Our Impact

To better understand the role that sleep plays in the formation of new memories, an international team of researchers designed a new study to monitor the brain activity of sleeping rats after they completed a new maze. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the team discovered that the process of ‘replay’ may help cellular consolidation and trigger memory transfer from the hippocampus to other brain regions.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, has occasionally been known to cause life-threatening infections. In a study published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, Michigan Medicine researchers share how mouse models helped them discover the important role that mitochondria play in supporting the immune system’s response against MRSA infection.

A new mouse study, published by U-M researchers in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, shows that bacteria in healthy lungs may play an important role in helping ward off disease.

A new University of Michigan study in mice reveals a new role for insulin in the control of fat production.

Thanks to a new mouse study, U-M researchers have discovered why stem cells become resistant to cancer treatment and are now developing therapies to combat this resistance.

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.