November–December 2011 | NIH Intramural Research Program

Systems Biology as Defined by NIH

An Intellectual Resource for Integrative Biology

By Christopher Wanjek

Ask five different astrophysicists to define a black hole, the saying goes, and you’ll get five different answers. But ask five biomedical researchers to define systems biology, and you’ll get 10 different answers . . . or maybe more.

A Lasker Award for CC Workers

News from the NIH Clinical Center

In September the Clinical Center was named the 2011 recipient of the Lasker–Bloomberg Public Service Award from the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, an organization that has recognized outstanding advances in medical research each year since 1945. The award description recognizes the CC for spearheading major advances in a wide array of medical arenas, establishing an example for academic institutions across the country, and training thousands of investigators, many of whom now lead academic and research institutions across the world.

NIAMS Celebrates Turning 25

By Rachel Weller

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) marked its 25th anniversary with a scientific symposium to commemorate a quarter-century of research, training, and information dissemination in disease areas that affect nearly every home in America. NIH Director Francis Collins, NIAMS Director Stephen Katz, Research!America Chairman John Edward Porter, and panels of patients, scientists, and clinicians reminisced about NIAMS to a packed Lipsett Amphitheater in June.

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Valuing Diversity at NIH

By Michael Gottesman, DDIR

NIH may seem like a highly diverse scientific community. After all, our intramural program is made up of male and female scientists who represent almost all races from around the world. But among our principal investigators and senior leaders, many groups are significantly under-represented.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Alexei Bagrov, M.D., Ph.D., NIA

Senior Investigator and Head, Hypertension Unit, Cardiac Function Section, Laboratory of Cardiovascular Science

Education: Saint Petersburg State I.P. Pavlov Medical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia (M.D.); I.M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Ph.D. in pharmacology)

NIAID: Priming with DNA Vaccine Makes Avian Flu Vaccine Work Better

The immune response to an H5N1 avian influenza vaccine was greatly enhanced in healthy adults if they were first primed with a DNA vaccine expressing a gene for a key H5N1 protein, according to a NIAID study that described results from two clinical studies. Most study volunteers who received the DNA vaccine 24 weeks before receiving a booster vaccine made from whole, inactivated H5N1 virus produced high concentrations of antibodies thought to be protective against the globular head region of the protein hemagglutinin (HA).

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