September–October 2022 | NIH Intramural Research Program

Health Effects of Environmental Disasters

GuLF Study Assesses Exposure After Oil Spills

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded, burned, and sank in the Gulf of Mexico, about 40 miles off the coast of Louisiana. Eleven of the 126 workers on board were killed in what is still considered one of world’s worst environmental disasters and the largest marine oil spill in United States history. The underwater well, almost a mile below the surface, spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil for the next 87 days before it was capped and sealed. Over the next year and a half, the many thousands of people who helped with the cleanup were exposed to toxicants related to crude oil, burning oil, dispersants, and other pollutants. Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have been assessing the health effects of the oil spill ever since.

From the Acting Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Charting the Future of the Intramural Research Program

BY NINA F. SCHOR, M.D., PH.D., ACTING DDIR

I am excited to write this, my first essay for The NIH Catalyst. As the new Acting NIH Deputy Director for Intramural Research (DDIR), I have incredibly big shoes to fill. My predecessor, Michael Gottesman, held the position of DDIR for 29 years and launched and nurtured many initiatives that enhanced biomedical workforce diversity, created NIH-wide core facilities, and established the laboratories of extraordinarily talented new scientists on the NIH campus. I am hoping to build on the incredibly robust foundation that he and his colleagues in the Office of Intramural Research have created.

PIs Pursuing Their Passions

From Pencils to Pinnacles

Meet cartoonist Elodie Ghedin (NIAID); opera tenor Sergi Ferré (NIDA); rock climber Katie Kindt (NIDCD, pictured); astrophotographer Joseph M. Ziegelbauer (NCI); and mountaineering partners Edward Giniger (NINDS) and Adrian R. Ferré-D’Amaré (NHLBI).

Celebrating 10 Years of CAR T-cell Therapy at NIH

Reflecting on a Landmark Treatment Program for Childhood Leukemia

BY ANINDITA RAY, NINDS

Avery was a pioneer. On July 13, 2012—his 13th birthday—he became the first pediatric patient to be treated with CAR T-cell therapy at NIH. He had acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. Standard treatments—immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and bone-marrow transplant—had failed him. Desperate to save their son, his parents brought Avery to NIH’s Clinical Center (CC) where scientists from the National Cancer Institute’s Pediatric Oncology Branch tried the then-experimental therapy that involved re-engineering his T cells to attack his cancer. Although Avery is no longer with us, his legacy lives on through the success of POB’s CAR T-cell program that has represented hope for so many families over the past decade.

Saliva Suspected in Transmission of Intestinal Viruses

Nihal Altan-Bonnet’s Research on Host-pathogen Dynamics

Why do outbreaks of gastrointestinal illnesses spread so rapidly among passengers on cruise ships? How can norovirus, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists as a leading cause of acute gastroenteritis, infect nearly 700 million people each year worldwide? Intestinal viruses such as norovirus and rotavirus reproduce in the intestines and are known to spread via the fecal-oral route (when fecal-contaminated food or water is ingested). A trans-NIH team of researchers, led by NHLBI Senior Investigator Nihal Altan-Bonnet, has learned that saliva can be a transmission vehicle, too.

COVID-19 Timeline at NIH (July–August 2022)

COVID-19 Research and Activities at NIH

Highlights of the COVID-19-related activities that were going on at NIH in July and August 2022.

News Brief

Anthony Fauci Stepping Down

On August 22, 2022, Anthony Fauci announced that he will be stepping down in December 2022 as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation, and Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden.

Research Briefs

Read about NIH scientific advances and discoveries by intramural scientists: how sound reduces pain; bacterial populations concentrate in lung cancer cells; novel brain mechanism influences impulsive cocaine-seeking in rats; loss of youth protein may drive aging in the eye; scientists solve first-ever 3D structure of twinkle protein; monoclonal antibody prevents malaria.

From the Fellows Committee

Beyond the Bench: Translational, Clinical, and Market-Research Training Opportunities at NIH

Gone are the days when being a scientist always meant doing benchwork day in and day out. Here at NIH, trainees are part of an extensive workforce dedicated to public service, following NIH’s primary motto, “Turning discovery into health.” Not only do trainees contribute by doing basic research, but they can learn how to contribute in other ways by taking courses in translational, clinical, and market research.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Meet your recently tenured colleagues: James A. Bourne (NIMH and NINDS), Hans Elmlund (NCI-CCR), Shahinaz Gadalla (NCI-DCEG), Christopher Hourigan (NHLBI, pictured), and Andrew L. Mammen (NIAMS).

The SIG Beat

News From and About the Scientific Interest Groups

A new SIG and one with a new name: The new one, Long-read and Long-range Sequencing Scientific Interest Group, hosts a monthly seminar series that focuses on new long-read sequencing technologies that make it is possible to routinely sequence DNA fragments of 10–100 kilobases and longer. The Redox Biology SIG, which is the renamed Free Radical Research Interest group, hosts seminars and workshops that promote all aspects of basic, translational, and clinical research in redox biology.

From the Annals Of NIH History

Radiation Exposure Among Early NIH Workers

Dosimetry Cards and the History of Radiation Safety

NIH researchers, clinicians, and other staff have been working with radioactive materials and radiation-emitting devices since the 1940s, when it was routine to use radium needles for cancer therapy, run radium-radon generators that converted radium to radon for cancer treatments, or operate X-ray machines that produced ionizing radiation. Before 1950, NIH employees who worked with radioactive materials underwent blood draws semiannually that were analyzed to see whether significant decreases had occurred in white-blood-cell and platelet counts. This method was phased out by the mid-1950s and was replaced by film badges and personal dosimeters, which detect high-energy beta, gamma, or X-ray radiation. The results were recorded on index-card-sized cards called dosimetry cards. The Office of NIH History has acquired some of those cards, including ones from famous NIHers.

Photographic Moment

Changing the Conversation About Drug Addiction

The INTO LIGHT exhibit, on display at the NIH Clinical Center until October 1, 2022, aims to reduce the stigma that surrounds the tragedy of drug overdose.

Announcements

News about events, deadlines, courses, and lectures at NIH including the Big Read, WALS new season, Fauci to be guest speaker at COVID-19 lecture, submit ideas for the forthcoming NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Research on the Health of Women, and more.

This page was last updated on Monday, September 19, 2022