Gladstone researchers are advancing science every day. Below you'll discover compelling research news, in-depth features, scientist profiles and much more. And by signing up for our monthly e-newsletter you can have the latest news delivered right to your inbox.


News Thumb
Genome Editing Goes Hi-Fi

Gladstone’s innovative technique in stem cells could boost scientists’ ability to study—and ultimately cure—genetic disease

Feb. 9, 2014: Sometimes simply a one-letter change in the human genetic code is the difference between health and a deadly disease. Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have found a way to efficiently edit the human genome one letter at a time—not only boosting researchers’ ability to model human disease, but also paving the way for therapies that cure disease.

News Thumb
Building the Tools that Fight Type 1 Diabetes

Gladstone scientists reprogram skin cells into insulin-producing pancreas cells

Feb. 6, 2014: A cure for type 1 diabetes has long eluded even the top experts. But now scientists in the laboratory of Gladstone Institutes’ Investigator Sheng Ding, MD, PhD, harnessing the power of regenerative medicine, have developed a technique in animal models that could replenish the very cells destroyed by the disease.

News Thumb
Decoding the Ring Chromosome

New study establishes platform for investigating chromosome regulation during early human development

Jan. 21, 2014: In a study published in the the journal Nature, a team of investigators from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Gladstone Institutes describe a new technique that will help scientists better understand how stem cells maintain proper chromosome numbers during development—and what happens when that process goes awry

News Thumb
Mitochondria in the Middle

Whether with newborns or neurodegenerative diseases, basic science offers insights

Jan. 13, 2014: It might seem that physician-scientist Bryce Mendelsohn, MD, PhD, likes to play both ends against the middle. Tthe young researcher joined the Gladstone Institutes to work in a laboratory focused largely on Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

News Thumb
Two Proteins’ Destructive Dance

Revolutionary imaging technique reveals that a unique protein interaction may be key to driving the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease

Jan. 7, 2014: Trying to understand what happens to individual cells that become ravaged by disease is a lot like trying to piece together the life story of an individual person by looking at a few photographs.

News Thumb
Unraveling the Basics of HIV/AIDS Biology

Gladstone’s discovery of precise molecular mechanisms in the human body leads to a new potential therapy for our era’s deadliest epidemic

Dec. 19, 2013: New research from the laboratory of Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, has revealed the body's step-by-step reaction to an HIV infection. The lab’s discovery of exactly how the body—and not the virus—kills most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells has helped the lab identify a potential new therapy that may block AIDS.

News Thumb
Low Risk, High Reward

Latest study finds no link between HIV-prevention pill Truvada and increased sexual risk behavior

Dec. 18, 2013: In 2012 the HIV antiretroviral drug Truvada became the first and only medication approved by the FDA for HIV prevention. Now, a new study underscores the drug’s effectiveness at preventing new infections.

News Thumb
Gladstone 2013: The Year in Review

2013 marked another banner year for Gladstone science—what were some of our most compelling stories?

Dec. 13, 2013: Gladstone scientists are molecular ‘tinkerers’ charged with understanding the root causes of diseases that attack our hearts, our brains and our immune systems. Here is a sampling of how they have advanced the fields of science and medicine over the past year.

News Thumb
New Funds to Fast-Track Drug Discovery

Gladstone’s Robert Mahley receives Wellcome Trust Funds to combat Alzheimer’s disease

Dec. 9, 2013: Robert Mahley, MD, PhD, has received a Seeding Drug Discovery Award from the Wellcome Trust enabeling Gladstone researchers in collaboration with the chemoinformatics company Numerate to develop therapies that prevent the damaging effects of the protein variant apoE4 on the brain.

News Thumb
Shining a Light on Multiple Sclerosis’ Black Box


Dec. 5, 2013: Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have devised a new molecular sensor that can detect MS at its earliest stages—even before the onset of physical signs.

News Thumb
The Future of Medicine

Advances in genomics and stem cell biology highlight the importance of basic research

Nov. 27, 2013: Two areas of research and discovery that are rooted in basic science are currently revolutionizing how we understand and treat disease.

News Thumb
Breaking through Barriers; Building Better Cells

Gladstone scientists—led by Nobel Laureate Shinya Yamanaka—have gained new insight into the molecular roadblocks that prevent efficient iPS cell production

Nov. 14, 2013: Dr. Yamanaka and his Gladstone research team have found a family of RNAs that acts as a barrier, preventing adult cells from being completely reprogrammed into iPS cells. And in so doing, the team has also identified a potential way of punching through that barrier and improving stem cell production.

