Stanford Medicine magazine shows how research discoveries lead to better health

Developing a lifesaving drug for heart disease was nowhere on the horizon for Jim Spudich, PhD, as he spent his days parsing the molecular mechanisms powering the movements of slime mold. Likewise, inventing a device to remove clots from blood vessels was not on the agenda for Renee Zhao, PhD, as she engineered a tiny robotic machine she imagined might ferry drugs along the bloodstream.

For these researchers and many others, curiosity-driven explorations — about how cells move, how molecules pull, how tiny machines behave — turn out to be the starting points for new medical treatments, devices and diagnostic tools. This trip from inkling to innovation is woven throughout the stories we cover in the new issue of *Stanford Medicine *magazine, a themed issue on the power of research.

The issue is being launched in tandem with a new season of the Health Compass* *podcast, which expands on five articles through conversations with researchers and physicians. Also just posted is a new video series, Walk with Me. Each video in the series takes viewers on a stroll with a member of the Stanford Medicine community as they talk about their work and lives.

Among the issue’s content:

Innovation in bloom: The story of how Spudich’s research on cell movement, begun decades ago when few considered it relevant to medicine, grew into a lifesaving therapy for one of the major causes of heart failure — hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Twirling to treat stroke: The story of the serendipitous collaboration between engineer Zhao and stroke specialist Jeremy Heit, MD, PhD, that led to a tiny spinning device that shrinks blood clots, making the clots easier to remove from the brain after an ischemic stroke. Also featured is a * Health Compass* podcast with more about stroke and how Heit and Zhao are rethinking treatments.

Bridging the gap: A guide to Stanford Medicine’s resources for accelerating the translation of discoveries into medical advances.

The genome in motion: For decades, textbooks depicted our genome as a disordered tangle of strands. Our story tells how developmental biologist Alistair Boettiger, PhD, is helping prove that wrong.

The gut’s “second brain”: In this piece, bioengineer Todd Coleman, PhD, and neuroscientist Julia Kaltschmidt, PhD, team up to examine how the gut’s nervous system springs to life during development.

Considering assembloids and organoids: A report about the Stanford University-led meeting about the mini brain models known as neural organoids and assembloids. The meeting, which included voices from neuroscience to philosophy, fostered discussions about the balance between ethics and scientific exploration.

The genome’s “dark matter”: A look at work by geneticist Nicolas Altemose, PhD, revealing that vast stretches of repetitive DNA, once thought to have no biological significance, might be enormous control centers that help regulate how cells divide and when to grow.

Game on: The story of how the players of Eterna, a video game co-created by Rhiju Das, PhD, that crowdsources solutions to biological puzzles, helped build a sensor for active tuberculosis.

In sight: Growth factor eye drops, electrical stimulation and eye implants filled with genetically engineered cells are among the innovations described in this article about research led by Jeffrey Goldberg, MD, PhD, on strategies to fight vision loss due to glaucoma. Also featured is a * Health Compass *podcast with Goldberg about the future of glaucoma care.

Stopping kidney stones at the source: A piece on the work of nephrologist Alan Pao, MD, to develop drugs that boost the urine’s citrate, a natural kidney stone blocker, as a way to stop the stones from forming without the side effects of current treatments. Also featured is a * Health Compass* podcast with Pao about the realities of kidney stones and his quest to prevent them.

A softer landing for stem cells: To make stem cell transplants easier on patients with Fanconi anemia, a rare genetic condition that slows down blood cell production, physician-scientist Agnieszka Czechowicz, MD, PhD, is testing a protocol that steers clear of the harsh pre-transplant steps of chemotherapy and radiation. This article describes the process and explains why it might help patients with other blood conditions.

“We need a breakthrough”: The challenges of treating ovarian cancer are exacerbated by late-stage diagnoses that leave patients with few therapeutic options. This article describes how researchers Oliver Dorigo, MD, PhD, and Crystal Mackall, MD, are testing new approaches to CAR-T cell therapy to change that.

A better Alzheimer’s drug?: Alzheimer’s drugs often focus on plaque removal. This article tells how neuroscientist and physician Frank Longo, MD, PhD, is exploring a different approach: protecting the brain’s connections. The resulting experimental drug is ready for a late-stage clinical trial.

Catalyst: An introduction to the Stanford Medicine Catalyst program, which helps turn later-stage discoveries into therapeutics or products such as medical devices and diagnostic tools.

Spring forward: A feature about the invention of a springlike device, being developed by pediatric surgeon James Dunn, MD, that lengthens the intestine to treat short gut. The article also describes Stanford University efforts to address the pediatric medical device gap.

Gene therapy for epidermolysis bullosa: A Q&A with Peter Marinkovich, MD, about developing gene therapies to heal the blistering skin of epidermolysis bullosa. Also featured is a* Health Compass* podcast with more about life with the excruciating condition and how gene therapy is changing it for the better.

A tool to diagnose sepsis: An interview with computational biologist Purvesh Khatri, PhD, about succeeding at a task many told him was a hopeless cause: developing a speedy, accurate test for sepsis. Also featured is a * Health Compass* podcast conversation with Khatri about his path from electronics and communications engineering to medicine and how the sepsis test was created.

An ointment to quell atopic dermatitis: A talk with Lucy Shapiro, PhD, describing how her hunt for an antimicrobial turned up a surprise anti-inflammatory and led to the development of an ointment that treats the most common form of eczema.

A pacemaker for the brain: How do you teach a device to “listen” to the brain? In this Q&A, Helen Bronte-Stewart, PhD, explains the signals behind adaptive deep brain stimulation, or aDBS — a new Parkinson’s disease treatment that continuously monitors activity to tailor stimulation.

A heart-protective mutation in a pill: A conversation with Isabella Graef, MD, about the Stanford Medicine discovery that became a Food and Drug Administration-approved pill for ATTR-CM — an underdiagnosed, fatal heart disease.

Also in the issue:

Through their eyes: An update on the Knight-Hennessy Scholars photo project that empowers pediatric patients and their families to tell their own hospital-stay stories. Five years on, it has a new cohort of student leaders and is going global.

Getting to know your mitochondria: In an excerpt from the new book The Life Machines, protein chemist Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, and her husband, writer Emanuel Rosen, explain in everyday terms how mitochondria work — what they do, how they “dance” and why sleep helps.

Cells that heal: The story of a young woman who beat lymphoma and is back in school after chemo, CAR-T and a bone marrow transplant. She is one of thousands helped by cell therapy at Stanford Medicine.

Interviews on many topics included in Stanford Medicine magazine are featured on the

Health Compass podcastat

stan.md/health-compass. The

magazine is available online at

stanmed.stanford.eduas well as in print. Request a copy or subscribe by sending an email to

[email protected].