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Dr. Katsanis is interviewed by local news station about clinical trials currently happening at the UA Cancer Center. 'Without research, you can't improve things,' says Dr. Katsanis. The University of Arizona's Cancer Center in Tucson is the state's only National Cancer Institute-designated facility and ABC15 recently got to see part of it for ourselves.

A researcher at the University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center has received a $400,000 grant to support his work into childhood leukemia and other blood-related cancers.
The nonprofit organization Hyundai Hope on Wheels awarded Dr. Emmanual Katsanis of the Steele Children’s Research Center the Hope Scholar Award.
“Pediatric cancer represents a small portion of cancer in the community, so industry in general always supports research in adults because that’s where they make their money,” Katsanis said. “Grants like this support research that is specifically for pediatrics.”

Dr. Simpson is interviewed in this New York Times article. Recent research suggests that people who work out have stronger resistance to infectious diseases — including Covid — but experts say the findings need to be tested further.

A NASA simulation investigates how the stress of space travel might trigger the reemergence of viruses long dormant in our bodies.
Simpson, a professor at the University of Arizona who specializes in immunology and exercise physiology, has worked with NASA over multiple missions to learn more about the effects of stress. Over the course of this HERA mission, Cornell and her crewmates provide blood, urine and saliva samples, as well as data on their vitals, that Simpson and other researchers can use to study how isolation, intense emergency scenarios and team dynamics affect our brains and bodies.

Episode 29: Bringing hope to pediatric transplant patients and their families

Treatment for patients with blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma may include a bone marrow transplant to replace unhealthy tissue to increase odds of recovery and survival. Transplants can be lifesaving but are complex and challenging, especially in the case of children.

Physician-scientist Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis not only performs transplantation, but also actively researches tumor and transplant immunology. Dr. Katsanis is a professor of pediatrics, medicine, immunology, and cancer biology, and is a BIO5 member. He discusses his three decades of expertise in the lab and clinic as the Director of the Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Arizona, as well as directing his own research lab.

Simpson and his colleagues hope these findings will encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. The article, “Recent COVID-19 vaccination has minimal effects on the physiological responses to graded exercise in physically active healthy people” is highlighted as one of this month’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.

Interview with Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis on haploidentical transplants, a type of bone marrow transplant that uses healthy cells from a family member to replace unhealthy cells in the patient.

"The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on health, society and the global economy. Worldwide infections are now over 7.5 million with over 420,000 deaths. Unemployment rates have soared and the livelihoods of millions of people are under threat. Government shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines have restricted the movement of ~3 billion people around the globe, separating us from our loved ones and the daily social connections to which we have become accustomed".  Blog article by Dr. Richard J. Simpson

Episode 139 of the Institute of Performance Nutrition's "We Do Science" podcast! In this episode, I (Laurent Bannock) discuss "Exercise, Immune Function and Infection Risk" with Dr. Richard Simpson PhD (University of Arizona, USA).

Discussion Topics Include:
General introduction to exercise immunology and impact of exercise on the immune system
Moderate exercise and impact on health promotion
Arduous exercise and potential impact on immune suppression
The open window hypothesis and infection risk
Can exercise affect immune function and infection risk: both sides of the debate
Take home messages from the evidence and applied perspectives

ACSM Blog article by Dr. Richard J. Simpson. "Having higher age and sex-adjusted scores for cardiorespiratory fitness and performing regular exercise of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise that fall within ACSM guidelines has been shown to improve immune responses to vaccination, lower chronic low-grade inflammation, and improve various immune markers in several disease states including cancer, HIV, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment and obesity. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised a lot of questions regarding how exercise can protect us from infection by boosting immunity".