RNA

IRP’s Thomas Kunkel Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Scientist Honored for Discoveries About DNA Replication

Dr. Thomas Kunkel

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.

Saving the Skin From a Renegade Immune Reaction

IRP Study Provides Insight into Cancer Treatment’s Skin-Thickening Side Effects

person massaging his hands

Scientists have long dreamt of leveraging information about our genes to personalize medical treatment. However, in working towards that effort, they have increasingly discovered the importance not just of what genetic variants are present in a person’s DNA, but how active each of those genes is. Now, new IRP research suggests the possibility of using that information to personalize medical treatment for patients who experience serious skin problems after receiving a transplant of the bone marrow’s blood-producing stem cells.

Sandra Wolin and Ronald Germain Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

IRP Scientists Recognized for RNA Revelations and Immune System Insights

Dr. Ronald Germain (left) and Dr. Sandra Wolin

Since its founding in 1780, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences has honored excellence in fields ranging from the humanities and arts to math, biology, and physics. In 2023, two of IRP’s eminent researchers joined the ranks of such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin and Nobel Prize winner Barbara McClintock as members of the Academy for their work in immunology and RNA science.

IRP Scientists Continue Efforts to Quell Pandemic

COVID-19 Research at NIH Show No Signs of Slowing

SARS-CoV-2 virus particle

It’s been more than two years since the first outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in China. During that time, amazing scientific advances have dramatically altered prevention and treatment for the illness, including the development of remarkably safe and effective vaccines. However, even with widespread vaccination, scientists predict that the disease will continue to circulate in society indefinitely, with seasonal ebbs and flows like the flu.

As a result, even as COVID-19 vaccine shots rolled out by the hundreds of millions, numerous IRP researchers continued studying the disease and the virus responsible for it. Many of these projects have been funded by the NIH’s Intramural Targeted Anti-COVID-19 Program (ITAC), an initiative that provides IRP researchers with funding for research related to COVID-19. Over the past year and a half, ITAC has provided more than $12 million to support a wide variety of projects — more than can be covered in just one blog post. Read on to learn about just a handful of the many ways IRP researchers are contributing to the fight against COVID-19, and stay tuned next week for another blog describing even more ITAC-funded COVID research.

Tiny Molecules Have Big Potential for Treating Eye Diseases

Approach Could Protect or Even Regenerate Neurons in Eye and Spinal Cord

eye

At the end of Aesop’s fable The Lion and the Mouse, the titular rodent saves his much larger friend from a hunter’s trap. Just like Aesop, scientists know well that even something tiny and often overlooked can lend a helping hand. Extremely short strands of genetic material called microRNAs, for instance, could make for useful therapeutic targets for glaucoma and other degenerative eye ailments, according to new IRP research.

Global Scientists Come Together at the National Institutes of Health

Individuals From Around the World Drive IRP Breakthroughs

Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal

Come to NIH and you’ll hear many accents. Scientists from around the world have always contributed significantly to the NIH mission. The resulting diversity of backgrounds and perspectives makes the NIH Intramural Research Program an extremely stimulating and productive environment. Read on to learn about some of the many scientists of the past and present who brought their talents from abroad to one of the world’s leading institutions for biomedical research.

RNA-Targeting Therapeutic Restores Protein Absent in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

New Approach Could Enhance Existing Treatments for Debilitating Genetic Disease

complimentary RNA and DNA nucleotides

The prospect of editing our DNA to treat genetic diseases may have captured the imaginations of scientists and the public in recent years, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways of combating these illnesses. Many promising therapies act not on DNA itself but rather on DNA’s often overlooked cousin, RNA. For instance, experiments in cells performed by IRP researchers have shown promising results or a RNA-targeting therapeutic developed to treat the debilitating genetic disease spinal muscular atrophy.

Alzheimer’s Patients Show Traces of Cellular Batteries in Blood

Biomarker Discovery Could Aid Diagnosis and Therapeutic Development

extracellular vesicles containing genetic material

Our cells can’t afford to be wasteful, so they prefer to recycle broken components. However, when the mitochondria that provide their energy are damaged beyond repair, cells may have no choice but to throw them out. New IRP research suggests that more of this mitochondrial debris floats in the blood of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, potentially providing an easy, cost-effective way to diagnose or even possibly predict the illness.

Blood Test Predicts Premature Labor

First-Trimester Blood Analysis Could Enable Earlier, More Effective Intervention

mother and baby sleeping next to each other

Imagine a world in which pregnant women routinely travel to places of healing and meet with wise sages who examine a bit of their blood to divine when their babies will be born. While this may sound like something out of Greek mythology, it may soon become a reality, as IRP researchers have developed a test that was able to use blood samples taken early in pregnancy to identify women who would later deliver their babies prematurely.

Innovation Awards Spark New Intramural Collaborations

Program Boosts Initiatives Supporting Researchers Across NIH

scientists talking in a lab

From Superbowl-winning football teams to comic book cohorts like The Avengers, combining the efforts of multiple talented individuals is a proven strategy for achieving remarkable results. It may come as no surprise, then, that the NIH’s Intramural Research Program (IRP) strongly encourages collaborations that breach the boundaries of its 24 Institutes and Centers. One example of these efforts is the Director’s Challenge Innovation Awards Program, which since 2009 has funded high-impact scientific projects that bring together researchers from across the IRP.