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:
In a new study, NIAID researchers describe the immune responses of healthy people who developed the fungal infection cryptococcosis. The researchers found that disease progression in otherwise healthy people differs from those who develop the infection due to complications that compromise the body’s immune system, like HIV infection. Therefore, different therapies should be explored for people without underlying infections. The study appears in the May 28, 2015, edition of PLOS Pathogens.
Scientists are reporting development of a new way to modify interleukin-2 (IL-2), a substance known as a cytokine that plays key roles in regulating immune system responses, in order to fine-tune its actions. Harnessing the action of IL-2 in a controllable fashion is of clinical interest with potential benefit in a range of situations, including transplantation and autoimmune disease.
Warren J. Leonard, M.D., NIH Distinguished Investigator, chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, and director of the Immunology Center at the NHLBI, is available to comment on the findings and implications of this research.
NIH study provides a glimpse into the code that controls variety of cell functions
Cellular structures called microtubules are tagged with a variety of chemical markers that can influence cell functions. The pattern of these markers makes up the “tubulin code” and according to a paper published in Cell, scientists at National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have uncovered the mechanism behind one of the main writers of this code, tubulin tyrosine ligase-7 (TTLL7).
NIH study finds varied responses to calorie restriction in obese adults
For the first time in a lab, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found evidence supporting the commonly held belief that people with certain physiologies lose less weight than others when limiting calories. Study results published May 11 in Diabetes.
A new study shows that it is possible to use an imaging technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to view, in near-atomic detail, the architecture of a metabolic enzyme bound to a drug that blocks its activity. This advance provides a new path for solving molecular structures that may revolutionize drug development, noted the researchers.
A new breed of lab animals, dubbed “glowing head mice,” may do a better job than conventional mice in predicting the success of experimental cancer drugs—while also helping to meet an urgent need for more realistic preclinical animal models.
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health have solved a long-standing mystery about the origin of one of the cell types that make up the ovary. The team also discovered how ovarian cells share information during development of an ovarian follicle, which holds the maturing egg. Researchers believe this new information on basic ovarian biology will help them better understand the cause of ovarian disorders, such as premature ovarian failure and polycystic ovarian syndrome, conditions that both result in hormone imbalances and infertility in women.
BRAIN Initiative yields chemical-genetic tool with push-pull capabilities
Neuroscientists have perfected a chemical-genetic remote control for brain circuitry and behavior. This evolving technology can now sequentially switch the same neurons — and the behaviors they mediate — on-and-off in mice, say researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Such bidirectional control is pivotal for decoding the brain workings of complex behaviors. The findings are the first to be published from the first wave of NIH grants awarded last fall under the BRAIN Initiative.
The National Institutes of Health has selected 55 talented and diverse students, representing 37 U.S.-accredited universities, for the fourth class of its Medical Research Scholars Program (MRSP), its largest class to date.
A yearlong residential program, the MRSP introduces medical, dental and veterinary students to cutting-edge research, part of NIH's goal of training the next generation of clinician-scientists and biomedical researchers. The program places creative, research-oriented students in NIH laboratories and clinics, including within the NIH Clinical Center, to conduct basic, clinical or translational research in areas that match their career interests and research goals.
Researchers recommend screening for people with family history
Heredity accounts for up to 35 percent of small intestinal carcinoid, a rare digestive cancer, according to findings from a team at the National Institutes of Health. The researchers examined families with a history of the disease. Because the disease has long been considered randomly occurring rather than inherited, people with a family history are not typically screened. Results were published recently in Gastroenterology.