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Brain displays an intrinsic mechanism for fighting infection

White blood cells have long reigned as the heroes of the immune system. When an infection strikes, the cells, produced in bone marrow, race through the blood to fight off the pathogen. But new research is emerging that individual organs can also play a role in immune system defense, essentially b...
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Potent antibodies neutralize HIV and could offer new therapy, study finds

Having HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence, but it’s still a lifelong illness that requires an expensive daily cocktail of drugs — and it means tolerating those drugs’ side effects and running the risk of resistance. Researchers at The Rockefeller University may have found something better:...
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Neurotransmitters linked to mating behavior are shared by mammals and worms

When it comes to sex, animals of all shapes and sizes tend behave in predictable ways. There may be a chemical reason for that. New research from Rockefeller University has shown that chemicals in the brain — neuropeptides known as vasopressin and oxytocin — play a role in coordinating mating an...
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Pearl Meister Greengard Prize to be awarded to pioneering 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, will be awarded the 2012 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University. The prize, which honors female scientists who have made extraordinary contributi...
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Vitamin D supplements do not improve cholesterol as previous research suggested

Vitamin D has been touted for its beneficial effects on a range of human systems, from enhancing bone health to reducing the risk of developing certain cancers. But it does not improve cholesterol levels, according to a new study conducted at The Rockefeller University Hospital. A team of scienti...
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Researchers demonstrate how ‘interfering’ RNA can block bacterial evolution

Bacteria may be simple creatures, but unlike “higher” organisms they have a neat evolutionary trick. When the going gets tough, they can simply pick up and incorporate a loose bit of genetic material from their environment. It’s instant evolution, no time-consuming mutations required. This pro...
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Protein proves vital in immune response to bacteria

A team of researchers led by scientists at Rockefeller University have discovered that a protein once thought to be mainly involved in antiviral immunity is in fact more important in fighting bacterial infections and could provide new mechanisms for treating diseases like tuberculosis, which is i...
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Collaboration finds kidney disease tied to DNA damage

A research collaboration involving Rockefeller University and more than two dozen other institutions has found a link between a gene mutation and chronic kidney failure. The study, published in Nature Genetics in July, found patients who had a specific kind of kidney disease — called karyomegalic...
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Cell 150: 533-548 (August 3, 2012)

Cell 150: 533-548 (August 3, 2012) Exome capture reveals ZNF423 and CEP164 mutations, linking renal ciliopathies to DNA damage response signaling Moumita Chaki, Rannar Airik, Amiya K. Ghosh, Rachel H. Giles, Rui Chen, Gisela G. Slaats, Hui Wang, Toby W. Hurd, Weibin Zhou, Andrew Cluckey, Heon Yun...
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Starr collaboration illuminates mysterious pathway to immortality in cancer cells

Cancer cells are immortal because they circumvent failsafe mechanisms that stop out-of-control cell proliferation. One of these mechanisms – the progressive shortening of chromosomes – is prevented by replenishment of telomeres, the protective elements at the ends of chromosomes. Most cancer cel...
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Sweat glands grown from newly identified stem cells

To date, few fundamentals have been known about the most common gland in the body, the sweat glands that are essential to controlling body temperature, allowing humans to live in the world’s diverse climates. Now, in a tour de force, researchers at The Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes...
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Rockefeller scientists pioneer new method to determine mechanisms of drug action

Knowing that a drug works is great. Knowing how it works is a luxury. And until now, determining a drug’s mechanism of action has been a tedious and difficult process for scientists. Researchers led by Tarun Kapoor at The Rockefeller University, in collaboration with Olivier Elemento at Weill Cor...
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Influenza “histone mimic” suppresses antiviral response

For a virus like influenza, the key to success isn’t in overpowering the immune system, it’s in tricking it. A team of researchers led by scientists at The Rockefeller University has identified a novel mechanism by which influenza viruses hijack key regulators of the human body’s normal antivi...
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Study in fruit flies reveals a gene affecting the ability to sleep

On the surface, it’s simple: when night falls, our bodies get sleepy. But behind the scenes, a series of complex molecular events, controlled by our genes, is hard at work to make us groggy. Now, research suggests that a newly identified gene known as insomniac may play a role in keeping us aslee...
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In cancer, molecular signals that recruit blood vessels also trigger metastasis

