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National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

• Case Studies

This website provides access to an award-winning collection of peer-reviewed case studies. The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science also offers a five-day summer workshop and a two-day fall conference to train faculty in the case method of teaching science. In addition, they are actively engaged in educational research to assess the impact of the case method on student learning.

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National Case Study Competition in Health Education®

What is the National Case Study Competition in Health Education®?

Every year, NCSCHE® brings together student teams from leading universities to compete in solving a real-life challenge. Three weeks prior to the competition, students and their advisor will be emailed a community-based public health education case. Students work independently to develop a resolution to the issue and a presentation for a panel of judges. Teams will have free reign to address the issue as they see fit, but generally they will have to show competence in the NCHEC Core Competencies for a Health Education Specialist. Students present to a panel of judges, given approximately 15 minutes to present, and then 10 minutes for questions from the panel.

    2024 National Case Study Competition coming this Spring!

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS)

The mission of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS) at SUNY-Buffalo is to promote the development and dissemination of materials and practices for case teaching in the sciences. 

Click on the links below to learn more about-

• a bibliography of case studies,
• faculty perceptions on the benefit of teaching case studies, and
• research articles

Below is a sample work flow showing how to navigate the NCCSTS case collection. Enjoy!

1. Start at the NCCSTS homepage ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/ ). Then click on Case Collection (red arrow, upper right).

nccsts_front_page.png

2. Clicking on Case Collection takes you to the Keyword Search page. As shown below use the dropdown arrows to narrow your search parameters. As an example I chose Organic Chemistry under Subject Heading.

nccsts_keyword_search.png

3. Below is a partial list (6/25) of case studies categorized under the Subject Heading choice, Organic Chemistry.

nccsts_search_results.png

4. Click on a case study. I chose The Case of the Missing Bees (not shown in the partial list above). Below is a partial screenshot of the case study description. To download the case study click on the DOWNLOAD CASE icon (red arrow, upper right).

nccsts_download_case.png

5. Below is the the top of the first page of the case study, The Case of the Missing Bees .

nccsts_case_front_page.png

6. And of course make sure to review and adhere to the Permitted and Standard Uses and Permissions ( http://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/collection/uses/ ).

nccsts_uses.png

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

Case study title: The Case of the Missing Bees: High Fructose Corn Syrup and Colony Collapse Disorder

Case study authors: Jeffri C. Bohlscheid and Frank J. Dinan

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Review by Pamela Brittain , Common Sense Education | Updated May 2020

National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

Science-based debates, discussions, role plays, and more for research, analysis, and critical thinking

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Community rating, privacy rating, subjects & topics.

Digital Citizenship, Relationships & Communication, Science, Social & Emotional Learning, Social Studies

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Pros : Peer-reviewed content; a large collection of cases on a broad range of topics; free resources are extensive.

Cons : Teacher notes and answer keys require subscription; limited collection for middle school.

Bottom Line : Great resource to address many skills, apply science, and adapt to work in your classroom.

• How Can I Teach with This Tool?
• What Is It?
• Is It Good for Learning?

The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science is a resource that could work to introduce concepts or reinforce them. Working through the case studies themselves also teaches important skills as a stand-alone activity. You can use the cases as they are, but you'll likely have to adapt the content to work in your classroom. Because many of the cases are text-heavy, you may need to adjust them to better fit your students' reading levels. 

The case studies could be really useful when studying concepts that may feel more abstract. So, for instance, if you're talking about climate change or the biology of nutrition, you can teach the foundational concepts and then find a case study that's related to your topic so that students can apply what they've learned. Or you can begin with a project-based learning or flipped case study to dig into the concepts that you're covering. Because there are case studies around topical issues, you can likely find one that feels relevant to students and will pique their interest.

