Petrie Dish

At the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the brain bank is accepting deposits.

HHS Secretary Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the CDC vaccine advisory board concerns public health experts. Some fear a new board will change vaccine recommendations, leading to reduced access for all and a surge in vaccine-preventable diseases.

Human immunity wanes as we age, but what if it could be restored? A UT Health San Antonio researcher who studies the thymus has confirmed that a certain protein can restore its size and function in mice, leading to a larger and more diverse T cell population that more closely resembles the T cells of youth.

If you're in your 40s or 50s, there may be something you can do right now to fight Alzheimer's disease. It involves Omega 3 fatty acids—the good stuff in fatty fish and fish oil, which has been linked to lower rates of dementia for a while.

Tinnitus is the number one service-connected disability within the Veterans Administration, and for those with PTSD, it can cause significant distress. A UT Health San Antonio researcher who suffers from chronic tinnitus is studying the connection between the two and how to improve treatment.

When people think about things they can do to stay healthy, they don't think about their teeth nearly enough.

Mosquito season has begun in earnest, and until November, there is an increased risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, including dengue fever. CDC has urged U.S. doctors to watch for dengue, particularly in people who've traveled to countries where the virus is endemic. But several states, including Texas, have reported locally acquired cases of dengue over the last fifteen years.

A newly constructed center for studying and treating diseases of the brain will open in San Antonio at the end of the year. The Center for Brain Health could revolutionize how we understand disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS.

In the final installment of this three-part series, Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus go from an isolated stretch of desert along the Rio Grande, where wild peyote grows, to the exuberant rooms at SXSW, where they consider the future of psychedelics-as-medicine, and back to the hallowed halls of the Texas Legislature, where the future of the so-called Ibogaine Bill is uncertain.

A digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze speech patterns could help doctors detect dementia in patients when other signs and symptoms are not perceptible.

A San Antonio collaborative is developing treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections using viruses known as phages. The effort is urgent as infections that don't respond to antibiotics are projected to kill 39 million people by 2050.

Petrie Dish host Bonnie Petrie has a wide-ranging conversation with the executive director of the Autism Society of Texas as Robert Kennedy's HHS focuses on the rise in autism diagnoses.

Blood flow restriction ahead of surgery could be key.

A San Antonio researcher hopes to dispel myths about who is at risk for eating disorders while studying the interaction between binge eating disorder and food insecurity in older Hispanic women.

The Centers for Disease Control recently buried a warning about the potential for more measles outbreaks and the need for people to get vaccinated, according to a new report from ProPublica.

David Morilak, PhD, a professor of pharmacology and director of the Center for Biomedical Neuroscience at UT Health San Antonio, studies rats in an effort to understand the characteristics of stressful events that can lead to PTSD in humans.

A cutting-edge technology and an exciting recent hire hint at exciting developments in the future of precision medicine in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Adam Salmon, PhD, studies aging in marmosets. He and his team recently concluded that an immunosuppressant called rapamycin extends the lifespan of marmosets. This has significant implications for the study of aging in humans.

A medication that appears to preserve brain function after a stroke will soon go into human trials. The San Antonio researcher who discovered the medication's potential more than two decades ago is still leading the team.

Patients have been leaving the United States to try psychedelic therapies to treat their depression, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and substance use disorders. With so many patients finding relief, why do psychedelic therapies mostly remain illegal in the U.S., and how do psychedelics actually work?

Oral squamous cell carcinoma kills about half of the people who get it, and there have been no new treatments developed for half a century. A UT Health San Antonio dentist has developed a novel drug that may offer these patients a better chance at survival.

Host Bonnie Petrie talks with Dr. Jason Bowling about the other two diseases in the MMR vaccine, mumps and rubella.

Pelvic health disorders can disrupt women's quality of life. The conditions might be considered common and inevitable, but they should not be ignored.

Host Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus explore the potential of psychedelic medication as a treatment for mental health diagnoses like depression and PTSD, particularly for use in the veteran population.

A San Antonio researcher is working on a drug that could treat Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma without lifelong side effects. It would be the first new treatment option for these childhood cancers in 30 years.

An outbreak of measles in West Texas has infected nearly 100 people, most of them unvaccinated children. Dr. Peter Hotez says the ecosystem that led to the elimination of measles in the United States in 2000 has changed as vaccination rates fall, and there will likely be more breakthrough outbreaks of all vaccine-preventable infections.

