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COVID-19 vaccines may need regular updates for emerging variants

Lab experiments suggest that the new strains reported in Britain, South Africa, and Brazil may blunt the potency of the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. This could mean that the vaccines will need updates as the virus mutates.

Neurophysiologist Victor Wilson, 92, has died

Victor Wilson, a neurophysiologist who traced the intricate neural mechanisms that govern our balance and posture, died on January 20 at the age of 92.

Synthetic “micro lungs” could take COVID-19 research to the next level

Scientists have developed stem-cell technology to mass-produce tissue cultures resembling our breathing organs. These tissues offer a powerful model in which to study how SARS-CoV-2 wreaks havoc in the lungs and to screen for new drugs.

The immune system mounts a lasting defense after recovery from COVID-19

The study participants continued to improve their antibodies months after initial infection, potentially due to exposure to remnants of the virus hidden in the gut.

The blood may hold clues to some of COVID-19’s most mysterious symptoms

COVID-19 causes a host of diverse complications, from lung inflammation to blood clots, heart failure, and brain fog. A team of scientists believes these attributes may have a single culprit—and that findings from research on Alzheimer’s disease might give them a leg up in finding it.

Rockefeller begins testing of new COVID-19 antibody drug in people

Patients in the clinical trial will receive two highly potent antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 discovered at the university. Designed to prevent people with early COVID-19 from developing severe disease, the treatment is urgently needed as hospitals continue to be inundated by repeated surges of inf...

What Darwin never guessed 

Scientists have found that evolution isn’t always a one-way street toward specialization.

Scientists capture the moving parts of the portal to the cell’s nucleus

The proteins of the nuclear pore complex flip-flop rapidly between two orientations as they let cargo through.

Study of 50,000 people finds brown fat may protect against many diseases

People with brown fat tissue tend to burn calories more quickly, but do they also enjoy better health? Now the largest study of its kind shows that brown fat is indeed linked to reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and several other conditions.

Llamas immune to coronavirus, what zebrafish are thinking, and other memorable science stories of 2020 

This year's scientific endeavors included multiple attacks on SARS-CoV-2—and a lot more. Here are the most memorable science stories to come out of Rockefeller labs, from cracking the code behind specific skin cancer subtypes to understanding what goes on inside a fish brain.

As COVID-19 vaccines emerge, the search for antiviral drugs continues

Scientists are digging through drug libraries of 430,000 compounds, in pursuit of an antiviral drug that can stop the novel coronavirus in its tracks.

A mediocre mutator 

Scientists developed a method to safely examine the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to escape future drugs or vaccines by mutating. Their initial results are reassuring.

Royalty Pharma and Pablo and Almudena Legorreta Support Development of Antibody-Based COVID-19 Therapy at The Rockefeller University

Royalty Pharma and The Rockefeller University announced generous gifts totaling $5,760,000 from Royalty Pharma and Pablo and Almudena Legorreta.

Scientists map the network of SARS-CoV-2’s helpers inside human cells

The virus must hijack a more than a hundred human proteins to replicate inside a cell. One of them stands out because it is an absolute requirement for infection by four different coronaviruses as well as by viruses that cause Zika, yellow fever, and other diseases.

Charles M. Rice formally receives 2020 Nobel Prize in a virtual ceremony

Rice was honored for research that contributed to a cure for hepatitis C. He accepted the Nobel medal and diploma at the Swedish Consulate in New York City.

Marina Caskey is promoted to professor of clinical investigation

Caskey, a clinician in the lab of Michel Nussenzweig, has spent the last decade working on clinical studies of experimental immune-based vaccines and therapies.

New five-year fundraising campaign has already received $200 million in gifts

The $675 million Campaign for the Convergence of Science and Medicine, launched July 1, 2019, aims to fulfill the priorities identified in the university’s 2020-2024 strategic plan.

What bats can teach us about COVID-19

Unlike most humans, bats are naturally resistant to coronavirus infection. Researchers are now searching their genomes for clues that might explain why SARS-CoV-2 can cause devastating disease in our own species.

Telomere shortening protects against cancer

Researchers have found the first evidence that telomere shortening is not just a sign of aging, but a key component of the body's cancer prevention system.

Some cells are multilingual 

Experiments in zebrafish are shining light onto a poorly understood process in which cells communicate mechanically, by pushing and pulling on each other.

Conservation of resources is hardwired into the genetic code

A study of marine microbes reveals that conservation of nutrients is a fundamental property of cells in all living organisms, from plants to humans.

New atlas reveals the journey of human cells throughout development

The largest map of gene expression in over 4 million human cells charts the dynamic path to forming different organs.

Science fights back 

Researchers have launched a tremendous race to understand the new virus and attack it from every angle. How they work and collaborate might never again be the same.

Primordial shapeshifters 

Only in sci-fi movies can a living cell be created from scratch. But a recent discovery suggests that this tantalizing feat might one day become possible in the real world.

How the immune system deals with the gut's plethora of microbes

New research suggests that our immune system may play an active role in shaping the digestive-tract flora, which is tightly linked to health and disease.

How cells use mechanical tension sensors to interact with their environment

In a painstaking experiment, scientists suspended a single protein filament between two microscopic beads. Their results have shed light on an elusive process in which cells receive and respond to mechanical cues.

Rockefeller issues license for the development of novel anti-inflammatory drug

The novel compound, discovered in Jan L. Breslow’s lab and now licensed to Bridge Medicines, will be designed to treat immune-mediated diseases without harming the rest of the immune system.

New book by Rockefeller researcher spotlights one of nature’s fiercest hunters

Daniel Kronauer publishes a comprehensive monograph on army ants, the creatures at the center of his evolutionary-biology research.

Scientists discover mosquitoes’ unique blood-taste detectors

Female mosquitoes are armed with syringe-like stylets that begin to pump furiously only in the presence of blood. Scientists are now studying the specific neurons that line the stylet, and asking what mosquitoes taste when they bite us.

Rockefeller's Charles M. Rice honored with Nobel Prize for research that contributed to a cure for hepatitis C

Rice will receive the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that led to a cure for hepatitis C, a viral disease affecting 170 million people worldwide. His lab worked on the virus for three decades and became the first to produce a version of it that could be grown and studied i...