Epigenomics

• Epigenome effort makes its mark  
  October 6, 2010 Major release of maps charting non-genetic modifications goes beyond DNA in a bid to beat complex human disease.
   

Global Health

• Developing Health Workforce Capacity in Africa
  Science, 3 December 2010, Vol. 330
  As we mark World AIDS Day, it is important to assess the relationship between the challenges of AIDS prevention and control and the huge gaps in the health workforce needed to address these and other critical shortages.
   

NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (EIA)

• Scientists Need a Shorter Path to Research Freedom
  October 7, 2010
  Francis Collins explains why the NIH is launching a bid to help some doctoral students dramatically reduce the time required to start an independent career.

NIH Director’s New Innovator Award

• At Last, A Living Model for an Important Body Channel
  November 11, 2010
  Ion channels provide a way for key molecules to cross into cells, are the means for many swift physical reactions and regulate the movement of fluid across internal cavities in our bodies.
   
• Scientists Trick Bacteria with Small Molecules
  October 7, 2010
  A team of Yale University scientists has engineered the cell wall of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, tricking it into incorporating foreign small molecules and embedding them within the cell wall.
   
• Binding Site Broadens Prospects For Prostate-Cancer Drugs
  September 6, 2010
  Scientists have found a new binding site in prostate-specific membrane antigen, a cancer-cell-surface receptor.
   
• University of Pennsylvania-Led Study Identifies New Genetic Risk Factor for Lou Gehrig’s Disease
  August 25, 2010
  An international study led by biologists and neuroscientists from the University of Pennsylvania has identified a new genetic risk factor for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
   
• MIT creates technology for high-speed study of zebrafish larvae
  July 18, 2010
  One of the most commonly studied laboratory animals is the zebrafish — a tiny fish with transparent embryos, or larvae, whose internal organs can be easily seen as they develop.
   
• Common apnea questionnaire needs customization for pregnant moms  
  May 6, 2010
  The Berlin questionnaire, a common tool for identifying obstructive sleep apnea, does not accurately identify pregnant women whose breathing is intermittently interrupted or stopped (a condition called apnea) during sleep, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
   
• The Pre-History of Life: elegantly simple organizing principles seen in ribosomes  
  April 12, 2010
  With few exceptions, all known forms of life on our planet rely on the same genetic code to specify the amino acid composition of proteins. Although different hypotheses abound, just how individual amino acids were assigned to specific three-letter combinations or codons during the evolution of the genetic code is still subject to speculation.
   
• MIT neuroengineers silence brain cells with multiple colors of light  
  January 6, 2010
  Neuroscientists at MIT have developed a powerful new class of tools to reversibly shut down brain activity using different colors of light.
   

NIH Director’s Pioneer Award

• Uncovering the neurobiological basis of general anesthesia
  December 29, 2010
  Review article delineates similarities with and differences from sleep and coma.
   
• Process Leading to Protein Diversity in Cells Important for Proper Neuron Firing
  November 17, 2010
  Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have documented a novel form of splicing in the cytoplasm of a nerve cell, which dictates a special form of a potassium channel protein in the outer membrane.
   
• Scientists find signals that make cell nucleus blow up like a balloon
  October 14, 2010
  Size matters when it comes to the nucleus of a cell, and now scientists have discovered the signals that control how big the nucleus gets.
   
• MIT researchers develop a better way to see molecules at work in living brain cells
  October 7, 2010
  By creating a better way to see molecules at work in living brain cells, researchers affiliated with MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the MIT Department of Chemistry are helping elucidate molecular mechanisms of synapse formation.
   
• Repeated antibiotic use alters gut's composition of beneficial microbes, study shows
  September 13, 2010
  Repeated use of an antibiotic that is considered generally benign, because users seldom incur obvious side effects, induces cumulative and persistent changes in the composition of the beneficial microbial species inhabiting the human gut, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found.
   