More than six-million American adults are experiencing heart failure right now.

Host Bonnie Petrie speaks with Cherise Rohr-Allegrini, CEO of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation.

A new technique for delivering radiation to glioblastoma brain tumors may allow doctors to use much higher doses while preserving healthy brain tissue. UT Health San Antonio's Andrew Brenner, MD, PhD, says this may give patients more time.

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that would withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina and TPR's Bonnie Petrie talk about whether Trump's concerns are valid and what the U.S. could lose if it leaves.

Pelvic health disorders can disrupt women's quality of life. The conditions might be considered common and inevitable, but they should not be ignored.

A San Antonio sleep disorder and PTSD researcher uses cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares.

Plants-2-Plate is a six-month program that helps people adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.

UT Health San Antonio neuroscientist Yu Shin Kim, PhD, has discovered how stress causes migraines, which could lead to treatments that prevent them.

Texas vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez spoke with Bonnie Petrie about what it's like to be the target of anti-science activists, his continued commitment to fighting medical misinformation, and his thoughts on the nomination of anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

Physical exercise impacts every type of tissue in the body and affects males and females differently. Data gathered at UT Health San Antonio. It's part of a nationwide, multi-site study on exercise and the human body.

Around 30% of boys diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy also experience cognitive dysfunction and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and ADHD. A UT Health San Antonio neuroscientist is doing research he hopes will uncover what is causing these deficits and how they might be treated.

For the last five years, first responders all over the world have been watching San Antonio.

Around 20% of teens who have experienced emotional trauma don't respond to talk therapy. UT Health San Antonio is using neuroimaging to track brain changes in traumatized teens during a course of therapy to see if they can figure out why, which could lead to the development of more personalized treatments that will help more teens heal.

As climate change-driven weather disasters become more frequent and intense, it's becoming clear that they are leaving a mark on children's mental health. Clinical psychologist Julie Kaplow explores the risks of this type of trauma to a child's long-term mental health and ways to mitigate the damage.

Up to two percent of Texans have epilepsy. Dr. Charles Szabo at UT Health San Antonio has developed an epilepsy surgery program and is leading groundbreaking research and clinical trials that offer hope to those with the seizure disorder who don't respond to existing medications.

CTE can rob a person of their memories and ability to make decisions and plans. It can also cause a person to become a threat to themselves and, sometimes, others. But the disease, caused by repeated head trauma, can't be definitively diagnosed before death. A San Antonio researcher hopes to help change that.

UT Health San Antonio oncologist Josephine Taverna envisions a revolution in lung cancer treatment.

Exercise can improve function and slow disease progression in people with Parkinson's disease, but why? A UT Health San Antonio researcher is studying patients who exercise and play virtual reality games to see if she can figure out the answer.

Caregivers for members of the military and veterans experience depression at a higher rate than any other group in the nation and that can be lethal.

Remote technology can bring health interventions to patients who may struggle to get themselves to care because of where they live or how much money they have. Tae Joon Moon, Ph.D., has found that transdermal alcohol monitors are a remote tech that might help treat people with alcohol use disorder.

Pediatrician Debra Hendrickson says climate change is the greatest crime ever committed against children. She's written a book detailing the impact of climate change on children's health and offers a call-to-action for parents and other adults to do something before it really is too late.

Cancer care is about to experience a silver tsunami.

THX mice can be used to study anything that requires a vigorous human immune response, from cancer medications to vaccines and organ transplantation. The mice were created at UT Health San Antonio using human stem cells, but what makes them unique is they also received a dose of estrogen. This is the critical point, according to Dr. Paolo Casali, that leads to the development of a robust human immune system in THX mice.

Shivani Ruparel, Ph.D., Associate Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Endodontics at UT Health San Antonio, and her team are working on potential analgesics to help mitigate cancer pain.

The chemical cross-communication between the guts and other organs that occurs when a person metabolizes nutrients begins before we open our mouths, when we see or smell food. The answer to why some people develop obesity, diabetes, and other metabolic disorders, and why some people respond so well to medicines like Ozempic, might lie in those signals. UT Health San Antonio endocrinologist Dr. Marzieh Salehi is studying that communication in patients with spinal cord injury.