UC Science Today

A healthy spine has disc tissue between the vertebrae, which has a swelling property that absorbs water and acts as a shock absorber. Bioengineering professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that herniated discs and other disc degenerative cases don’t re-swell as much, which can affect the nerves around them and trigger lower back and leg pain.

"So somebody with a herniated disc, the inner part of their disc squeezes out of the back, and either the body will care of it or a surgeon will go in and remove that material. And that material is actually very important for allowing the disc to re-swell. So if you lose that material, your disc can’t re-swell as much as it could before."

O’Connell’s says that understanding the biomechanics of healthy disc tissue can lead to new treatments that reduce physical stress.

"If we want to replace the tissue or design a total joint replacement for the intervertebral disc, we need to know how the healthy disc functions. So we’re moving towards understanding that a little bit better."

A healthy spine has disc tissue between the vertebrae, which has a swelling property that absorbs water and acts as a shock absorber. Bioengineering professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that herniated discs and other disc degenerative cases don’t re-swell as much, which can affect the nerves around them and trigger lower back and leg pain.

"So somebody with a herniated disc, the inner part of their disc squeezes out of the back, and either the body will care of it or a surgeon will go in and remove that material. And that material is actually very important for allowing the disc to re-swell. So if you lose that material, your disc can’t re-swell as much as it could before."

O’Connell’s says that understanding the biomechanics of healthy disc tissue can lead to new treatments that reduce physical stress.

"If we want to replace the tissue or design a total joint replacement for the intervertebral disc, we need to know how the healthy disc functions. So we’re moving towards understanding that a little bit better."

It’s well known that screening for mutations in certain breast cancer genes can help determine a woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Now, a new study led by John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco suggests that a similar test could be done for prostate cancer. Witte says that unlike other diseases, the test would be based on over 100 smaller, known genetic risk factors.

"Here we're in a situation, for most people, they don't carry that one really big mutation. Instead, they have this huge range of different mutations that each one by itself has a very small increase in risk. So what we showed in this study was that, if you actually combine a hundred of these different genetic factors together, then your risk is much higher."

Witte says that the test could provide clinical value as more genetic variants are discovered.

"You may be able to actually screen someone and look at their germ line DNA and determine who's at the highest risk of prostate cancer in a magnitude that's similar to those breast cancer genes, which are commonly tested for now in women."

A healthy spine has disc tissue between the vertebrae, which has a swelling property that absorbs water and acts as a shock absorber. Bioengineering professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that herniated discs and other disc degenerative cases don’t re-swell as much, which can affect the nerves around them and trigger lower back and leg pain.

"So somebody with a herniated disc, the inner part of their disc squeezes out of the back, and either the body will care of it or a surgeon will go in and remove that material. And that material is actually very important for allowing the disc to re-swell. So if you lose that material, your disc can’t re-swell as much as it could before."

O’Connell’s says that understanding the biomechanics of healthy disc tissue can lead to new treatments that reduce physical stress.

"If we want to replace the tissue or design a total joint replacement for the intervertebral disc, we need to know how the healthy disc functions. So we’re moving towards understanding that a little bit better."

It’s well known that screening for mutations in certain breast cancer genes can help determine a woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Now, a new study led by John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco suggests that a similar test could be done for prostate cancer. Witte says that unlike other diseases, the test would be based on over 100 smaller, known genetic risk factors.

"Here we're in a situation, for most people, they don't carry that one really big mutation. Instead, they have this huge range of different mutations that each one by itself has a very small increase in risk. So what we showed in this study was that, if you actually combine a hundred of these different genetic factors together, then your risk is much higher."

Witte says that the test could provide clinical value as more genetic variants are discovered.

"You may be able to actually screen someone and look at their germ line DNA and determine who's at the highest risk of prostate cancer in a magnitude that's similar to those breast cancer genes, which are commonly tested for now in women."

