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The rockefeller university

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Displaying 973 of 2909 articles.
University joins 10 leading medical and research institutions to form New York Genome Center
The Rockefeller University, along with 10 of the country’s leading medical and research institutions, has formed a new genomic facility designed to accelerate progress toward a new era of genome-based research and medicine. The New York Genome Center, which will become one of the largest genomic ...
Neurobiologist visits Rockefeller as part of renewed scientific exchange program with Karolinska Institute
Thomas Perlmann, a neurobiologist at the Karolinska Institute who studies the dopamine-producing cells that die during the development of Parkinson's disease, will visit the Rockefeller University campus this week and give the Nicholson Lecture on Friday. The lecture is part of a recently renewed...
Discussing Strategy
This fall will mark the launch of the formal process to develop the university’s next strategic plan, a document that will serve as the blueprint for our activities over the next seven to 10 years. Strategic planning is an essential function for an institution such as Rockefeller, and it will be ...
Alumna Vanessa Ruta named to university's faculty
by ZACH VEILLEUX Vanessa Ruta, a Rockefeller alumna who did her doctoral studies in Roderick Mac-Kinnon’s lab, graduating in 2005, has joined the university as assistant professor and will establish the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Behavior. She moved from a postdoc at Columbia University on...
University owned building on 60th Street sells for $24 million
by ZACH VEILLEUX A four-story warehouse purchased by the university in 2003, which at one point was slated to be converted to faculty and postdoc housing, has been sold to a Long Island-based real estate developer. The sale was approved by the university’s Board in the spring and closed May 18. ...
Turnstile installed at 64th Street
by ZACH VEILLEUX A new full-height turnstile at Rockefeller’s 64th Street pedestrian entrance, installed August 3, has allowed the university to restore 24/7 access to the south campus from York Avenue. As a result, the existing entrance gate, which had been locked on nights and weekends since la...
New hospital initiatives aim to engage minorities in science
by JOSEPH BONNER Women and minorities continue to be underrepresented in the science and technology workforce, and new initiatives at Rockefeller University are working to change that. Led by Bernice B. Rumala, community engagement specialist in the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (...
Pearl Meister Greengard Prize to be awarded to McGill memory researcher
In the early 1950s, Brenda Milner was making a name for herself among researchers in the memory field, studying memory defects in epileptic patients who had undergone surgery on the brain’s frontal lobe. By 1955, Dr. Milner’s work attracted the attention of a Connecticut neurosurgeon, William Sc...
Stanley Fowler
A security guard since November 2009, Stanley Fowler mostly worked the evening and overnight shifts. He died in August at the age of 58. Originally from England, Mr. Fowler moved to the U.S. in 2002 and had worked as a guard at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, where he lived, before joining Rockefell...
Milestones
Awarded: Cori Bargmann, the 11th Perl-University of North Carolina Neuroscience Prize. The award, which Dr. Bargmann shares with Catherine Dulac of Harvard, is worth $10,000 and is awarded this year for the discovery of chemosensory circuits that regulate social behaviors. Dr. Bargmann, Torsten N...
Rockefeller University receives $36.1 million to help translate science into cures
Rockefeller University’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS), a center aimed at accelerating the pace of translating science into real-life solutions for patients, has received $36.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to expand its work over the next five years. Th...
Announcements
Convocation 2011. Convocation 2011. This annual Convocation issue of BenchMarks salutes the 2011 graduates of the David Rockefeller Graduate Program. To view more photos visit rockefeller.edu/convocation.  
Convocation 2011
                                This year’s Convocation celebration honored 23 graduates, bringing the total number of Rockefeller alumni to 1,070. Events included an evening reception for the graduates and their families, a luncheon, the traditional cap-and-gown ...
Honorary degree recipients unraveled secrets of scent
Linda B. Buck, a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and Richard Axel, University Professor at Columbia University, who have together unraveled the mechanisms that underlie our sense of smell, are this year’s recipients of honorary doctor of science degrees. Drs. ...
Joseph Luna named David Rockefeller Fellow
by ZACH VEILLEUX Joseph Luna, a native of El Paso, Texas and a graduate of Yale University who is exploring host-virus interactions at the RNA level, has been awarded this year’s David Rockefeller Fellowship. The David Rockefeller Fellowship has been presented annually since 1998 to an outstandin...
