News & HighlightsNews
New faculty member investigates how cells respond to mechanical forces
by Wynne Parry, science writer Whether maneuvering about under their own power, or being pushed and pulled by the surrounding tissue, cells both give and receive mechanical force. The newest addition to Rockefeller University’s faculty, Gregory Alushin, is a biophysicist who investigates ...
Do artificial sweeteners live up to the promise of sweetness without harm? An ongoing clinical study investigates
There was a time when Thomas Huber, a molecular biologist at The Rockefeller University, was drinking about 36 ounces of diet cola a day. More than a year ago, Huber, a research assistant professor in Thomas P. Sakmar’s Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Signal Transduction, became curious about ...
Researchers uncover how “silent” genetic changes drive cancer
At any given moment, the human genome spells out thousands of genetic words telling our cells which proteins to make. Each word is read by a molecule known as a tRNA. “We’ve long thought of these molecules as little more than middle men participating in the process of translating proteins...
New method gives scientists a better look at how HIV infects and takes over its host cells
Viruses attack cells and commandeer their machinery in a complex and carefully orchestrated invasion. Scientists have long probed this process for insights into biology and disease, but essential details still remain out of reach. A new approach, developed by a team of researchers led by The Rock...
35 labs and counting: How the Robertson Therapeutic Development Fund speeds translational research at Rockefeller
by Alexandra MacWade, assistant editor Developing a new medical product is a complex, high-risk endeavor. Of the thousands of clinically promising concepts scientists formulate each year, only a small fraction move beyond the lab. The Robertson TDF was created to advance work that has gone beyon...
Scientists find evidence that cancer can arise from changes in the proteins that package DNA
A mutation that affects the proteins that package DNA—without changing the DNA itself—can cause a rare form of cancer, according to new findings in this week’s Science from researchers at Rockefeller University. The mutation is present in histones, the protein scaffolding around which DNA w...
C. David Allis receives the 2016 Gruber Genetics Prize
C. David Allis, Joy and Jack Fishman Professor and head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, has won the 2016 Gruber Genetics Prize. He shares the $500,000 award with Michael Grunstein of the University of California, Los Angeles. The award, given by The Gruber Foundation, reco...
Charles Rice wins Belgium’s highest scientific prize
Charles M. Rice, Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor in Virology and head of the Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, has been honored with the 2016 InBev-Baillet Latour Health Prize for his work on the hepatitis C virus. Queen Mathilde of Belgium presented Rice with the prize...
In the News - The New Yorker - Allis
Same but Different: How epigenetics can blur the line between nature and nurture "Allis walked me to his lab, a fluorescent-lit space overlooking the East River, divided by wide, polished-stone benches. A mechanical stirrer, whirring in a corner, clinked on the edge of a glass beaker. 'Two featur...
Parasites reveal how evolution has molded an ancient nuclear structure
Long before animals evolved from sponges, and before plants evolved out of algae, there was a pivotal event that allowed complex, multicellular organisms to arise: the development of the nucleus in single-celled organisms. Eukaryotes, one of the three main branches of living organisms, are define...
Awards, arrivals, and promotions
Congratulations to our latest award winners: Cori Bargmann has won the 2016 Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience, an award given by the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT to recognize outstanding advances in the field. She is being honored for her work on the genetic and neural mech...
A virus common among livestock depends on a microRNA to replicate
In the ongoing arms race between pathogenic viruses and the cells they infect, each side needs every advantage it can get. One way wily viruses can get a leg up is by subverting the microRNAs (miRNAs) of their host. These miRNAs are small stretches of RNA made by host cells to regulate gene expre...
Awards, arrivals, and promotions
Congratulations to our latest award winners: Jean-Laurent Casanova has been recognized with the Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award for his work investigating the genetic basis of pediatric infectious diseases. The award is given by the American Society for Clinical Investigation, an honor society of phys...
Study reveals how herpes virus tricks the immune system
With over half the U.S. population infected, most people are familiar with the pesky cold sore outbreaks caused by the herpes virus. The virus outsmarts the immune system by interfering with the process that normally allows immune cells to recognize and destroy foreign invaders. How exactly the h...
