PNNL scientist garners early career presidential award

RICHLAND, Wash. -- A computational mathematician at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been recognized with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award honors his research on subsurface flow that addresses past and future energy needs...

UT scientist receives hemophilia research award

Keri Smith, Ph.D., an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, has received a Career Development Award from the National Hemophilia Foundation. The award will support Smith's research into the development of a therapy...

Work of Field Museum scientist addresses question of chance in evolution

As Darwin observed, natural selection leading to adaptation of individuals and populations is occurring gradually and all the time. But over very long spans of time, the major channels of genetic organization, organism form, and the different ways organisms develop arose as outcomes of history-de...

Harvard scientist says we are what we eat -- and what we cook

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 1, 2009 -- "You are what you eat." Can these pithy words explain the evolution of the human species? Yes, says Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, who argues in a new book that the invention of cooking -- even more than agriculture, the eating of meat, or the advent o...

Lombardi scientist brings 'dream team' breast cancer research effort to GUMC

Washington, DC -- It's called a "Dream Team." Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center's incoming scientific director V. Craig Jordan, OBE, PhD, DSc, and 12 of the nation's top breast cancer researchers have been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) to form a scientif...

UF scientist tapped by Howard Hughes Medical Institute to pursue 'best ideas'

GAINESVILLE, Fla. A University of Florida scientist whose interest in embryonic development and evolution led him to discover the molecular building blocks that shape appendages ranging from feet to flippers was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist today (Thursday, March...

New species of spiders discovered by UBC scientist in Papua New Guinea

A University of British Columbia researcher has discovered dozens of species of jumping spiders that are new to science, giving scientists a peek into a section of the evolutionary tree previously thought to be sparse. Jumping spiders are found in every part of the world except Antarctica. Capa...

Smithsonian scientist warns that palm oil development may threaten Amazon

Oil palm cultivation is a significant driver of tropical forest destruction across Southeast Asia. It could easily become a threat to the Amazon rainforest because of a proposed change in Brazil's legislation, new infrastructure and the influence of foreign agro-industrial firms in the region, acc...

'Freaks' help scientist unravel nature and nurture

In 1940, a Dutch goat born without front legs learned to walk upright. So did Faith, a two-legged dog in Oklahoma. Johnny Eck, a "half-man" born without legs, grew naturally into a graceful hand-walker. And in Minnesota, conjoined twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel live successfully wit...

GUMC young scientist selected postdoc Fellow at National Space Biomedical Research Institute

Washington, DC The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) has selected Daniela Trani, PhD, of Georgetown University Medical Center as one of four young investigators in the nation for its 2008-2010 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Trani is a postdoctoral fellow in Georgetown's Lomb...

Canadian scientist mines drugs database for new diabetes treatment

A Canadian scientist, now based in the UK and funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has harnessed a new drug discovery tool to identify a new player in the body's insulin secretion process. This finding could spark a completely new class of drugs to treat type 2 ...

BIDMC scientist John Rinn, Ph.D., receives Damon-Runyon Rachleff Innovation Award

BOSTON AND NEW YORK The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation announced today that Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researcher John Rinn, PhD, has been awarded a 2009 Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award. The three-year $450,000 prize is made to early-career researchers who are using "no...

UT Southwestern scientist honored among best in Texas research

DALLAS Jan. 8, 2009 Dr. Rama Ranganathan, professor of pharmacology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, was recognized today as one of the state's top rising stars in research by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). Dr. Ranganathan was named a recipient of one of...

HWI scientist first in world to unravel structure of key breast cancer target enzyme

The molecular details of Aromatase, the key enzyme required for the body to make estrogen, are no longer a mystery thanks to the structural biology work done by the Ghosh lab at the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Debashis Ghosh's solution of the three...

Columbia University scientist devises new way to more rapidly generate bone tissue

NEW YORK (Dec. 15, 2008) Using stem cell lines not typically combined, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have designed a new way to "grow" bone and other tissues. The inability to foster angiogenesis a physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-ex...

Forsyth scientist receives major grant to support rapid, accurate, affordable test for tuberculosis

Dr. Antonio Campos-Neto, head of the department of Cytokine Biology at The Forsyth Institute, has received a major grant from the internationally renowned Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) to continue his work to develop a test to diagnose active Tuberculosis (TB), the world's secon...

Elsevier announces winners of 3rd Annual Scopus Young Indian Scientist Award

NEW DELHI, December 5, 2008 Elsevier, the world's leading publisher of scientific information, announced today the winners of the third annual Scopus Young Indian Scientist Award. Prof. J J Theo Groothuizen, S&T Counsellor, Embassy of Netherlands, presided over the award ceremony, held at Le Mer...

French scientist wins the Journal of Experimental Biology Outstanding Paper Prize

The Editors of The Journal of Experimental Biology are pleased to announce that Dr Audrey Dussutour from the University of Sydney is the winner of this year's JEB Outstanding Paper Prize. The award is announced on the 28th November in The Journal of Experimental Biology at http://jeb.biologis...

