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Hunting Disease-Causing Genetic Variants
Dr. Miriam Meisler. Credit: University of Michigan Medical School. “In my lab, we’ve been gene hunters—starting with visible phenotypes, or characteristics, and searching for the responsible genes,” says Miriam Meisler, Ph.D., the Myron Levine Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. During her career, Dr. Meisler has identified the functions of multiple genes and has shown how genetic variants, or mutations, can impact human health. Becoming a Scientist Dr. Meisler had a strong interest in science as a child, which she credits to “growing up at the tim...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 29, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Genes Injury and Illness Diseases DNA Profiles Research Organisms Scientific Process Source Type: blogs

Career Conversations: Q & A with Medicinal Inorganic Chemist Eszter Boros
Dr. Eszter Boros. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Eszter Boros. “As a researcher, you get to learn something new every day, and that knowledge feeds more questions. It’s this eternal learning process, and I find that really enticing about being in science,” says Eszter Boros, Ph.D., an assistant professor of chemistry at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. Our interview with Dr. Boros highlights her journey of becoming a scientist and her research on biomedical applications of metals. Q: What drew you to science? A: I was born and raised in Switzerland, and I went to a linguistics-focused high school the...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 22, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Profiles Source Type: blogs

In Other Words: How Cells Express Themselves
When you encounter the word expression, you may think of a smile, a grimace, or another look on someone’s face. But when biologists talk about expression, they typically mean the process of gene expression—when the information in a gene directs protein synthesis. Proteins are essential for virtually every process in the human body. Credit: NIGMS. How to Build a Protein Gene expression has two main steps: transcription and translation. In transcription, RNA polymerase separates a section of double-stranded DNA to access a gene. Then it copies the information from the gene to create ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 15, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Genes Cellular Processes DNA In Other Words Proteins Source Type: blogs

The League of VetaHumanz: Encouraging Kids to Use Their Powers for Good!
Pink Phoenix, alter ego of Dr. Sandra San Miguel, preparing to pass out Vaccine SuperPower Packs described later in this post. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Sandra San Miguel. “I’m Pink Phoenix, leader of the Vetahumanz League of superheroes, and it’s the best job in the world.” The League of VetaHumanz is a superhero league for veterinarians, founded and led by Pink Phoenix, the alter ego of Sandra San Miguel, D.V.M., Ph.D. Through support from the NIGMS Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program, the league seeks to diversify the veterinary profession. Members of the league work with elementary students ac...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 8, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist STEM Education COVID-19 Profiles Training Source Type: blogs

Public Alerted to Omicron in New Mexico Through Quick Detection
Genetic material inside a virus. Credit: iStock. Over the past 2 years, you’ve probably heard a lot about the spread of SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—and the emergence of variants. The discovery and tracking of these variants is possible thanks to genomic surveillance, a technique that involves sequencing and analyzing the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles from many COVID-19 patients. Genomic surveillance has not only shed light on how SARS-CoV-2 has evolved and spread, but it has also helped public health officials decide when to introduce measures to help protect people. In December 2021, the N...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 1, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Genes Injury and Illness COVID-19 Genomics Infectious Diseases Viruses Source Type: blogs

From MARC Student to MacArthur Fellow
Dr. Víctor J. Torres. Credit: Keenan Lacey, Ph.D. “I study the dance between a bacterium and its host. If we can decode the secrets of that dance—how the pathogen causes disease, and how the host fights back—we might be able to take advantage of vulnerabilities to improve our ability to combat infections,” says Víctor J. Torres, Ph.D., the C. V. Starr Professor of Microbiology at the New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Discovering and Pursuing a Passion for Science Growing up, Dr. Torres never would have imagined his highly successful scientific career, especially sinc...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 25, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Bacteria Infectious Diseases Profiles Source Type: blogs

Science Snippet: RNA ’s Remarkable Roles
RNA, though less well known than its cousin DNA, is equally integral to our bodies. RNA molecules are long, usually single-stranded chains of nucleotides. (DNA molecules are also made up of nucleotides but are typically double-stranded.) There are three major types of RNA, which are all involved in protein synthesis: Messenger RNA (mRNA) is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene and carries genetic information for protein synthesis to the ribosome—the molecular complex in which proteins are made.Transfer RNA (tRNA) works with mRNA to make sure the right amin...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 18, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Cells Injury and Illness Cellular Processes RNA Science Snippet Source Type: blogs

