Profiles

Breakthrough Treatment Brings Hope to Children with Tumor Disorder

Brigitte Widemann Recognized for Pioneering Work on Debilitating Disease

Dr. Brigitte C. Widemann

Getting diagnosed with a serious illness as an adult can be devastating, so one can hardly imagine the impact of receiving such news as a child, particularly when the disease has no good treatments. Until recently, this was the case for many children with the potentially severe and frequently disfiguring condition neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). However, pioneering research led by IRP senior investigator Brigitte C. Widemann, M.D., led to the first-ever drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the condition. For this groundbreaking work, Dr. Widemann, her IRP research team, and her collaborators outside NIH were named as finalists for the 2020 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, also known as the ‘Sammies,’ an award that honors exceptional work by government employees.

A Record-Breaking Sprint to Create a COVID-19 Vaccine

Kizzmekia Corbett and Barney Graham Recognized for Leading IRP Vaccine Research

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (left) and Dr. Barney Graham (right)

At the end of 2019, most people were planning for a typical busy year in 2020. The world was looking forward to the Summer Olympics in Japan, the U.S. was deep into election campaigns, and IRP scientists at NIH’s Vaccine Research Center (VRC) were designing vaccines for several coronaviruses in collaboration with a small biotech company called Moderna.

That all changed on a Saturday morning in early January. Chinese scientists had isolated a new coronavirus that was causing a serious epidemic in China’s Wuhan province and released its genetic sequence to the scientific community around the world. Barney Graham, M.D., Ph.D., director of the VRC’s Viral Pathogenesis Laboratory (VPL), and VRC research fellow Kizzmekia Corbett, Ph.D., dropped everything and immediately began working on a vaccine for the illness that would become known as COVID-19.

IRP’s Charles Rotimi Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Pioneering Genetic Epidemiologist Takes a Global Approach to Fighting Health Disparities

Dr. Charles Rotimi

IRP distinguished investigator Charles Rotimi, Ph.D., was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year in recognition of his pioneering work exploring the health implications of genetic diversity in populations with African ancestry, as well as for globalizing the study of genomics, particularly in African nations. Dr. Rotimi joined NIH in 2008 as the founding director of the Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities in the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), which was later renamed the Center for Research on Genomics and Global Health, in part to reflect Dr. Rotimi’s globe-spanning research programs.

IRP’s Heinz Feldmann Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Vaccine Research Facilitated Rapid Response to Ebola Outbreak

Dr. Heinz Feldmann

IRP Senior Investigator Heinz Feldmann, M.D., was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) last year for leading the development of the technology that resulted in the first Ebola vaccine approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat the deadly disease. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

As chief of the Laboratory of Virology at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Feldmann’s work focuses on viruses like Ebola that cause hemorrhagic fever, a condition marked by fever, weakness, muscle pain, and sometimes bleeding. These highly contagious viruses require specialized laboratories and strict safety procedures to study.

IRP’s Cynthia Dunbar Elected to National Academy of Medicine

Studies of Blood Stem Cells Stimulate Pioneering Therapeutic Approaches

Dr. Cynthia Dunbar

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), first established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), is comprised of more than 2,000 elected members from around the world who provide scientific and policy guidance on important matters relating to human health. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have not only made critical scientific discoveries but have also demonstrated a laudable commitment to public service.

IRP Distinguished Investigator Cynthia E. Dunbar, M.D., was elected to the NAM last year for her pioneering research into hematopoietic stem cells, the cells in bone marrow that develop into oxygen-carrying red blood cells, infection-fighting white blood cells, and clot-forming platelets. Her work has led to valuable insights into the production of those blood cells, called hematopoiesis, and its role in human health. Her discoveries have also resulted in new approaches to treat disease by improving stem cell functioning or manipulating stem cells with gene therapy.

IRP’s Peter Choyke Elected to National Academy of Medicine

New Imaging Approach Improves Care for Men at Risk of Prostate Cancer

Dr. Peter Choyke

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), first established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences as the Institute of Medicine (IOM), is comprised of more than 2,000 elected members from around the world who provide scientific and policy guidance on important matters relating to human health. Election to the NAM is considered one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine and recognizes individuals who have not only made critical scientific discoveries but have also demonstrated a laudable commitment to public service.

