What Are Medical Researchers Working On to Improve Health Care and Prolong Lives? The Frontiers of Medical Research: A Supplement From Science Magazine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
To read the supplement: https://www.science.org/content/resource/frontiers-medical-research
A newly published supplement to Science magazine—developed in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai) —explores “The Frontiers of Medical Research.” The supplement includes 17 concise survey articles prepared by teams of researchers at Icahn Mount Sinai on the most important and promising breakthroughs and directions for medical research.
The articles summarize what’s new and what’s next across many fields of specialization, including artificial intelligence, cancer, cardiovascular medicine, genomics, immunology, and neuroscience. As Dennis S. Charney, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Icahn Mount Sinai, and Eric J. Nestler, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, write in the foreword to the supplement, “We envision a world of medicine that is smarter, more equitable and inclusive, and more capable of healing and preventing disease.”
This special collection of articles provides a telescopic look at where the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics will emerge as the transformation of medicine continues to protect, prolong, and improve lives. New developments that are reported in these articles—and that researchers are available to be interviewed about—include:
- Translating insights from genomic sequencing to novel gene therapies that treat infectious diseases and rare inherited disorders, as well as cancer;
- Employing multiscale science to understand the mechanisms that control immune responses and use them to therapeutically manage immunity and inflammation across diseases;
- Manufacturing microbiome cocktails that may improve patient outcomes in inflammatory diseases and during cancer immunotherapy;
- Employing synthetic mRNA to reprogram cells and even transform them into miniature drug-manufacturing sites;
- Editing genes to correct disease-associated mutations and exploring the possibility of manipulating transcriptional responses to noxious stimuli to minimize disease risk;
- Using satellites and other remote sensors that measure daily climate, air, and noise pollution to understand how such exposomic factors influence health;
- Delivering personalized medicine not only for cancer care, but also in specialties like obstetrics to predict intrapartum risks and guide care;
- Learning how individual brain cells interact within circuits and how circuits generate specific behaviors, essential steps towards gaining the capability to treat effectively brain disorders.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. Its comprehensive system includes seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing. Together, the Health System comprises approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York by Newsweek and No. 5 on the magazine’s World’s Best Hospitals list. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.