Teaching awards honor Hang and Kapoor
Howard C. Hang, head of the Laboratory of Chemical Biology, and Tarun Kapoor, head of the Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Microbial Pathogenesis, were the recipients of this year’s Rockefeller University Distinguished Teaching Awards. Established in 2005 to recognize outstanding individual...
Coming soon, to The David Rockefeller Graduate Program
As the class of 2011 prepares to move on, a new batch of graduate students is set to take their place. Rockefeller’s application screening committee pored over 797 applications of potential new students this year, eventually winnowing the list down to 93 acceptances. Of those, 30 have enrolled in...
Rockefeller alum Vanessa Ruta named to university’s faculty
Vanessa Ruta, a Rockefeller alumna who did her doctoral studies in Rod MacKinnon’s lab, graduating in 2005, has been appointed the university’s newest assistant professor. Currently a postdoc at Columbia University, she will move back to Rockefeller on September 1 and will establish the Labo...
23 students receive Ph.D.s at Rockefeller's 53rd commencement
The Rockefeller University will award doctoral degrees to 23 students at its commencement ceremony today. In addition, two respected scholars will receive honorary doctor of science degrees: Richard Axel of Columbia University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Linda B. Buck of the Fred...
Announcements
Convocation is June 16. Twenty-three students will receive Ph.D.s at this year’s Convocation. In addition, honorary degrees will be awarded to Richard Axel of Columbia University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Linda Buck of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Howard H...
Town hall meeting kicks off strategic planning process
At Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s first town hall meeting, the new president discussed his thoughts on the university’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as its place in science and in history. Dr. Tessier-Lavigne outlined his initial priorities, particularly concerning faculty recruitment, and sketched...
After cuts, university to close FY2011 budget with a small surplus
Cost reductions first announced last spring have successfully stabilized the university’s finances, according to a recent analysis of the operating budget. The university expects to close out the 2011 fiscal year, which ends June 30, with a modest surplus. “Although making cuts to the 2011 fi...
Milestones
Awarded: Titia de Lange, the 2011 Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. The $100,000 prize recognizes her body of research on mechanisms that help maintain genome stability, in particular on telomeres, the elements that protect chromosome ends from unnecessary repair and mediate their replication. ...
Marc Tessier-Lavigne becomes Rockefeller’s tenth president
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a leading neuroscientist and the former chief scientific officer of Genentech, takes over as president of The Rockefeller University today. He replaces Paul Nurse, who has left to become president of the Royal Society in London. Tessier-Lavigne was elected tenth president of...
Guiding neurons, and guiding scientists
Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s career has straddled academia and industry, and blurred traditional boundaries between basic and translational science by ZACH VEILLEUX Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s journey into neuroscience began a few hundred miles off the coast of Newfoundland, aboard the Queen Elizabeth II...
To understand the brain, Tessier-Lavigne studies its wiring
It takes several hundred billion nerve cells to put together the human brain, and they must be connected in an intricate and precise pattern in order to function properly. The formation of these connections — the brain’s neural circuits — during an organism’s embryonic development is what ul...
Making Rockefeller my new home
I am honored and delighted to be joining the university on March 16. The past six months have been a busy and exciting period of preparation — for my family and my lab as well as for me personally — as we planned our move to New York. Over these months I have had the opportunity to meet many of ...
Welcoming the Tessier-Lavignes
As chairman of the Board of Trustees it is my great honor and pleasure to welcome Marc Tessier-Lavigne as our 10th president. Through my role as chairman of the search committee that hired Marc, and through my frequent interactions with him since then, I can assure you that he is the right choice...
Neuroscientist Mary Hynes named research associate professor
Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s arrival at Rockefeller means the addition of not one, but two active neuroscience research programs to campus. This summer, Mary Hynes — Dr. Tessier-Lavigne’s wife and a well regarded neuroscientist in her own right — will relocate from Stanford. As research associate ...
The Tessier-Lavigne-Hynes family
Marc Tessier-Lavigne and his wife, Mary Hynes, have three children. Christian (far right), 19, is currently a sophomore at Princeton University; Kyle, 18, is a senior in high school and will attend Dartmouth beginning this fall; and Ella, 12, is currently in seventh grade and will enroll in the D...