News Thumb
Same Song, Different Dance

Fast-mutating DNA sequences are shared between humans and chimpanzees—but differing activation patterns hold key to the evolution of uniquely human traits

Nov. 11, 2013: What does it mean to be human? According to scientists the key lies in the billions of lines of genetic code that comprise the human genome. Researchers at the Gladstone Institutes have discovered how the activation of specific stretches of DNA control the development of uniquely human characteristics.

News Thumb
Navigating the Road from DNA to RNA—and Beyond

Gladstone scientists identify unique change in protein structure that guides RNA production

Nov. 7, 2013: Gladstone Institutes are shedding light on key aspects of transcription, and in so doing are coming even closer to understanding the importance of this process in the growth and development of cells—as well as what happens when this process goes awry.

News Thumb
How to Rouse a Sleeping Virus

Dormant reservoirs of HIV hiding inside infected cells represent our biggest barrier to eradicating HIV/AIDS

Oct. 30, 2013: AIDS and the virus that causes it, HIV, have taken the lives of more than 35 million people worldwide. Anitretroviral treatments have been successful in suppressing HIV but they cannot completely eliminate the virus. The problem of dormant, or “latent,” HIV is perhaps the biggest barrier to finding a cure.

News Thumb
Building a Bridge Towards Greater Discovery

Two Gladstone scientists inducted into California Academy of Sciences, setting stage for continued collaboration between both research institutions

Oct. 8, 2013: The Gladstone Institutes and the California Academy of Sciences have been furthering scientific discovery and innovation collectively for more than a century. And today, the Academy has once again chosen to recognize Gladstone as a partner in science—by bestowing its highest honor upon two Gladstone scientists.

News Thumb
Daring to Work Towards a World without AIDS

Three Gladstone scientists receive a total of $12.5 million to pursue high-impact research to fight our era’s worst epidemic

Sept. 30, 2013: Drs Warner C. Greene, Leor S. Weinberger, and Shomyseh Sanjabi, come from different backgrounds and with unique perspectives, but with the same goal: to eradicate HIV from the planet. They have each been recognized for their distinct visions of an AIDS-free planet as recipients of three separate awards from the National Institutes of Health.

News Thumb
HIV/AIDS Research at Gladstone: It’s Time for a Cure

As the pandemic continues, Gladstone scientists are laser-focused on curing HIV/ AIDS

Sept. 23, 2013: We have gone very far, very fast to stop HIV/AIDS. But our work is by no means done. At Gladstone, we are taking a multi-pronged approach to find new preventions, treatments and a cure for HIV/AIDS.

News Thumb
Searching for a Cure in All the Right Places

Robert Mahley’s hunt for a cure to Alzheimer’s disease begins with a protein called apoE

Sept. 16, 2013: Alzheimer’s disease is one of the greatest challenges facing modern medicine. Already, more than five million people in the United States are struggling with the disease. Thanks to four decades of research by Gladstone scientists into a protein called apoE—there is now a Plan B.

News Thumb
Out of Africa

Gladstone Postdoc Energizes Science Expertise with Global-Health Passion

Sept. 7, 2013: Virologist Stefanie Sowinski, PhD, will never forget her first encounter with an AIDS patient. Sick with both AIDS and tuberculosis, the 25-year-old man was so emaciated he couldn’t speak. San Francisco or New York in the 1980s? No, this happened just two years ago in a rural hospital located a couple of hours north of Kampala, Uganda.

News Thumb
Disease in a Dish

Scientists use latest stem cell and gene-editing techniques to generate neurons in a dish

Aug. 29, 2013: There is no easy way to study diseases of the brain. Extracting neurons from a living patient is difficult and risky. Examining a patient’s brain post-mortem usually only reveals the disease’s final stages. Animal models have fallen short during the drug-development stage of research. The result: we are woefully unprepared to fight—and win—the war against this class of diseases.

News Thumb
'We Can Rebuild Him. We Have the Technology'

Gladstone-led study transforms non-beating human cells into heart-muscle cells; lays foundation for one day regenerating damaged heart muscle

Aug. 22, 2013: Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes reveal in a new study that they have found a way to transform the class of cells that form human scar tissue into those closely resembling beating heart cells.

