Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Newsmakers

Degrees will be awarded to 265 students at UMass Chan’s 52nd Commencement ceremony on June 1.

UMass Chan licenses potential RNA-based treatment for fragile X syndrome to QurAlis Corporation.

A siRNA therapeutic for dermatological diseases developed at UMass Chan Medical School has entered the clinical trial phase.

Mary Munson, PhD, received the 2025 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring.

Nobel laureate Victor R. Ambros, PhD, has been named TIME100 Health, a list recognizing the100 most influential people in health.

UMass Chan Medical School scientists Jun Xie, PhD, and Guangping Gao, PhD, have received $500,000 to help advance gene therapy.

Mary Callery O’Brien, MD, received the 2024 Chancellor’s Medal for Distinguished Teaching and will deliver the Last Lecture.

This special edition of @umasschan magazine celebrates Victor Ambros, PhD, the newest Nobel laureate at UMass Chan Medical School.

Forty-two students from 12 local high schools competed in the 19th annual Central Massachusetts Brain Bee competition on March 29.

UMass Chan Medical School leads efforts to establish a comprehensive database of cat genomics.

Medical student Beatriz Bacelar is teaching hands-only CPR in Worcester, driven by a desire to help her community and increase survival rates in Massachusetts for people who have suffered cardiac arrest.

The Office of Government and Community Relations is expanding the UMass Chan Cares volunteer program with a Days of Service initiative in late May.

The visit included a tour of the new Paul J. DiMare Center and a closed-door meeting with UMass Chan faculty members.

Identification of the metabolite rhodoquinone as the second electron transporter may have clinical applications for treating ischemia.

More than 1,330 research projects were submitted to the 2024 AMA Research Challenge for consideration.

UMass Chan Medical School scientists detail simple rules for folding the genome during mitosis

Pranoti Mandrekar, PhD, professor of medicine, wrote an article for The Conversation explaining the link between alcohol consumption and cancer risk.

The new nine-story, 350,000-square-foot new education and research building on the UMass Chan campus has an official name: the Paul J. DiMare Center.

Food can be medicine and reduce health care utilization and costs among high-need MassHealth patients with food insecurity, according to a recently published study led UMass Chan

Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, has been awarded the 2025 Else Kröner Fresenius Prize for Medical Research.

After losing her best friend to malaria, PhD student Winnie Mkandawire chose to study infectious diseases to prevent others from experiencing the same loss. 

UMass ALS Cellucci Fund Boston Marathon teams have raised more than $800,000 for ALS research since 2012. This year’s team hopes to add $50,000 to that.

UMass Chan supports translational research from faculty with internal funding mechanism.

The research team has found that a koala population in Australia has evolved a distinctive genomic immunity to a retrovirus.

A large longitudinal study found that regular cognitive assessments improves the ability to predict whether someone will develop Alzheimer’s in their lifetime.

UMass Chan researchers demonstrated the promise of a gene therapy to correct a gene mutation causing maple syrup urine disease.

UMass Chan will celebrate the Classes of 2025 at Commencement on Sunday, June 1, and recognize four inspiring individuals with honorary degrees.

Two papers published today in the journal Nature describe a significant advance in understanding the complex functions of the metabolic network.

Research by Sharon Cantor, PhD, and Jenna M. Whalen, PhD, poses a new explanation for how cancer-fighting drugs attack and destroy BRCA1 and BRCA2 tumor cells.

A roundtable panel, led by Rep. McGovern and Dean Flotte, discussed the immediate impacts of potential cuts to NIH funding.

Researchers leading a study on managing COPD at home with mobile monitoring, treatment and telepulmonary therapy report early results on integrating program into clinical system and intervention impacts on disease management.  

PhD candidate Jesse Lehman has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein grant for mRNA immunology research.

UMass Chan Medical School is announcing a $35 million philanthropic gift from the Paul J. DiMare Foundation to advance research and support breakthroughs in neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.  

Ryan Logan, PhD, professor of psychiatry & behavioral sciences, co-wrote an article for The Conversation explaining the mechanisms behind the connection between circadian rhythms and psychiatric conditions.

In a follow-up memo to the UMass Chan community on Tuesday, Feb. 11, Chancellor Michael F. Collins explained the status of the new National Institutes of Health indirect costs rate cap.

UMass Chan Medical School has launched Rare Diseases, Real Stories, a six-episode podcast series. It is available on all major streaming platforms.  

UMass Chan researchers reported that Home Test to Treat was a successful model and offered insights about outreach and coordinating care.  

PhD candidate Alejandro Félix Mejía has received a Ruth L. Kirschstein grant for mRNA research.

A 17-month-old girl with Canavan disease and her family from Italy visited UMass Chan researchers to thank them for their discoveries.

A new study reveals functions and mechanisms that are essential to how molecules move across a membrane through vesicles in a cell.  