Experiments explain the events behind molecular ‘bomb’ seen in cancer cells
Since scientists have begun sequencing the genome of cancer cells, they have noticed a curious pattern. In many different types of cancers, there are cells in which a part of a chromosome looks like it has been pulverized, then put back together incorrectly, leading to multiple mutations. For yea...
New research explores how the fly brain reroutes odor information to produce flexible behavior
Some responses come automatically, like reflexes. Others vary with circumstance and experience. A once-delicious smell can be easily overlooked during a stressful moment or when it calls to mind a bout of food poisoning, for instance. This happens because, within the brain, molecules known as neu...
Researchers discover new aspect of gene regulation and a possible target for cancer drugs
There are about 20,000 genes in the human genome, but not all are used in all cells at all times. At any given moment, a cell is converting only roughly half its genes into proteins. And of those active genes, about 75 percent are regulated by a process known as “RNA polymerase pausing.” This...
Study suggests new way to help the immune system fight off sleeping sickness parasite
Some infectious diseases are particularly difficult to treat because of their ability to evade the immune system. One such illness, African sleeping sickness, is caused by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei, transmitted by the tsetse fly, and is fatal if left untreated. The trypanosome parasite is t...
Mutations in key cancer protein suggest new route to treatments
For years, scientists have struggled to find a way to block a protein known to play an important role in many cancers. The protein, STAT3, acts as a transcription factor—it performs the crucial task of helping convert DNA into the RNA instructions used to make new proteins. But when overly acti...
DNA strands often “wiggle” as part of genetic repair
Sometimes, the molecules that make up life exhibit strange behavior. For instance, in simple organisms such as yeast, when genetic material becomes damaged, the affected DNA strands increase their motion, waving about inside the cell like a sail unfurled. Over the years, scientists have seen more...
In the News - Newsday - O'Donnell
  Researchers at Brookhaven lab, Stony Brook and Rockefeller universities make new discoveries about double helix copying   "In Manhattan, Michael O'Donnell, who heads Rockefeller's Laboratory of DNA Replication, said the finding will change how students understand DNA replication. 'It's a pa...
Study reveals the architecture of the molecular machine that copies DNA
DNA replication is essential to all life, yet many basic mechanisms in that process remain unknown to scientists. The structure of the replisome—a block of proteins responsible for unwinding the DNA helix and then creating duplicate helices for cell division—is one such mystery. Now, for the ...
Discovery of genes involved in inner ear development hints at a way to restore hearing and balance
Loud noise, trauma, infections, plain old aging—many things can destroy hair cells, the delicate sensors of balance and sound within the inner ear. And once these sensors are gone, that’s it; the delicate hair cells don’t grow back in humans, leading to hearing loss and problems with balance. ...
Researchers explore how a cell’s protein-making factories are assembled
Ribosomes, the molecular factories that produce all the proteins a cell needs to grow and function, are themselves made up of many different proteins and four RNAs. And just as an assembly line must be built before it can manufacture cars, these tiny factories must be constructed before they can ...
Researchers identify potential new leukemia drug target
New treatment options are badly needed for acute myeloid leukemia, a relatively rare form of cancer. The malignancy begins in the bone marrow, and from there can spread rapidly to the bloodstream, depriving the body of the essential blood cells that carry oxygen and fight infections. Now, new wor...
Helmsley Trust renews $15 million grant for novel digestive disorders research
by Wynne Parry, Science Writer The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust has awarded a new three-year, $15-million grant to The Rockefeller University to help support the interdisciplinary Center for Basic and Translational Research on Disorders of the Digestive System. Established in 2...
Awards, arrivals, and promotions
Congratulations to our latest award winners: Hani Goodarzi has been named a Blavatnik Regional Awards Winner in the life sciences. Given by the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Science, the award honors outstanding postdocs in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Winners ...
Newly described ion channel structure reveals how excited neurons settle down
Within the brain, some neurons fire off hundreds of signals per second, and after ramping up for such a barrage, they need to relax and reset. A particular type of ion channel helps bring them down, ensuring these cells don’t get overstimulated—a state that potentially can lead to severe epilept...
Researchers probe the physical forces involved in creating the mitotic spindle
Many millions of times per day, football-shaped structures called mitotic spindles form within the body’s cells as they prepare to divide. The process is routine but mysterious, as the micro-mechanics involved are not yet well understood. In research published October 1 in Developmental Cell, sci...
View
View