Research advances from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP) often make headlines. Read the news releases that describe our most recent findings:
Surveys show 9.5 percent of Americans use marijuana; 30 percent of users meet criteria for a disorder
The percentage of Americans who reported using marijuana in the past year more than doubled between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013, and the increase in marijuana use disorder during that time was nearly as large. Past year marijuana use rose from 4.1 percent to 9.5 percent of the U.S. adult population, while the prevalence of marijuana use disorder rose from 1.5 percent to 2.9 percent, according to national surveys conducted by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
“Based on the results of our surveys, marijuana use in the United States has risen rapidly over the past decade, with about 3 in 10 people who use marijuana meeting the criteria for addiction. Given these increases, it is important that the scientific community convey information to the public about the potential harms,” said George Koob, Ph.D., director of NIAAA.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have created a protein that awakens resting immune cells infected with HIV and facilitates their destruction in laboratory studies. The protein potentially could contribute to a cure for HIV infection by helping deplete the reservoir of long-lived, latently HIV-infected cells that can start making the virus when a person stops taking anti-HIV drugs. Further studies in animals and people are needed to determine the viability of this approach.
Illustration of how the engineered protein facilitates destruction of latently HIV-infected immune cells. 1) Protein and cells, from left to right: engineered protein with yellow-and-black CD3-binding end and thick black HIV-binding end; latently HIV-infected helper T cell (blue); inactivated killer T cell (red). 2) Protein binds to CD3 receptor on helper T cell, activating it so the helper T cell starts making HIV and displaying pieces of virus (red) on its surface. 3) Protein binds to HIV fragment on helper T cell and CD3 receptor on killer T cell, activating the killer T cell and bringing the two cells close together. 4) Activated killer T cell destroys HIV-infected helper T cell.
Drug-resistant forms of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest species among malaria parasites, are able to infect the type of mosquito that is the main transmitter of malaria in Africa, according to findings from scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and global partners. The discovery suggests Africa—where malaria will cause an estimated 400,000 deaths in 2015—is more at risk for drug-resistant malaria infections than previously thought, which could further compromise efforts to prevent and eliminate the disease.
A Cambodian Anopheles mosquito taking a blood meal. Credit: NIAID
Many types of modern biomedical microscopes use pulses of light aimed at chemical probes to image proteins, membranes, and cell structures. New understanding of biological processes within living tissues, such as metabolism and DNA repair, rely on the work researchers have done to bring miniscule features into focus. Their techniques include mastery of sophisticated instruments and software, as well as the development of genetically encoded fluorescent proteins, called fluorophores.
“As great as some of the current instrumentation is, much is limited by the physics of light and fluorophores,” explained George Patterson, Ph.D., investigator in the Section on Biophotonics at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health. “We are always bumping up against resolution limits.”
Two studies in mice use new technique to provide insight into cell development critical for hearing, balance
Using a sensitive new technology called single-cell RNA-seq on cells from mice, scientists have created the first high-resolution gene expression map of the newborn mouse inner ear. The findings provide new insight into how epithelial cells in the inner ear develop and differentiate into specialized cells that serve critical functions for hearing and maintaining balance. Understanding how these important cells form may provide a foundation for the potential development of cell-based therapies for treating hearing loss and balance disorders. The research was conducted by scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health.
Favipiravir, an investigational antiviral drug currently being tested in West Africa as a treatment for Ebola virus disease, effectively treated Lassa virus infection in guinea pigs, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and colleagues.
Sholom Wacholder died October 4, 2015, at his home in Rockville, Maryland.
"Dr. Wacholder made tremendous contributions to the fields of cancer epidemiology and biostatistics as well as to his community of colleagues at NCI and to those whom he mentored," said Dr. Stephen Chanock, Divsion Director. "He will be greatly missed by all of us. He was a special colleague and friend to so many."
Dr. Wacholder leaves behind a legacy of research excellence in genetic epidemiology that is both diverse and remarkably deep. A statistician by training, he was sought out by colleagues across the Division to advise on critical methodological and analytic components of nearly all major undertakings of the Division over the past 30 years, exploring the causes of cancer from natural history studies through clinical trials. He had a keen sense of the underlying biological questions and succeeded in helping the rest of us to become smarter and better informed. His breadth ranged from studies of risk factors to the application of new technologies to investigate the heritable component of different cancers.
