Researchers from the Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine injected mice with a chemical that incorporates itself into newly dividing cells.

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Early this year he brought in his fellow laser experts Geronemus and Dr. Robert Weiss, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Jef Boeke and his team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, designed the synthetic segments using genome-editing software, which allowed them to introduce changes in the gene sequences.

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The team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine say larger trials with a long follow up are needed to judge how useful the test might be in everyday practice.

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The scientists have likely gotten these new results because, even when a person is in a coma, "parts of the nervous system that are still functioning are capable of learning and capable of changing their activity patterns, " said Dr. Daniel Hanley, professor of neurology, neurosurgery and anesthesia at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who is not involved with Sharon's care.

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"If we do indeed have a short supply of influenza vaccines, I think it's going to have a significant impact on the public health, " says Sara Cosgrove, director of the antibiotic management program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Just last month, researchers led by Armin Arbab-Zadeh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore published a comprehensive review of the biology of heart attacks in the journal Circulation, which said that vulnerable plaques often rupture without causing a heart attack and that a "perfect storm" of other conditions is required before one occurs.

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"The evidence that has come up is of great interest but it's all either anecdotal or epidemiological and not the intervention studies that are going on right now that will lead to answers in the next three years, " said Robert Wood, director of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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