News & HighlightsNews
New means of predicting populations more accurately accounts for random influences
By studying the ways of little jar-bound cannibals — tiny flour beetles who like to eat their young — scientists at Rockefeller University have created techniques they believe are the best yet to capture how random “noise” affects the dynamics of a biological population. To understand how r...
Viral gene hijacks small RNA pathway as a counter-attack strategy
Every day plants are battling for survival against tiny viruses invading their cells. Small RNAs are a major part of the plant’s immune system, but viruses have devised counter-attack molecules that disable this line of defense. Research from Nam-Hai Chua’s laboratory has found a new mechanism f...
Lederberg receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
President Emeritus Joshua Lederberg is one of 10 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civil award, President George W. Bush announced today. Established by Executive Order 11085 in 1963, the Medal may be awarded by the president “to any person who has made an e...
Ion channels are key to estrogen's effect on neurons
Despite being one of the body's best-studied hormones, there's still a lot we don't know about estrogens. Now, by studying how these sex hormones impact brain cells at the biophysical level, scientists at Rockefeller University say they exert their powerful effects on behavior in part by affectin...
Measuring awareness is not as simple as a single number
Science fiction describes the crucial difference between a robot and a person as sense of self. But for Rockefeller University’s George Reeke, computers — self or no self — do not yet begin to capture the complexity of the human mind. An article by Reeke and coauthors published recently in Pr...
HIV-1 kills immune cells in the gut that may never bounce back
People with HIV have been living longer, healthier lives since the development of highly active antiretroviral therapy (or HAART) in 1995. In fact, most patients on the drug regimen do so well that, according to blood tests, their immune cells appear to return to pre-HIV levels. But two new studi...
Newly discovered class of small RNAs is specifically to reproductive cells
One size does not fit all when it comes to RNA. And now, in addition to long mRNA strands that deliver genetic instructions, and microRNAs (miRNAs) that serve to tweak those instructions and are implicated in everything from insulin production to cancer, scientists have discovered a new player am...
Structure shows how a key protein in gene activation is controlled
Having good genes is not enough; they each need to be expressed at the right time and place. By solving the structure of a protein called σ, researchers at Rockefeller University reveal a new mechanism by which bacteria prevent premature and precocious activation of their genes. Bacteria use the ...
Rockefeller lab show that Notch signaling is involved in multiple skin fate decisions
To serve as an effective barrier, skin must form multiple layers that separate internal organs from exposure to the environment. New research from Rockefeller University shows that a well-known signaling pathway, Notch, drives the process by which skin cells form those layers. Starting with the i...
Three Rockefeller scientists elected AAAS fellows
Three Rockefeller University scientists have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. The election of Arleen Auerbach, Cori Bargmann and Nathaniel Heintz was announced in the AAAS News and Notes section...
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