IRP Life

A Chinese New Year Marks Continued Scientific Progress

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.

Red Lanterns for Chinese New Year

Careers in Science Series: Academic Job Application Tips

Academic job applications typically include a cover letter, CV, research statement, summary of previous research, and a teaching statement. My number one recommendation on how to prepare your packet is to get several examples from your colleagues, such as a previous postdoc from your lab who recently started his or her own lab, or a new assistant professor/investigator in your current department...

Blossom in an academic career

Time-Lapse: Students Build Microscope in 4 Minutes

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:

The Best Place on Earth

If you've been asking yourself what good your taxpayer dollars have been doing, let me tell you a story. I work at one of the most amazing places in the world. Every day I come in to work energized to see patients, to strategize how to bring new findings into the clinic and talk to brilliant scientists and physicians.

James Gulley and Patient at NIH

Fighting Obesity Every Which Way We Can

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.

For the Love of PCR

You mix everything together that’s necessary for the reaction, and half the time it works, half the time it doesn’t. One day you get great PCR results, you’re on cloud nine, everything worked, and then you go repeat it to verify the result (because n never equals 1 in science), and it doesn’t work. You begin to feel like maybe you just got lucky with the first experiment.

PCR curve

“I am Intramural” Series: Access to Resources

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.

lab bottles

Neglect Negative Data No More

Negative data piling up on your desk likely hides a good amount of useful information. Why waste all the hard work by forgetting about it?

Negative data

The Long Run

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.

winter runner

Continuing the March Toward Diversity and Inclusion

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.

Cheryl Cropp, Joan Bailey-Wilson