November–December 2019 | NIH Intramural Research Program

Celebrating NIH Intramural Science in One Day

Report from the Single-Day 2019 NIH Research Festival

The annual Research Festival, which in recent years has been a three-day event, was condensed into one day packed full of exciting talks (even one by an NIH alum who is also a Nobel laureate), special exhibits on intramural resources, posters, the Technical Sales Association Vendor Tent Show, a performance by the NIH Director’s Band (a.k.a. “ARRA” or “The Affordable Rock ‘n’ Roll Act”), and more.

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

It’s Time to Talk!

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN AND KATHRYN PARTIN

Successful, resilient scientists need formal training in ethical decision-making as well as in the other aspects of the responsible conduct of research.

From the Annals of NIH History

Dr. Joseph Goldberger and Pellagra: A Fearsome Disease Tamed

BY GORDON MARGOLIN, OFFICE OF NIH HISTORY AND STETTEN MUSEUM

To live in the American South in the early 1900s, you would have had to survive an uncontrolled epidemic known for its fatal consequences. The disease, pellagra, had been a worldwide scourge for about two centuries, with no known treatment. In 1914, Joseph Goldberger, an epidemiologist employed by the Hygienic Laboratory (forerunner of NIH), was assigned the task of determining the etiology of pellagra and hopefully finding a cure.

2019 Research Festival: Plenary I

Celebrating NIH IRP Contributions to Curing Metabolic Diseases

BY AUTUMN HULLINGS, NCI

The labs and clinics of the NIH intramural research program have been at the forefront of the identification and treatment of metabolic diseases. In the first plenary session of the Research Festival, four presenters, including a Nobel laureate, described their groundbreaking research.

2019 Research Festival: Plenary II

Celebrating NIH Efforts to Combat Physical and Emotional Pain

BY JOANNA CROSS, NIMH

The sentiments expressed in the Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken” could well describe the choices of the four presenters in their efforts to help patients dealing with physical and emotional pain.

2019 Research Festival: Plenary III

Celebrating Cutting–Edge Technologies

BY MEGAN ROEGNER, NIDDK

If you asked intramural researchers what their favorite part of working at NIH is, many would tell you it’s the availability of cutting-edge technology. Four scientists shared their stories.

2019 Research Festival: Data Blitz

A Lightning-Fast Journey into the IRP World

BY EIMEAR HOLTON, NIAID

Punctuated by the silvery chimes of the glockenspiel, the NIH Research Festival’s first ever Data Blitz and Lightning Round launched the audience on a journey into the world of intramural research.

High-Performance MRI with Lower Magnetic Field

NIH Researchers’ Redesigned MRI Holds Promise for Cardiac and Lung Imaging

BY NHLBI NEWS

NIH researchers, along with researchers at Siemens, have developed a high-performance, low-magnetic-field MRI system that vastly improves the quality of images of the lungs and other internal structures of the human body.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Meet your recently tenured colleagues: Sridhar Hannenhalli (NCI-CCR); Patricia Jensen (NIEHS); Lisa Mirabello (NCI-DCEG, pictured); John “Jay” Schneekloth Jr. (NCI-CCR); and Douglas R. Stewart (NCI-DCEG)

New National Academy of Medicine Members

Congratulations to the four NIHers who are among the 100 new members recently elected to the National Academy of Medicine: Michael Lenardo (NIAID), Luigi D. Notarangelo (NIAID), Andre Nussenzweig (NCI), and Julie A. Segre (NHGRI).

New Methods

ScPopCorn Gets to the Kernel of Single-Cell Experiments

BY TERESA PRZYTYCKA, NCBI

Researchers at the National Library of Medicine’s National Center for Biotechnology Information have created a new algorithm called scPopCorn (single-cell subpopulations comparison) to capture the differences among populations of cells from single-cell experiments.

First NIBIB-Clinical Center Translational Research Fellow

Keeping a Foot in Both Clinical Radiology and Research Arenas

BY RAYMOND MACDOUGALL, NIBIB

A new fellowship program at NIH is making it possible for M.D.-Ph.D. radiologists to devote equal time to clinical care and research: the Clinical Translational Research Fellowship Program sponsored by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the NIH Clinical Center.

Otolaryngology Surgeon-Scientist Program

From Operating Room to Bench to Bedside, All in a Day’s Work

BY LISA YUAN, NIDDK

The challenges of pursuing a dual career in research and medicine have contributed to a decline in the number of physician-scientists entering the biomedical workforce. To help address this concern, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders developed the Otolaryngology Surgeon-Scientist Program, a career-development program for junior faculty.

NCCIH Researchers Highlighted in Anniversary Symposium

NCCIH at 20: A Catalyst for Integrative Health Research

BY ELLEN O’DONNELL, NCCIH

One of the top research priorities of the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) is to support studies that explore the nonpharmacologic management of pain. On September 23, NCCIH celebrated its 20th anniversary with a symposium that highlighted pain research being conducted by extramural and intramural researchers.

Research Briefs

Read about discoveries made by NIH intramural researchers: Improved gene therapy for sickle-cell disease; ALS gene may be a hitchhiker’s gene to the neuron; household bleach inactivates chronic wasting disease prions; how the brain can turn pain signals up or down; microbleeds may worsen outcome after head injury; and more.

Applying Your Ph.D. Skills to Careers in Science Policy

BY CRAIG MYRUM, NIA

One sector in which a growing number of postdoctoral fellows are seeking, and finding, careers is science policy.

Photographic Moment

“Eye of the Beholder”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so they say, but what is it that makes us perceive beauty?

Announcements

News about events, deadlines, lectures, WALS nominations, DeMystifying Medicine lectures, NIH Figshare, and more.

This page was last updated on Wednesday, March 30, 2022