The heart of cardiac research > Paul Iaizzo, PhD, described his Visible Heart Laboratories at the U of M to the Star Tribune in February as “the birthplace of the ecosystem of medical devices in Minnesota.” After all, the first battery-powered pacemaker was tested nearby, and some of the first successful open-heart surgeries happened in the same U building.

Today Medtronic owns an exclusive licensing agreement to use the lab and recently tested and further developed two of its newest devices there.

Targeting brain tumors > A new clinical trial is evaluating whether a U of M–developed “vaccine” drug called CD200AR-L can stimulate the immune system to attack and destroy pediatric brain tumors. The treatment is licensed to OX2 Therapeutics, a biotech company run by U researchers Michael Olin, PhD, and Christopher Moertel, MD. 

“My goal is to cure or extend life as well as the quality of life in these children,” Olin told KSTP in February, “because right now, there’s no cure.”

Label remaker > Should alcohol labels be updated to warn of cancer risk? Yes, says Traci Toomey, PhD, MPH, a U of M School of Public Health professor and Masonic Cancer Center member, because many people aren’t aware of the association. 

“Warning labels, by themselves, I don’t believe will drastically change people’s behavior,” she told the Washington Post in January. “But it will continue to increase awareness.” 

Research has linked alcohol consumption to cancer and other negative health effects, including on the brain, heart, liver, pancreas, and immune system.