The National Institutes of Health has selected five researchers as new Lasker Clinical Research Scholars as part of a joint initiative with the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation to foster the next generation of great clinical scientists.
This highly competitive program provides talented, early-stage researchers the opportunity to carry out independent clinical and translational research for five to seven years at the NIH. The researchers also have the possibility of additional years of financial support, at the NIH or an NIH-funded research institution, upon project review.
The scholars are Rebecca Brown, M.D.; Christian Hinrichs, M.D.; Beth Kozel, M.D., Ph.D.; Armin Raznahan, M.D., Ph.D.; and Natalie Shaw, M.D. Kozel was recruited from St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Shaw was recruited from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. The others were recruited from time-limited assistant clinical investigator positions within the NIH. They join five NIH Lasker Scholars hired since 2012.
"NIH hopes to serve as a catalyst for a national effort to nurture clinician-scientists by providing these talented scholars with the opportunities and protected research time they need to thrive," said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. "With 10 total scholars, it's thrilling to see the Lasker Scholar Program vision taking flight."
Brown works in the Diabetes, Endocrinology, and Obesity Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Her laboratory studies extreme insulin resistance as well as the role of leptin, the "satiety hormone," on metabolism and weight gain. By studying rare diseases of insulin and leptin regulation, Brown hopes to provide insights and ultimately treatments for common conditions such as obesity and the metabolic syndrome.
Hinrichs works in the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch of the Center for Cancer Research in the National Cancer Institute. He researches immunotherapy for HPV+ cancers including cervical, oropharyngeal, anal, vulvar, vaginal, and penile malignancies. Hinrichs laboratory has discovered personalized T cell and gene therapies for HPV+ cancers. As a Lasker Scholar, he will be developing these treatments in clinical trials, investigating why they work in some patients and not in others, and working to discover additional new treatments.
Kozel is a geneticist and a matrix and vascular biologist at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. She seeks to better understand the factors that influence vascular disease severity in patients with rare connective tissue disorders. The majority of her work is focused on the study of two elastin insufficiency-related diseases: Williams syndrome, a neurodevelopmental condition, and isolated supravalvular aortic stenosis.
Raznahan leads the Developmental Neurogenomics Unit in the Child Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health. He combines neuroimaging and genomic and systems-biology approaches to map human brain development and genetically-defined disorders that increase risk for neuropsychiatric impairment. This work aims to identify sets of genes and brain systems that can account for the emergence of a shared behavioral syndrome (e.g., autism) across distinct genetic disorders.
Shaw conducts research in the Clinical Research Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine. She is interested in the environmental and genetic control of pubertal development and, specifically, in the effect of sleep disruption and obesity on reproductive hormone secretion. As a Lasker Scholar, Shaw's work will focus on the genetics behind the timing of pubertal development in adolescent girls.
Lasker Scholars have access to the NIH Clinical Center, the largest hospital in the world devoted to clinical research. The Lasker Foundation will provide additional developmental support to the scholars while they are working at NIH by funding travel to scientific meetings and providing the opportunity to participate in selected foundation activities, including the Lasker Award ceremonies. Learn more about the program at https://www.nih.gov/science/laskerscholar.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists studying inflammation of the brain have discovered why certain immune responses, which typically help cells recognize and fight viral and bacterial infections, can sometimes be harmful to the brain. Many brain disorders involve the death of neurons, or nerve cells, but how these neurons die is not well understood. A new study in The Journal of Immunology describes how the activation of normally protective immune responses causes nerve cells to die and identifies the protein responsible, providing a potential target for therapeutic intervention.
A research team led by scientists at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has discovered that a protein essential for building key hearing structures in the inner ear also plays a critical role in maintaining them throughout life. The researchers report that healthy hearing involves two distinct forms of a molecular motor protein called myosin 15 (MYO15A)—one form that helps build stereocilia, and a second, much longer, version of the protein that is needed to maintain stereocilia. Stereocilia are the finger-like projections that extend from the surface of hair cells, the inner ear's sensory cells.
