Maggie Chen

Cambridge, San Diego

Contributing Writer at Freelance

chugging through MD-PhD @stanfordmstp & writing words somewhere over the 🌈 | previously @marshallscholar @HarvardStemCell @AAASMassMedia | she/her/hers

Articles

Coffee Boosts Beneficial Gut Bacterium

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Maggie Chen

The thought of a steaming cup of coffee helps to pull many people worldwide out of bed in the morning. Scientists have consistently linked this ubiquitous drink to lowered risks for maladies such as heart disease, colon cancer and type 2 diabetes. But its effects on the gut microbiome—the intestinal bacterial population thought to help mediate between diet and health—are largely unknown.
Finding new strategies to treat Pompe disease

2 months ago | drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen

Enzyme replacement therapy has been the mainstay of Pompe disease. New and emerging therapies may provide more options for patients. Credit: iStock.com/FG TradeEnzyme replacement therapy has been the mainstay of Pompe disease. New and emerging therapies may provide more options for patients. | 6 min readMaggie ChenRegister for free to listen to this articleThe human body cannot run without the sugar glucose.
Boosting ovarian cancer immunotherapy with fatty acid uptake

Jan 23, 2025 | drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen

Ovarian cancer is notoriously hard to treat — particularly metastatic ovarian cancer, which is often resistant to the standard treatments of surgical removal and chemotherapy. Even when the ovaries are completely removed, cancerous cells can remain and wreak havoc on the body. Among other reasons, ovarian cancer is dangerous because it transforms the body’s immune system into a dysfunctional mess.
Longitudinal Depression on the Right Thumbnail

Nov 7, 2024 | mdedge.com | Maggie Chen |Shealinna X. Ge |Marcia S. Driscoll

Habit-tic deformity is a cause of nail dystrophy that commonly arises in children and adults due to subconscious repetitive and self-injurious manipulation of the nail bed or cuticle, which ultimately damages the nail matrix.1,2 It can be considered a variant of onychotillomania.1 Characteristic features of habit-tic deformity include a longitudinal depression on the central nail plate with transverse ridges,1 which can be more prominent on the dominant hand.3 Patients typically note a long...
News News, Articles | Drug Discovery News

Nov 7, 2024 | drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen |RJ Mackenzie |Stephanie DeMarco |Allison Whitten

Fatty acids restore normalcy to the vaginal microbiomeDoctors have been treating bacterial vaginosis with the same antibiotic for decades. This fatty acid could change that. Accelerating drug discovery with a nickel-based catalystThe new complex is inexpensive to produce, and its unique architecture makes chemical reactions integral to drug discovery more stable and efficient.
Fatty acids restore normalcy to the vaginal microbiome

Nov 6, 2024 | drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen

Itchiness, weird discharge, an unmistakable stinky smell — these are all hallmarks of bacterial vaginosis (BV), one of the most common vaginal infections worldwide. For some people, a quick course of antibiotics — typically metronidazole — can rid the infection. For over half, however, the infection can return within a year. Bacterial vaginosis occurs when bacteria that don’t use oxygen dominate the vaginal microbiome over “healthy” species of bacteria, like Lactobacillus.
CRISPR strategy could restore delayed-onset hearing loss

Oct 30, 2024 | drugdiscoverynews.com | Maggie Chen

When babies pop into the world, they almost immediately undergo a battery of tests. Among these tests is one that measures hearing. It is critical to catch hearing loss quickly because the ear is the gateway to developing speech and language skills. “It’s important to intervene as early as possible,” said Zheng-Yi Chen, a biologist at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute. While some babies are born completely deaf, others are born with hearing loss that worsens over time.
Cemiplimab‐induced gingival hyperplasia

Oct 17, 2024 | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Maggie Chen |Madison Hill |Marcia S. Driscoll

Clinical Correspondence Cemiplimab-induced gingival hyperplasia Maggie Chen, Maggie Chen Department of Dermatology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA Search for more papers by this authorMadison Jaenke Hill, Corresponding Author Madison Jaenke Hill Department of Dermatology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA Search for more papers by this authorMarcia Driscoll, Marcia Driscoll Department of Dermatology, University of Maryland School of...
Introducing a New Version of the Cell Cycle

Sep 5, 2024 | the-scientist.com | Maggie Chen

Inside the human airway, a certain cell type reigns supreme: multiciliated cells, decorated with dozens of hair-like cilia all beating in tandem. These cells are responsible for clearing out foreign bacteria and viruses. “They break the normal architecture since almost all cells in your body have zero or one cilia each,” said Jeremy Reiter, a developmental geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco.
Making New Biology

Aug 30, 2024 | growbyginkgo.com | Maggie Chen |Frank Swain |Princess Ojiaku

I often think about the first time I tried to hijack biology’s central dogma. I’d been interested in studying how a specific mutation could affect the way a protein regulated the cell cycle in cardiomyocytes, or heart cells. It was a painstaking process. First, I had to create a DNA sequence encapsulating the mutated protein’s code. Then, I turned these sequences into RNA that — upon some gentle nudging — could be expressed as proteins by stem-cells-turned-cardiomyocytes.