The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science is an extensive collection of over 850 case studies focusing on various areas of science and society. Many cases, available for free on the site, come with resources for teaching the material (such as slideshows, PDFs, supporting materials, and videos), though some don't. Out of the 850-plus cases, only about 12 are specifically aimed at middle school, but over 400 are aimed at high school. Teachers can search by subject, educational level, instruction method, or special topic area (e.g., social justice, women in science, or science history). You can also search directly by keyword if you are interested in a specific thing. Aside from content, the cases come in different forms, like debates, clicker classes, flipped classrooms, role-playing, mock trials, and more. This gives teachers a lot of flexibility in both subject material and method of instruction.

A number of additional resources are available on the site to show teachers how to use case study materials in their classroom effectively, including the different methods of instruction for case studies. Some of these are free; however, there's a fee to access some of the materials (such as books, training, and conferences). With a subscription you also get access to teacher notes and answer keys. However, you must be a registered teacher to access these materials, and you have to prove your status as such before you are given access (they evaluate each registration individually). You can alter the studies, within reason, for "standard" usage, without additional permissions from the Center. This allows teachers to adapt the case studies to more accurately reflect their students and other lessons. However, "non-standard" alterations require permission from the Center. 

What makes The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science especially useful is that it allows for a different way to approach the sciences and show the cross-curricular connections between both other sciences and the arts. This gives teachers a much broader range of tools for teaching science and a way to engage different types of students in their class. Cases are submitted by members of the scientific and education communities and are all peer-reviewed before being put on the site. This ensures that teachers can be confident that the materials they are teaching are accurate and have been fact-checked thoroughly.  

The wide variety of topics and approaches gives teachers a multitude of ways to engage students. The case studies can bring science to life, either through topical studies, history, or ethical debates. The biggest challenge is adapting the text-heavy studies to use in classes with students at different reading levels, as the vocabulary and syntax are generally advanced. However, the time and effort it takes to find and adapt the right study with an interesting approach will likely pay off with high engagement and practice in a wide variety of skills.

Learning Rating

Overall rating.

The case studies provide a selection of content that will meet the interests of a wide range of students, but engagement may depend on the type of case you present (PBL vs. Debate, etc.).

The case studies use multiple ways of presenting information and incorporate different instructional methods and content types. However, it's completely up to the teacher to provide scaffolding and adapt the cases to work in class.

The collection is limited to the case studies and their supporting materials; they're provided as stand-alone materials with instructor notes and answer keys available for a subscription. 

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Case studies.

Print Version

Case studies are stories that are used as a teaching tool to show the application of a theory or concept to real situations. Dependent on the goal they are meant to fulfill, cases can be fact-driven and deductive where there is a correct answer, or they can be context driven where multiple solutions are possible. Various disciplines have employed case studies, including humanities, social sciences, sciences, engineering, law, business, and medicine. Good cases generally have the following features: they tell a good story, are recent, include dialogue, create empathy with the main characters, are relevant to the reader, serve a teaching function, require a dilemma to be solved, and have generality.

Instructors can create their own cases or can find cases that already exist. The following are some things to keep in mind when creating a case:

• What do you want students to learn from the discussion of the case?
• What do they already know that applies to the case?
• What are the issues that may be raised in discussion?
• How will the case and discussion be introduced?
• What preparation is expected of students? (Do they need to read the case ahead of time? Do research? Write anything?)
• What directions do you need to provide students regarding what they are supposed to do and accomplish?
• Do you need to divide students into groups or will they discuss as the whole class?
• Are you going to use role-playing or facilitators or record keepers? If so, how?
• What are the opening questions?
• How much time is needed for students to discuss the case?
• What concepts are to be applied/extracted during the discussion?
• How will you evaluate students?

To find other cases that already exist, try the following websites:

• The National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science , University of Buffalo. SUNY-Buffalo maintains this set of links to other case studies on the web in disciplines ranging from engineering and ethics to sociology and business
• A Journal of Teaching Cases in Public Administration and Public Policy , University of Washington

For more information:

• World Association for Case Method Research and Application

Book Review :  Teaching and the Case Method , 3rd ed., vols. 1 and 2, by Louis Barnes, C. Roland (Chris) Christensen, and Abby Hansen. Harvard Business School Press, 1994; 333 pp. (vol 1), 412 pp. (vol 2).

