A new discovery may unlock the answer to a vexing scientific question: How to conduct mitochondrial replacement therapy, a new gene-therapy technique, in such a way that safely prevents the transmission of harmful mitochondrial gene mutations from mothers to their children.

When the possibility of death is the only alternative, most people will opt for the most aggressive cancer treatments possible. The problem is, a new study by researchers at OHSU suggests that a robust combination of therapies that are effective in targeting the cancer can lead to harmful cognitive effects in the brain if the patient survives.

Long-term exposure to cosmic radiation could alter the brain and change behavior in astronauts bound for Mars, according to new research led by scientists at OHSU in Portland, Oregon.

Cholesterol-lowering drugs help prevent heart attacks and strokes in adults with cardiovascular risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking, but have not yet had a heart attack or stroke, according to a large-scale analysis of clinical trial data.

As we age, as many as 10 to 30 percent of us spontaneously carry mutations in our blood cells that put us at risk for blood cancers and heart disease. Researchers at OHSU are leading a unique study for women aged 65 and older called WEAR, or Women.

​Not all states allow nurse practitioners to make a patient’s treatment wishes part of their medical record, yet a six-year study concludes that they can improve seriously ill patients’ access to advance-care planning. Nurse practitioners often serve as the primary care provider or a member of the team caring for patients in the last months of their lives when they are most likely to seek end-of-life treatment counseling.