New climate institute to launch at Yale

A panel discussion April 23 will mark the launch of the Climate Civics Institute at Yale. The institute, founded by Yale World Fellows Unmesh Brahme and Tim Jarvis, will conduct policy research on the effects of climate change in the Asia-Pacific region and in emerging economies. Institute researchers will focus on water policy, health issues, gender disparity, food security and community risk management.

School of Medicine neurologist honored for research

Earlier this month, David Hafler, the chairman of the neurology department at the Yale School of Medicine and the chief neurologist at Yale-New Haven Hospital, was awarded the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research by the American Academy of Neurology and the National Multiple Sclerosis Research. Hafler is was a founding member of the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetic Consortium, which recently completed a genetic analysis of more than 17,000 multiple sclerosis patients and identified shared gene variants among them. Hafler joined the Yale faculty last year after spending two decades at Harvard Medical School, where he was the director of molecular immunology.

Carbon nanotubes stimulate immune response

Researchers from the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science have found that adding carbon nanotube bundles to blood in a laboratory setting triples the rate of T-cell (a type of white blood cell) production compared to the body’s natural immune response. While carbon nanotubes pose health risks such as blood clots when they are directly injected into the blood stream, researchers are developing methods to extract carbon nanotubes from blood before it is returned to the patient.

Yale professors call for grand strategy for global health

In an essay published in the April 16 issue of the journal International Health, historians and public health researchers from the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute called for the application of grand strategy — large-scale plans for action traditionally applied to international relations — in global health policy. Grand strategy, the scholars wrote, will help nations better coordinate their plans to improve the health of their citizens.

YALE DAILY NEWS