UTMB News Articles

UTMB’s Dr. Brent Masel spoke to ESPN about chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease that can be diagnosed only after someone has died. Masel told ESPN it can take weeks to do the appropriate testing. “So there will not be an instant answer to that,” he said.

Wouldn’t it be great if, instead of getting a fake tooth implanted, you could grow a new one, ask Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel in their latest Medical Discover News column. Japanese scientists are working on a drug that could make it a reality.

“We are trying to showcase our technologies better to the world outside,” UTMB’s Dr. Vineet Gupta told HBJ about the first Innovation VentureX summit held in Galveston. Dr. Jochen Reiser told the journal that the event was a success and could lead to more tangible investments in the next year or two, such as a new venture fund or physical expansions on campus.

“The assessment with Blue Zones represents a bold step forward in transforming the health of our community," said Dr. Jochen Reiser, UTMB president and CEO of the UTMB Health System. UTMB is working with Blue Zones to conduct an assessment of the community and then create a policy-focused plan.

“Let’s talk through the health benefits of adding these fungi into our diet,” writes Dr. Samuel Mathis as he digs into medical properties of mushrooms. For example, Mathis writes about a study that found that eating just 2 medium sized mushrooms per day could lower our risk of developing cancer by up to 45 percent.

Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp write about the promising roll out of a vaccine to combat gonorrhea. “The UK’s decision to offer Bexsero to people at higher risk, including gay and bisexual men, is a bold move,” they write. “While Bexsero isn’t perfect, it’s the first time a vaccine has been used on a national level to help prevent gonorrhea.”

In a recent editorial, the Daily News highlighted some of the Galveston County residents who are volunteering in Kerr County, recently hit by devastating floods. The editorial mentions the work of UTMB’s Tyler Morrison and Austin Johnson. “The wonderful thing, amidst the chaos and tragedy, is the people that have come together for the effort,” Morrison is quoted in the editorial.

“My top two priorities for the second half of 2025 are driving operational excellence across pharmacy services and advancing workforce standardization, development, and retention,” UTMB’s Dr. Michael Eagon tells Becker’s for an article on finishing 2025.

“As a physician executive leader, my top two priorities for the latter half of 2025 are access and capacity utilization,” UTMB’s Dr. Vicente Resto told Becker’s. He was one of the executives from across the country surveyed by Becker’s about their priorities.

Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel write about promising research into treating pancreatic cancer in their latest Medical Discover News column.

UTMB’s Dr. Giulio Taglialatela commented on a A new study has found a link between rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and Alzheimer’s disease. "Our brains use sleep to clear out toxic proteins, like those associated with Alzheimer’s, and these results show that the cleaning mechanism is less effective when it takes someone longer to enter the REM cycle," Taglialatela tells Fox News.

"This research could introduce a new perspective to the discussion of preventing and mitigating the devastating effects of stroke and related brain injuries,” said Dr. Matias Costa about research presented at the annual Society of Neurointerventional Surgery’s meeting discussing use of GLP-1 inhibitors to minimize the impact of strokes and brain injuries.

The federal government is looking for researchers who can, in five years, develop stem cell treatments to repair brain damage caused by stroke, neurodegeneration, and trauma, reports Medscape. UTMB’s Dr. Brent Masel spoke to the outlet about the initiative and said five years seemed “very, very ambitious.”

“Standard lab assays don’t capture the physical forces acting on blood inside constricted arteries,” UTMB’s Dr. Misbahud Din tells Dawn. The publication featured UTMB’s Din and Dr. Yunfeng Chen and their research into how physicians assess a patient’s risk of arterial blood clots.

UTMB’s Dr. Stephen B. Williams spoke to Renal + Urology News for a story on trial findings show that the NeuroSAFE technique leads to a significant improvement in patient-reported erectile function scores and early urinary continence scores compared with standard robot-assisted radical prostatectomy. “For experienced centers with access to high-quality pathology support, NeuroSAFE may shift the paradigm for function-preserving prostate cancer surgery,” Williams said.