Petrie Dish

Science & Medicine: Weight loss surgery without the scalpel

26 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Obesity rates in South Texas exceed the national average, but many patients hesitate to pursue bariatric surgery due to the risks involved. UT Health ...

Science & Medicine: San Antonio scientist discovers how stress triggers migraines

19 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

UT Health San Antonio neuroscientist Yu Shin Kim, PhD, has discovered how stress causes migraines, which could lead to treatments that prevent them.

Petrie Dish: New national guidelines target often-missed TBI cases

18 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

You don’t have to be a football player or a bull rider to have a traumatic brain injury. You don’t even have to hit your head. More than half go u...

Science & Medicine: Pain researchers have their eyes on ending chronic pain

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A UT Health San Antonio researcher is working to map the nerves involved in jaw pain as part of a federally funded consortium aimed at developing the ...

Science & Medicine: Why are neurodevelopmental disorders common in Duchenne muscular dystrophy?

05 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Around 30% of boys diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy also experience cognitive dysfunction and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and A...

Science & Medicine: A San Antonio researcher asks whether the go-to rescue medicine for breathing problems is used too often

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

When hospital patients have trouble breathing, respiratory therapists often reach for Albuterol, but a San Antonio researcher thinks it may be overuse...

Whole milk is back in schools, but not everyone can drink it. Here's how to make sure all kids get a nutritional boost

26 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Whole milk is back in school lunches, but millions of American kids can’t easily digest it. Pediatric dietitian Marina Chaparro breaks down the scie...

Science & Medicine: Exercise is medicine for people with Parkinson's disease

22 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Exercise can improve function and slow disease progression in people with Parkinson's disease, but why? A UT Health San Antonio researcher is studying...

Science & Medicine: Studying San Antonio construction workers to figure out why laborers in Central America are dying of kidney disease

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Chronic kidney disease with no clear cause is killing young people who do physical labor in Central America at an alarming rate. A UT Health San Anton...

Science & Medicine: APOBECs and the fight against cancer

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

One of the handiest tools in our immune system is an enzyme called apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide — better known as APO...

mRNA: Medical miracle and political target

07 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The same mRNA technology President Trump called a medical miracle is now under attack by his own administration, and the stakes go far beyond vaccines...

Science & Medicine: From Valley fever to TB, UT San Antonio opens a center to fight South Texas' most persistent chronic infections

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A new center for the study of chronic infectious diseases aims to develop treatments for illnesses like Valley fever, tuberculosis, HIV, and Long COVI...

The late-winter deficiency that could be making you sick and miserable

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In March, around 90% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, which has been linked to serious physical and mental health challenges. What is vitamin ...

Science & Medicine: Exercise is medicine for people with Parkinson's disease

22 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Exercise can improve function and slow disease progression in people with Parkinson's disease, but why? A UT Health San Antonio researcher is studying...

Science & Medicine: An over-the-counter supplement could boost the results of exercise in older adults

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

A study of two groups of 70-year-olds found that branched-chain amino acids combined with exercise improve physical function and quality of life. Exer...

Science & Medicine: Early screening to prevent congenital heart disease

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Congenital heart disease can often be detected at the mid-pregnancy ultrasound, which dramatically improves outcomes. But too many people don’t get ...

Science & Medicine: The biostatisticians who drive medical research

01 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From COVID-19 research to Parkinson's disease therapies, these statistical experts turn numbers into answers, helping doctors make evidence-based deci...

Punching Back: Evolving science is transforming how Parkinson's disease is treated

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Many medications ease the constellation of symptoms that define Parkinson's disease, but the only treatment that slows the progression of the neurolog...

Science & Medicine: Studying the chemical miscommunication that may lead to obesity

25 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The chemical cross-communication between the guts and other organs that occurs when a person metabolizes nutrients begins before we open our mouths, w...

Science & Medicine: A mother's mission transforms care for Chromosome 18 disorders

18 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jannine Cody, PhD, founded and leads the Chromosome 18 Clinical Research Center, which has revolutionized the understanding of and care for disorders ...

What's going on with the CDC's vaccine schedule?

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. has ordered a dramatic reduction in the number of vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disea...

Science & Medicine: The link between sleep apnea and persistent pain

11 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

New research from UT Health San Antonio finds a link between obstructive sleep apnea and persistent pain, suggesting that the intermittant lack of oxy...

Science & Medicine: Sleep disorders in the military are complex, common, and treatable

04 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Research from an expert in sleep disorders at UT Health San Antonio has revealed that sleep disorders are common in the military, and the most common ...

