Skip to main content

The rockefeller university

News & HighlightsNews
Displaying 983 of 2943 articles.
Announcements
Bring your child to work. In celebration of national Take Your Child to Work Day, Human Resources will host activities for 8- to 12-year-olds from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 25. Children must be registered by April 19 and must be accompanied by an adult to attend. Space is limited. For more inform...
Welch Hall reopens as library and student center
By Zach Veilleux After nearly five years of construction, the final piece of the north campus modernization process is now complete and opens to the campus this month. The Welch Hall refurbishment, which began in January 2011, has finished on time and on budget and will link the north and south p...
Frozen in time: Flexner’s historic lab re-opens with early inventions on display
by LESLIE CHURCH You don’t always know you’re making history when it’s happening. But it’s a good idea to hang on to all the evidence, just in case. That’s exactly what Merrill W. Chase did when he began collecting instruments invented at Rockefeller throughout the twentieth century. And ...
CRC auditorium is named for Russ Carson
By Zach Veilleux For the first time since 1958, there’s a new auditorium in town. The CRC auditorium, the last piece of the Collaborative Research Center to be finished, opened January 25, and has been named the Carson Family Auditorium in honor of Russ Carson, chair of the university’s Board o...
Scientists displaced by Sandy take refuge at Rockefeller
by LESLIE CHURCH When Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, Susan Zolla-Pazner thought her lab would be fine. On the 18th floor of the Veterans Affairs Hospital at First Avenue and 23rd Street, the lab wasn’t in danger of flooding. But when millions of gallons of water surged over the banks of the E...
New security initiatives focus on “active shooter” threat
New training for guards, additional shifts at 66th Street, community outreach initiatives and more restrictive access controls are among improvements being made to campus security with an eye toward preventing an “active shooter” incident like those that have caused mass casualties in Newtown, C...
Howard Hang promoted to associate professor
By Zach Veilleux Howard Hang, a chemist who works to develop new tools for the study of host-pathogen interactions, has been promoted to associate professor. The promotion was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees at its recent meeting and is effective as of January 1. Dr. Hang is Richar...
Milestones
Awarded: C. David Allis, a $1 million grant from the Starr Foundation’s Sixth Starr Cancer Consortium Grant Competition to investigate epigenetic contributions to the development of pediatric gliomas. Dr. Allis is the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor and head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology ...
Rockefeller announces 31 percent reduction in carbon emissions
Five years after the university committed to reducing its carbon footprint as part of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2030 Carbon Challenge, the results from several institutions have been announced. Rockefeller’s carbon emissions fell by nearly 31 percent, based on 2005 levels. Rockefeller was one of...
Howard Hang promoted to associate professor
Howard Hang, a chemist who works to develop new tools for the study of host-pathogen interactions, has been promoted to associate professor. The promotion was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees at its recent meeting and is effective January 1. Hang is Richard E. Salomon Family Associa...
Rockefeller University hosts workshop on Next Generation Science Standards
A series of workshops, to be held this weekend at The Rockefeller University, is designed to help scientists and educators prepare for the adoption of new standards for teaching science in elementary and high schools. The event, titled "Improving Dialogue between Scientists & Educators: Implicati...
New book explores history of cell biology at Rockefeller
The story of how a Rockefeller University laboratory contributed to the founding of the new science of modern cell biology has been published by The Rockefeller University Press. Entering an Unseen World: A Founding Laboratory and Origins of Modern Cell Biology 1910–1974, by Carol L. Moberg, is a...
Announcements
Annual holiday party is December 20. Celebrate the season with friends and colleagues: this year’s holiday party will showcase the diversity of New York City with food, drinks, music, dancing and entertainment, in Abby Lounge and Dining Room and throughout the CRC, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. For more...
No scientific losses from Hurricane Sandy
by ZACH VEILLEUX When water from the East River first spilled over its banks and began washing onto the FDR Drive late in the evening of October 29, the several dozen or so administrators and essential personnel monitoring the storm knew it was not likely to stop at the curb. The lowest levels of...
Implementing the Strategic Plan
As many of you know, a major activity during my first year at the university was the development of a strategic plan that will guide the university over the next several years. This plan, which reflects many months of intensive work by the strategic planning committee as well as essential input f...