The 2025 MLK Celebration of Service at UMass Chan is being held Jan. 27, with keynote speaker Imari K. Paris Jeffries, PhD, president and CEO of Embrace Boston.

The first phase of the Inclusive Identity Project is now available to UMass employees across all five campuses.

The historically significant work of art is now on permanent display in the Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Chan Medical School.

The Mel Cutler Population Health Pilot Research Award was launched in 2024 by the Population and Quantitative Health Sciences Advance Science Workgroup.

Lourah Kelly, PhD, discusses avatar therapy for alcohol use and suicide prevention in a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast.  

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The study aimed to understand the link between viral infections such as HCMV and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

In 2024, UMass Chan celebrated its second Nobel Laureate, opened the new education and research building and launched a regional campus in Burlington.  

Top story: UMass Chan Medical School celebrated the Classes of 2024 of the T.H. Chan School of Medicine, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences on Sunday, June 2.

Top story: U.S. News & World Report 2024 rankings of America’s Best Grad Schools place UMass Chan in the top tier of medical schools across the nation for primary care education.  

Top story: UMass Chan leaders and invited dignitaries cut the ribbon on the new education and research building, as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, received an honorary degree and delivered the keynote address. 

Top story: UMass Chan Medical School researcher Victor R. Ambros, PhD, will share the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of microRNA, the very short, single-stranded RNA molecules that are now understood to play a critical role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

ImmVue Therapeutics Inc. has exclusively licensed allosteric small molecule compounds identified in the laboratory of Joonsoo Kang, PhD, professor of pathology at UMass Chan Medical School, for clinical development as a potential cancer therapeutic.

Jennifer Adair, PhD, will join UMass Chan as associate director of the Horae Gene Therapy Center vice chair of the Department of Genetic & Cellular Medicine.

Victor R. Ambros, PhD, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Tuesday, Dec. 10 in Stockholm, Sweden.

PhD student Hoang Tran is in the first cohort to enroll in UMass Chan Medical School’s Biophysical, Chemical and Computational Biology pathway.  

Victor Ambros, PhD, presents 2024 Nobel Lecture: A marvelous unfolding story of microRNAs.  

Elena Byhoff, MD, is leading a hybrid effectiveness-implementation study to understand health impacts of food insecurity intervention.  

Victor R. Ambros, PhD, will be in Stockholm, Sweden, celebrating Nobel Prize week.

Among the newly endowed chairs, five are new UMass Memorial Health chairs, made possible through the long-standing partnership with UMass Chan.

Virology experts gather at UMass Chan Medical School for 2024 MassCPR Symposium learn about biology and infectious mechanisms of viruses.  

UMass Chan is looking for new members to join the Committee on Equal Opportunity and Diversity to continue the momentum of its 2024 Diversity Summit.  

The environmental justice program is a partnership between the Office of Sustainability, the Diversity and Inclusion Office and the Lamar Soutter Library.

The 2024 Nobel Prize Symposium in Washington, D.C., was hosted by the Embassy of Sweden and the National Academy of Sciences.

In a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast, Jason Kim, PhD, discussed his research into the link between Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.  

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UMass Chan Medical School AI scientist Feifan Liu, PhD, associate professor of population & quantitative health sciences, is leading studies to develop AI models aimed at advancing health equity in predicting risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  

The VA Summer Research Program, established in 2022 to strengthen and diversify the VA scientific workforce, will remain at UMass Chan for another five years. The research program at UMass Chan is the only site of 25 nationally that is solely focused on women’s health.  

Mailings about the risks of certain drugs given to people with dementia showed no effect in reducing prescriptions, a study led by UMass Chan researchers finds. But there are lessons to be learned.  

People who had a history of bicycling for exercise reported a lower prevalence of knee pain and had a lower prevalence of radiographic osteoarthritis and symptomatic osteoarthritis, according to a large study from the Osteoarthritis Initiative.  

UMass Chan’s 2024 Diversity Summit called on members of the UMass Chan community to adopt new methods that allow for access to entry and success for staff and faulty.  

The UMass Chan Cares campaign provides faculty, students and employees the opportunity to donate to a wide range of causes they care about.

The Diversity and Inclusion Office releases its annual report.

MD/PhD student Michelle Narváez Ramos is researching antimicrobial peptides and their effect on bacteria to make antibiotics more effective.  

UMass Chan cardiologists explain what the new risk calculator means and what exciting new research is taking place to help patients better control their risk.

The Conversation Weekly podcast interviewed UMass Chan Nobel Laureate Victor R. Ambros, PhD, to learn more about his role in the discovery of microRNA and what comes next. Dr. Ambros shares the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with collaborator Gary B. Ruvkun, PhD, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  

Victor Ambros, PhD, shared his gratitude to his wife and collaborator, Rosalind “Candy” Lee, as well as to the Medical School and scientific community, at a celebration of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine he co-received with Gary Ruvkun, PhD, professor at Harvard Medical School, for their discovery of microRNA.  

