IRP Study Is Examining the Long-Term Effects of Treatments for Children With Cancer
Not long after German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen identified X-rays in 1895, doctors began using them to treat cancer. They soon realized, however, that this new ‘radium’ therapy — the forebearer of modern-day radiation therapy — could also cause cancer. Today, we know that radiation therapy poses much greater risks to children than adults because their cells are dividing more rapidly than those of adults, making the cells more sensitive to radiation. Children also have more years of life ahead of them during which a cancer instigated by their treatment might develop.
Scientist Honored for Discoveries About DNA Replication
Our cells’ ability to create more of themselves is crucial for many aspects of health, but a cell without DNA can’t do all that much. For that reason, perhaps the most crucial step in cell division is the replication of DNA. IRP Distinguished Investigator Thomas Kunkel, Ph.D., has spent his career trying to understand DNA replication, what happens when the process goes wrong, and what influences the likelihood of mistakes. Earlier this year, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in recognition of his extensive contributions to this field.
Summer Poster Days Showcase IRP Summer Intern Research
Every summer, NIH welcomes hundreds of enthusiastic young men and women to its campuses to work as summer interns, providing them with scientific training and mentorship from some of the world’s preeminent researchers. As always, the Summer Internship Program culminated this year with Summer Poster Days, held on August 1 and 2, a bustling event where summer interns showcase the results of their immersion into IRP research. Nearly 800 IRP summer interns participated in this year’s event, presenting research on cancer vaccines, new applications for virtual reality technology, experimental antifungal treatments, how the brain perceives pitch in sounds, and much more. Read on for a glimpse at some of this year’s summer interns and the work they braved a blazing Washington, D.C., summer to pursue.
IRP Scientist Has Found New Ways to Wield the Immune System Against Cancer
Over the past twenty or so years, we’ve seen a sea change in many cancer therapies resulting from advances in immunotherapy. Rather than trying to poison cancer cells with chemotherapy or rip apart their DNA with radiation, these treatments help our own bodies attack the disease. As a result, we’ve seen a remarkable reduction in cancer deaths from many types of tumors.
NIH Distinguished Investigator Giorgio Trinchieri, M.D., has long stood at the forefront of these discoveries. This year, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his achievements in identifying the mechanisms regulating the activity of certain classes of immune cells and how the environment around a tumor interacts with the immune system to suppress an immune response to the disease. This includes searching for ways to expand the benefits of immunotherapy to more patients.
IRP Study Points to Treatment Target for Fatal Neurological Disorder
Just like we throw out our busted toasters and other appliances, our cells must continuously dispose of malfunctioning equipment to keep themselves working optimally. In certain neurological diseases, though, neurons die because they can’t get rid of misbehaving molecules. New IRP research provides crucial insights into a key player in this process, suggesting that restoring the function of a particular gene or boosting the levels of the enzyme it produces could help patients with the devastating disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
IRP’s June Kwon-Chung Elected to National Academy of Sciences for Advances in Mycology
Even as a little girl, NIH Distinguished Investigator June Kwon-Chung, Ph.D., knew she would be a scientist. Seven decades later, she has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for her groundbreaking research on fungal diseases.
“My dream has always been to become a research scientist in the field of biology,” Dr. Kwon-Chung says. “This goes way back to when I was barely out of the toddler stage.”
As a child growing up in Korea before it split into two separate countries, Dr. Kwon-Chung felt blessed to have parents and teachers who nurtured her interests early. Her participation in her junior high school’s “Biology Club” led her to focus on the study of bacteria as a student at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea, even though wartime disruptions made scientific study challenging. In 1961, she won a year-long Fulbright Smith-Mundt scholarship to study in the U.S. and chose to attend the University of Wisconsin, where she specialized in mycology, the study of fungi.
New Molecules for PET Scans Shed Light on Psychiatric Disorders
For most kids, witnessing a classmate get teased for strange behavior or learning struggles is an unfortunate but common part of life. Growing up, IRP senior investigator Robert Innis, M.D., Ph.D., viewed the situation differently when he observed it during a high school geometry class.
“Some of my classmates were criticizing one student like he was a bad person,” he remembers. “I kept thinking, ‘You can’t blame him. It’s the chemistry in his brain that causes him to act that way. Don’t think you’re so high and mighty. It’s just your chemistry!’”
That interest in brain chemistry and how it relates to normal and abnormal behavior laid the foundation for Dr. Innis’s research in neuropsychiatry and brain imaging. As we observe World Brain Day on July 22, we took the opportunity to talk with Dr. Innis about his research, which uses a technique called positron emission tomography (PET) to measure the levels of various proteins in people’s brains and learn about their function in both healthy states and neuropsychiatric diseases.
Annual Competition Tests Researchers’ Communication Skills
Many scientists say that English is the international language of science, but if it is, it’s a form of English that many fluent English speakers might have trouble understanding. From ‘allosteric modulator’ to ‘zinc finger nuclease,’ the words that scientists use to talk about what they do can sound like a foreign language.
Fortunately, many current and upcoming scientists are making it a priority to learn how to communicate with people who don’t share their deep knowledge. As part of this effort, NIH’s annual Three-Minute Talks (TmT) competition brings forth dozens of IRP postbacs, graduate students, and postdocs to talk about their research to an audience of peers outside their own labs. On June 27, this year’s 11 finalists delivered clear, engaging, and — most importantly — short talks on topics ranging from skin bacteria to saliva.
IRP Research Could Aid Personalized Weight Loss Recommendations
We all know the stereotype of the picky child who shuns vegetables unless they’re smothered in ranch dressing or cheese. Surprisingly, the human body can also be similarly choosy about how it fuels itself. New IRP research shows that people whose bodies prefer to raid their sugar depots rather than use stored fat during a period without food consume more calories after their fast, suggesting a possible explanation for why some people are more prone to gaining weight over time or have less success with certain weight loss interventions.
Honor Recognizes Groundbreaking Advances in Cancer Genetics
As an undergraduate majoring in English, IRP senior investigator W. Marston Linehan, M.D., was fascinated by the complex poetry of 18th-century writer William Blake. But as much as he loved puzzling out the deeper meanings behind literary metaphors and imagery, Dr. Linehan eventually realized he wanted to do work that had more tangible benefits for people. Biology, with its own deep and complex mysteries, fit the bill.
Nearly 40 years later, Dr. Linehan’s pioneering work in the study of genetic forms of kidney cancer has transformed how doctors treat the disease. Over that period, he and his colleagues discovered or co-discovered nine distinct forms of kidney cancer and identified 10 different genes that cause them. These discoveries have provided the basis for targeted therapies and new approaches to treatment and, this year, earned Dr. Linehan the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the highest honor given by the US government’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
This page was last updated on Friday, January 14, 2022