News Thumb
Building a Better Cell

Making large numbers of cells from stem cells could speed studies of embryonic development and congenital disease

Aug. 19, 2013: Built-in redundancies protect the developing embryo during early pregnancy. However some embryos are not so lucky, resulting in a devastating congenital birth defect or, in some cases, a miscarriage. Scientists have long sought to understand how problems early in embryonic development lead to such defects.

News Thumb
How to Map a Molecular Machine

Researchers devise an innovative screening method to map and predict the behavior of an enzyme called RNA Polymerase II

Aug. 8, 2013: A team of researchers has found a way to map an enzyme’s underlying molecular machinery, revealing patterns that could allow them to predict how an enzyme behaves—and what happens when this process disrupted.

News Thumb
From Artist to Immunologist

Gladstone’s Shomyseh Sanjabi wasn’t always set on being a scientist, but her work in immunology could revolutionize our understanding of how our bodies fight disease.

July 29, 2013: Our immune system protects us. It fights dangerous pathogens and builds defenses to block future infections. But it is extraordinarily complex, and scientists are still unraveling the inner workings of how this system attacks potentially deadly diseases.

News Thumb
Defending against the Enemy Within

The ability of some types of brain cells to clear mutant proteins better than others offers hints about how Huntington’s disease works

July 21, 2013: Toxic proteins build up in the brain over time due to age, various environmental insults, and genetic factors. This toxic buildup has long been viewed as the major contributor to neurodegenerative disease symptoms. Huntington's disease is an all-too-perfect example of this phenomenon.

News Thumb
Learning about Learning and Memory

A Profile of Maya Ragini Overland

July 15, 2013: Maya Ragini Overland is an MD-PhD student at UCSF doing her thesis research in the laboratory of Gladstone Investigator Steve Finkbeiner. Her research concerns a protein called Arc that is deeply involved in memory formation. How we learn and remember is a marvel to most of us and a long-standing fundamental problem for neuroscientists. Maya shares the wonder.

News Thumb
Step by Step, Day by Day

Scientists uncover the series of molecular signals that guide earliest stages of artery development

July 7, 2013: Not all circulatory systems are created equal. The ability to form blood vessels distinguishes vertebrates from the rest of the animal kingdom and is one of evolution’s crowning achievements. Researchers in the Bruneau lab have new insight into a process critical to the formation of arteries.

News Thumb
Mapping the Brain’s Wiring Diagram

Gladstone-Salk study uses high-resolution technique to decode circuitry that guides brain function

June 30, 2013: The power of the brain to control the body and behavior lies in its trillions of intercellular connections called synapses. Gladstone and Salk Institute scientists combined an innovative brain-tracing technique with sophisticated genetic tools to ask how one brain region connects to its targets.

News Thumb
The Philosopher’s Stone

Ordinary cells can now be reprogrammed, and scientists are pushing this breakthrough into exciting new areas

June 27, 2013: In the Middle Ages, alchemists searched in vain for a philosopher’s stone that they believed would turn common metals into gold. In modern times, biomedical scientists have sought ways to transform common cells into those that could be used to repair damaged hearts, brains, and other tissues.

News Thumb
The Molecular Metronome


June 24, 2013: Virtually every living organism has a circadian clock; the biological timing mechanism that is coordinated with the cycle of day and night. Scientists at Gladstone have discovered how a single protein receives direct instructions from the body’s circadian clock, and regulates fundamental circadian and metabolic processes.

News Thumb
From Trash to Treasure

How a chance meeting between scientists is setting the stage for the next phase in human genomics

June 17, 2013: Gladstone Investigator Katie Pollard, and Bioinformatics Fellow, Tom Sharpton have been examining the vast array of microorganisms known as the human "microbiome" which include many species of bacteria or viruses that dwell in or on the human body and comprise up to ten pounds of our body weight.

News Thumb
How Do We Learn and Remember?

The protein Arc helps our brains form memories, but new research from Gladstone gives it an intriguing new role

June 9, 2013: How do we learn and remember? Somehow the things we see, feel, and hear are translated into electrical impulses and chemical connections in our brains, and we can call up those memories for years and even generations later. How memories are formed and sometimes lost is one of the great problems in biology.