May–June 2020 | NIH Intramural Research Program

COVID-19 Timeline at NIH

Highlights Through April 30, 2020

COMPILED BY LAURA STEPHENSON CARTER

The COVID-19 pandemic has thousands of NIHers teleworking and all labs to have minimal staffing to carry on essential research or maintenance operations. But many NIH scientists have been working around the clock trying to decipher the secrets held by the virus that causes the disease and to develop treatments and vaccines. The NIH Catalyst has compiled a timeline that highlights much of what is going on.

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Working Together while Staying Apart

Best Practices for “Virtual” Interactions

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN, DDIR

All of us have been experiencing the isolation, anxiety, and frustrations of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. For most of us this is a stressful period, yet we still must carry on our interactions with our colleagues, now physically separated from us, using communication tools that may be unfamiliar and at times add additional stress. It is especially important that we continue to interact with each other in a civil and respectful manner.

From the Annals of NIH History

NIH and the 1918 Flu

From Alice Evans’s Memoirs

BY ALICE EVANS (SEPTEMBER 2, 1963)

The following is an excerpt from Alice Evans’s memoirs, written in 1963, about her experiences during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Evans, a bacteriologist, was one of the first women scientists at NIH and worked there from 1918 to 1945. Her research led to the recognition of brucellosis as a public-health problem and the acceptance of the need to pasteurize milk.

Photographic Moment

Thank You Dr. Fauci!

Decking the walls in Building 31 are handwritten notes thanking Anthony Fauci for helping to keep the public informed about the COVID-19 pandemic.

The SIG Beat

NEWS FROM AND ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC INTEREST GROUPS

NEW SIG: COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group

The COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group was created in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This interest group is intended for NIH scientists and HHS colleagues to exchange information concerning research on COVID-19 disease and the virus that causes it—severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Revolutionizing Science

Two Nobel Laureates Wow WALS Audiences

BY MEGAN KALOMIRIS, NIAID, AND EMILY MEYER, NEI

The two Nobel Laureates—Frances Arnold and James Allison—who presented WALS lectures this winter were notable for their “firsts.” Arnold was the first American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. James Allison was the first to present a virtual WALS lecture in this historic time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Meet your recently tenured colleagues: Daniel Barber (NIAID), Michael B. Cook (NCI-DCEG), Pamela Guerrerio (NIAID), Vincent Munster (NIAID-Rocky Mountain Labs, pictured), and Adam Phillippy (NHGRI).

You Are What You Eat

Profile: Emily Chew, M.D.

BY EIMEAR HOLTON, NIAID

Emily Chew understands the power of nutrition, and she has the data to back herself up. Eating fish as “brain food” before taking an exam and consuming goji berries to achieve better eyesight were some of the many wisdoms she learned when growing up in a Chinese immigrant family in British Columbia (Canada).

Discovering a Cure for Sickle-Cell Disease

The Journey of Physician–scientist and Musician John Tisdale, M.D.

BY CAROLINE DUNCOMBE, NIAID

If you were to dissect the anatomy of the NIH director’s band, you would find the supporting beat of John Tisdale’s bass guitar. Although primarily a senior investigator and branch chief in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and in search of a cure for sickle-cell disease, Tisdale plays a secondary role as the resident bass guitarist for NIH musical ensembles.

Research Briefs

Read about NIH scientific advances by intramural scientists: how replenishing neuronal mitochondria may help spinal cord regrow after injury; tooth enamel protein may be therapeutic target for blinding disease; autoimmunity may be on the rise; preventing tumor growth; and more.

Rare Disease Day and the DADA2 Story

It Takes Detective Work to Diagnose Rare Diseases

BY CHARLESICE HAWKINS, OD

Many aspects of Sherlock Holmes’s famous detective skills were modeled after one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s medical school professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was able to deduce a stranger’s occupation and recent activities based on minute details such as the dirt on their shoes. If only Holmes or Bell could closely observe patients with rare diseases today...

FROM THE FELLOWS COMMITTEE

The Potential Path from Ph.D. to Medical Science Liaison

BY CRAIG MYRUM (NIA)

Are you as good with people as you are with a pipette? Can you cut down on scientific jargon to effectively communicate science with anyone? What about your leadership and critical-thinking skills? If you envisage a career outside of academia and these qualities seem to describe you, consider transitioning into a role as a Medical Science Liaison (MSL).

Foxes Frolicking

These fox kits were playing outside their den next to the front doors of Building 30.

Announcements

News about events, deadlines, lectures including new ITAP intramural funding program for COVID-19 research, OITE online resources for traininees, new COVID-19 lecture series, workshop on “Pregnancy and Maternal Conditions that Increase Risk of Morbidity and Mortality”; new issue of Women’s Health in Focus at NIH; and more.

NIH IRP PUBLICATIONS RECOGNIZED FOR PRESTIGIOUS INTERACTIVE MEDIA AWARDS

Three NIH intramural research program publications were recognized by the Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition that highlight this year’s “best of the best” in interactive media production.

This page was last updated on Thursday, March 24, 2022