Dr. Peter Hotez looks back over a year of seismic shifts in U.S. health policy

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

From announcing then backtracking on a cause for autism to slashing federal public health funding to changing childhood vaccine recommendations, the a...

Science & Medicine: Beneficial effects of a keto diet can be enhanced by intermittent breaks

28 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People who eat a strict keto diet are at risk for an accumulation of aged cells in their organs, but taking intermittent breaks from the diet can prev...

Surviving epilepsy in the Medicaid coverage gap

25 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a Petrie Dish collaboration with Public Health Watch, we explore what happens if you have a chronic illness like epilepsy in a state that has rejec...

Navigating the holiday season's mental health minefield

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Heading into the holiday season this year, nearly half of U.S. adults said they expected the season to be more stressful than last year. San Antonio's...

Science & Medicine: Can acupressure provide a safer pain relief alternative for people with dementia?

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Many people dismiss alternative therapies like auricular — which means ear — acupressure as unscientific, but a UT Health San Antonio researcher t...

Science & Medicine: A breakthrough for glioblastoma patients that may lengthen lives

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A new technique for delivering radiation to glioblastoma brain tumors may allow doctors to use much higher doses while preserving healthy brain tissue...

Science & Medicine: A discovery by San Antonio scientists could lead to a new kind of treatment for Alzheimer's disease

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

UT Health San Antonio researchers have teased out why some lipids spike in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and what that may mean for co...

Science & Medicine: The Center for Brain Health could revolutionize how we think about dementia

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A newly constructed center for studying and treating diseases of the brain will open in San Antonio at the end of the year. The Center for Brain Healt...

Bonus Episode: The scientist who refused to be intimidated

28 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People who live near the Houston Ship Channel live shorter, unhealthier lives than those who don't. One scientist has dedicated his career to understa...

Culturally connected care: How doulas can improve maternal mental health

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Up to 20% of all new mothers experience some degree of postpartum depression. That number spikes to up to 40% of Latina or Hispanic and Black mothers.

Science & Medicine: A master of endoscopy

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio doctor who uses endoscopy to treat people who are too sick to survive surgery has become the first Texan to be named a Master Endoscopis...

Science & Medicine: Veterans write new endings for their nightmares

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio sleep disorder and PTSD researcher uses cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares.

Science & Medicine: Studying the 'form and function' of prostate cancer's main driver leads to a breakthrough

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio scientist thinks of the protein that drives most prostate cancers as a machine, and pioneers a method to visualize it for the first time...

Science & Medicine: Tinnitus and PTSD

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tinnitus is the number one service-connected disability within the Veterans Administration, and for those with PTSD, it can cause significant distress...

The science of empathy

27 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Empathy is getting a bad rap these days. Some critics call it a weakness that can be weaponized; others call it a sin. What is this ancient trait that...

Science & Medicine: AI and the chemistry of dentistry

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A team of San Antonio researchers is training artificial intelligence models to help improve the materials used to make things like cavity fillings an...

Science & Medicine: Diagnosing CTE before death

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

CTE can rob a person of their memories and ability to make decisions and plans. It can also cause a person to become a threat to themselves and, somet...

Science & Medicine: Meeting climate change-driven health challenges head-on

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

One department at the University of Texas at San Antonio School of Public Health is focused on understanding the health challenges associated with a c...

Trump, autism, and the Tylenol connection

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a connection? Bonnie Petrie talks with a pediatrician who specializes in neurodevelopmental disorders like autism about the president's claim...

Science & Medicine: Hope for patients with the deadliest cancers

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

'Most people think carcinomatosis is a death sentence, but there are different treatment modalities that I offer to patients. And that's something tha...

Science & Medicine: Immune resilience and the 15- year lifespan gap

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A UT San Antonio Health Science Center researcher has found that people with resilient immune systems can live 15 years longer than those who don't, b...

Science & Medicine: Sabotaging the molecular engines of some pediatric cancers

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio researcher is working on a drug that could treat Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma without lifelong side effects. It would be the first...

Science & Medicine: A San Antonio scientist's team finds malaria's 'Achilles heel,' and it could lead to a vaccine that really works

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Malaria kills more than half a million people a year, and an effective vaccine has been elusive. But a San Antonio malaria researcher and her team hav...

Texans will vote on billions of dementia research dollars as a quiet Alzheimer's crisis grows in the Rio Grande Valley

11 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Petrie Dish host Bonnie Petrie sits down with Public Health Watch reporter Raquel Torres to talk about her story on the Alzheimer's crisis in the Rio ...

Science & Medicine: Revolutionizing prostate cancer treatment

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men and the five year survival rate is 97%.

