In Print

Graham Ramsay

Method Sharpens Aim for Pain Relief
HMS researchers blocked pain in the paws of rats without affecting mobility by injecting them with a derivative of lidocaine combined with capsaicin—the active ingredient in chili peppers. The chemical pair stopped pain-sensing neurons from signaling without interfering with other types of neurons. The novel approach, reported by (from left) Bruce Bean, Clifford Woolf, and Alexander Binshtok, could eventually make trips to the dentist, childbirth, and surgery more manageable for the doctor and the patient.

Upcoming

Ether Day 2007

A Personal History of Anesthesia

Thursday, October 25
2–3 pm

Speaker:
Edmund Eger

Lab Works

A multimedia site featuring Harvard Medical research.

Spotlight

IOM Names Five from HMS and HSPH
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has elected five faculty members from the Harvard medical and public health community among the 65 named for 2007.

Student Scene

Rachel Eastwood

Staying the Clinical Course, Patient to Patient
About half of HMS students follow an educational route less direct than the standard four-year course of study. Their forays into journalism, policy, business, and the like challenge the continuity of the clinical curriculum, says Jason Sanders. But patients and hands-on care tend to pull together the various strands of learning.

StudenTalk

Personal takes on issues inside and outside the classroom.

Science Progress

A new HMS site tracing progress in health care through funding, science, and discovery.