Page 9 - 2019 Annual Report

Stress Might not be All Bad
Stress, that is, a little stress, might not be all that bad. Ruifeng Cao, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences on the Medical School’s Duluth campus, is working with
an international team of laboratories to unlock the interconnections between cellular stress signals and the body’s circadian clock. Our internal biological clock is constantly running, and our wellbeing is dependent on its function. In many diseases, the circadian clock doesn’t function normally, but no one knows exactly why. Dr. Cao discovered that stress promotes production of the ATF4 protein, which activates a clock gene that makes the clock run faster. This first known link between the stress response and circadian timekeeping in cells may lead to discoveries that can help manage stress levels and regulate the cellular clocks to keep people healthier.
Music in Medicine
Research shows that preterm birth may disrupt the normal development of the infant brain. Sonya Wang, MD, pediatric neurologist with M Health Fairview and associate professor in the Department of Neurology, recently received a two-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to research the effects of music- based intervention (MBI) on the neurodevelopment and pain response of preterm infants. This interdisciplinary clinical investigation will work to identify if the stimulation provided through music therapy can improve brain maturation and reduce the perception of pain in this fragile population.
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VISITOR
Annual Revisit Day welcomes members of incoming class of medical students.
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