November 18, 2008 | honors and awards
Tom Muir, Paul Nurse honored at Science and the City Gala

The New York Academy of Sciences has honored Rockefeller University professor Tom W. Muir with a Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists, and also presented Rockefeller president Paul Nurse with a Science and the City Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in New York City.

November 13, 2008 | science news
Breakthrough in cell-type analysis offers new ways to study development and disease

It’s sometimes said that disease does not discriminate, but that’s not true. Many diseases are very particular about the types of cells they attack, laying waste to one population while sparing its nearly identical neighbors for no apparent reason. New research from The Rockefeller University for the first time enables scientists to carefully study the biomolecular differences among types of cells in order to learn what makes some susceptible to attack and others resistant.

November 10, 2008 | science news
Fatty diet during pregnancy produces new neurons in fetal brain

A study in rats shows that exposure to a high-fat diet during pregnancy produces permanent changes in the offspring’s brain that lead to overeating and obesity early in life, according to new research by Rockefeller University scientists.

November 6, 2008 | science news
Researchers find new path to antibiotics in dirt

The bacteria teeming in the earth’s soil produce some of the most powerful medicines we have. But only one percent of these potentially life-saving bugs has been studied because they are hard to grow in the lab. Now scientists at The Rockefeller University have taken the genetic material from a cup of dirt in Utah and derived a new family of antibiotics as strong as any used today.

November 6, 2008 | science news
Scientists confirm a molecular clipping mechanism behind stem cell development

Some genes are regulated through a process by which proteins in the cell nucleus, called histones, are chemically modified by small “chemical marks.” New research from Rockefeller University scientists shows that during specific stages of differentiation in mouse embryonic stem cells, crucial marks can be removed by cutting off the end of the histone’s tail.

November 3, 2008 | studies and trials
New clinical study will help doctors assess abnormal bleeding

A new assessment tool being tested at The Rockefeller University Hospital may help physicians and researchers more accurately determine what is inside and outside the normal range of bleeding symptoms.

November 3, 2008 | science news
Without glial cells, animals lose their senses

When it comes to picking up and bringing information into the brain, sensory neurons have always put on a star performance. But now they’ll need to share the credit. In groundbreaking research to appear in the October 31 issue of Science, scientists reveal that while neurons play the lead role, a second type of cell, the glial cell, pulls the strings behind the scenes. The work not only lifts a long-ignored cell out from obscurity but shows how it is a critical member in shaping sensory experience.

November 2, 2008 | science news
New method provides panoramic view of protein-RNA interactions in living cells

The postgenomic era has taught us a big one: That the measure of human complexity has less to do with how many genes we have as it does with how we process them. Now, Rockefeller University scientists offer, for the first time, a genome-wide view — from the first chromosome to the last — of how differences in RNA can explain how a worm and a human can each have 25,000 genes yet be so different.

October 31, 2008 | honors and awards
Michel Nussenzweig wins Howley Prize for Arthritis Research

Michel C. Nussenzweig, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology at Rockefeller University, is one of this year’s two winners of the Lee C. Howley Sr. Prize for Arthritis Research. The award will be presented at the Evening of Honors reception of the annual Arthritis Foundation meeting November 14.

October 30, 2008 | science news
By imaging live cells, researchers show how hepatitis C replicates

The hepatitis C virus is a prolific replicator, able to produce up to a trillion particles per day in an infected person. By using live imaging, researchers now know how. Their research shows that within an infected cell, the virus uses a combination of big viral factories and tiny, mobile replication complexes to efficiently churn out copies.

October 29, 2008 | science news
Plant virus spreads by making life easy for crop pests

An ancient virus uses subterfuge to trick its host plant into lowering its defenses against pests, according to new research from The Rockefeller University. The result is that the pests that carry the virus flourish, spreading the virus ever faster. Researchers show how one molecule is behind all the mischief.

October 29, 2008 | science news
Simulator allows scientists to predict evolution’s next best move

In evolution, even the slightest beginnings can lead to tools as complex as the human eye. But how? By modeling the steps evolution takes to build, from scratch, an adaptive biochemical network, Rockefeller University scientists have provided a computational answer to one of Darwin’s biggest questions.

October 27, 2008 | science news
In mice, anxiety is linked to immune system

In groundbreaking research that advances the knowledge of how the two most complicated systems in the body are linked, researchers reveal that immune cells in the brain directly influence how mice normally behave in stressful situations. The work is the first ever to genetically link mast cells to anxiety and opens new doors for drugs that target immune cells in the brain to regulate emotions.

October 24, 2008 | science news
A new role for a critical DNA repair molecule in the immune system

Researchers find that a molecule that helps repair broken DNA is required for the genetic reshuffling that enables the immune system to adapt to new threats. The finding furthers our understanding of a process that is fundamental to our immune response but can also lead to cancers and other diseases when it falters.

October 24, 2008 | science news
Scientists discover how a well-known protein repairs broken DNA ends

In the first-ever study to film live footage of protected and unprotected telomeres, scientists have discovered how a protein called 53BP1 helps fuse dangly DNA ends in need of repair. The findings could change how scientists think about double-stranded DNA breaks — the most lethal type of DNA damage — and also leads to new insights about how the human immune system adapts to new threats.

October 23, 2008 | campus news
Rockefeller accepts mayor’s challenge to reduce emissions by 30 percent

The university is one of 14 in New York City that have pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent over a 10-year period in response to a challenge issued by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as part of his PlaNYC sustainability program.

October 20, 2008 | science news
Beyond recognizing odors, a single neuron controls reactions

A neuron responsible for smelling can distinguish odors and also change the reaction to them based on an organism’s prior experiences. The findings buck a prevailing theory that each neuron is dedicated to one behavior and also suggests that the nervous system may be more adaptive, at a more basic level, than scientists thought before.

October 17, 2008 | science news
Molecule stops DNA replication in its tracks

When a dividing cell duplicates its genetic material, a molecular machine called a sliding clamp travels along the DNA double helix, tethering the proteins that perform the replication. Rockefeller University scientists have discovered a small molecule that stops the sliding clamp in its tracks, a finding that will enable researchers to better study the proteins that duplicate DNA, and may ultimately provide a platform for developing improved antibiotics.

October 13, 2008 | science news
Study specifies chemical pathway for ions through the cell membrane

A new discovery reveals the details of a process that is an elemental part of life itself. By painstakingly replacing each amino acid throughout the interior of a protein pump that moves charged particles in and out of every animal cell, Rockefeller University scientists have uncovered the road map that those ions follow across the cell membrane.

October 10, 2008 | honors and awards
Four Rockefeller researchers named finalists in Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists

Head of laboratory Tom W. Muir, postdocs Valerie Horsley and Andreas Keller and former postdoc Matthew Evans have been named finalists for the second annual Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists. Established by the New York Academy of Sciences and the Blavatnik Charitable Foundation, the awards recognize the contributions of young scientists and engineers in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.