Departments

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

For Our Fellows At the NIH

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN, DDIR

Over the past 30 years, NIH intramural science has become increasingly dependent on talented postdoctoral fellows to conduct most of the innovative research done in our laboratories and to help with the training of our growing cadre of predoctoral students. In turn, NIH principal investigators (PIs) and NIH leadership have sought ways to ensure that the training experience here for fellows is among the best in the world. We are also working on new initiatives to improve that experience.

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News You Can Use

Got Genotype and Phenotype?

How to Submit and Access Data at dbGaP

BY KRISTOFOR LANGLAIS, OD; ERIN LUETKEMEIER, OD; AND KIMBERLY TRYKA, NLM-NCBI

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) can generate volumes of data about common genetic factors that influence health and disease. Sharing the data with other investigators enables many more insights to be gleaned and magnifies the value of the original research. In 2008, NIH implemented a policy for sharing data obtained in NIH-supported or NIH-conducted GWAS to make the data more readily available to a wide range of investigators, including NIH intramural scientists.

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NIH in History

Hidden Treasures Discovered in Building 38: Proof That NLM is NIH’s Own Treasure Island

BY HEATHER DOLAN

Imagine a book that features a life-sized human anatomy manikin; an overview of palm reading in Renaissance Europe; a post–World War I silent film of schizophrenic patients; the first systematic study of human motion; health and hygiene puzzle blocks from Communist China; and Adolf Hitler’s medical records. Such a book exists, in the form of Hidden Treasure, which was published in honor of the NIH National Library of Medicine’s (NLM) 175th anniversary (celebrated in 2011) and highlights 80 of the library’s most mysterious and unusual items.

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Research Briefs

NIEHS: ARSENIC TURNS STEM CELLS CANCEROUS

Exposure to arsenic can turn normal stem cells into cancer stem cells and spur tumor growth. NIH researchers showed that when cancer cells are placed near—but not in contact with—normal stem cells, the normal stem cells rapidly acquire the characteristics of cancer stem cells. Malignant cells were able to send molecular signals through a semipermeable membrane and turn the normal stem cells into cancer stem cells. Further experiments are planned. [NIH authors: Y. Xu, E.J. Tokar, Y. Sun, M.P. Waalkes; Environ Health Perspect DOI:10.1289/ehp.1204987 (2012)]

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Colleagues: Recently Tenured

WILLIAM F. ANDERSON, M.D., M.P.H., NCI-DCEG

Senior Investigator, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, Biostatistics Branch

Read about him and the other four people who have been recently tenured: ROBERT NELSON, M.D., PH.D., NIDDK; MAHENDRA RAO, M.D., PH.D., NIAMS; PHILIP TOFILON, PH.D., NCI-CCR; YI-KUO YU, PH.D., NLM-NCBI

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The Training Page

FROM THE FELLOWS COMMITTEE

Careers in Regulatory Affairs

BY MEGHAN MOTT, NIAAA

Regulatory professionals play critical roles in the health-care product lifecycle and protect public health by influencing the safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, cosmetics, and complementary medicines. On February 14, 2012, experts spoke to NIH trainees about career opportunities in regulatory affairs.

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The SIG Beat

Read About Two New Scientific Interest Groups:

The Exercise Interest Group and the Regulatory Affairs for Clinical Development Interest Group

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Announcements

AUTHOR THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN AT NIH

Thursday, May 24, 2012
3:00–4:00 p.m.
Masur Auditorium (Building 10)

Journalist, columnist, author, and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas L. Friedman (author of The World is Flat) will present the annual J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture in a talk entitled “That Used to Be Us: How America Lost Its Way and How We Find Our Way Back.” The lecture will be broadcast live and later archived at https://videocast.nih.gov/. For more information or to request reasonable accommodation, contact Jacqueline Roberts (robertsjm@mail.nih.gov or 301-594-6747).

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Laboratory Confessions

Flight Over NIH

What was that strange object flying over the NIH on April 17?

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