Which of This Year’s Johns Hopkins’ Discoveries Was the Most Groundbreaking?

As shown in the video "Research Highlights from Johns Hopkins Medicine", this year saw a number of innovate biomedical research discoveries. As detailed in the JHM Strategic Plan, this is a key part of maintaining Johns Hopkins' reputation as a leader in the world of healthcare and education.

Revisit some of this past year's discoveries and vote for the one that you think was most groundbreaking.

• The Human Proteome - Researchers unveiled a massive database which details 80% of the proteins in human bodies, which will help speed progress in nearly every biomedical field.
• Insomniac Gene in Fruit Flies - Scientists identified a gene in fruit flies that regulates sleep cycles. This could help cure insomia, if confirmed in humans.
• Designer Immune Cells - Scientists programmed ordinary cells to combat problematic cells, which they see as a potential step to custom designing immune cells to disarm cancer.
• Treating Tumors with Bacteria - Researchers injected tumors with specialized bacteria, which dramatically shrank tumors in cancer cells.
• Re-Synchronizing Hearts - After creating a "heart attack in a dish" using cardiac cells, researchers found fatal rhythms stem from mis-firing cells and were able to avert with a sedative to the cells.
• Growing New Retinas - Stems cells were used to create 3D retinas in a dish which behaved like regular healthy retinas.
• Mental Illness & Brain Development - Using stem cells linked to various mental illnesses, it was found that variation disrupst connections to the developing brain - suggesting mental illness is traced to faulty brain wiring in early development.
• Autism a Metabolic Condition? - A study showed autistic mice were improved when fed a man-made oil and austistic young men fared better when taking a chemical taken from brussel sprouts. Both altered cells' metabolism.
• Liquid Biopsy for Cancer - A blood test may be able to detect early-stage cancers by identifying bits of DNA in the blood stream. It could also monitor cancers through therapy to better deal with cells' reactions to treatment.
• New Joint Lubricant - Researchers discovered a joint-coating molecule that, when injected with lubricant, can ease arthritis pain and keep artificial joints working smoothly.

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