Before Mason Shepherd was born, his mother, Cindy, went in for her 20-week ultrasound where doctors discovered that her son had stopped growing. The Shepherds were transferred to UI Children’s Hospital for genetic testing, and Mason was diagnosed with Russell-Silver syndrome, a disorder characterized by slow growth before and after birth.

Making fat cells immortal might seem like a bad idea to most people, but for a team of University of Iowa scientists it was the ideal way to study how the interaction between bacteria and fat cells might contribute to diabetes.

A University of Iowa study shows that bacterial toxins trigger fat cells to produce pro-inflammatory molecules. The findings suggest that by promoting chronic inflammation through their effect on fat cells, bacterial toxins may play a role in the development of diabetes.

Starting this fall, UI Sports Medicine researchers, in collaboration with several regional flag and tackle football leagues, will conduct a study to document and compare rates of all injuries, including concussions, among youth players.

A University of Iowa spin-off company, Integrated DNA Technologies, is one of 100 businesses highlighted in a new national report by The Science Coalition demonstrating how federally funded research fuels American innovation and economic growth.

UI neurologist Eric Dyken participated in a program about sleep, including the effect of darker nights on your sleeping habits, correlation between sleep and dementia, a new study that shows the brain clears out harmful toxins while you sleep, and sleep and diabetes risk.

The UI's selection for 2013 Mom and Dad of the Year are, respectively, Tammy Taylor of Callender, Iowa, and Willie Delfs of Sioux City, Iowa. The parents were nominated by their students and then honored during Family Weekend festivities.

Shelby Rheinschmidt is your normal teenager, except she just got a cochlear implant. Not just any cochlear implant—a hybrid cochlear implant, as part of a trial pioneered at the University of Iowa. Follow her journey from the decision, through the surgery, to the turning the implant on.

Jack Bickel was born with moderate to severe hearing loss and was fitted with hearing aids when he was 6 months old. At age 3, he moved on to a more powerful hearing aid. At age 9, what was left of Jack’s hearing started to decline significantly. A “hybrid” cochlear implant invented at the UI turned things around.

Madison Van Winkle celebrated her first birthday with something new—bilateral cochlear implants.

Bruce Gantz, head of the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, directs a multidisciplinary center at the University of Iowa that is driving improvements in cochlear implant technology, developing new implants for deaf children and adults, and preparing the field for advances in regenerative medicine.

In a free, public event hosted by the UI Alumni Association Nov. 6 in Cedar Rapids, two University of Iowa professors will discuss how issues of gun control and mental health intertwine.