transplant

Older Cells Make for Riskier Transplants

Examining Molecular Markers of Aging Could Improve Patient Outcomes

old clock

In 2003, 92-year-old Fauja Singh ran the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in slightly under six hours, a feat that many people decades younger could not accomplish. Such examples reveal the problems with making assumptions about a person’s health based solely on age. Similarly, new IRP research suggests that assessing cellular characteristics associated with aging, rather than a person’s chronologic age in years, could improve outcomes for the more than 20,000 patients who receive bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants each year.

Newest Lasker Scholars Ready to Make Their Mark

Exceptional Early-Stage Investigators Push the Boundaries of Translational Research

the 2019 class of NIH Lasker Scholars

Online and print publications are constantly touting momentous discoveries by superstar scientists like CRISPR-Cas9 co-discover Jennifer Doudna or the IRP’s own Kevin Hall, who changed the way we think about weight loss. It can be easy to forget that today’s biomedical pioneers were once young researchers toiling to establish themselves in the competitive environment of modern science.

Each year, a small, exceptionally promising group of scientific up-and-comers become Lasker Clinical Research Scholars through a highly competitive program jointly funded by the NIH and the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation. The program presents early-stage physician-scientists with the opportunity to carry out independent clinical research at the NIH for five to ten years. The 2019 class of Lasker Scholars consists of five extremely talented researchers who are now beginning a critical new phase in their careers. Let’s meet them.

Non-Toxic Drug Could Increase Availability of Organ Transplants

Treatment Regimen Allows Genetically Mismatched Skin Grafts in Mice

surgeons performing an organ transplant

Thousands of patients who need an organ transplant die each year before a donor can be found. A new IRP study has identified a safer way to prevent a transplant recipient’s body from attacking a genetically dissimilar donor organ, which could dramatically expand the pool of potential organ donors.

Remembrances: Claude B. Klee (1931-2017)

Claude Klee

Claude Klee, a true giant among the many great NIH biochemists, died on Monday, April 3, after suffering a heart attack. She was 85 years old. Claude was a pioneer in the biochemistry of calcium-binding proteins and calcium-dependent signaling. Although retired for more than a decade, she remained an active mentor and advisor at the NIH in the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and a consistent presence on the Bethesda campus until her death.