FSU College of Medicine 2018 annual report 2019 Annual Report | Page 49

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Yi Ren, professor of biomedical sciences, Associate Professor Angelina Sutin Robert Tomko Jr., assistant professor
is making progress in understanding why and her team conducted a study of biomedical sciences, uncovered a new
such significant harm is inflicted in the showing that there is a link between clue for cancer treatment within the
weeks and months after a spinal injury. an individual’s personality and his or machinery of human cells. Tomko studied
In a study published in the journal Nature her beliefs about others’ bodies and the the production of proteasomes, tiny
Neuroscience, Ren explained how a natural way those beliefs are expressed in social structures in a cell that dispose of protein
immune system response may contribute to additional injury. interactions. In the study published in the journal Personality waste. In doing so, he uncovered a critical missing step and
When spinal cord damage occurs, the endothelial cells that and Individual Differences, the team found that an individual’s found that carefully targeted manipulation of the step could
line blood vessels are activated to remove potentially harmful distinct blend of conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, prove an effective recourse for the treatment of cancer.
material, like myelin debris, from the site of the injury. neuroticism and extraversion had significant bearing on his or The findings were published in the journal Cell Reports. The
However, Ren and her team discovered that this process her attitude toward obesity, their implicit theories of weight research was funded by the College of Medicine and the NIH.
may be responsible for causing further harm. With a better and their willingness to engage in derisive fat talk or weight understanding of the mechanisms at work, Ren hopes that discrimination. Their surveys pointed to a significant association researchers will find new ways for accident victims to regain between conscientiousness and greater fat phobia. “One lost functional ability without many of the unwanted side aspect of conscientiousness is following the norms of society,” effects. Sutin said. “Even though two-thirds of the U.S. population is Professor Zucai Suo and colleagues overweight or obese, there are strong social ideals for health and
published research that provides a key fitness — even if, on average, we do not meet these ideals.”
understanding of two widely used HIV A team of FSU researchers, including
and hepatitis B drugs. Suo and his College of Medicine Professor Antonio
team established for the first time the Terracciano, received a $2.9 million grant
mechanisms responsible for how the from the National Institute on Aging to
drugs inhibit viruses. A single HIV-1 mutation can inactivate
the anti-HIV drugs emtricitabine and lamivudine. The paper,
identify new ways to detect and treat age-
related cognitive decline and dementia.
published by Communications Biology, suggests new pathways The ability to detect that someone is on the cusp of cognitive
for developing drugs able to avoid specific virus mutations decline has large implications for how dementia is studied.
that can render the two blockbuster L-nucleoside drug Treatments and interventions can be tested before potentially
treatments ineffective for many patients. irreversible changes in brain structure and function occur