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National Center for case study teaching in science

Student assessment, evaluating case discussion.

Business school case teachers do it all the time. It’s not uncommon for them to base the final course grade on 50% class participation. And this with 50-70 students in a class! This sends shudders up the spines of most science teachers. Yet, what's so tough about the concept? We are constantly making judgments about the verbal statements of our colleagues, politicians, and even administrators. Why can't we do it for classroom contributions?

Most of our discomfort comes from the subjective nature of the act, something that we scientists work hard to avoid in our work-a-day world. It may be that we are even predisposed to become scientists because we are looking for a structured and quantifiable world. Flowing from this subjective quandary is the fact that we feel we must be able to justify our grades to the students. We are decidedly uncomfortable if we can't show them the numbers. This is one of the reasons that multiple-choice questions have such appeal for some faculty.

But let’s take a look at how the business school people evaluate case discussion. Some of them try to do it in the classroom, making written notes even as the discussion unfolds, using a seating chart, and calling on perhaps 25 students in a period. As you might expect, this usually interferes with running an effective discussion. Other instructors tape-record the discussion and listen to it later in thoughtful contemplation. Most folks, however, sit down shortly after their classes with seating chart in hand and reflect on the discussion. They rank student contributions into categories of excellent, good, or bad, or they may use numbers to evaluate the students from 1 to 4 with 4 being excellent. They may give negative evaluations to people who weren’t prepared or were absent. These numbers are tallied up at the end of the semester to calculate the grade. And that’s as quantified as it gets.

I especially like mathematician/philosopher Blaise Pascal's view of evaluation: “We first distinguish grapes from among fruits, then Muscat grapes, then those from Condrieu, then from Desargues, then the particular graft. Is that all? Has a vine ever produced two bunches alike, and has any bunch produced two grapes alike?” “I have never judged anything in exactly the same way,” Pascal continues. “I cannot judge a work while doing it. I must do as painters do and stand back, but not too far. How far then? Guess ....”

Assignments

The simplest solution to case work evaluation is to forget classroom participation and grade everything on the basis of familiar criteria, say papers or presentations. This puts professors back in familiar territory. Even business and law school professors use this strategy as part of their grades. I’m all for this. In fact, I always ask for some written analysis in the form of journals, papers, and reports. Along with an exam, these are my sole bases for grades. I don’t lose sleep over evaluating class participation.

You can give any sort of exam in a case-based course, including multiple-choice, but doesn’t it make more sense to have at least part of the exam a case? If you have used cases all semester and trained students in case analysis, surely you should consider a case-based test. Too often we test on different things than we have taught.

Peer Evaluation

Some of the best case studies involve small group work and group projects. In fact, I strongly believe teaching cases this way is the most user-friendly for science faculty and the most rewarding for students. Nonetheless, even some aficionados of group work don’t like group projects. They say, how do you know who’s doing the work? Even if they ask for a group project, they argue against grading it. They rely strictly on individual marks for a final grade determination. I’m on the other side of the fence. I believe that great projects can come from teams, and if you don't grade the work, what is the incentive for participating? Moreover, employers report that most people are fired because they can’t get along with other people. Not all of us are naturally team players. Practice helps. So, I’m all for group work including teamwork during quizzes where groups almost invariably perform better than the best individuals. But we have to build in safeguards like peer evaluation.

“Social loafers” and “compulsive workhorses” exist in every class. When you form groups such as those in Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Team Learning (the best ways to teach cases, in my judgment), you must set up a system to monitor the situation. In PBL it is common to have tutors who can make evaluations. Still, I believe it is essential to use peer evaluations. I use a method that I picked up from Larry Michaelsen in the School of Management at the University of Oklahoma.