IRP senior investigator Peter Choyke, M.D., was elected to the NAM last year for his pioneering advances in imaging technologies for prostate cancer, which have improved diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Choyke, who directs the Molecular Imaging Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), harnessed artificial intelligence to superimpose images from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans onto images taken in real time using ultrasound, thereby enhancing doctors’ ability to non-invasively examine prostate tumors. This allows doctors to be more precise with their biopsies, thereby lowering discomfort and the risk of nerve damage when they take samples of the tumor. Better yet, if the images show no signs of cancer, patients can skip the invasive biopsy procedure entirely and just continue regular monitoring and checkups.

IRP’s John T. Schiller Elected to National Academy of Sciences

NIH Scientist’s Decoy Virus Revolutionizes Cervical Cancer Prevention

Dr. John T. Schiller

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), established in 1863, is comprised of the United States’ most distinguished scientific scholars, including nearly 500 Nobel Prize winners. Members of the NAS are elected by their peers and entrusted with the responsibility of providing independent, objective advice on national matters related to science and technology in an effort to advance innovations in the United States.

IRP senior investigator John T. Schiller, Ph.D., was elected to the NAS in 2020 in recognition of a career that has produced numerous discoveries about human papillomaviruses (HPV), sexually transmitted infections that cause genital warts and are responsible for most cases of cervical cancer. His decades-long partnership with fellow IRP senior investigator Douglas R. Lowy, M.D., who was elected to the NAS in 2009, has yielded a deeper understanding of how HPV infects and damages cells and led to the creation of the first vaccines to prevent HPV infection.

IRP’s Robert Tycko Elected to National Academy of Sciences

NIH Researcher Recognized for Contributions to Structural Biology Techniques

Dr. Robert Tycko

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), established in 1863, is comprised of the United States’ most distinguished scientific scholars, including nearly 500 Nobel Prize winners. Members of the NAS are elected by their peers and entrusted with the responsibility of providing independent, objective advice on national matters related to science and technology in an effort to advance innovations in the United States.

IRP senior investigator Robert Tycko, Ph.D., was one of two NIH researchers elected to the NAS in 2020, an honor he hopes will give him the opportunity to help other scientists and improve the way science is done.

IRP’s Harvey Alter Awarded Nobel Prize

NIH Researcher’s Pioneering Work Led to Discovery of Hepatitis C

Dr. Harvey Alter

When the phone rang at 4:15 in the morning, IRP senior scientist Harvey J. Alter, M.D., was annoyed. He didn’t answer it. After the third try, he reluctantly got out of bed and took his phone out to the hallway.

“Before I could yell at the person, he said, ‘This is Stockholm calling,’” Dr. Alter recalls. “And then I got stopped in my tracks. Then the moment of disbelief and awe comes over you.”

The man from Stockholm informed Dr. Alter that he had won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. He shared the prize with Michael Houghton, Ph.D., of the University of Alberta, Canada, and Charles M. Rice, Ph.D., of Rockefeller University in New York.

Introducing NIH’s Newest Lasker Scholars

Program Gives Boost to Early Stage Investigators

Alison Boyce, Ian Myles, Jacqueline Mays, Yogen Kanthi, and Stephanie Chung

If TV shows like The Voice and America’s Got Talent are any indication, there are many extremely talented people out there who could become huge successes if presented with the right opportunity. This is no less the case in science, with thousands of extremely bright individuals quietly toiling away in their mentors’ labs as they await the chance to establish research programs of their own.

Fortunately, initiatives like the NIH’s Lasker Clinical Research Scholars Program exist to boost promising young researchers on to the next stage of their careers. Every year, the Lasker program allows a small group of early stage physician-scientists to establish their own labs at the NIH and carry out independent clinical research there for at least five years.

The five talented investigators selected as 2020 Lasker Scholars are pursuing a wide range of research questions, from how the immune system influences blood clotting to the mechanisms driving a rare and devastating skeletal disorder. Read on to learn more about the latest crop of researchers ramping up IRP labs of their very own.