AMHERST, Mass. – Antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus were detected in colostrum, which is early breastmilk, from 14 of 15 women who had tested positive for COVID-19 before giving birth, according to preliminary findings from research led by a University of Massachusetts Amherst breast cancer researcher and a University of Massachusetts Medical School obstetrician-gynecologist.

AMHERST, Mass. – Scientists may have explained a phenomenon that seems to contradict the laws of physics. For the last decade or so, astronomers have been puzzled by the “weird behavior” of some jet-like X-ray features observed around bubbles of charged particles ejected from very fast-moving pulsars. These jets shoot out at super high speed into interstellar spaceat odd, unexpected angles, says Daniel Wang at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

AMHERST, Mass – A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) have developed a technique to replicate bone tissue complexity and bone remodeling processes. This breakthrough could help researchers further their study of bone biology and assist in improving development of drugs for osteoporosis.

A new companionship wellness initiative at UMass Medical School is combating isolation and loneliness among COVID-19 patients 65 and older by having students virtually check in, comfort and emotionally support them at two Worcester hospitals.

Two Graduate School of Nursing DNP candidates have stepped up to help a college community stay protected from the coronavirus. Kelly Cutting, RN, FNP-C, and Olivia Slezik, RN, AGPCNP-BC, both graduating in 2021, are aiding COVID-19 tracing efforts for Student Health Services at Worcester State University.

“Both of us did our nurse practitioner clinicals at Worcester State, so the staff there reached out to us,” said Cutting.

Two MD/PhD students in the lab of Read Pukkila-Worley, MD, associate professor of medicine, have each received Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards from the National Institutes of Health for their projects analyzing the ways a host recognizes bacteria that can cause disease. Nick Peterson and Samantha Tse were awarded these highly competitive grants.

Atalanta Therapeutics, a biotech founded by UMass Medical School and three faculty research scientists to pioneer treatment options for neurodegenerative diseases, has launched with financing by venture capital fund F-Prime Capital and strategic collaborations with Biogen and Genentech.

UMass Medical School students are joining the “army of vaccinators” that Worcester Division of Public Health’s medical director, Michael Hirsh, MD, has called upon to get the COVID-19 vaccines to as many in the community as possible.

Now that two COVID-19 vaccines have received Food and Drug Administration emergency authorization, with more on the way, how do we encourage widespread acceptance among the public?

Two UMass Medical School researchers who surveyed Americans about their attitudes toward a COVID-19 vaccine last spring are preparing another study to evaluate ways for health care providers to talk with patients about COVID-19 vaccination.

UMass Medical School students are trained and ready to administer COVID-19 vaccinations to Worcester-area residents. Thirteen Graduate School of Nursing students taught more than 150 School of Medicine students to give the intramuscular injections. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences students will help track participants.