US honour for alumnus and spinal secrets: News from Imperial

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Spinal cord and nerves

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From a US National Medal for an engineering alumnus to a discovery about spinal cord healing, here is some quick-read news from across Imperial

President Biden announces honour for Imperial alumnus

Electrical engineering graduate Professor Victor B. Lawrence has been awarded the prestigious US National Medal of Technology and Innovation, one of only nine such medals awarded this year. The honour, announced by former President Joe Biden, recognises Victor’s pioneering work in digital signal processing and communications technology. 

A Ghanaian-American engineer, Victor is a Research Professor and Director of the Center for Intelligent Networked Systems (iNetS) at Stevens Institute of Technology. He earned his PhD in 1971 as a member of the Communications and Signal Processing Group in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department, where he studied under Professor Tony Constantinides.

After working at General Electric and as a postdoctoral researcher at Imperial, he was recruited by Bell Labs in 1974, where his work in digital signal processing was key to the creation of high-speed internet and the advancement of multimedia communications.

Read more in Forbes


Bowel disease ethnicity differences


New research shows people of South Asian heritage with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are more likely to have a certain form of the disease and be diagnosed younger, compared to White patients.

In a study of from more than 30,000 patients in the UK with IBD, researchers found ulcerative colitis was more common in those of South Asian heritage than White patients (57% vs 45%).South Asian patients were diagnosed on average two years younger, and IBD was more common in men than women. White men and women, however, were more equally affected.

Dr Sharmili Balarajah, from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial’s Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, said: “By understanding these differences, we can develop more personalised treatment approaches for IBD patients, ensuring that their specific needs are addressed.”

The research was funded by Bowel Research UK and the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and is published in the Journal of Crohn’s and Colitis.

 

Harmful spinal cord cells identified

Research led by Professor Simone di Giovanni from the Department of Brain Sciences has identified a type of harmful T cell that hinders recovery after spinal cord injury.

Found in the spinal cords of older people, the natural killer-like T cells, or NKLT, are a unique type of cytotoxic T cell. After spinal cord injury they worsen the damage by both causing tissue injury and limiting wound healing.

In a mouse model of spinal injury, the researchers also found that blocking these NKLT cells with monoclonal antibodies promoted repair and neurological recovery, indicating a possible future treatment route. 

Professor di Giovanni said: “Spinal cord injury also is more common in older individuals, who tend to experience the most severe effects. Identifying these cells in older people’s spinal cords has helped us to see why their central nervous systems sometimes fail to repair themselves after this type of injury, as well as opening up a promising avenue for treatment.”

Read the paper in Neuron

The microbiome’s protective role in fatty liver disease

The gut microbiota significantly impacts human metabolism, and its imbalance can lead to metabolic diseases. Researchers in Professor Marc-Emmanuel Dumas’ group at the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction  studied how hippurate  - a microbial metabolite - influences metabolic-associated fatty liver disease.

Fatty liver disease is a chronic condition where too much fat builds up in the liver. It can damage the liver and lead to serious health problems. 

They found that higher hippurate levels are linked to lower expression of genes associated with fatty liver disease, after analysing data from over 300 patients.

They also showed that hippurate helps reduce fat build-up and regulate glucose in human liver cells under stress. Published in Molecular Metabolism, this study highlights hippurate as a potential marker of liver health and suggests that altering gut microbiota  could help treat fatty liver disease.

Read the journal paper

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