Our Impact

U-M researchers first looked at mouse models, and then at cells collected from children with Dravet syndrome, to identify a gene mutation that may lead to irregularities in the heart muscle’s sodium channels; irregularities that could trigger sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). With this important foundation in place, the research team now plans to look at different gene mutations related to SUDEP, and at the potential use of re-purposed drugs to treat Dravet syndrome and other forms of epilepsy.

More than 40 percent of our small intestine develops before we are even born. But problems with this process in utero can result in a rare but deadly condition known as congenital short bowel syndrome. A new Michigan Medicine study conducted with mice has helped researchers uncover the surprising sequence of cellular events responsible for proper development of the small intestine.

Researchers have found that obesity-prone rats respond more strongly to food-related cues, including specific changes in cells of the same brain area linked to addiction. The model, researchers say, can be used to figure out the neural and psychological differences that drive overeating before obesity sets in — a huge step to improve obesity prevention.

Successfully tested in mice, targeted drug and gene therapies might one day benefit patients with a deadly lung disease, new U-M research finds.

U-M researchers use mouse models and 16S rRNA gene sequencing to explore the previously unstudied role of gut microbes, or microbiome, in the development of long-term cognitive impairments after sepsis infection.

U-M researchers have designed a new delivery system – a drug hidden in a nanodisc – to increase the number of patients who can be treated successfully with cancer immunotherapy drugs. The novel platform for chemoimmunotherapy triggered anti-tumor immunity and eliminated colon cancer in 85 percent of treated mice.

After nearly two decades spent developing a vaccine agent, U-M researchers have translated this work to the development of a vaccine to treat food allergies. In their new study, the team demonstrates that this vaccine may successfully turn off peanut allergy in mice by altering the immune cell response to peanut exposure.

Using an animal model, U-M researchers are making progress on an extraordinary new artificial womb technology that could one day revolutionize the care of premature infants.

The results obtained from this animal study may provide important guidance for the development and use of anti-inflammatory therapies to minimize central nervous system injury in patients with severe cryptococcal infections, a major source of illness in people with HIV and AIDS.

"Whenever you generate mice exhibiting human disease-like phenotypes,” notes study team lead Ling Qi, Ph.D., “you know you are working on something with fundamental importance."