Career Conversations: Q & A with Immunoengineer Caroline Jones
Dr. Caroline Jones. Credit: Moises Gomez. “I find it fulfilling to be a scientist because I know that even if at some points it seems like I’m working on an incremental experiment, eventually it’s going to help solve a bigger problem,” says Caroline Jones, Ph.D., an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Texas at Dallas. Check out the highlights of our interview with Dr. Jones to learn about her career path, her passion for sharing science with the public, and her research on sepsis—an overwhelming or impaired whole-body immune response to an insult, such as an infection or injury that’s ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 11, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Tools and Techniques Cool Tools/Techniques Profiles Sepsis Source Type: blogs

Three Brothers Are Making Research a Family Affair
Caleb, Paul, and Adam Worsley. Credit: Pittsburg State University. “You’re doing something really important with people who are important to you,” Paul Worsley remarks when asked about having his younger brothers Caleb and Adam as lab mates. The trio are undergraduate students working in the lab of Santimukul Santra, Ph.D., at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. Paul seated at his chemistry fume hood. Credit: Pittsburg State University. All three brothers are part of the Kansas IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (K-INBRE). Paul is currently a junior majoring in biology a...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 4, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Cancer Medicines Precision Medicine Training Source Type: blogs

New NIH-Wide Resource for K-12 Educators
Attention, educators! We’re announcing a new clearinghouse of free STEM education resources covering a wide range of health and biomedical research topics for students in grades K through 12. The STEM teaching resources website provides links to great content from various institutes and centers within NIH, as well as materials developed under the NIGMS Science Education Partnership Award program. The resources are easy to navigate within the following subject areas: Being a ScientistThe Brain & Mental HealthDiseases & ConditionsDrug Use & AddictionThe Environment & Human HealthGeneticsHealthy Living...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 27, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: STEM Education Source Type: blogs

How Bacteria-Infecting Viruses Could Save Lives
Dr. Ry Young. Credit: Texas A&M University. “My parents told me that I already wanted to be a scientist when I was 7 or 8 years old. I don’t remember ever considering anything else,” says Ry Young, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry, biophysics, and biology at Texas A&M University, College Station. Dr. Young has been a researcher for more than 45 years and is a leading expert on bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria. He and other scientists have shown that phages, as bacteriophages are often called, could help us fight bacteria that have developed resistance to antibiotics. Antibiotic-resistant ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 20, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Bacteria Infectious Diseases Profiles Scientific Process Viruses Source Type: blogs

In Other Words: Some Antagonists Are Heroes
Many of us learned in English class that an antagonist is a person or thing that a hero fights. But in biomedical science, an antagonist is a molecule that binds to a cellular receptor to prevent a response, such as a muscle contraction or hormone release. Antagonists can be important medical treatments, like the antagonist naloxone—also known as Narcan —that can reverse an opioid overdose. Credit: NIGMS; Yekaterina Kadyshevskaya, The Scripps Research Institute. The two main types of antagonists—competitive and noncompetitive—are named for their relationships to agonists, which are molecules th...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 13, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology In Other Words Medicines Source Type: blogs

Pathways: The Vaccine Science Issue
Cover of Pathways student magazine. NIGMS is pleased to bring you Pathways: The Vaccine Science Issue [PDF], which explains how the messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines for COVID-19 work and how they were developed. Building on years of research, scientists were able to create these vaccines, thoroughly test them, and get them to the public as quickly as possible—while still making sure they were safe and effective. Pathways, designed for students in grades 6 through 12, aims to build awareness of basic biomedical science and its importance to health while inspiring careers in research. All materials in the collection ar...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 6, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness COVID-19 Infectious Diseases RNA Source Type: blogs

Discovering Better Ways to Build Medicinal Molecules
Dr. Phil Baran. Credit: Scripps Research. “I love the mystery of chemistry. It explores the great unknown of the universe,” says Phil Baran, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at Scripps Research, La Jolla, California. His passion for the subject catalyzed a successful career in organic synthesis—building molecules that are the foundation of living things and can be developed as medicines. Setting His Sights on Science School didn’t interest Dr. Baran until he found chemistry in 10th grade. “From there, the mission was clear: do whatever was required to do chemistry for the rest of my life,” he says. At t...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 30, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Medicines Profiles Source Type: blogs

Career Conversations: Q & A with Clinician-Scientist Faheem Guirgis
Dr. Faheem Guirgis. Credit: University of Florida, Jacksonville. “Patients at urban and inner-city hospitals are in dire need of high-quality care and frequently don’t have access to clinician-scientists doing cutting-edge research. That’s part of what has made me committed to performing research in these settings,” says Faheem Guirgis, M.D., an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine, Jacksonville. Check out the highlights of our interview with Dr. Guirgis below to learn how he became a doctor and what inspired him to conduct research on sepsis. Q: How did y...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 23, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Injury and Illness Profiles Sepsis Source Type: blogs