Rockefeller opens its doors to Open House NY
by LESLIE CHURCH For those without access, the Rockefeller campus can seem shrouded in mystery. But on a rainy weekend this October, the university opened its doors and let the city in as part of Open House New York weekend. The annual event showcases hundreds of the city’s most architecturally a...
University honors Norton Zinder with symposium and annual lecture
by LESLIE CHURCH Norton D. Zinder, the pioneering geneticist and molecular biologist who helped lay the foundation for the new field of molecular biology in the 1950s and ’60s, was honored with a memorial symposium in November. An annual endowed lecture is also being established in his name. Dr. ...
Rockefeller’s Pearl Meister Greengard Prize awarded to RNA researcher Joan Steitz
Joan A. Steitz, a pioneer in the field of RNA biology whose discoveries involved patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases, was awarded the 2012 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University last month. The prize honors female scientists who have made extraordinary contributi...
Venture capitalist David Sze named to Board
by ZACH VEILLEUX The university’s newest Board member, elected at the June 6 meeting, is David Sze, a partner in the Menlo Park, California offices of venture capital firm Greylock Partners. Mr. Sze, who was introduced to Rockefeller by President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, will serve on the Committee ...
New science outreach director aims to show students it’s cool to be nerdy
by LESLIE CHURCH The first goal of the Science Outreach Program’s new director is to squash the stereotype that all scientists have Albert Einstein hair and socially awkward personalities. She won’t have to look hard for evidence: she herself is living proof. Jeanne Garbarino, who was named dir...
Robert Darnell named president of New York Genome Center
By Zach Veilleux Sometime during the last decade, as he developed technology to explore the role of RNA in neurological disease, Robert B. Darnell realized that the talented, highly educated molecular biologists in his lab were spending more and more of their time doing something that they had ne...
Structural biology center provides machines for large scale projects
by LESLIE CHURCH With momentum gaining at the New York Genome Center and several new institutional partnerships beginning on Roosevelt Island and downtown Brooklyn, the academic landscape of New York City is poised for a new era of collaboration. But the idea behind these alliances — that more ca...
Milestones
Awarded: Elaine Fuchs, the 2012 Academy Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science from the New York Academy of Medicine, for her innovative and imaginative approaches to research in skin biology, its stem cells and its associated human genetic disorders. The medal is given to em...
New neuroscience textbook will be a free reference for students in developing countries
An innovative new five-volume digital neuroscience textbook, edited by Rockefeller University professor Donald W. Pfaff, has been published and is being made available at no cost to qualified students in developing countries. As digital textbooks improved in quality, Pfaff, head of the Laboratory...
Robert Darnell named president of New York Genome Center
Robert B. Darnell, Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-oncology, has been named president and scientific director of the New York Genome Center. He will direct all aspects of the NYGC, including its scientific and research activities, and the recru...
Nicholson Lecture brings vascular biologist to speak at Rockefeller as part of exchange program with Karolinska Institute
Christer Betsholtz will visit the Rockefeller University campus on Friday as part of a recently renewed program that supports research exchanges between the university and the Karolinska Institute. Betsholtz studies vascular biology, with a focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms for angiogene...
Flexner move-ins begin as construction winds down
by ZACH VEILLEUX After five years of work, construction on the Collaborative Research Center is drawing to a close, and crews are now in the final stages of finishing work to outfit laboratories and install equipment in Flexner Hall.   “Labs on several floors are actually complete an...
Shai Shaham and Sean Brady receive promotions
by LESLIE CHURCH and ZACH VEILLEUX Two Rockefeller faculty members have received promotions, both of which were approved by the Board at its June 7 meeting. Shai Shaham, head of the Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, has been awarded tenure and promoted to professor; Sean Brady, head of the La...
New faces on campus
The newest graduate students are here and ready to don their lab coats. There are 27 students — 18 are a part of the Rockefeller Ph.D. program, one student is in the Tri-Institutional Chemical Biology program and eight are M.D.-Ph.D. students. First row: Mariel Bartley, Joan Pulupa, Dylan Kwart...
Following in dad's footsteps
by LESLIE CHURCH Frank Pansini has done stone setting work all over New York City, but restoring the marble path in front of Caspary has a special meaning for him — it’s the same path his father put in place 50 years ago. Mr. Pansini, owner of U.S. Stone Setting, Inc., was hired by Turner Const...