At the beginning of every course I explain the use of these anonymous peer evaluations. I show students the form that they will fill out at the end of the semester ( Table 1 ). Then they will be asked to name their teammates and give each one the number of points that reflects their contributions to group projects throughout the course. Say the group has five team members then each person would have 40 points to give to the other four members of his team. If a student feels that everyone has contributed equally to the group projects, then he should give each teammate 10 points. Obviously, if everyone in the team feels the same way about everyone else, they all will get an average score of 10 points. Persons with an average of 10 points will receive 100% of the group score for any group project.

But suppose that things aren’t going well. Maybe John has not pulled his weight in the group projects and ends up with an average score of 8, and Sarah has done more than her share and receives a 12. What then? Well, John gets only 80% of any group grade and Sarah receives 120%.

There are some additional rules that I use. One is that a student cannot give anyone more than 15 points. This is to stop a student from saving his friend John by giving him 40 points. Another is that any student receiving an average of seven or less will fail my course. This is designed to stop a student from doing nothing in the group because he is simply trying to slip by with a barely passing grade and is willing to undermine the group effort. Here are some observations after many years of using peer evaluations:

• Most students are reasonable. Although they are inclined to be generous, most give scores between 8 and 12.
• Occasionally, I receive a set of scores where one isn’t consistent with the others. For example, a student may get a 10, 10, 11, and a 5. Obviously, something is amiss here. When this happens, I set the odd number aside and use the other scores for the average.
• About one group in five initially will have problems because one or two people are not participating adequately or are habitually late or absent. These problems can be corrected.
• It is essential that you give a practice peer evaluation about one-third or one-half of the way through the semester. The students fill these out and you tally them and give the students their average scores. You must carefully remind everyone what these numbers mean, and if they don't like the results, they must do something to improve their scores. I tell them that it is no use blaming their group members for their perceptions. They must fix things, perhaps by talking to the group and asking how to compensate for their previous weakness. Also, I will always speak privately to any student who is in danger. These practice evaluations almost always significantly improve the group performance. Tardiness virtually stops and attendance is at least 95%.

© 1999-2024 National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science, University at Buffalo. All Rights Reserved.

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Methodology

• What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

Table of contents

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

• Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
• Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
• Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
• Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

• Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
• Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
• Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

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ACE.S Unfolding Cases

An unfolding case is one that evolves over time in a manner that is unpredictable to the learner. New situations develop and are revealed with each encounter. Every ACE unfolding case uses the highly regarded unfolding case model developed for Advancing Care Excellence for Seniors (ACE.S) . Each case includes the following:

• A first-person monologue that introduces the family and the complex problems they are facing.
• Simulation scenarios designed to help students practice assessing function and expectations of their patient(s), with links to appropriate evidence-based assessment tools. Suggestions for debriefing are included.
• An innovative final assignment that asks students to finish the story .
• Instructor toolkits with suggestions on how to use the various components of the unfolding cases and incorporate them into the curriculum.

These unfolding cases combine the power of storytelling with the experiential nature of simulation scenarios. They are intended to create a robust, meaningful experience for students, one that provides a simulated experience of continuity of care and that will help them integrate the Essential Knowledge Domains and Nursing Actions into their practice of nursing. We hope you will give them a try! Standardized/Simulated patients are recommended for all ACE simulations. If you are not already familiar with the Association for Standardized Patient Educators Standards of Best Practice, we encourage you to review them.

Learn more about unfolding cases by visiting the  How to Use an Unfolding Case  page.

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Case Study: NSF Supports APL Logistics’ Sustainability Goals

An important focus for APL Logistics was to manage its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while enabling its customers to do the same. The company understood that immediate collective action is essential because of the urgency of today’s climate change crisis. It wanted to join over 5,000 businesses in setting science-based targets for emissions to restrict global warming to 1.5°C.

Eva James, Sustainability Specialist at APL Logistics, explains how the goal of business sustainability became a key issue for the company. “ Sustainability has come to the forefront in the past five years in a way we could never have imagined. We’re determined to stay ahead of regulation in this area and keep up with internal, customer and industry pressure.”

