Exclusive: What spurred Nancy Hopkins to lead a gender revolution, a combo home Covid/flu test, & STAT Madness is here

"The Eric Lander course story was the story that made the other women sign up," Nancy Hopkins said in a recent interview.

February 27, 2023 Check out STAT+

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By Elizabeth Cooney Reporter, Morning Rounds Writer

Good morning. Don't miss this history of  what helped spark the gender revolution led by Nancy Hopkins at MIT.

science Exclusive: Nancy Hopkins led a gender revolution at MIT. A dispute with Eric Lander ignited it Christin Kao/STAT Nancy Hopkins is a noted geneticist, but she may be better known for leading a revolution. In 1999, she and other female faculty members prompted MIT to publicly acknowledge it had discriminated against women on its faculty, a reckoning in science that continues today. Now, in an exclusive story, Kate Zernike traces Hopkins' move to a clash with Eric Lander, decades before he resigned from a White House post after allegations of bullying. Hopkins, hired as one of the first female professors at MIT in 1973, was paired with Lander, then at the Whitehead Institute, to teach an introductory biology course. But after a successful trial, Hopkins was ousted, replaced by a male professor with whom Lander had started a company. The dispute galvanized the women who prodded MIT's historic admission. "The Eric Lander course story was the story that made the other women sign up," Hopkins said in a recent interview. Read more. infectious disease FDA OKs first at-home combination Covid/flu test, but there's a catch In November, STAT reporting fellow Brittany Trang asked why the U.S. doesn't have at-home flu tests. On Friday, the FDA authorized the first over-the-counter test that can detect flu and Covid. But it may be too late for its manufacturer Lucira Health, which filed for bankruptcy on February 22. In a press release about the bankruptcy, the company blamed the "protracted" FDA authorization process for the product for its financial troubles, echoing private concerns about the process from other test makers. Unlike most home tests, which detect virus antigens, Lucira's tests can magnify the amount of virus in a sample, making it possible to test from home. Lucira hasn't disclosed yet how the bankruptcy may affect their ability to manufacture and sell the newly authorized test kit. Brittany has more. pandemic Lab leak theory of Covid's origins gains Energy's vote  In another twist in the long-running debate over the origins of the Covid-19 virus, another U.S. government agency has backed the theory that the pandemic likely emerged from an accident at a lab in China, not via natural transmission from a Wuhan seafood market. The U.S. Energy Department had been undecided on how the virus emerged, but the agency now aligns with the FBI in considering a lab leak the likeliest source, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The Journal's reporting cites people who have read a classified report DOE report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress.  Four other agencies favor natural transmission with "low" or "moderate confidence," and two are undecided. The Energy Department made its judgment with "low confidence" and the FBI with "moderate confidence." There is one point of consensus, sources told the Journal: Covid-19 wasn't the result of a Chinese biological-weapons program.

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Closer Look Meet the contenders in STAT Madness 2023 It's that time of year again, and we're excited. Entries for this year's STAT Madness, our annual, bracket-style competition in biomedical research, include some of 2022's biggest discoveries, from Covid-19 and cancer treatment to medical imaging and surgery. Popular voting begins on Wednesday, March 1, when first-round pairings will be revealed, along with descriptions of all the entrants' research. Here are a few of the 64 entries: An easy-to-use test to measure Covid-19 antibodies  How an unhealthy gut biome can trigger breast cancer metastasis A robotic drug-delivery capsule that powers its way through the perils of the digestive system A helmet that boosts clarity in MRI images The sushi-inspired discovery of genes responsible for seaweed-digesting enzymes  STAT Madness may be based on college basketball's March Madness tournaments, but its larger goal is to showcase the originality and range of U.S. biomedical research. STAT contributor Elissa Welle has more.  reproductive Health 12 states sue FDA to ease abortion pill restrictions As we wait for a Texas judge to rule on a case challenging the FDA's approval of mifepristone, a dozen states have taken a different tack to protect access to the abortion pill, which Vice President Kamala Harris recently called a "constitutional right." Twelve attorneys general filed a lawsuit Friday to force the FDA to remove restrictions on how mifepristone is prescribed and distributed. The medication is one of only a few dozen drugs included in a program for medicines thought to carry significant risks.  The lawsuit argues that's needless for mifepristone — noting it has fewer serious side effects and deaths than more available drugs like Viagra. Under the program, prescribers must be certified by the company supplying the pill, both patients and providers must sign an agreement saying that the patient is also taking a second drug, misoprostol, to end pregnancy, and pharmacies must obtain special certification. STAT's Ed Silverman has more. health inequity Medical school admissions officers face barriers when advancing diversity, survey says  Affirmative action to increase diversity in organizations and institutions is banned in nine states and under fire elsewhere in the U.S. So it's sobering when the first sentence of a new study in JAMA Network Open on medical school admissions calls affirmative action the only initiative that has brought substantive change. After the researchers surveyed deans and admissions directors at 39 medical schools on other efforts to improve diversity, they concluded those schools' measures added up to "selective inclusion": the institutions admitted a few people from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in the name of diversity, but traditional policies to preserve institutional reputation remained in place. The admissions officers cited these barriers: a lack of leadership commitment to diversity, pressure to overemphasize academic scores and school rankings, and political and donor and alumni influences. "​We must change the story, people, process, and organization of admissions," a companion editorial says. by the numbers

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What we're reading Talking to ourselves: Can artificial minds heal real ones? The New Yorker A Christian health nonprofit saddled thousands with debt as it built a family empire including a pot farm, a bank and an airline, ProPublica Government antitrust officials consider letting physician-owned hospitals expand, STAT Why music causes memories to flood back, Washington Post Hospital systems' investment income perked up at end of 2022, STAT

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Thanks for reading! More tomorrow,

elizabeth.cooney@statnews.com

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