Cancer cells are most deadly when they’re on the move — able not only to destroy whatever organ they are first formed in, but also to create colonies elsewhere in the body. New research has now shown how a small RNA prevents the recruitment and formation of blood vessels near cancer cell destine...
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Resident protection

First "live" imaging of specialized immune system cells reveals new clues about body’s security system To keep the body safe, the immune system enlists more than one form of protection. A circulating task force of immune system cells monitors the body’s periphery, and sends information back to ...
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Statin-intolerant patients need a different type of clinical trial, Rockefeller researchers say

Millions of people take statins, the blockbuster drug that lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL), the so-called bad cholesterol. But as many as 20 percent of them develop adverse effects such as muscle fatigue and weakness and impaired cognition. Rockefeller University scientists Patricia Maningat...
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DNA testing by high school students shows many teas contain unlisted ingredients

Your tea may not be what you think. Three New York City high school students, working with Rockefeller scientists, have found several herbal brews and a few brands of tea contain ingredients unlisted on the manufacturers’ package. The teen sleuths also demonstrated new-to-science genetic variatio...
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Scientists identify broad and potent HIV antibodies that mimic CD4 binding

In a finding that may be good news for scientists developing HIV vaccines and therapies, a team of researchers at The Rockefeller University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have found a way to investigate the broadly neutralizing antibody response against the CD4 binding site of HIV on a ...
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Cancer stem cells identified, offering new drug targets

Like carpet bombing, traditional chemotherapy is not very discriminating. Both can cause disastrous collateral damage and still fail to take out the real enemy. New research offers the potential for a surgical strike against cancer that would target only its root cause — cancer stem cells. Elaine...
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Scientists create humanized mouse model for hepatitis C

For researchers searching for new treatments for hepatitis C, the only animal model available to study the virus's life cycle has been the chimpanzee, which is naturally susceptible to infection by the virus. But ethical, logistical and financial hurdles have limited the use of this large ape. No...
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The Great Reversal, an increase in forest density worldwide, is under way

Forests in many regions are becoming larger carbon sinks thanks to higher density, U.S. and European researchers say in a new report. In Europe and North America, increased density significantly raised carbon storage despite little or no expansion of forest area, according to the study, conducted...
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Genes help worms decide where to dine

In the famous song by The Clash, “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” the lyrics wrestle with one of the more complicated decisions people make — whether to end a difficult love affair or try to make it work. We aren’t likely to understand exactly how specific genes affect such momentous choices ...
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Analysis of sperm differentiation reveals new mode of proteasome regulation

Early in development, cells undergo a controlled demolition that helps to shape their raw, pliable material into the specialized forms they must have to do their jobs as adults. The process by which this occurs is also crucial later in the cell’s life, to take out potentially dangerous trash that...
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Anti-inflammatory drugs reduce effectiveness of SSRI antidepressants

Scientists at Rockefeller University have shown that anti-inflammatory drugs, which include ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen, reduce the effectiveness of the most widely used class of antidepressant medications, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, often prescribed for depression...
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Polarized microscopy technique shows new details of how proteins are arranged

Whether you’re talking about genes, or neurons, or the workings of a virus, at the most fundamental level, biology is a matter of proteins. So understanding what protein complexes look like and how they operate is the key to figuring out what makes cells tick. By harnessing the unique properties ...
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'Big picture' of how interferon-induced genes launch antiviral defenses revealed

When viruses attack, one molecule more than any other fights back. Interferon triggers the activation of more than 350 genes, and despite the obvious connection, the vast majority have never been tested for antiviral properties. A team of researchers, led by scientists from Rockefeller University...
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Researchers put potent staph killer to the test, hope for new drug treatment

Standard antibiotics, and even those reserved for the most defiant infections, are fighting an uphill battle against the evolutionary ingenuity of bacterial defenses. Staphylococci, and especially methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), is a particular scourge in hospitals, and is inc...
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Bullying alters brain chemistry, leads to anxiety

Being low mouse on the totem pole is tough on murine self-esteem. It turns out it has measurable effects on brain chemistry, too, according to recent experiments at Rockefeller University. Researchers found that mice that were bullied persistently by dominant males grew unusually nervous around n...
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University receives accreditation for its human research protection program

The Rockefeller University has received accreditation from The Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP), a program that recognizes research organizations’ commitments to providing strong safeguards on behalf of human research participants. Considered ...
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Molecule that spurs cell’s recycling center may help Alzheimer’s patients