“We were new to this – we needed some support. We’d never put out a sustainability report. We’d never even asked ourselves all the questions in a materiality assessment.”

“From the first meeting, I knew we were going to work well with NSF. They have been with us the whole way. We hope our commitment can inspire and accelerate climate action across our industry. It’s critical we raise the bar.”

Eva James, Sustainability Specialist, APL Logistics

The solution

James manages reporting, GHG emission calculations, ESG frameworks, and road mapping. She is supported on data analytics and reporting by Sustainability Administrator Neil Bradley.

“With NSF’s expert input, we completed our materiality assessment, verified our Scope 1 and Scope 2 inventory, collected our Scope 3 inventory, published our 2023 sustainability report, and developed a road map for our next steps.”

In December 2022, the company committed to setting science-based emissions targets with the SBTi. During the first half of 2023, James and Bradley led the company’s development of the targets and mapped out its decarbonization efforts. They worked in close partnership with NSF to verify Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions inventories.

“That was a huge undertaking – and NSF was very good at guiding us along the way,” says James.

The company set specific 1.5°C-aligned targets of an absolute reduction of 42% of Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030, from a 2022 baseline, together with a separate absolute reduction of 42% in Scope 3 emissions over the same period.

The results

In Spring 2024, APL Logistics’ emissions targets were officially approved by SBTi, achieving the most ambitious designation available.

In addition, the company has improved its CDP accreditation rating. It had made an initial application in 2022, submitting an abbreviated questionnaire that gained it a ‘C’ rating. “In 2023, NSF helped us put out our first combined CDP report with our parent company KWE, which scored an improved ‘B minus’,” says James. “Now, we’re looking to improve it again. We have a plan and a path forward.”

“As a company with a global presence, we now have the data foundation and the measurement capabilities to start decarbonizing. Having NSF there to help us put them together was crucial.”

About APL logistics

APL Logistics is a leading global provider of order management solutions and other comprehensive supply chain services. It encompasses global warehousing and transportation services that enable customers to unlock financial benefits and increase business resilience through a combination of supply chain planning, execution, and visibility capabilities.

The company’s corporate mission is to design, build, and implement innovative, profitable services so its customers can achieve supply chain efficiency irrespective of fulfillment channels. In striving for this goal, it is committed to the highest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

In practice, this means conducting business responsibly and sustainably. APL Logistics’ customers have access to its ‘Panom’ system, which gives them options to move goods around more sustainably and helps them stay compliant with current regulations.

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Every day we share our 80 years of accumulated knowledge with clients, offering insights to enable businesses to meet the fast-changing needs of the 21st century. Our global reach and local expertise, combined with our in-depth industry knowledge, integrity, customer focus, and access to secure, proven digital platforms provide the assurance you need to drive continual improvement and make sustainable change for good.

Client features such as testimonials and case studies are available to all clients of NSF.

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A streamlined culturomics case study for the human gut microbiota research

Affiliations.

• 1 Research Institute of Eco-Friendly Livestock Science, Institute of Green-Bio Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang, 25354, South Korea. [email protected].
• 2 Research Institute of Eco-Friendly Livestock Science, Institute of Green-Bio Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang, 25354, South Korea.
• 3 Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, South Korea.
• 4 Department of Internal Medicine, Digestive Disease Center and Research Institute, Soon Chun Hyang University School of Medicine, Bucheon, 14584, South Korea.
• 5 Research Institute of Eco-Friendly Livestock Science, Institute of Green-Bio Science and Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang, 25354, South Korea. [email protected].
• 6 Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang, 25354, South Korea. [email protected].
• PMID: 39223323
• PMCID: PMC11368911
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-71370-x

