Departments

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Recognizing Our Senior Faculty

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN, DDIR

Many of NIH’s senior scientists and scientific support staff have spent most, if not all, of their careers in the intramural research program. I am struck by our senior faculty’s impact on the conduct of science, the mentoring of a new generation of scientists, the management of scientific programs, and their important advisory function. I would like to provide some examples, by no means exclusive, of the enormous role that our senior faculty plays in making the NIH a jewel in the crown of the federal government and to suggest that more recognition of contributions by all dedicated scientific staff would be well-deserved.

Our Strength Is in Cultural Diversity

BY THE EDITORS

Here at the “United Nations” of the NIH, we have scientists representing approximately 100 countries, from Albania to Zimbabwe. More than 3,000 of our scientists are visiting from, or were born in, a so-called “foreign” country—an odd term given the collegiality we cherish and expect at NIH.

Research Briefs

NIAMS: “BUBBLEGRAM IMAGING” OF VIRUSES

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) uses radiation to image very small particles, that radiation can kill viruses destroying the very structures scientists want to see. But NIAMS researchers developed a method they call “bubblegram imaging” that turns the problem into a solution.

New Methods

Fluorescing Blobs Reveal Molecules

BY BELLE WARING

Seeing a lone molecule up close and personal just got faster and easier thanks to a new technique developed by scientists at NIDCD and NICHD.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

KAREN ADELMAN, PH.D., NIEHS

Senior Investigator; Head, Transcriptional Responses to the Environment Group, Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis

Read about her and seven others who have been recently tenured.

Two Drosophila Interest Groups

BY KRISTINA MCLINDEN, NINDS

Read about two Drosophila interest groups, which deal with all things Drosophila, and the new Geroscience Interest Group, which focuses on aging.

FROM THE FELLOWS COMMITTEE

LGBT Fellows and Friends

BY ANDREW BROADBENT, NIAID

January marked not only the beginning of a new year, but also the birth of a new group: NIH LGBT Fellows and Friends.

Just a Thought

BY NAME WITHHELD

Something very strange happened on my 60-minute train commute home. I had prepared, as always, to browse a dozen or so scientific papers on my iPad. I had neatly downloaded these before I left work. I also had considerable e-mail to answer, so I had planned to bang these out, too. Then an apparent tragedy struck.