The Rockefeller University Press’s ‘Google Earth’-like tool for cell biology
by LESLIE CHURCH In science, seeing the big picture is key. The Rockefeller University Press has taken that literally. Using an online image publishing tool they originally developed in 2008, The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) has released what it believes is the largest image ever published onlin...
FY2012 budget closes with modest deficit
by ZACH VEILLEUX The university’s fiscal year 2012 operating budget ended with a $6.8 million deficit, largely the result of reduced endowment spending over the past three years. But the shortfall was expected and has been covered with reserve money from prior year budget surpluses. “The fis...
Gloria Chang DiGennaro
by LESLIE CHURCH Gloria Chang DiGennaro, an assistant director of human resources who worked at the university for 16 years, died August 25 after a long battle with cancer. She was 68 years old. “She was a very special person and a dear friend to us,” says Virginia Huffman, vice president fo...
Milestones
Awarded: C. David Allis, a grant from the Caring for Carcinoid Foundation, for research on tumor suppressor activities of ATRX and Daxx mutations through epigenomic profiling and animal models. Dr. Allis, the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor and head of the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epige...
Convocation 2012
  The 2012 Convocation honored one of the largest graduating classes in Rockefeller history with 40 Ph.Ds awarded, bringing the total number of Rockefeller alumni to 1,110. Celebrations included an evening reception for the graduates and their families, a luncheon, the traditional cap-and-gown p...
Honorary degree recipients advanced knowledge of RNA function
by LESLIE CHURCH  Two pioneers in the field of molecular biology were recipients of the honorary doctor of science degree at the June 14 Convocation ceremony: Rockefeller’s own James E. Darnell Jr., Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, and Yale U...
Daniel Gilmer awarded David Rockefeller Fellowship
by LESLIE CHURCH Daniel Gilmer, a graduate fellow in Vincent A. Fischetti’s lab, has been awarded the 2012 David Rockefeller Fellowship, given each year to an outstanding third-year student for demonstrating exceptional promise in science and leadership. A native of Central Florida, Mr. Gilmer...
Teaching awards honor Brivanlou and Fuchs
Ali H. Brivanlou (right), head of the Laboratory of Molecular Vertebrate Embryology, and Elaine Fuchs, head of the Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, were this year’s recipients of Distinguished Teaching Awards. The awards were established in 2005 to recognize outstanding indiv...
Moritz Armbruster
B.S.E., The Cooper Union Dissecting Synaptic Vesicle Endocytosis presented by Timothy A. Ryan Moritz Armbruster was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and moved to the desert in Tempe, Arizona, when he was seven years old. Coming from a mathematically inclined family, he moved to New York and studied ...
Pablo Ariel
Pablo Ariel Licenciado, Universidad de Buenos Aires Exploring Synaptic Vesicle Exocytosis presented by Timothy A. Ryan Pablo Ariel was born in Buenos Aires and grew up in part in the Netherlands and in part in Saudi Arabia and returned to Buenos Aires for his college work. His Ph.D. work focused ...
Coming soon, to The David Rockefeller Graduate Program
As the Rockefeller community says goodbye to the graduating class of 2012, a new group of talented students is set to join the campus in the fall. Approximately 700 applications of potential new students were received this year, and after much deliberation by the admissions committee, that list w...
Board approves nine-year strategic plan
Following nearly a year of development, the university’s strategic plan titled “Transforming Biomedicine” has been approved by the Board of Trustees. The plan, which will guide the university’s activities over a nine-year period ending in 2020, was authored by a 13-member strategic planning ...
New $600 million campaign launches
by LESLIE CHURCH With the introduction of an ambitious new strategic plan, The Rockefeller University is also embarking on a fundraising initiative, to be called the Campaign for Transforming Biomedicine. The campaign seeks to raise at least $600 million in nine years to facilitate the university...
Nobel winnings to fund Cohn-Steinman professorship
by ZACH VEILLEUX Ralph M. Steinman, head of the Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Immunology, died just three days before winning the Nobel Prize last year. But his legacy at the university will live on: with a gift from the Steinman family and the support of over 120 donors including many of...
Recent computer attacks on campus target Macs, e-mail
by LESLIE CHURCH It’s not just biologists who are studying infection at Rockefeller. Computer security experts based in the IT Pavilion have been kept busy in recent months managing outbreaks of viruses and other malware on campus computers.     In June more than a dozen people on campus fe...
