July 21, 2008 | appointments and promotions
Clinical immunologist to join Rockefeller University

Jean-Laurent Casanova, a distinguished pediatrician and immunologist who comes from Hospital Necker for Sick Children in Paris, will join the faculty at The Rockefeller University as professor of medicine and head of the Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases in September 2008.

July 17, 2008 | science news
New evidence of battle between humans and ancient virus

Human ancestors fought back against an ancient retrovirus with a defense mechanism that our bodies still use today. Evidence of this battle has been preserved in our DNA for millions of years.

July 15, 2008 | appointments and promotions
Rockefeller announces tenure appointments of two faculty

Rockefeller University president Paul Nurse has announced the tenure promotion of two faculty members: Tarun Kapoor, a researcher in cell division and head of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Chemistry and Cell Biology, and Michael P. Rout, head of the Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology, which focuses on the nuclear pore complex. Both were promoted from associate professor to professor.

July 11, 2008 | science news
Glia guide brain development in worms

When the stakes are high, communication is crucial. In a landmark discovery, Rockefeller University scientists have identified a system in the C. elegans brain that allows them to study how brain cells, neurons and glia, talk to each other — the dialogue that shapes and guides the developing brain.

July 2, 2008 | science news
New antibiotic beats superbugs at their own game

The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But Rockefeller University scientists have tested a new drug, called Ceftobiprole, that may be able to outwit them.

July 2, 2008 | science news
Newly identified enzyme treats deadly bacterial infections in mice

Four years after drug companies began mass-producing penicillin, bacteria showed they could fight back, developing machinery that could resist antibiotics and even destroy them. Now, Rockefeller University researchers have recruited an unexpected ally that could disarm bacteria of this most ingenious weapon and put these “superbugs” on the losing side of a war they have dictated and dominated for decades.

June 30, 2008 | science news
Dividing cells find their middle by following a protein ‘contour map’

Self-organization keeps schools of fish, flocks of birds and colonies of termites in sync. It’s also, according to new research, the way cells regulate the final stage of cell division. Scientists at Rockefeller University have shown that a protein-chemistry-based contour map, which helps individual proteins locate the center of their cell without direction from a “master organizer,” is key to ensuring accurate division during mitosis.

June 23, 2008 | science news
Celestial clues hint at eclipse in Homer’s Odyssey

For hundreds of years, historians, astronomers and classicists have argued about whether or not Odysseus returns home to experience a total solar eclipse. Now, Rockefeller University scientists believe they have found some overlooked passages that, taken together, may shed new light on the timing of an epic journey.

June 9, 2008 | campus news
Rockefeller University to hold 50th commencement June 12

Twenty-six students will receive doctoral degrees and three distinguished alumni will receive honorary doctorates.

June 9, 2008 | science news
Scientists identify a key regulator of DNA mutations

As a general rule, your DNA is not something you want rearranged. But there are exceptions — especially when it comes to fighting infections. Now, two teams of researchers at Rockefeller University independently show how a tiny, recently identified molecule once implicated in cancer can not only help defend against it but also keep invading microbes at bay.

June 3, 2008 | science news
Flow of potassium ions in brain cells is key to sexual arousal

Communicating about sex can be tricky. But female rats have got this one covered. If they want a male to mount, they arch their back and deflect their tail in a pronounced swayback posture called lordosis. Now, Rockefeller University scientists have teased apart the chemical and physical mechanism in the brain that controls this behavior, revealing the science behind one of life’s most primitive instincts.

June 2, 2008 | honors and awards
Two Rockefeller faculty become new HHMI investigators

Two Rockefeller University faculty members, Paul D. Bieniasz and Leslie B. Vosshall, have been named HHMI investigators and will receive stable financial support for their research over a period of several years, allowing them to conduct high-risk research and follow their ideas through to fruition.

May 25, 2008 | science news
Scientists image a single HIV particle being born

For some, the saying “seeing is believing” has taken on a new meaning. In research to be published in the May 25 advance online issue of Nature, scientists at Rockefeller University and the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center have become the first to see, in real time and in plain sight, an HIV particle being born. The images, created using a technique that illuminates only the surface of the cell, where the virus assembles, have the potential to help researchers develop new treatments for AIDS.

May 20, 2008 | meetings and events
World Science Festival begins May 28

The first annual World Science Festival, an unprecedented celebration of scientific discovery sponsored in part by Rockefeller University and featuring more than a dozen Nobel laureates along with researchers, technologists, educators, policy makers, artists and performers, will begin May 28 in New York City.

May 16, 2008 | science news
DNA vaccines get a boost from dendritic cells

DNA vaccines show promise for fighting off HIV, SARS, influenza and other diseases, but aren’t yet potent enough for human use. Adding dendritic cells to the mix may provide the oomph they need.

May 14, 2008 | science news
First evidence of native dendritic cells in brain

In a finding that has the potential to change the way researchers think about the brain, Rockefeller scientists have found immunity-directing dendritic cells where they’ve never been seen before: among the organ’s neurons and connective cells.

May 9, 2008 | science news
New theory suggests how hepatitis C may cause rare immune disease

In 1990 researchers observed that most patients with hepatitis C also develop a rare autoimmune disease called mixed cryoglobulinemia, a condition that frequently leads to cancer, arthritis or both. Now scientists at Rockefeller University say that a decade-old explanation of how one disease causes the other is likely wrong, and instead offer a new — albeit controversial — theory of their own.

May 6, 2008 | honors and awards
Seth Darst joins National Academy of Sciences

Seth Darst, whose research explores the mechanisms by which RNA is transcribed from DNA, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States.

May 5, 2008 | honors and awards
Jeffrey Ravetch elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

An immunologist who studies how cells respond to specific antibodies has been elected to The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an independent policy research center that undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems.

May 2, 2008 | campus news
New policy at Rockefeller University Press allows authors to retain copyright to their published work

Citing the growing demand from the public and the scientific community for access to research data, The Rockefeller University Press has revised its copyright policy to allow authors to retain the rights to work published in its three journals.