May–June 2017 | NIH Intramural Research Program

Microscopy as Masterpiece

A Beautiful Way to Study Neurons

BY LAURA STEPHENSON CARTER

Perhaps only a scientist can find the beauty within a locust brain. An image—looking like mirrored, psychedelic-colored mushrooms—captured by Mark Stopfer—reveals the intricacies of neurons in the brain of the Schistocerca Americana locust.

The NIH Big Read

A Review of Inaugural Event with Writer Siddhartha Mukherjee

BY HAYLEY RAQUER, NIAID

Excitement built throughout NIH this spring when NIH’s inaugural Big Read program had dozens of people reading and discussing Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book, The Gene: An Intimate History. Then, on April 17, the Big Read culminated with an appearance by the Pulitzer-Prize-winning author himself to discuss his book and meet his fans.

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Population-Based Research Improving Public Health

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN, DDIR

Although NIH's laboratory-based research has helped to change the practice of medicine, population-based studies have had an even greater impact on public health.

Going the Distance

Teresa Przytycka: Driven by Curiosity and Big Dreams

BY KATHRYN MCKAY, NLM

If you ask computational biologist Teresa Przytycka where she’s from, and she’s likely to quip, “Do you mean geographically or scientifically?”

Both answers cover long distances for her. Her journey, which began in Poland many years ago, has brought her to NIH where she’s a senior investigator in the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Lasso Your Data

Consider Adding Data-Science Skills to Your Biologist’s Toolbox

BY CRAIG MYRUM, NIA

Think back to when you still had a basic cell phone. You could make calls, you could text, you could play some games. It got the job done. When you got your first smart phone, its capabilities probably seemed endless. How could you possibly go back to your “dumb” phone now?

NIEHS Team Reports How Oxidative Stress Kills Cells

A Key to Understanding the Origins of Some Human Diseases

BY ROBIN ARNETTE, NIEHS

Humans need energy to function, so it might be hard to imagine how a naturally occurring process that generates power for the body can also harm its cells. But it does, noted Samuel Wilson and members of his NIEHS DNA Repair and Nucleic Acid Enzymology Group (external link).

Delayed Walking May Signal Spontaneous Gene Anomalies in Autism

Distinct Behavioral Profiles Linked to “High Confidence” ASD Risk Genes

BY JULES ASHER, NIMH

A team of National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) intramural and grant-supported researchers has discovered a pattern of behavioral and genetic features seen in some cases of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that could ultimately lead to identification of subgroups and improved treatment.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Meet your recently tenured colleagues: Terri Armstrong (pictured; NCI-CCR); Anil Chaturvedi (NCI-DCEG); Peter Dobbs Crompton (NIAID); Theo Heller (NIDDK); and Zhiyong Lu (NCBI)

Research Briefs

NCATS, NHLBI: INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC TEAMS FIND POTENTIAL APPROACH AGAINST PARASITES

The SIG Beat

NEWS FROM AND ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC INTEREST GROUPS

The Light Microscopy Interest Group focuses on cutting-edge research in light fluorescence microscopy; the new Scientia et Philosophia Interest Group seeks to foster and expand the knowledge about the philosophical foundations of the scientific endeavor.

New Methods

Lights, Camera, Mouse Action with SCORHE

NIH Develops New Mouse-Behavior Monitoring System

BY SWAGATA BASU

Automated video-based monitoring of laboratory mouse behavior is getting more efficient thanks to a team of NIH researchers led by Ghadi Salem, a staff scientist in the Signal Processing and Instrumentation Section (SPIS (external link)) at NIH’s Center for Information Technology. The new “System for Continuous Observation of Rodents in Home-cage Environment” (SCORHE) is composed of custom video-acquisition and analysis tools that can quantify mice activity and behavior for short and long (multi-day) durations while the mice are housed within a typical home-cage.

WALS Superstars

NIH’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series Features Nobel Laureates and Other Science Stars

BY VIVIANNE CALLIER, NEI; ALEJANDRO CHIBLY, NIDCR; AND LAURA S. CARTER

The 2016–2017 NIH Director’s Wednesday Afternoon Lecture Series (WALS) has featured a parade of science superstars including geneticist George Church (pictured), Nobel Laureates, and other equally important scientists.

Back Page

More Cajal on Campus

This drawing of an olfactory bulb is one of seven newly arrived original drawings by Spanish scientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal, who shared the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recognition of his work on the structure of the nervous system.

Announcements: Kudos

Yasmine Belkaid Elected to NAS

Congratulations to Yasmine Belkaid who has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for 2017. She explores the field of immune regulation and has defined fundamental mechanisms that regulate tissue homeostasis and host immune responses.

Announcements

Lectures, meetings,and other events,

This page was last updated on Monday, April 11, 2022