A healthy spine has disc tissue between the vertebrae, which has a swelling property that absorbs water and acts as a shock absorber. Bioengineering professor Grace O’Connell of the University of California, Berkeley says that herniated discs and other disc degenerative cases don’t re-swell as much, which can affect the nerves around them and trigger lower back and leg pain.

"So somebody with a herniated disc, the inner part of their disc squeezes out of the back, and either the body will care of it or a surgeon will go in and remove that material. And that material is actually very important for allowing the disc to re-swell. So if you lose that material, your disc can’t re-swell as much as it could before."

O’Connell’s says that understanding the biomechanics of healthy disc tissue can lead to new treatments that reduce physical stress.

"If we want to replace the tissue or design a total joint replacement for the intervertebral disc, we need to know how the healthy disc functions. So we’re moving towards understanding that a little bit better."

It’s well known that screening for mutations in certain breast cancer genes can help determine a woman’s risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Now, a new study led by John Witte of the University of California, San Francisco suggests that a similar test could be done for prostate cancer. Witte says that unlike other diseases, the test would be based on over 100 smaller, known genetic risk factors.

"Here we're in a situation, for most people, they don't carry that one really big mutation. Instead, they have this huge range of different mutations that each one by itself has a very small increase in risk. So what we showed in this study was that, if you actually combine a hundred of these different genetic factors together, then your risk is much higher."

Witte says that the test could provide clinical value as more genetic variants are discovered.

"You may be able to actually screen someone and look at their germ line DNA and determine who's at the highest risk of prostate cancer in a magnitude that's similar to those breast cancer genes, which are commonly tested for now in women."

Comets can tell us a lot about the earliest history of the solar system. Physicist Andrew Westphal of the University of California, Berkeley says that’s because they contain the primitive building blocks of the solar system.

"They tell us particularly about the first two million years or so of the solar system’s history. That was the time in which the sun and the planets and the asteroids and the comets were forming."

Westphal and his colleagues have been studying the very first samples of a comet brought back to Earth, which was collected during the Stardust mission. To do this, they’re using the Advanced Light Source at the Berkeley Lab, which is an x-ray microscope the size of shopping mall. The Stardust mission also captured specks of dust that may be the first material from outside the solar system ever brought back to Earth.

"And we’ve also been studying these samples using the Advanced Light Source. We recruited the help of about thirty thousand amateur scientists to help us to find these particles and this has been very, very successful."

Comets can tell us a lot about the earliest history of the solar system. Physicist Andrew Westphal of the University of California, Berkeley says that’s because they contain the primitive building blocks of the solar system.

"They tell us particularly about the first two million years or so of the solar system’s history. That was the time in which the sun and the planets and the asteroids and the comets were forming."

Westphal and his colleagues have been studying the very first samples of a comet brought back to Earth, which was collected during the Stardust mission. To do this, they’re using the Advanced Light Source at the Berkeley Lab, which is an x-ray microscope the size of shopping mall. The Stardust mission also captured specks of dust that may be the first material from outside the solar system ever brought back to Earth.

"And we’ve also been studying these samples using the Advanced Light Source. We recruited the help of about thirty thousand amateur scientists to help us to find these particles and this has been very, very successful."

Comets can tell us a lot about the earliest history of the solar system. Physicist Andrew Westphal of the University of California, Berkeley says that’s because they contain the primitive building blocks of the solar system.

"They tell us particularly about the first two million years or so of the solar system’s history. That was the time in which the sun and the planets and the asteroids and the comets were forming."

Westphal and his colleagues have been studying the very first samples of a comet brought back to Earth, which was collected during the Stardust mission. To do this, they’re using the Advanced Light Source at the Berkeley Lab, which is an x-ray microscope the size of shopping mall. The Stardust mission also captured specks of dust that may be the first material from outside the solar system ever brought back to Earth.

"And we’ve also been studying these samples using the Advanced Light Source. We recruited the help of about thirty thousand amateur scientists to help us to find these particles and this has been very, very successful."