Cells, which employ a process called autophagy to clean up and reuse protein debris leftover from biological processes, were the original recyclers. A team of scientists from Paul Greengard’s Rockefeller University laboratory have linked a molecule that stimulates autophagy with the reduction of ...
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New genetic technique probes the cause of skin cell differentiation in mammals

A tremendous amount of genetics research has been done in flies and tiny worms, in part because scientists have good tools for tweaking these creatures’ DNA. Now, by adapting a powerful method of RNA interference for use in mice, researchers have identified key pathways that cause skin cells to d...
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‘Round-the-clock’ lifestyle could disrupt metabolism, brain and behavior

In Civilization and Its Discontents, Sigmund Freud argued that modern society was hard on human psychology, forcing people to get along in unnaturally close quarters. Now newly published research from The Rockefeller University points out a different discontent in the developed world, namely, the...
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Newly discovered deep sea lobster named for Rockefeller’s Jesse Ausubel

Some scientists receive prizes for their contributions to science, others find themselves on postage stamps. Rockefeller University’s Jesse Ausubel name is now immortalized in the scientific name of a newly discovered, rare new genus of deep water lobster. Ausubel was given this honor as a tribut...
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New research traces evolutionary path of multidrug resistant strep bacteria

Despite penicillin and the dozens of antibiotics that followed it, streptococcus bacteria have remained a major threat to health throughout the world. The reason: the superb evolutionary skills of this pathogen to rapidly alter its genetic makeup. In a landmark paper published this week in Scienc...
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Research shows when stem cell descendants lose their versatility

Stem cells are the incomparably versatile progenitors of every cell in our body. Some maintain this remarkable plasticity throughout the life of an animal, prepared to respond as needed to repair an injury, for instance. Others differentiate into specialized cells, regenerating tissue or facilita...
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Scientists identify protein that drives survival of gastrointestinal tumors

Scientists identify protein that drives survival of gastrointestinal tumors For patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors, or GISTs, the blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec has been a reason to hope. Since the drug’s introduction, survival rates have climbed dramatically and recurrence has fal...
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Studies describe key role for a protein in cell division

Just before a cell divides into two — the basic act of reproducing life — the cellular environment must be exquisitely prepared. The exact timing and localization of the vast array of molecules and processes involved in duplicating chromosomes and separating the offspring from the parent is one ...
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Therapy for fearsome brain disease could target blood

The aggregated proteins strewn about a deranged brain are the hallmark of one of the most feared and common neurodegenerative disorders on the planet: Alzheimer’s disease. But while these irregular, gunky proteins, called amyloid-β, are believed to contribute to the deterioration of memory and co...
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Paleovirology expanded: New virus fragments found in animal genomes

Understanding the evolution of a virus can help beat it. This is immediately true in the fight against the ever-changing influenza bug, and potentially so in ongoing battles against Ebola and dengue fever, too. New research now points the way to a fossil record of viruses that have surprisingly i...
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New class of ‘dancing’ dendritic cells derived from blood monocytes

Dendritic cells, known to be the prime movers of the body’s immune response, are still notoriously difficult to study in humans. Samples, which come primarily from bone marrow or lymphoid tissue, are simply too difficult to obtain. But new research at Rockefeller University has shown scientists a...
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‘Reaper’ protein strikes at mitochondria to kill cells

Our cells live ever on the verge of suicide, requiring the close attention of a team of molecules to prevent the cells from pulling the trigger. This self-destructive tendency can be a very good thing, as when dangerous precancerous cells are permitted to kill themselves, but it can also go horri...
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New faculty member wants to know how flies make decisions

Fruit flies are not known for their sense of direction. Even among animals with tiny brains, they are particularly prone to sudden, sharp changes of direction and circuitous navigation. But their abrupt movements are not accidental. Understanding how they decide when to veer right or left is imp...
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Gene identified that prevents stem cells from turning cancerous

Stem cells, the prodigious precursors of all the tissues in our body, can make almost anything, given the right circumstances. Including, unfortunately, cancer. Now research from Rockefeller University shows that having too many stem cells, or stem cells that live for too long, can increase the o...
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Research on killer HIV antibodies provides promising new ideas for vaccine design

Rockefeller researchers have made two fundamental new discoveries about the immune defenses of a rare group of HIV patients whose bodies can naturally keep the virus at bay. By detailing the molecular workings of so-called broadly neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies, the researchers hope their work...
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Patterned pulses boost the effects of deep brain stimulation, research shows

