Petrie Dish

UT Health San Antonio oncologist Josephine Taverna envisions a revolution in lung cancer treatment.

Exercise can improve function and slow disease progression in people with Parkinson's disease, but why? A UT Health San Antonio researcher is studying patients who exercise and play virtual reality games to see if she can figure out the answer.

Caregivers for members of the military and veterans experience depression at a higher rate than any other group in the nation and that can be lethal.

Remote technology can bring health interventions to patients who may struggle to get themselves to care because of where they live or how much money they have. Tae Joon Moon, Ph.D., has found that transdermal alcohol monitors are a remote tech that might help treat people with alcohol use disorder.

Pediatrician Debra Hendrickson says climate change is the greatest crime ever committed against children. She's written a book detailing the impact of climate change on children's health and offers a call-to-action for parents and other adults to do something before it really is too late.

Cancer care is about to experience a silver tsunami.

THX mice can be used to study anything that requires a vigorous human immune response, from cancer medications to vaccines and organ transplantation. The mice were created at UT Health San Antonio using human stem cells, but what makes them unique is they also received a dose of estrogen. This is the critical point, according to Dr. Paolo Casali, that leads to the development of a robust human immune system in THX mice.

Shivani Ruparel, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio, and her team are working on potential analgesics to help mitigate cancer pain.

The chemical cross-communication between the guts and other organs that occurs when a person metabolizes nutrients begins before we open our mouths, when we see or smell food. The answer to why some people develop obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders, and why some people respond so well to medicines like Ozempic, might lie in those signals. UT Health San Antonio endocrinologist Dr. Marzieh Salehi is studying that communication in patients with spinal cord injury.

For at least a year after being infected with the COVID virus, people may be at increased risk of developing a new heart-related problem. Those problems can range from blood clots to arrythmias to a sudden, catastrophic heart attack. In this episode of Petrie Dish, Bonnie Petrie talks with a Harvard cardiologist about why this can happen, and how to protect your heart.