Science & Medicine: LAUNCHing kids into literacy

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

UT Health San Antonio Speech-Language Pathology program graduate students are helping local kids at risk for developing a language disorder through a ...

Science & Medicine: An anti-aging medication that may work for women, too

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An anti-aging medication called rapamycin seems to work better in female mice than in males, and it's the only one studied as part of the National Ins...

The return of New World screwworm threatens livestock, wildlife, pets, and people

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Once eradicated in the United States, a maggot that feeds on living, warm-blooded animals is inching back toward Texas. It may cross the Southern bord...

Science & Medicine: Eat your pain away

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re experiencing chronic pain, adjusting your diet might help.

Science & Medicine: Increasing vaccine rates to eliminate cervical cancer

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The UT Health San Antonio professor who is leading an effort to increase the number of South Texas teens who are vaccinated against the human papillom...

Science & Medicine: A Crisis of Loneliness

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Loneliness and social isolation can make you as sick as obesity or 15 cigarettes a day.

Science & Medicine: Improving trauma care on the battlefield and at home

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

TRC4 is a collaborative at UT Health San Antonio in partnership with the Department of Defense and the entire UT System to address an urgent need for ...

Science & Medicine: Occupational therapy may be the best-kept secret in behavioral health

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Occupational therapy can help people with mental illness resume meaningful activities in their lives and create strategies that will improve their ove...

Trump's 'Big Bill' healthcare cuts may threaten the nation's entire health infrastructure: CBO

07 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Medicaid cuts add up to nearly a trillion dollars over ten years, and 12 million people could lose access to health care. Medicare also faces deep...

Science & Medicine: Be Well, Texas

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Be Well Texas is revolutionizing how substance use disorder is treated in Texas.

Science & Medicine: Controlling how magnesium gets into immune system cells could create more cancer fighters

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A UT Health San Antonio researcher confirms that how magnesium gets into immune system cells can determine whether they fight oral cancer or support t...

Science & Medicine: The Brain Bank

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

At the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, the brain bank is accepting deposits.

Could Kennedy's vaccine advisory board purge lead to reduced vaccine choice?

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

HHS Secretary Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the CDC vaccine advisory board concerns public health experts. Some fear a new board will ...

Science & Medicine: A fountain of youth for the immune system

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Human immunity wanes as we age, but what if it could be restored? A UT Health San Antonio researcher who studies the thymus has confirmed that a certa...

Science & Medicine: Omega 3 fatty acids to fight Alzheimer’s

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re in your 40s or 50s, there may be something you can do right now to fight Alzheimer’s disease. It involves Omega 3 fatty acids—the good...

Science & Medicine: Tinnitus and PTSD

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Tinnitus is the number one service-connected disability within the Veterans Administration, and for those with PTSD, it can cause significant distress...

Science & Medicine: Go to the dentist

25 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When people think about things they can do to stay healthy, they don’t think about their teeth nearly enough.

CDC alerts U.S. doctors and travelers to Mexico: Watch for dengue

24 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mosquito season has begun in earnest, and until November, there is an increased risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, including dengue fever. CDC has urg...

Science & Medicine: The Center for Brain Health could revolutionize how we think about dementia

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A newly constructed center for studying and treating diseases of the brain will open in San Antonio at the end of the year. The Center for Brain Healt...

Psychedelics and the Texas Trip Part 3: The Road Ahead

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the final installment of this three-part series, Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus go from an isolated stretch of desert along the Rio Gran...

Science & Medicine: An app for detecting dementia decades early

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze speech patterns could help doctors detect dementia in patients when other signs and sympto...

Science & Medicine: Fighting antibiotic-resistant infections with viruses

04 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio collaborative is developing treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections using viruses known as phages. The effort is urgent as infect...

Disease registries, 'individual tragedies,' and more with the Autism Society of Texas

30 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Petrie Dish host Bonnie Petrie has a wide-ranging conversation with the executive director of the Autism Society of Texas as Robert Kennedy's HHS focu...

Science & Medicine: Improving knee replacement outcomes

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Blood flow restriction ahead of surgery could be key.

Science & Medicine: Studying eating disorders in older Hispanic women with food insecurity

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio researcher hopes to dispel myths about who is at risk for eating disorders while studying the interaction between binge eating disorder ...

Why did the CDC shelve a warning about measles and the need for vaccination?

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Centers for Disease Control recently buried a warning about the potential for more measles outbreaks and the need for people to get vaccinated, ac...

Science & Medicine: Studying stressed out rats to understand PTSD in humans

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David Morilak, PhD, a professor of pharmacology and director of the Center for Biomedical Neuroscience at UT Health San Antonio, studies rats in an ef...

