In the second season of The Fundamentals podcast, co-hosts Kelly Malcom and Jordan Goebig talk to several leading experts from the Medical School about their fields and the fundamental questions they are trying to answer — and discover why U-M is such an amazing place for research. Six new episodes of the popular podcast were released on May 6

Today on The Fundamentals is Dr. Maria Castro, the R.C. Schneider collegiate professor of neurosurgery, and a professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research program aims to develop immunotherapies for primary and metastatic brain cancer, studying basic immune biology mechanisms leading to clinical implementation. She has been inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows. She has won numerous awards for her contributions to basic science and cancer research and is a diversity ambassador for the Cancer Biology Graduate Training Program. You can learn more about Dr. Castro here, and you can follow her @castro2355_mg, the Rogel Cancer Center @UMRogelCancer, the department of neurosurgery @umichneuro, Michigan Neurscience Institute @UM_MNI and the department of cell and developmental biology @UMCDB on X

A JAMA viewpoint outlines the tragic story of Shandra Eisenga, a patient who received spine surgery for back pain only to inexplicably contract tuberculosis.

Researchers improved memory and reduced neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggesting another avenue for potential treatment.

Today, thanks to researchers, medical and public health experts, pharmaceutical companies, engineers and others, we know more and can do more about the coronavirus called SARS-CoV2, and the disease called COVID-19, than ever before.

Measles: 10 things to know about immunization and prevention

Therapies for pain conditions like fibromyalgia provide clues for helping those with long COVID-19

A prospective study published in the journal Lancet Microbe provides more clarity on which patient populations are at higher risk for prolonged infections — and hints that this fear is likely unwarranted.

The death rate for patients with functional, nonepileptic seizures is higher than expected, with a rate comparable to epilepsy and severe mental illness, a Michigan Medicine-led study finds.

A Michigan Medicine FAQ about Paxlovid, with new information since its FDA approval in May 2023.

Investigators found that people with obesity who underwent bariatric surgery had stable cognition two years later. Researchers say it suggests that bariatric surgery may mitigate the natural history of cognitive decline expected in people with obesity.

With over 400 stories published on Health Lab in 2023, the following 10 articles were the most read of the year.

A team developed a new approach for combining microbiome data together while overcoming the noise introduced by the different techniques used in each study into a tool they dubbed MaLiAmPi (Maximum Likelihood Amplicon Pipeline).

Post-traumatic stress worse among Mexican American caregivers compared to white caregivers.

Piotrowski consulted with a spectrum of doctors, physical therapists and chiropractors, each with a different recommendation for how to treat a herniated disc in the lower portion of his spine until he found one at Michigan Medicine recommending lumbar microdiscectomy, a procedure that involves small incisions to remove portions of the herniated disc and ease pressure on the spinal cord nerves.