Building renovations proceeding despite snow
by ZACH VEILLEUX Despite the winter having so far dumped 43.9 inches more snow than normal on the Upper East Side, major construction projects in Flexner and Welch Halls, and minor renovations to the President’s House in preparation for its new residents, are proceeding on schedule. “Althoug...
Stepping Down
With my time as president of The Rockefeller University coming to an end in just a few weeks I want to take this opportunity — my last column in BenchMarks — to express both how much I appreciate having had the opportunity to lead this great university and the pleasure of working with an outstan...
Amy C. Falls appointed VP for investments
by JOSEPH BONNER The Rockefeller University has appointed Amy C. Falls as chief investment officer and vice president for investments. She succeeds Lisa Danzig, who is leaving Rockefeller after 10 years to pursue new challenges. Ms. Falls begins on April 4, and Ms. Danzig will remain until then t...
Tom Muir to leave Rockefeller for Princeton
by JOSEPH BONNER Tom W. Muir, a chemist who studies molecular recognition in cellular signal transduction, has been appointed the Van Zandt Williams, Jr. Class of 1965 Professor in Chemistry at Princeton University. Dr. Muir is currently dividing his time between the Upper East Side and Princeton...
CoreSource named new health plan administrator
by ZACH VEILLEUX The Rockefeller University has chosen CoreSource, Inc., a national administrator of self-funded health insurance plans, to replace The Principal Financial Group as the university’s third-party benefits administrator. The change in providers, which was effective as of January 1, 2...
Bent to the breaking point
Eighteen inches of wet, heavy snow didn’t just look pretty, it also stuck to tree branches, loading them with hundreds of extra pounds of dead weight. From the perspective of the university’s trees, the January 26 snowstorm was the worst in over a decade. Among the hardest hit were an American h...
Lavoisier painting returns to Rockefeller
by ZACH VEILLEUX For more than 50 years, a dramatic life-size painting of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, considered by many to be the father of modern chemistry, hung in Welch Hall. Painted in 1788 by Jacques-Louis David, it depicts Lavoisier seated at his workbench, lab notebook in hand, surrounded ...
Patricia Wills-Abrahams
by BRETT NORMAN For 20 years, Patricia Wills-Abrahams guaranteed things ran smoothly at Rockfeller’s Office of Planning and Construction. As office manager, she handled financial statements and contacts with outside contractors and made sure the department’s staff was well provisioned. “In th...
Milestones
Awarded: C. David Allis, the 2011 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science from Brandeis University. He shares the prize with Michael Grunstein, a professor of biological chemistry in the Geffen School of Medicine and the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA, for e...
Rockefeller joins Pfizer’s Global Centers For Therapeutic Innovation
The Rockefeller University is one of seven major research-based medical centers in New York City to join Pfizer Inc.’s Centers for Therapeutic Innovation, which aims to speed the translation of biomedical research into life-saving medicines. The partnerships, the first of which was established la...
Amy C. Falls appointed chief investment officer and vice president for investments
The Rockefeller University announced today that it has appointed Amy C. Falls as chief investment officer and vice president for investments effective April 4, 2011. Falls will oversee the University’s Office of Investments and manage the institution’s endowment, which has an estimated value...
Centerpiece CRC building to be called Greenberg Building
The Collaborative Research Center’s newly opened seven-story “bridging” building, designed to link Smith and Flexner Halls and house meeting rooms and informal spaces for collaboration, has been named in honor of Rockefeller University Emeritus Trustee Maurice Greenberg and his wife, Corinne. ...
The hospital turns 100
This year marks the 100th anniversary of The Rockefeller University Hospital, a unique institution that played a prominent role in biomedical discovery in the 20th century. When the hospital opened its doors in 1910 it became the country’s first clinical research hospital. A hospital unlike any...
New faculty member studies decision-making in flies
by ZACH VEILLEUX Understanding how fruit flies decide when to veer right and when to veer left is important work, not because it will help protect overripe bananas, but because it could lead to insights into how other organisms, including humans, make complex behavioral decisions. Gaby Maimon,...
Four new trustees join board
by JOSEPH BONNER The Board of Trustees elected four new members at its fall meeting on November 17: Holly S. Andersen, H. Rodgin Cohen, Surya N. Mohapatra and John M. Shapiro. The Board now numbers 40. Dr. Andersen is associate professor of medicine, attending cardiologist and director of educ...