Science & Medicine: Pursuing precision medicine for Alzheimer's disease

06 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A cutting-edge technology and an exciting recent hire hint at exciting developments in the future of precision medicine in the diagnosis and treatment...

Science & Medicine: Anti-aging drug shows promise in marmosets

30 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Salmon, PhD, studies aging in marmosets. He and his team recently concluded that an immunosuppressant called rapamycin extends the lifespan of ma...

Science & Medicine: Star cells may be the key to preserving brain function after stroke

23 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A medication that appears to preserve brain function after a stroke will soon go into human trials. The San Antonio researcher who discovered the medi...

Science & Medicine: Cognitive deficits from concussions can linger

16 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

People with concussions get checked out pretty thoroughly by their doctors, but for some, there are cognitive changes and deficits that doctors don’...

Psychedelics and the Texas Trip Part 2: The Science and History of the Medicine

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Patients have been leaving the United States to try psychedelic therapies to treat their depression, PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, and substance use...

Science & Medicine: A potential game-changer in the fight against deadly oral cancer

09 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Oral squamous cell carcinoma kills about half of the people who get it, and there have been no new treatments developed for half a century. A UT Healt...

Petrie Dish: Q&A on mumps & rubella

04 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Host Bonnie Petrie talks with Dr. Jason Bowling about the other two diseases in the MMR vaccine, mumps and rubella.

Science & Medicine: Help for women's pelvic health disorders

02 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pelvic health disorders can disrupt women's quality of life. The conditions might be considered common and inevitable, but they should not be ignored.

Psychedelics and the Texas Trip Part 1: Unlikely Allies

01 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Host Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus explore the potential of psychedelic medication as a treatment for mental health diagnoses like depress...

Science & Medicine: Sabotaging the molecular engines of some pediatric cancers

23 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio researcher is working on a drug that could treat Ewing sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma without lifelong side effects. It would be the first...

Petrie Dish: A Texas measles update and why experts warn this is just the beginning

22 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An outbreak of measles in West Texas has infected nearly 100 people, most of them unvaccinated children. Dr. Peter Hotez says the ecosystem that led t...

Science & Medicine: Taking on America's number one killer

16 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

More than six-million American adults are experiencing heart failure right now.

Petrie Dish: CDC purge of forbidden words online creates real-world fear

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Host Bonnie Petrie speaks with Cherise Rohr-Allegrini, CEO of the San Antonio AIDS Foundation.

Science & Medicine: A breakthrough for glioblastoma patients that may lengthen lives

09 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A new technique for delivering radiation to glioblastoma brain tumors may allow doctors to use much higher doses while preserving healthy brain tissue...

Petrie Dish: Should the US leave the WHO? 'Your Local Epidemiologist' weighs in

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that would withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. Epidemiologist Katelyn ...

Science & Medicine: Help for women's pelvic health disorders

02 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Pelvic health disorders can disrupt women's quality of life. The conditions might be considered common and inevitable, but they should not be ignored.

Science & Medicine: Veterans write new endings for their nightmares

26 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A San Antonio sleep disorder and PTSD researcher uses cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce the frequency and intensity of nightmares.

Science & Medicine: Plants-2-Plate

19 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Plants-2-Plate is a six-month program that helps people adopt a whole food, plant-based diet.

Science & Medicine: San Antonio scientist discovers how stress triggers migraines

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

UT Health San Antonio neuroscientist Yu Shin Kim, PhD, has discovered how stress causes migraines, which could lead to treatments that prevent them.

Petrie Dish: Dr. Peter Hotez talks about anti-science activism, antisemitism, and RFK Jr.

08 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Texas vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez spoke with Bonnie Petrie about what it's like to be the target of anti-science activists, his continued commit...

Science & Medicine: Exercise affects men and women differently

05 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Physical exercise impacts every type of tissue in the body and affects males and females differently. Data gathered at UT Health San Antonio. It’s p...

Science & Medicine: Why are neurodevelopmental disorders common in Duchenne muscular dystrophy?

29 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Around 30% of boys diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy also experience cognitive dysfunction and neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and A...

Science & Medicine: Whole blood ambulances

22 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the last five years, first responders all over the world have been watching San Antonio.

Science & Medicine: Scanning the brain to improve treatment for traumatized teens

15 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Around 20% of teens who have experienced emotional trauma don't respond to talk therapy. UT Health San Antonio is using neuroimaging to track brain ch...

Petrie Dish: Climate change disasters are hazardous to children's mental health

13 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As climate change-driven weather disasters become more frequent and intense, it's becoming clear that they are leaving a mark on children's mental hea...