Bacterial culturomics is a set of techniques to isolate and identify live bacteria from complex microbial ecosystems. Despite its potential to revolutionize microbiome research, bacterial culturomics has significant challenges when applied to human gut microbiome studies due to its labor-intensive nature. Therefore, we established a streamlined culturomics approach with minimal culture conditions for stool sample preincubation. We evaluated the suitability of non-selective medium candidates for maintaining microbial diversity during a 30-day incubation period based on 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis. Subsequently, we applied four culture conditions (two preincubation media under an aerobic/anaerobic atmosphere) to isolate gut bacteria on a large scale from eight stool samples of healthy humans. We identified 8141 isolates, classified into 263 bacterial species, including 12 novel species candidates. Our analysis of cultivation efficiency revealed that seven days of aerobic and ten days of anaerobic incubation captured approximately 91% and 95% of the identified species within each condition, respectively, with a synergistic effect confirmed when selected preincubation media were combined. Moreover, our culturomics findings expanded the coverage of gut microbial diversity compared to 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing results. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the potential of a streamlined culturomics approach for the efficient isolation of gut bacteria from human stool samples. This approach might pave the way for the broader adoption of culturomics in human gut microbiome studies, ultimately leading to a more comprehensive understanding of this complex microbial ecosystem.

Keywords: 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis; Gut microbiota; Medium; Preincubation; Streamlined culturomics.

© 2024. The Author(s).

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Streamlined culturomics workflow. Blood culture…

Streamlined culturomics workflow. Blood culture tubes (BCT; BACT/ALERT FAN plus culture bottles, BioMérieux,…

Comparison of bacterial diversity estimated…

Comparison of bacterial diversity estimated by 16s rRNA gene amplicon sequence-base analysis in…

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Venn diagrams showing unique and shared OTUs. Venn diagrams for ( a )…

Cultured isolates and species information.…

Cultured isolates and species information. ( a ) Number of species classified into…

Impact of streamlined culturomics approach…

Impact of streamlined culturomics approach on enhancing cultured bacterial species diversity. ( a…

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Comparison of microbial diversity between streamlined culturomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis…

• Lewis, W. H., Tahon, G., Geesink, P., Sousa, D. Z. & Ettema, T. J. G. Innovations to culturing the uncultured microbial majority. Nat Rev Microbiol.19, 225–240. 10.1038/s41579-020-00458-8 (2021). 10.1038/s41579-020-00458-8 - DOI - PubMed
• Oulas, A. et al. Metagenomics: tools and insights for analyzing next-generation sequencing data derived from biodiversity studies. Bioinform Biol Insights.9, 75–88. 10.4137/BBI.S12462 (2015). 10.4137/BBI.S12462 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
• Wang, W. L. et al. Application of metagenomics in the human gut microbiome. World J. Gastroenterol.21, 803–814. 10.3748/wjg.v21.i3.803 (2015). 10.3748/wjg.v21.i3.803 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
• Almeida, A. et al. A new genomic blueprint of the human gut microbiota. Nature.568, 499–504. 10.1038/s41586-019-0965-1 (2019). 10.1038/s41586-019-0965-1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
• Almeida, A. et al. A unified catalog of 204,938 reference genomes from the human gut microbiome. Nat. Biotechnol.39, 105–114. 10.1038/s41587-020-0603-3 (2021). 10.1038/s41587-020-0603-3 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
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• NRF-2021R1I1A1A01057496/National Research Foundation of Korea
• NRF-2021R1A6A3A13038425/National Research Foundation of Korea

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Ongoing Treatment Trials for Prion Disease

Prion Disease is currently an invariably fatal condition without treatment or cure. Despite multiple prior treatment studies, including quinacrine, doxycycline, and pentosan polysulfate, no investigational treatments have benefited patients with prion disease. However, new treatments are currently being investigated. This site will be regularly updated with available treatment trial information for prion disease. 

ION717-CS2: A Phase 1/2a Study to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Intrathecally Administered ION717 in Patients with Prion Disease

This is a first-in-human, randomized, multicenter study in participants with prion disease. Eligible participants will receive ION717 and a placebo. The order of doses will be randomized and blinded to participants, study sites, and the Sponsor. The study will consist of a screening period of up to 6 weeks, a 24-week double-blind treatment period, and a 36-week post-treatment period. Multiple dose levels will be tested.