New security measures to address recent computer thefts
BY ZACH VEILLEUX A series of recent criminal incidents on Rockefeller’s campus this fall, one of which resulted in a breach of sensitive data, has led the university’s administration to tighten security at the 64th Street gate, plug holes in its surveillance network and formalize an existing da...
Interdisciplinary retreats bring Rockefeller labs together on research
by BRETT NORMAN Last month, the heads of 11 Rockefeller laboratories and researchers working in them gathered at a conference center in Tarrytown, New York, for a weekend retreat focused on genome integrity. From mass spectroscopy to cell cycle and telomere maintenance studies, the scientists sha...
Karolinska collaboration program is revived
by ZACH VEILLEUX The university has restarted a dormant program begun in the early 1980s to fund exchanges between Rockefeller University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Under the terms of new agreements signed with Karolinska in June, selected postdocs and technical staff from Rockefelle...
2010 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize awarded to pioneers of cancer genetics
by JOSEPH BONNER Janet Davison Rowley and Mary-Claire King, pioneering cancer geneticists, are the recipients of the 2010 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize awarded by The Rockefeller University. Created to recognize the accomplishments of outstanding female scientists, the $100,000 prize was presente...
Milestones
Awarded: Jan L. Breslow, the 2010 Research Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. Dr. Breslow is Frederick Henry Leonhardt Professor and head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism. The award was presented November 14 at an American Heart Association meeting in C...
2010 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize goes to two pioneers of cancer genetics
Janet Davison Rowley and Mary-Claire King, pioneering cancer geneticists, are the recipients of the 2010 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize awarded by The Rockefeller University. Created to recognize the accomplishments of outstanding female scientists, the $100,000 prize will be presented at a cerem...
New Rockefeller University lab building opens
A new laboratory building, featuring open floor plans and common areas designed specifically to help foster interactions and facilitate collaboration between scientists working in different specialties, has opened on The Rockefeller University’s campus near 68th Street and York Avenue. The buildi...
Marc Tessier-Lavigne named president
Following a five-month search in which nearly 80 candidates were considered, the university’s Board of Trustees voted on September 8 to name Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a leader in the study of brain development, president. Dr. Tessier-Lavigne, who is currently executive vice president for research and...
A successful presidential search
A few weeks ago, I announced that Marc Tessier-Lavigne had been selected to become the tenth president of The Rockefeller University. Marc is an outstanding scientist and an experienced and thoughtful leader and I was personally delighted when he accepted our offer to serve as Rockefeller’s presi...
Welch Hall renovation to begin in January
by ZACH VEILLEUX The renovation of Welch Hall, which has housed the university’s library since its construction in 1929 and once served as its main dining facility, will begin in January, president Paul Nurse announced last week. The plan to modernize Welch, which has been under development for s...
Jeff Friedman receives Lasker Award for discovery of leptin
Jeffrey M. Friedman, who first came to Rockefeller as a postdoc in 1980 and has been head of laboratory since 1991, is one of two recipients of this year’s Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, considered the most prestigious American prize in science. The Lasker award recognized him fo...
Paul Bieniasz granted tenure
Virologist Paul Bieniasz, who studies retroviruses such as HIV, has been instrumental in discovering how they colonize cells and interact with host proteins as they replicate. This summer, the university’s Board voted to award Dr. Bieniasz tenure and promote him to professor. Dr. Bieniasz’s r...
Luciano Marraffini works to understand how bacteria acquire foreign DNA
by ZACH VEILLEUX Luciano Marraffini, a microbiologist, is interested in how bacterial pathogens modulate the transfer of foreign DNA into their genomes. He joined the university on July 1 as assistant professor and head of the Laboratory of Bacteriology. Fundamentally, Dr. Marraffini wants to un...
Daniel Kronauer uses molecular genetics to study social evolution in insects
by BRETT NORMAN Daniel Kronauer, who will join Rockefeller in July 2011 as head of the Laboratory of Insect Social Evolution, is interested in understanding how evolution operates at different levels of organization in the rich context of insect societies, from the gene to the individual and soci...
Milestones
Awarded: Jean-Laurent Casanova, a Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The $100,000 grant is one of 78 announced by the foundation in May to support scientists exploring bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. Dr. Casanova...
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