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In brief: Alternative CRISPR system is less specific, more robust

Scientists found that a system called CRISPR-Cas10 can target rapidly mutating viruses.

Gut bacteria that “talk” to human cells may lead to new treatments

Scientists developed a method to genetically engineer gut bacteria to produce molecules that have the potential to treat certain disorders by altering human metabolism.

Albany Medical Center Prize awarded to Luciano Marraffini

The prestigious award honors Marraffini and four other scientists for development of the revolutionary genome-editing system known as CRISPR-Cas9.

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In brief: How a microRNA protects against liver cancer

New insights about gene regulation in liver cells could lead to better treatments for a common tumor type.

New animal models for hepatitis C could pave the way for a vaccine

In the rats that roam New York City’s streets and tunnels, scientists have found a virus that resembles hepatitis C. They have used it to create the first animal model of the human disease, a breakthrough that potentially could yield a much-needed vaccine.

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In brief: A glimpse into the origins of antibiotic resistance

Scientists have identified several genetic mechanisms by which antibiotic resistance may have arisen in a bacterium that causes deadly infections.

New faculty member studies the tuberculosis bacterium

Jeremy M. Rock uses genetics to investigate how the microbe causes disease. He will join Rockefeller’s faculty on January 1, 2018.

Discovery of a Zika antibody offers hope for a vaccine

Searching for a way to thwart Zika, scientists have discovered an antibody with a potent ability to neutralize the virus.

Scientists engineer human-germ hybrid molecules to attack drug-resistant bacteria

The centromere region of chromosomes retains the same DNA from one generation to the next. Scientists have gained new insights into how it avoids being scrambled in normal cells, and how it becomes unstable in cancer.

Viral fossils reveal how our ancestors eliminated an ancient infection

Some viruses can insert their genetic material into the genome of their host, creating a genetic fossil record. Researchers have uncovered how our ancestors may have wiped out one such virus around 11 million years ago.

For microbes fighting viruses, a fast response means a better defense

Researchers have found that the bacterial immune system targets an invading virus as soon as it enters the cell. This discovery answers a long-standing question about how microbes defend themselves.

Early intervention with new treatment provides durable control of HIV-like virus in monkeys

There are more than 25 drugs to control HIV, yet the virus remains one of the world’s biggest health problems. One of the many challenges with existing therapies is that a dormant version of the virus is always lurking in the background, ready to attack the immune system as soon as treatment is i...

New research explains why a common bacterium can produce severe illness

As much as we try to avoid it, ­we are constantly sharing germs with those around us. But even when two people have the same infection, the resulting illnesses can be dramatically different—mild for one person, severe or even life-threatening for the other. Now, new research from The Rockefell...

Talking Science lecture introduces students to the genetic aspects of infectious diseases

As he opened this year’s Talking Science lecture, geneticist Jean-Laurent Casanova made a stark observation to his teenage audience: “If we had been here 150 years ago, about half of you would already have died.” The primary reason, he told the 350 high school students and 60 teachers present,...

Jeffrey V. Ravetch receives 2017 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine

Jeffrey V. Ravetch, Theresa and Eugene M. Lang Professor and head of the Leonard Wagner Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology, has won the 2017 Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine. The award, given by The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and its journal Molecular Medicine, honors s...

Howard C. Hang receives 2017 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry

Howard C. Hang, Richard E. Salomon Family Associate Professor and head of the Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Microbial Pathogenesis, has won the 2017 Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry. The prize, given by the American Chemical Society, recognizes outstanding research in biological chemi...

Encouraging clinical results for an antibody drug to prevent or treat HIV

A new biologic agent—the most potent of its kind so far—is showing early promise as part of a potential new strategy for treating HIV. The drug, known as 10-1074, may also offer a new way to prevent viral infection in people who are at high risk to acquire HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. ...

Discovery helps explain why only some people develop life-threatening dengue infections

For most people who contract it, dengue fever is a relatively mild-mannered disease—at least the first time around. For some, however, a subsequent infection by the virus unleashes a vicious and potentially deadly illness. New research from a team based at The Rockefeller University has begun t...

Antibody combination puts HIV on the ropes

Without antiretroviral drug treatment, the majority of people infected with HIV ultimately develop AIDS, as the virus changes and evolves beyond the body’s ability to control it. But a small group of infected individuals—called elite controllers—possess immune systems capable of defeating the ...

Scientists learn how to ramp up microbes’ ability to make memories

Some microbes can form memories—although, inconveniently for scientists who study the process, they don’t do it very often. Rockefeller University researchers and their colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a way to make bacteria encode memories much more frequently...

Researchers develop automated melanoma detector for skin cancer screening

Even experts can be fooled by melanoma. People with this type of skin cancer often have mole-looking growths on their skin that tend to be irregular in shape and color, and can be hard to tell apart from benign ones, making the disease difficult to diagnose. Now, researchers at The Rockefeller Un...

Survey of New York City soil uncovers medicine-making microbes

Microbes have long been an invaluable source of new drugs. And to find more, we may have to look no further than the ground beneath our feet. Researchers at The Rockefeller University have shown that the dirt beneath New York City teems with our tiny allies in the fight against disease. In soil c...

Jean-Laurent Casanova receives the 2016 Inserm Grand Prix

Jean-Laurent Casanova, professor and head of the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, has won the 2016 Inserm Grand Prix for his work on the genetic basis of infectious diseases. The prestigious award, given annually by Inserm—the French National Institute of Health and ...

Researchers discover new antibiotics by sifting through the human microbiome

Most antibiotics in use today are based on natural molecules produced by bacteria—and given the rise of antibiotic resistance, there’s an urgent need to find more of them. Yet coaxing bacteria to produce new antibiotics is a tricky proposition. Most bacteria won’t grow in the lab. And even whe...

Researchers shed new light on RNA’s journey out of a cell’s nucleus

Cells secure DNA within their nuclei like a secret code stashed in a vault. However, the tightly controlled borders of the nucleus create a challenge: In order for the cell to produce essential proteins, messages derived from DNA must somehow escape the nucleus in the form of RNA molecules. New w...

Genomic testing could speed research on skin disease and bring new drugs to patients faster

In an ideal world, the newest and most effective drugs for chronic inflammatory conditions would immediately help everyone who took them. Unfortunately, in the real world, it can take several months to determine whether a given patient will respond to one of these medications, which target specif...

Rockefeller graduate Monica Mugnier wins 2016 NIH Early Independence Award

Monica Mugnier, who completed her Ph.D. at Rockefeller earlier this year, is one of 16 junior investigators nationwide to receive a National Institutes of Health Director’s Early Independence Award. The award, which is part of the NIH’s High-Risk, High-Reward Research program, allows early-caree...

Study explains how an intestinal microbe protects against other, more dangerous bacteria

Antibiotics save millions of lives. But their tendency to kill helpful and harmful bacteria alike, coupled with the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, means that they are not without their downside. Probiotics consisting of beneficial microorganisms, meanwhile, have the potential to delive...

Four Rockefeller scientists named 2016 HHMI Faculty Scholars

Four Rockefeller University scientists—Daniel Kronauer, Luciano Marraffini, Agata Smogorzewska, and Sohail Tavazoie—have been named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholars. The Faculty Scholars program, a new collaboration between HHMI, the Simons Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gate...

Scientists uncover a clever ranking strategy bacteria use to fight off viruses

Like humans, bacteria come under attack from viruses and rely on an immune system to defend themselves. A bacterial immune system known as CRISPR helps microbes “remember” the viruses they encounter and more easily fend them off in the future. Since researchers first discovered CRISPR in the mid...