By IRP Staff Blogger
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
In 2007, the NIH Clinical Center (CC) established two research nursing roles that are critical to the success of the many studies undertaken at the CC. Clinical Research Nurses (CRN) are staff nurses who focus on caring for research participants, while also providing support for studies in a clinical delivery setting. Research Nurse Coordinators (RCN) are responsible for managing research studies and enormous amounts of data collection. They are in charge of recruiting and enrolling participants, maintaining study consistency, and overseeing regulatory adherence.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Phoenix, Arizona, received its name from a British pioneer named Darrell Duppa. When he saw what was left of prehistoric settlements built by the Hohokam civilization thousands of years before his arrival, he knew that another great civilization would “rise from these ashes” just like the mythic bird. The desert city is today home to the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch, one of six IRP research campuses.
By IRP Staff Blogger, Swagata Basu
Friday, March 13, 2015
Each day, hundreds of thousands of biomedical researchers around the world design and execute studies, with diverse trajectories and outcomes and where success is based largely on reproducibility. However, a large percentage of experiments using cell culture techniques have been labelled as irreproducible, with around 25 percent of all cell-line research described as either contaminated with other cells or mischaracterized in some way. In other words, if your kidney cancer cell isn’t really a kidney cancer line, then how will anyone else be able to reproduce your work?
By IRP Staff Blogger
Monday, March 9, 2015
Jill Koshiol, Ph.D., is an epidemiologist and one of eight Stadtman Investigators who joined the NIH IRP in 2009-2010, the search's inaugural recruitment year. As a tenure-track principal investigator within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG), Dr. Koshiol and her team study the epidemiology of infectious agents and cancer, and they are increasingly interested in the role of immune stimulation and inflammation in carcinogenesis.
In the following Q&A, Dr. Koshiol shares some thoughts on how she became a scientist and what's its like to conduct biomedical research at the NIH IRP.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Friday, March 6, 2015
February 19, 2015 kicked off one of the largest celebrations on Earth, the Chinese New Year. For the next 15 days, people around the world ushered in good luck and prosperity by gathering with friends and loved ones to celebrate the Year of the Goat—or Sheep, depending on translation—which is the eighth animal of 12 within the Chinese zodiac. Looking back 24 trips-around-the-sun, to the year of the Goat/Sheep in 1991, it was a particularly busy and successful time for the NIH IRP.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
As part of a microscopy course at the National Center For Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India, Dr. Hari Shroff and Dr. Abhishek Kumar of the NIBIB IRP led a team of students in building a dual-view selective plane illumination microscope (diSPIM). It took them about eight hours to complete, but you can view the whole process in just four minutes in the timelapse video below:
By IRP Staff Blogger
Thursday, February 19, 2015
The solution to obesity seems simple on the surface—fewer calories in, more calories out—but for those who have tried to lose weight, it's usually not an easy task, partly because weight is the product of many interrelated factors: environment, family history and genetics, behavior, metabolism, and others. Investigators at the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) are studying all of those aspects and more to further understand the disease and better inform public health initiatives.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Sharing resources and expertise ranks as a top priority for biomedical researchers around the world. And the reason is pretty straightforward: scientific research is expensive. Really expensive.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
On Monday, January 26, about 150 people tackled the Arrowhead 135 ultramarathon, a race through 135 miles of frigid landscape near International Falls, Minnesota. They biked, ran, and skied for almost 70 hours in -30°F air to reach their goal.
By IRP Staff Blogger
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Diverse teams of researchers have a huge advantage: their varied backgrounds provide more perspectives in problem-solving and, when working together in the lab, that often enhances the chances of finding insights and solutions to complex problems. For Cheryl Cropp, Ph.D., (NHGRI), a history of prostate cancer in her own family provides her with a unique, personal perspective on the importance of her research.
