March–April 2024 | NIH Intramural Research Program

The Perplexing Pancreas

Multidisciplinary Research Tackles an Increasingly Common Pancreatic Disorder

Investigators from across NIH’s Intramural Research Program are using multifaceted approaches that both directly and tangentially explain the strikingly different pathways that lead to pancreatitis, a condition that costs $2.6 billion in health care spending each year.

NIH Hosts First-ever Industry Day

The Promise of Public–Private Partnerships

The inaugural event aimed to help junior scientists better understand the benefits and challenges of government–industry collaboration and featured panels of scientific leaders from NIH, academia, and industry who showcased how synergistic partnerships are tackling problems at the forefront of biomedical research.

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

Striking the Right Balance Between Transparency and Discretion

Every year, the NIH recruits new faculty at every level. When it comes to senior leadership-level searches, however, some NIH faculty perceive a sense of secrecy, and that sense leads to suspicion of inequity and unfairness. But we tread a very thin line between the need for discretion and the desire for transparency.

A Rare Day Brings Fierce Focus to Rare Diseases

Leap year brings us an extra day every four years for the celestial and the earthly to sync. Rare days such as these also bring focus to rare diseases, which at NIH offers patients, family members, and the intramural and extramural scientific communities a day to showcase outcomes that reach far beyond synchronicity.

Health Care Is Not Designed for Those Who Need It Most

Matthew Weed Delivers Powerful Talk on Making Health Care Accessible to All

Disability and health care go hand in hand, and yet health care remains far behind the curve in making care and health-related information accessible. Matthew Weed, a health care accessibility consultant, spoke about bridging this gap at NIH.

Food, Flora, and Function

Research Hints that Diet Choices May Affect Health by Modulating the Immune System

Scientists from NIAID and NIDDK and their collaborators found that vegan and ketogenic diets remodeled the human microbiome and immune system, and each diet was found to have its own unique implications. The results could open the door to a new era of research aimed at using dietary interventions as a way to modulate the body’s immune response.

A Public Health Approach to Reducing Firearm Violence

An Intriguing WALS Talk Points to a Way Forward

In 2021, 134 people died in the United States per day from firearm violence. This is a big public health problem that can be addressed using sound public health approaches, according to David Hemenway, professor of health policy at Harvard University (Boston).

News You Can Use: NHLBI Chat

Generative artificial intelligence tools based on large language models have the potential to lighten workloads and increase efficiency in the workplace. But accompanying this new wave of generic public-access tooling comes an undercurrent of trustworthiness concerns and ethical considerations. Learn how a team at NHLBI created an internal version in which the tooling can be utilized while sensitive information is protected.

Can Weight Loss Drugs Help the Addiction Crisis?

The original purpose of GLP-1 receptor agonists was to aid glucose regulation, but the appeal of these drugs, which include semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus), now extends beyond their ability to treat diabetes and help people shed pounds. Basic research, case reports, and patient anecdotes suggest that GLP-1 receptor agonists may also curb alcohol consumption.

Stadtman Investigators

Neurodevelopmental cell regulation, environmental and occupational exposures, and precision therapies are just a few examples of the exciting new research explored by the latest cohort of scientists selected for the Earl Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators Program.

NIH Graduate Student Research Symposium

Symposium showcases research conducted at NIH by graduate students for 20th year.

Lasker Scholars Are Coming for Cancer

IRP Program Supports Cutting-Edge Cancer Research

The Lasker program identifies promising early-career physician-scientists in a wide variety of fields and provides them with funding and resources to start their own independent lab at NIH. Purely by coincidence, the latest Lasker Scholars happen to all specialize in the study and treatment of cancer. Read on to learn more about the new ideas and bounding enthusiasm these scholars are bringing to NIH’s fight against this perplexing disease.

From the Annals of NIH History

The NIH Office of History and Stetten Museum hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Feb. 14 in celebration of the exhibit “Harvey Alter and the Discovery of Hepatitis C: Making Our Blood Supply Safe.”

Catalytic Research

Read about scientific advances and discoveries by NIH intramural scientists: fatigue processed differently in the brains of people with post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; Omicron spike protein effectively binds to cells of the nasal passage; cognitive behavioral therapy normalized some areas of brain hyperactivation; biomarker associated with neurodegenerative disorders; reengineered cancer drug could help develop new treatments; antibody-based HIV vaccine provides protective immunity.

From the Fellows Committee

Guiding Lights: Transformative Mentorship in the NIH Community

Each of us play multiple roles in our daily lives as both mentors and mentees and these mentorship experiences can have long-term effects on our professional and personal lives. Read about successful mentorship stories from NIH fellows and learn about mentoring resources available at NIH.

Photographic Moment

The 10th annual NIH–Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) Annual Leadership Workshop took place Jan. 29 at the John Edward Porter Neuroscience Research Center in Bethesda.

This page was last updated on Thursday, March 7, 2024