In the News

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:

Researchers identify protein in mice that helps prepare for healthy egg-sperm union

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered a protein that plays a vital role in healthy egg-sperm union in mice. The protein RGS2 can delay an egg’s development into an embryo in order to allow time for sperm to arrive and merge with the egg in a healthy fertilization process. The embryo cannot survive without the male chromosomes.

Researchers identify protein in mice that helps prepare for healthy egg-sperm union

Attention-Control Video Game Curbs Combat Vets’ PTSD Symptoms

Reduces Fluctuations in Attention Toward and Away from Threat

A computerized attention-control training program significantly reduced combat veterans’ preoccupation with – or avoidance of – threat and attendant PTSD symptoms. By contrast, another type of computerized training, called attention bias modification – which has proven helpful in treating anxiety disorders – did not reduce PTSD symptoms. NIMH and Israeli researchers conducted parallel trials in which the two treatments were tested in US and Israeli combat veterans.

Researchers Identify Promising Therapy for Rare Immune Disorder

NIAID Scientists and Colleagues Determine Disorder’s Cause

Researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report on a promising therapy for people with LRBA deficiency, a rare immune disorder that lacks effective treatments and is caused by mutations in the LRBA gene. The researchers found that the drug abatacept, which is FDA-approved for treating rheumatoid arthritis, may be an effective long-term therapy for LRBA deficiency. Furthermore, the team has discovered that LRBA protein plays a role in limiting the activity of immune cells.

Two Paths Pave Way for Development of a Preventive HIV Vaccine

Commentary Offers Perspective on Past and Current Efforts

Since efforts to develop a preventive HIV vaccine began in the 1980s, tension has existed between advocates for quickly moving vaccine candidates into human testing (an “empirical approach”) and those seeking more basic research on HIV and immune responses to natural infection as a critical precursor to vaccine design (a “theoretical approach”). In a new commentary, scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, offer a historical perspective on the search for a safe and effective HIV vaccine through the lens of these two vaccine development strategies, and describe how they influence current promising approaches in HIV vaccinology.

Virus-Like Particle Vaccine Protects Mice from Many Flu Strains

NIAID Research Could Aid Development of Universal Flu Vaccine

A vaccine that protects against a wide variety of influenza viruses (a so-called universal flu vaccine) is a critical public health goal given the significant rates of illness and death caused by seasonal influenza and the potentially devastating effects of a pandemic influenza strain. Now, researchers from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have devised a way to induce protective immunity in mice against a wide array of influenza viruses.

NIH Body Weight Planner Added to USDA SuperTracker Food and Activity Tool

Science-based technology provides users greater customizing to help reach and sustain a healthy weight

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and National Institutes of Health have partnered to add the NIH Body Weight Planner to USDA’s SuperTracker online tool as a goal-setting resource to help people achieve and stay at a healthy weight. Created in 2011, the SuperTracker tool empowers people to build a healthier diet, manage weight, and reduce risk of chronic disease. Users can determine what and how much to eat; track foods, physical activities, and weight; and personalize with goal setting, virtual coaching, and journaling. With science-based technology drawing on years of research, the Body Weight Planner will enable SuperTracker’s more than 5.5 million registered users to tailor their plans to reach a goal weight during a specific timeframe, and maintain that weight afterward.

Study shows promise of precision medicine for most common type of lymphoma

A clinical trial has shown that patients with a specific molecular subtype of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are more likely to respond to the drug ibrutinib (Imbruvica) than patients with another molecular subtype of the disease. The study appeared online July 20, 2015, in Nature Medicine.

In this phase II trial, patients with the activated B-cell-like (ABC) subtype of DLBCL were more likely to respond to ibrutinib than patients with the germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) subtype of DLBCL. The trial was jointly conducted by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and Pharmacyclics, Sunnyvale, California.

Investigational Aerosolized Ebola Vaccine Shows Promise in Nonhuman Primates

An experimental aerosolized (inhalable) vaccine fully protected nonhuman primates against Ebola virus disease, according to new findings published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation. Aerosolized vaccines are delivered using a nebulizer, a device that transforms liquid into a mist that can be inhaled into the lungs. This type of noninvasive, needle-free vaccine may offer certain advantages for populations in remote areas. The study, conducted in part by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is the first published test of aerosol delivery for an Ebola virus vaccine.

NIH researchers find key regulator of interactions between brain networks

Findings may help improve understanding schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy

Stimulating a type of brain cell receptor launches a series of events that ultimately lead to the receptor’s deactivation in a subset of cells important for coordinating the activity of brain networks, report a team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

NIH researchers find key regulator of interactions between brain networks

In blinding eye disease, trash-collecting cells go awry, accelerate damage

NIH research points to microglia as potential therapeutic target in retinitis pigmentosa

Spider-like cells inside the brain, spinal cord and eye hunt for invaders, capturing and then devouring them. These cells, called microglia, often play a beneficial role by helping to clear trash and protect the central nervous system against infection. But a new study by researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) shows that they also accelerate damage wrought by blinding eye disorders, such as retinitis pigmentosa. NEI is part of the National Institutes of Health.

In blinding eye disease, trash-collecting cells go awry, accelerate damage

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This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 11, 2022