Welcome to the KentConnects blog, where we provide tips, best practices, examples, and more helpful information to improve your processes, boost your efficiency, and make your lab work smarter and safer.
For as long as modern humans have existed, they have been trying to find a “fountain of youth” to slow or reverse the aging process—both to enable humans to live longer and to fight the diseases and degeneration associated with advanced age. Recent mouse studies show that scientists are getting closer than ever.
February is National Cancer Prevention Month, and scientists continue to make important discoveries to prevent, understand, and treat cancer. Recently, researchers have been able to use common substances and compounds including the flu shot, salt, copper, aspirin, and bitter melon extract to fight cancer in mouse models.
On January 1, millions of people resolved to eat better. In fact, according to a survey by YouGov, eating healthier was the most frequently made New Year’s resolution. But paying more attention to diet can do more than help you lose weight and feel better—according to several new mouse studies, food and diet are deeply connected to many different diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, flu, dementia, and even the aging process.
Successful medical, preclinical, and scientific research requires adequate funding for facilities, supplies, and personnel. Many researchers get grants from the government, but over the last few years, as the government is spending less and less on the science sector, non-governmental sources have been funding a larger percentage of the research undertaken in the United States.
The work of scientists and researchers in the field of neuroscience—the study of the structure or function of the nervous system and brain—has produced important knowledge about the brain and nervous system and made medical breakthroughs that significantly improve human health.
The cold is the most common known infectious illness, with Americans getting an estimated 1 billion colds every year.
Colds are difficult to prevent and treat, and so far have been impossible to cure. After hundreds of years of accepting colds as an unavoidable nuisance best treated with chicken soup and rest, an actual cure for the common cold may be in reach.
The concept of “One Health,” which was adopted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009 and will be the theme of the 2019 AALAS National Meeting, is focused on the idea that the environment plays a key role in human disease.
John Donne said that no man is an island, and while he expressed that sentiment almost 400 years ago, it’s even more true today. In fact, while Donne meant to suggest that humans need to be part of a community to thrive, these days the idea is being taken even further, to include not only other humans, but also animals and the environment.
Researchers working with animal models traditionally look at the brain, but recent studies are increasingly focused on a different area—the gut, or microbiome, which is emerging as an important factor in human health.
All over the world, animal models are used in pre-clinical research to learn more about how the body works, and to identify causes and develop treatments and cures for disorders and diseases. While global research goals may be similar, there are significant differences between standards for pre-clinical research with animals in the United States versus internationally.