• Delicate touch – New nanoscale transistors allow sensitive probing inside cells
  August 12, 2010
  Chemists and engineers at Harvard University have fashioned nanowires into a new type of V-shaped transistor small enough to be used for sensitive probing of the interior of cells.
   
• Small molecule boosts production of brain cells, protects new cells from dying, UT Southwestern researchers find
  July 8, 2010
  UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found a compound that preserves newly created brain cells and boosts learning and memory in an animal study.
   
• Map of Herpes Virus Protein Suggests a New Drug Therapy
  July 6, 2010
  The mechanism by which a herpes virus invades cells has remained a mystery to scientists seeking to thwart this family of viruses.
   
• Same types of cell respond differently to stimulus, study shows
  June 27, 2010
  Using new technology that allows scientists to monitor how individual cells react in the complex system of cell signaling, Stanford University researchers have uncovered a much larger spectrum of differences between each cell than ever seen before.
   
• Penn Researchers Add Genetic Data to Archaeology and Linguistics to Get Picture of African Population History
  May 26, 2010
  Genetic researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have combined data from existing archaeological and linguistic studies of Africa with human genetic data to shed light on the demographic history of the continent from which all human activity emerged.
   
• New insights into the mystery of natural HIV immunity
  May 6, 2010
  A new finding from the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard may have implications for designing an effective AIDS vaccine.
   
• Scientists Make Fundamental Discovery about How Gene Expression Functions in Bacteria
  April 22, 2010
  Finding Could Pave the Way for New Targets for Antimicrobial Therapy.
   
• Stanford advances vastly expand versatility of optogenetics brain-research technique
  March 18, 2010
  Recently, brain researchers have gained a powerful new way to troubleshoot neural circuits associated with depression, Parkinson’s disease and other conditions in small animals such as rats.
   
• Genes, Environment, or Chance?
  February 18, 2010
  Biologists attribute variations among individual organisms to differences in genes or environment, or both. But a new study of nematode worms with identical genes, raised in identical environments, has revealed another factor: chance.
   
• BME Researchers Discover How Superbugs Become Resistant to Antibiotics
  February 11, 2010
  Many people with bacterial infections stop taking antibiotics when their symptoms improve, thereby allowing the hardy bacteria that survive to multiply and potentially mount a more powerful defense against future applications of the same drug.
   
• Columbia Researchers Identify Regional Clusters of Autism Cases in California
  February 2, 2010
  A Columbia study has determined there are certain geographical areas in California where newborns are more likely to develop autism.
   
• Scripps Research scientists create new way to screen libraries of 10 million or more compounds
  February 1, 2010
  The search for new drug compounds is probably worse than looking for a needle in a haystack because scientists are limited in the size of the haystacks they can rummage through.
   
• University of Wisconsin Researchers Explore Assessments of Consciousness
  January 27, 2010
  The brains of people under anesthesia respond to stimuli as they do in the deepest part of sleep – lending credence to a developing theory of consciousness and suggesting a new method to assess loss of consciousness in conditions such as coma.
   
• Needling Molecules
  January 12, 2010
  A simple method may solve the problem of getting stuff into cells.
   

Molecular Libraries and Imaging

• Vanderbilt University Partners with Massachusetts Firm on Drug Discovery Research
  January 6, 2010
  Vanderbilt University Medical Center has entered into a collaborative research agreement with Seaside Therapeutics LLC to discover and develop potential drugs to treat developmental disorders such as Fragile X syndrome and autism.

Structural Biology

• Scripps Research Scientists Reveal First Structure of a Class of Proteins that Sniff Out Signals Guiding Blood Cell Movement
  October 4, 2010
  Researchers have determined the structure of a protein that helps guide blood-forming stem cells, or hematopoetic stem cells.
   
• Scripps Research Scientists Find Structure of a Protein that Makes Cancer Cells Resistant to Chemotherapy
  March 25, 2009
  A research team at the Scripps Research Institute has obtained the first glimpse of a protein that keeps certain substances, including many drugs, out of cells.