Electrical stimulation has been used as a sort of defibrillator of consciousness, rousing a victim of traumatic brain injury to at least partial awareness, after years in a coma. The procedure, termed deep brain stimulation, has also been used to treat Parkinson’s disease and has shown some pr...
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Scientists identify protein that spurs formation of Alzheimer’s plaques

In Alzheimer’s disease, the problem is amyloid-β, a protein that accumulates in the brain and causes nerve cells to weaken and die. Drugs designed to eliminate plaques made of amyloid-β have a fatal problem: they need to enter the brain and remove the plaques without attacking healthy brain cell...
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Experiments decipher key piece of the ‘histone code’ in cell division

Reproduce or perish. That’s the bottom line for genes. Because nothing lives forever, reproduction is how life sustains itself, and it happens most fundamentally in the division and replication of the cell, known as mitosis. Now new research at Rockefeller University has detailed a key role in mi...
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MicroRNAs play a role in cocaine addiction

MicroRNAs, already linked to cancer, heart disease and mental disorders such as schizophrenia, may also be involved in addiction. A team of Rockefeller University neuroscientists has shown that a protein that plays a crucial role in the regulation of microRNAs, short stretches of RNA that silenc...
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Protein found to control the early migration of neurons

Long before a baby can flash her first smile, sprout a first tooth or speak a first word, the neurons that will form her central nervous system must take their first, crucial steps. And these steps must be careful to take the right neurons to the right places and avert developmental disasters th...
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Muscle gene may provide new treatments for obesity and diabetes

Skeletal muscle enables us to walk, run or play a musical instrument, but it also plays a crucial role in controlling disease. Rockefeller University scientists have now shown how a specific molecule in skeletal muscle regulates energy expenditure, a finding that may lead to new treatments for c...
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Researchers identify DNA damage repair gene in Fanconi anemia pathway

After more than a century of technological refinements, zippers still get stuck. So do the molecular machines that routinely unzip the double helix of DNA in our cells after billions of years of evolution, and the results can be lethal. In research to be published July 30 in Molecular Cell and a...
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Scientists identify nature's insect repellents

In the battle between insect predators and their prey, chemical signals called kairomones serve as an early-warning system. Pervasively emitted by the predators, the compounds are detected by their prey, and can even trigger adaptations, such a change in body size or armor, that help protect the...
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New HIV vaccine trial first to target dendritic cells

When HIV was first discovered to cause AIDS in 1981, prominent scientists expected to have an effective vaccine within a couple of years. Three decades later, the disease has killed more than 25 million people and defied every effort so far to inoculate against it. But researchers at Rockefeller ...
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New research shows how experience shapes the brain’s circuitry

Neuroscientists once thought that the brain’s wiring was fixed early in life, during a critical period beyond which changes were impossible. Recent discoveries have challenged that view, and now, research by scientists at Rockefeller University suggests that circuits in the adult brain are con...
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Problematic blood clotting contributes to Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease has long been studied primarily as a disease of neurons. But researchers have now shown how the disease may be damaging the brain by choking off blood flow. In experiments published June 10 in Neuron, scientists at Rockefeller University reveal that amyloid-β, which builds up ...
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Alzheimer’s brain protein may provide target for treating mental retardation

From the perspective of neuroscientists, Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome have at least one thing in common: patients with both diseases have an accumulation of β-amyloid protein in their brains. Rockefeller University scientists now provide evidence that drugs which help reduce the leve...
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Researchers modify yellow fever vaccine to fight malaria

There is no vaccine for malaria, which sickens almost a quarter of a billion people each year and kills a child every 30 seconds. That could be changing: researchers at The Rockefeller University have genetically transformed the yellow fever vaccine to prime the immune system to fend off the mos...
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New study of psoriatic cells could fire up the study of inflammation

New research promises to pry some long held secrets from one of humanity’s oldest known diseases. Scientists at Rockefeller University have discovered how to parse the most troublesome cells behind the debilitating skin lesions in psoriasis and have identified several distinctive markers that ...
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Scientists identify potential new target for schizophrenia drugs

Rockefeller University scientists have identified a protein that boosts the signaling power of a receptor involved in relaying messages between brain cells, a finding that suggests a new target for the development of treatments for schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. The protein, called Nor...
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