. Independence Day, Labor Day, family reunions, parades, cookouts, birthday parties—these are all occasions for which folks gather together to enjoy each other’s company, eat great food, and often top off the event with fireworks.

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Splashing into Summer with Pool Safety

Thursday, August 17, 2023

Few things say “summer” like splashing around in water, leaping off a diving board, and soaking up the sun. We’ve all heard the tried-and-true advice for swimming: don’t run near water, don’t swim after eating, don’t do horseplay. But there are some lesser-known ways to reduce your chances of having an accident.

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‘Algae’ Allies: Protein from Cyanobacteria Blocks SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Lab Studies

Computerized image of a Spike protein (yellow) bound by a cyanovirin-N molecule (blue), with two models of SARS-CoV-2 in the dark background.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, before vaccines were available and while SARS-CoV-2 was wreaking havoc worldwide, Barry O’Keefe, Ph.D., and longtime collaborators in Brazil and Spain pooled their knowledge and resources to study cyanovirin-N (CV-N), a protein from cyanobacteria, photosynthetic bacteria commonly known as blue-green algae. O’Keefe had a hunch it could be developed to fight the spread of SARS-CoV-2.

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