Employees honored for longtime service to university
Members of the Rockefeller faculty and staff were recognized for their service to the university with two recent events. The Employee Recognition Cocktail Reception in February honored employees who had worked at the university for 20 and 25 years. Fifty-nine employees celebrated 20 years of serv...
Genome Center to operate at Rockefeller in interim
by LESLIE CHURCH The New York Genome Center (NYGC), the nonprofit institution set to become one of the largest bioinformatics and genomics facilities in North America, is launching its pilot lab operations at The Rockefeller University while a search is conducted for a permanent facility. Rockef...
Thomas P. Maniatis elected to Board
by LESLIE CHURCH The university Board of Trustees elected Thomas P. Maniatis as its newest member at its spring meeting on March 14, bringing the total number of trustees to 43. Dr. Maniatis is the Isidore S. Edelman Professor and Chairman of the department of biochemistry and molecular biophysi...
Milestones
Awarded: Jesse H. Ausubel, the 2012 National Ocean Champion Award, presented by the Urban Coast Institute of Monmouth University in New Jersey, for his contributions to marine science and management. Mr. Ausubel joins a distinguished group of awardees, including Jean-Michel Cousteau, who won in 2...
Rockefeller’s 54th convocation awards Ph.D.s to 40 graduating students
The Rockefeller University will award doctoral degrees to 40 students at its convocation ceremony today. Additionally, two esteemed researchers will receive honorary doctor of science degrees: James E. Darnell Jr., Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biol...
Rockefeller hosts first Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellows Symposium
The first Leon Levy Neuroscience Fellows Symposium will be held at Rockefeller University on Wednesday, May 16. Levy Fellows from Rockefeller, Columbia and New York universities, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College will discuss their latest neuroscience resear...
Rockefeller creates Cohn-Steinman Professorship to honor discoverers of dendritic cells
The Rockefeller University is creating the Cohn-Steinman Professorship to honor two of its most accomplished scientists, Nobel Prize winner Ralph Steinman and his mentor Zanvil A. Cohn, both of whom made seminal scientific discoveries that transformed the field of immunology. Steinman passed away...
Announcements
Bring your child to work. In celebration of national “Take Your Child to Work Day,” Human Resources is hosting activities from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, April 26. Children between the ages of 8 and 12 who are accompanied by an adult are welcome. The registration deadline is Friday, April 13...
New strategic plan to emphasize recruitment, hospital, infrastructure
After a series of weekly meetings held throughout the fall and winter, the university’s strategic planning committee, chaired by President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, has identified several themes that will likely become central elements of the plan’s first draft. The final plan is to be presented to ...
$15 million gift from Helmsley Trust to fund research on digestive diseases
by ZACH VEILLEUX A new $15 million gift — among the largest donation to the university since the closure of the Campaign for Collaborative Science last June — will help fund research into digestive disorders, including metabolic diseases, cancers and infections. The gift is the university’...
CFC playgrounds to be renovated
by ZACH VEILLEUX Three outdoor playgrounds used by the Child and Family Center’s 122 children are slated to be updated and slightly expanded over the coming months. The infant and toddler playground located on the west side of Sophie Fricke Hall, used by children up to three years old, was i...
Norton Zinder, pioneering molecular geneticist, dies at 83
Norton D. Zinder, a geneticist and microbiologist whose research on the genetics of bacteria and on the properties of bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacteria — provided seminal information on the mechanisms of heredity, died February 3 after a long illness. He was 83. Dr. Zinder was...
Board elects Dinakar Singh, Susan Lyne
by JOSEPH BONNER The university’s Board elected two new trustees at its fall meeting on November 16: Dinakar Singh and Susan Lyne. The board now numbers 42.       Mr. Singh is the founding partner of TPG-Axon Capital, a global investment firm. Through offices in New York, London, Hong Kong...
Dennis Ryan
Dennis Ryan, 63, a security guard who worked mostly day and evening shifts, died January 29. Born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen, Mr. Ryan had a career in the NYPD, from which he retired as a detective in 1986. He had been with Rockefeller since 2006. “He had an outgoing personality and loved to s...
Milestones
Awarded: Elaine Fuchs, the 2012 March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology. The prize, which Dr. Fuchs shares with Howard Green of Harvard Medical School, was established in 1996 as a tribute to the pioneering virologist Jonas Salk, and recognizes leaders in the field of developmental biology ...
View
View