Features

The Stadtman Legacy

Trans-NIH Recruiting Effort Brings in Nine Investigators

BY MONIKA DESHPANDE, NCI

NIH welcomes the 2010-2011 class of Earl Stadtman Investigators, named for the legendary biochemist, who worked at NIH for 50 years. Stadtman mentored and inspired countless researchers including two who went on to become Nobel laureates—Michael Brown and Stanley Prusiner—and others who were later elected to the National Academy of Sciences. The Stadtman program, launched in 2009, a year after his death, aims to attract outstanding scientists whose research areas are not restricted to the interests of particular institutes but span the biomedical fields.

NIH-Lasker Scholars

Exploring Inflammation, Cardiometabolic Diseases, and PTSD

BY LAURA STEPHENSON CARTER

Nehal Mehta and Jessica Gill recently joined NIH as the first two NIH-Lasker Clinical Research Scholars, a joint initiative of NIH and the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation that will nurture the next generation of clinician-scientists.

Let There Be Light

Sea Creatures Providing Clues on the Evolution of Vision

BY JEANNINE MJOSETH, NHGRI

Bioluminescent sea creatures that emit and detect light are providing clues to the evolution of sight and may, in time, shed light on our understanding of eye diseases. Research published in a recent issue of BMC Biology has pinpointed the genes involved in making and sensing light in this organism.

Obituaries 2012

Reubin Andres (died on September 23, 2012, at age 89) was NIA’s first clinical director. He is known for the invention of the glucose-insulin clamp technique, a method that remains the gold standard in the study of glucose and insulin homeostasis, and for his original and fundamental observations on the hormonal abnormalities in diabetes.

Earl M. August (died on November 21, 2012, at age 54) was a senior scientist in NCI’s developmental therapeutics program (1990–1994).

Helping Native Americans

NIDDK Research Clinic in Arizona Aims to Lessen Health Disparities

BY AMY F. REITER, NIDDK

On a dusty road just south of Phoenix, a small one-story building has completed its first year open for research. The building sits on the Avenida del Yaqui in Guadalupe, a town made up primarily of Yaqui Indians and Hispanic Americans. The Yaqui who first settled in the town were from Sonora, Mexico; descendants have preserved many elements of their culture, including elaborate Easter and Lent ceremonies with dancing, costumes, music, and masks.

An Eye for an Ear

Learning Ally Volunteers at NIH Open Up the World of Science to Reading-Impaired Students

BY HEATHER DOLAN

Ever dream of becoming a recording artist? If so, there’s a studio in Building 31 that could use your voice. It’s the NIH satellite of Learning Ally, a nonprofit organization that converts books into audio recordings for reading-disabled students of all ages.