Hello! Thank you for visiting the I Am Intramural Blog. Our goal is to bring you thoughts and experiences from scientists and clinicians of the NIH Intramural Research Program. If you have questions about the blog, please email IRPinfo@mail.nih.gov.
This past holiday season, 14-year old Gillian Copejans was the second person in the world to get an incredible gift: leading-edge gene-therapy treatment at the NIH Clinical Center.
At the beginning of every episode of the sci-fi series Star Trek, William Shatner repeated the words, “Space: the final frontier.” However, in all of Star Trek’s 79 episodes, Captain James T. Kirk and crew never encountered anything like the number and diversity of species that exists within the human microbiome.
When you hear “biomarker,” what is the first thing that comes to mind? BRCA1? Fluorescently labeled G-proteins? Those are two well-known examples, but biomarkers (short for “biological markers”) are actually a much broader group of biological signs than just genetic or cellular traits.
Until recently, visualizing many of the processes underlying human diseases had been almost impossible. The NIH IRP’s role in developing technologies that can peer into human organs and cells is a key component of the Long-Term Intramural Research Program Planning Report and basis of sessions during this year’s #ResearchFest.
With the Long-Term IRP Planning Report in hand, the 28th annual NIH Research Festival committee organized the 2015 event around the theme of A Celebration of Intramural Science to honor not only what has been achieved but also what is yet to come.
Sixteen-year old Howayne McGregor, from Jamaica, suddenly collapsed on his routine walk to school and was rushed to the nearest hospital. After sending his lab results to Dr. Neal Young at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Howayne received the diagnosis of aplastic anemia, a rare but serious blood disorder in which the body’s bone marrow doesn’t make enough new blood cells.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, four weeks out of the year dedicated to bringing visibility and awareness to research in support of one of the most widespread and devastating cancers in existence.
On October 31, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt traveled to Bethesda to dedicate the National Cancer Institute and the new campus of what was then the National Institute of Health (NIH), before it would eventually become known in plural form—National Institutes of Health—as multiple units were established over subsequent years.
At the age of one, Mia started to experience 105-degree fevers for weeks with no explanation. One of her specialists knew there had to be something “bigger” going on and referred Mia to the NIH's Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP). The UDP reviewed Mia’s medical records and recommended she see Dr. Dan Kastner.
By bringing together researchers from different disciplines, the IRP tackles some of the biggest questions in science from multiple angles. Here are just a few examples of the many diverse approaches that Intramural scientists take to better understand addiction.
This page was last updated on Thursday, January 20, 2022