Please click here for the complete study details on the ClinicalTrials.gov page.

Blood tests could predict a woman's heart disease risk 30 years in advance, study says

Researchers said they’ve determined a new way of testing blood could predict a woman’s 30-year risk of heart disease, according to the National Institutes of Health, which supported the study.

Measuring two types of fat in the bloodstream along with C-reactive protein (CRP), which is an indicator of inflammation, helps to better determine heart disease risks than measuring low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol alone, the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine said .

Researchers collected blood samples and medical information from 27,939 health care providers living in the United States who participated in the Women’s Health Study. The participants were an average age of 55.

RELATED STORY | Heart disease and stroke could affect 60% of US adults by 2050, new reports say

NIH said 3,662 of the study participants experienced a heart attack, stroke, surgery to restore circulation or a cardiovascular-related death during the 30-year follow period.

Researchers measured and assessed how high-sensitivity CRP, LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) singularly and collectively predicted these events, NIH said.

The women with the highest levels of CRP had a 70% increased associated risk of heart disease, while the participants with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein(a) had a 36% and 33% increased risk for heart disease, respectively.

When all three measures were assessed together, participants with the highest levels had more than a 1.5-times increased associated risk for stroke and more than a three-times increased associated risk for coronary heart disease compared to women with the lowest levels, NIH said.

RELATED STORY | Study: Low-calorie sweetener has been linked to risk of heart disease and stroke

While only women were used for this study, researchers said they would expect similar results in men.

“In recent years, we’ve learned more about how increased levels of inflammation can interact with lipids to compound cardiovascular disease risks,” said Dr. Ahmed A.K. Hasan, a medical officer and program director at NIH’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. “This helps explain why lower levels are often better.”

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R.G. Kar hospital rape-murder case: Calcutta High Court seeks CBI report on nasty social media posts on victim

The court noted that nasty comments have been made with the photograph of the victim as found in the copies of the offending posts provided by the petitioner.

Updated - September 05, 2024 04:53 pm IST - Kolkata

A view of the Calcutta High Court in Kolkata. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday (September 5, 2024) directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a report by September 18 on detestable posts being made on social media regarding the rape-murder victim of R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The court noted that nasty comments, which are far from being acceptable to any member of the society, have been made with the photograph of the victim as found in the copies of the offending posts provided by the petitioner.

Also Read : Kolkata doctor rape and murder case: The complete coverage

The body of the on-duty trainee doctor was found in the seminar room of the State-run hospital on August 9, triggering nationwide outrage. The CBI is investigating the case from the second week of August on an order of the High Court.

The petitioner prayed in the PIL that the CBI be directed to investigate the cyber offences in connection with the "unfortunate and brutal incident." The court asked the Additional Solicitor General Asok Kumar Chakrabarti, representing the Central agency, whether it could find a way to block these types of posts.

The division Bench, presided by Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam, directed the joint director, CBI, Kolkata, to look into the grievance expressed by the petitioner with regard to the issue of such abominable social media posts.

The Bench, also comprising Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, directed the CBI joint director or any other competent officer to file a report in this regard by September 18, when the PIL will come up for hearing again along with other petitions relating to the August 9 rape-murder of the doctor.

Also Read : Kolkata doctor’s rape-murder: Parents allege police tried to hush up case, bribe them

After the order was dictated, Mr. Chakrabarti submitted before the court that the CBI does not have any separate wing to investigate such cyber crimes.

Maintaining that the State police has a special unit to monitor such matters, he prayed that the West Bengal government's cyber crime branch be also directed to file a separate report. The court said that it would consider the prayer on the next date of hearing.

Published - September 05, 2024 01:49 pm IST

Related Topics

West Bengal / Kolkata / The fight against rape / sexual assault & rape / murder / crime, law and justice / crime

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