Contact

  • Academic
    drewsm@stanford.edu
    University - Student Department: School of Medicine Position: Graduate, Medicine
    University - Student Department: School of Medicine - IDP's - Neurosciences Position: Graduate

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 5405

All Publications

  • A beta 1-40 enhances the proliferation of human diploid fibroblasts NEUROBIOLOGY OF AGING Theda, L., Drews, M. K., Zitnik, G., Oshima, J., Martin, G. M. 2016; 38: 11-13

    Abstract

    There is a vast literature on the role of beta amyloid (Aβ) peptides in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. However, there is a paucity of research on the potential physiological functions of these evolutionarily conserved products of the Aβ precursor protein. Based on previous studies in neuroblastoma cells, we hypothesized that Aβ may contribute to the proliferation of somatic cells. We present evidence supporting this hypothesis for the case of cultured human skin fibroblasts immortalized with the catalytic subunit of human telomerase (hTERT). Optimal concentrations ranged from 100 pM-10 nM, depending on the nature of the assay.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2015.10.027

    View details for Web of Science ID 000368991300002

    View details for PubMedID 26827638

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4735734

  • MGH-USC Human Connectome Project datasets with ultra-high b-value diffusion MRI. NeuroImage Fan, Q., Witzel, T., Nummenmaa, A., Van Dijk, K. R., Van Horn, J. D., Drews, M. K., Somerville, L. H., Sheridan, M. A., Santillana, R. M., Snyder, J., Hedden, T., Shaw, E. E., Hollinshead, M. O., Renvall, V., Zanzonico, R., Keil, B., Cauley, S., Polimeni, J. R., Tisdall, D., Buckner, R. L., Wedeen, V. J., Wald, L. L., Toga, A. W., Rosen, B. R. 2016; 124 (Pt B): 1108-14

    Abstract

    The MGH-USC CONNECTOM MRI scanner housed at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) is a major hardware innovation of the Human Connectome Project (HCP). The 3T CONNECTOM scanner is capable of producing a magnetic field gradient of up to 300 mT/m strength for in vivo human brain imaging, which greatly shortens the time spent on diffusion encoding, and decreases the signal loss due to T2 decay. To demonstrate the capability of the novel gradient system, data of healthy adult participants were acquired for this MGH-USC Adult Diffusion Dataset (N=35), minimally preprocessed, and shared through the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging Image Data Archive (LONI IDA) and the WU-Minn Connectome Database (ConnectomeDB). Another purpose of sharing the data is to facilitate methodological studies of diffusion MRI (dMRI) analyses utilizing high diffusion contrast, which perhaps is not easily feasible with standard MR gradient system. In addition, acquisition of the MGH-Harvard-USC Lifespan Dataset is currently underway to include 120 healthy participants ranging from 8 to 90 years old, which will also be shared through LONI IDA and ConnectomeDB. Here we describe the efforts of the MGH-USC HCP consortium in acquiring and sharing the ultra-high b-value diffusion MRI data and provide a report on data preprocessing and access. We conclude with a demonstration of the example data, along with results of standard diffusion analyses, including q-ball Orientation Distribution Function (ODF) reconstruction and tractography.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.08.075

    View details for PubMedID 26364861

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4651764