The UMass Chan Medical School community embraced its newest Nobel Laureate on Monday, Oct. 7, after Victor Ambros, PhD, was named the co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of microRNA. See how the day unfolded in this video.

Victor R. Ambros, PhD, has garnered international media attention after he was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in the discovery of microRNA.  

Students in the Ambros lab at UMass Chan Medical School and 2006 Nobel Prize winner Craig Mello, PhD, celebrated their mentor, Victor Ambros, PhD, as he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Gary Ruvkun, PhD, for their discovery of microRNA.  

William Flavahan, PhD, is one of 40 recipients of the $1.5 million NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, designed to support early career investigators who are proposing bold research.

Although Victor Ambros, PhD, was scheduled to move his lab into a new building today, the announcement that he and Gary Ruvkun, PhD, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of microRNA, put those plans were put on hold. Read more about how his day unfolded.  

Watch a video of the UMass Chan Medical School press conference on Monday, Oct. 7, held after the announcement that UMass Chan researcher Victor R. Ambros, PhD, was a co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of microRNA.

Internationally renowned geneticist and pioneer of microRNA, Victor R. Ambros, PhD, who will share the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of microRNA, is the Silverman Chair in Natural Sciences and professor of molecular medicine at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, Mass.

UMass Chan Medical School researcher Victor R. Ambros, PhD, will share the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his co-discovery of microRNA, the very short, single-stranded RNA molecules that are now understood to play a critical role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.  

The Lancet Psychiatry Commission, a report on the current state and changing landscape of youth mental health, was recently released, with contributions from UMass Chan.  

A study by UMass Chan researchers on variations in medications used in nursing homes for patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias found that antidementia drug use varied by geographic region, while use of antipsychotics was associated with poorer nursing home quality and patient factors.

The two published papers both started with a single question: “What regulates the immune response in C. elegans?”

Discussing the COVID-19 vaccine with vaccine-hesitant patients can be frustrating, a focus group of primary care providers reported in a recent study led by Kimberly Fisher, MD. But having the vaccine available in the clinic, as well as incorporating motivational interviewing techniques, may offer a way forward.  

Artists share what “Advancing Belonging Together” means to them through original artwork at a new exhibit coordinated by the Advocacy Subcommittee of UMass Chan’s Committee on Equal Opportunity and Diversity in partnership with the Lamar Soutter Library.  

UMass Chan Medical School scientists Marcus Ruscetti, PhD, and Prabhani Atukorale, PhD, have developed a new, dual immunotherapy approach that may potentially change the way clinicians treat pancreatic cancer.  

A $5 million philanthropic gift from UMass Memorial Health and $2.5 million in matching funds from the University of Massachusetts Foundation will allow UMass Chan to establish five new ‘UMass Memorial Health’ endowed chairs. Furthermore, seven additional new endowed chairs are being established, meeting the institutional goal of 75 endowed chairs by 2025.  

Chancellor Michael F. Collins kicked off a new Voices of UMass Chan podcast season by highlighting the growth and future of UMass Chan Medical School.  

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UMass Chan’s annual Diversity Summit on Oct. 30 will feature a poster session and a speaker program focused on faculty recruitment and retention as well as collective responsibly in ensuring diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging standards are met and maintained at all times at UMass Chan.  

Two new donor-funded fellowships are being launched this year at UMass Chan to recruit recent postdoctoral scientists and, through intensive mentoring and resource support, foster their development as independent investigators. The fellowships align with the vision embodied in The Morningside Foundation’s transformational $175 million gift in 2021.  

Four faculty members were honored with chancellor’s medals, and seven others were invested as named professors at the annual Convocation and Investiture celebration.

The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences’ largest qualifying class was honored in a ceremony on Sept. 11. Four PhD candidates received the Zelda Haidak Award in Cell Biology.  

Guests speakers Judy Hanlon, pastor at Hadwen Park Congregational Church, co-founder of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, and member of the Southern New England Conference Immigration, Refugee and Asylum Task Team; and Al Green, ministry director of the LGBT Asylum Task Force, talked about the work of the task force and sought to inspire change through personal stories.  

Robert E. Layne, MEd, is receiving the BIPOC Community Leader Award from the Diverse Professionals Roundtable, a Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce program designed to support the development of professional and personal relationships among senior leaders of racial and ethnic diversity in Central Massachusetts.  

New research from the lab of Jason Kim, PhD, identified a novel pathway in the progression of metabolic liver disease that could be targeted for potential therapies.

Festivities kick off on Friday, Sept. 6, with the T.H. Chan School of Medicine White Coat Ceremony, welcoming the new class of medical students into the medical community.

Shan Lu MD, PhD, co-authored a pair of studies related to the Phase I clinical trial of a polyvalent DNA/prime-protein boost vaccine to prevent HIV, marking the latest step in a decades long quest to harness the power of DNA vaccines to address a major global health need.