Departments

From the Deputy Director for Intramural Research

There is No Substitute for Credibility in Science

BY MICHAEL GOTTESMAN, DDIR

At the foundation of everything that scientists do is the absolute need for the highest integrity in conducting, reporting, and evaluating research activities. At a practical level, this means that every scientist should be his or her own severest critic and not be satisfied with anything less than an honest and complete appraisal of the quality and value of his/her own work.

News Briefs

Harold Varmus is stepping down as the director of the National Cancer Institute; NIH is playing a key role in President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative.

Colleagues: Recently Tenured

Meet your recently tenured colleagues: Daphne Bell (NHGRI, pictured); Michele Evans (NIA); Mark Gilbert (NINDS); Ivan Ovcharenko (NLM-NCBI); Rose Yang (NCI-DCEG).

News You Can Use

NIH Imaging and Probe Development Center

Synthesizing Noncommercial Probes

BY SOMA CHOWDHURY, OD

With its emeralds, nanodiamonds, and gold particles sparkling upon countertops and bench tops, NIH’s Imaging and Probe Development Center (IPDC) might be mistaken for a jewelry factory. But what’s being produced here is arguably more valuable than jewels, at least to the scientists that the IPDC serves. The IPDC synthesizes imaging agents—some with names like precious gems—for biomedical research and clinical applications.

Research Briefs

NIH investigators have discovered the genomic switches of a blood cell key to regulating the human immune system; developed a blood test for patients with Alzheimer disease who do not respond normally to insulin; purified a protein that is linked to a form of hereditary hearing loss, found that many Americans are at risk for alcohol-medication interactions; and more.

SPECIAL FROM THE NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE

LEA(R)N: Lead, Encourage, Apply, (Retain), Network

BY ERIKA GINSBURG, NCI

Sallie Rosen Kaplan, who was never able to attend college, was committed to the education of women and helped support biomedical research at NIH. After she died in 1998, her estate established a fellowship, named in her honor, to recruit postdoctoral women to biomedical research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).

Enhancing Reproducibility of Neuroscience Studies

A Report from the Society for Neuroscience Meeting

BY EMILY PETRUS, NINDS

Scientific disagreements are essential for progress. Hypotheses are rigorously tested, and results are peer reviewed at every step of discovery. But there is a growing concern that many published preclinical studies, especially ones using animal models, cannot be replicated.

From the Annals of NIH History

Women’s History: 1930s Meningitis Research

BY MICHELE LYONS, OFFICE OF NIH HISTORY

“Know your enemy” describes the work of Sara Branham (1888–1962), who is credited with the discovery and isolation of the virus that causes spinal meningitis.

Announcements

Linda Watkins from University of Colorado at Boulder will give a lecture on her chronic pain research on May 4; Check Announcements for news on other lectures, special events, and more.