UC Riverside scientist to explore how vegetation affects urban heat islands

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Darrel Jenerette, a landscape ecologist at UC Riverside, is on a team led by Arizona State University researchers that will be investigating human vulnerability to deadly heat exposure. The three-year project will examine how variation in the "urban heat island" a metropolit...

Salk scientist Fred H. Gage to receive the Keio Medical Science Prize

Salk researcher Dr. Fred H. Gage, professor in the Laboratory of Genetics, has been awarded the Keio Medical Science Prize for his discovery of the physiological role of adult neurogenesis in mammalian brains. He will officially receive the award during a ceremony at Keio University's School of Me...

Brown scientist finds coastal dead zones may benefit some species

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] Coastal dead zones, an increasing concern to ecologists, the fishing industry and the public, may not be as devoid of life after all. A Brown scientist has found that dead zones do indeed support marine life, and that at least one commercially valuable clam act...

University of Miami scientist uncovers miscalculation in geological undersea record

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. -- The precise timing of the origin of life on Earth and the changes in life during the past 4.5 billion years has been a subject of great controversy for the past century. The principal indicator of the amount of organic carbon produced by biological activity traditionally use...

Killer carbs -- Monash scientist finds the key to overeating as we age

A Monash University scientist has discovered key appetite control cells in the human brain degenerate over time, causing increased hunger and potentially weight-gain as we grow older. The research by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology, has ...

Oceans on the precipice: Scripps scientist warns of mass extinctions and 'rise of slime'

Human activities are cumulatively driving the health of the world's oceans down a rapid spiral, and only prompt and wholesale changes will slow or perhaps ultimately reverse the catastrophic problems they are facing. Such is the prognosis of Jeremy Jackson, a professor of oceanography at Scripp...

NASA scientist James Hansen to speak at July 11 conference on 'Rejuvenating Public Sector Science'

Join us at a daylong event to help forge an agenda for maintaining the independence of regulatory science and protecting scientists from political meddling and corporate influence. Dr. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will speak on the "Threat to the Planet: ...

Leading scientist named new chair of Cell Biology at Yale

Yale University announced today the appointment of James E. Rothman, one of the world's leading cell biologists, as chair of Yale School of Medicine's Department of Cell Biology. Additionally, Rothman will launch the Center for High-Throughput Cell Biology at Yale's West Campus, formerly the site...

Smithsonian scientist receives 2008 Medal for Excellence in tropical botany

Mireya Correa, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute since 1987 and professor at the University of Panama, received the Jos Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany April 26, 2008. Laurance J. Dorr, representing the National Museum of Natural History and the Uni...

University of Arizona scientist shares in discovery of microbe filaments' power

Researchers from The University of Arizona and Columbia University have discovered that tiny filaments on bacteria can bundle together and pull with forces far stronger than experts had previously thought possible. The team of researchers, including Magdalene Maggie So, a member of the BIO5 Ins...

Monell scientist Mark Friedman awarded Guggenheim Fellowship to study diet and obesity

PHILADELPHIA (April 10, 2008) -- Monell Center scientist Mark I. Friedman, PhD has been selected to receive a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship to pursue his work on diet and obesity. The prestigious fellowships are awarded to established scholars in the fields of science, humanities, and creative a...

UM coral scientist Peter Glynn wins award for scholarly activity

VIRGINIA KEY, FLA. Dr. Peter Glynn, a professor at the University of Miamis Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science has been selected to receive the 2007-2008 Provosts Award for Scholarly Activity. The award recognizes extraordinary research and scholarly pursuits, and provides the r...

LSU scientist finds evidence of 'rain-making' bacteria

BATON ROUGE Brent Christner, LSU professor of biological sciences, in partnership with colleagues in Montana and France, recently found evidence that rain-making bacteria are widely distributed in the atmosphere. These biological particles could factor heavily into the precipitation cycle, affec...

UBC scientist invokes future generations to save tuna populations from collapse

Balancing short- and long-term fisheries benefits could have prevented the collapse of the cod populations in Atlantic Canada, and is the last best chance for tuna, says University of British Columbia fisheries economist Rashid Sumaila. We must act as if future generations of people are alive a...

Core blimey! University of Leicester scientist calls for geological 'time machine'

A geologist from the University of Leicester has proposed an immense (1.5km) exhibition to illustrate the vastness of geological time and to give a vivid perspective of how quickly human activity is changing the climate. Sediments accumulate on deep ocean floors at a rate of a few centimetres ...

Virginia Tech plant scientist leads study on genomics of parasitic plants

Blacksburg, Va., Three types of parasitic plants, each exhibiting a different degree to which it needs its host, are the subject of a three-year, $1.5 million study at Virginia Tech to catalog genes essential to parasitism. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Plant Genome Program, th...

UT Southwestern scientist honored among best in Texas research

DALLAS Jan. 10, 2008 Dr. Beth Levine, chief of infectious diseases at UT Southwestern Medical Center, was recognized today as one of the states top rising stars in research by The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST). Dr. Levine was named a recipient of one of four E...

HU scientist finds way to catch terrorists red-handed

Jerusalem A scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has discovered a way to literally catch terrorists red-handed. A new chemical spray detector developed by Prof. Joseph Almog of the Hebrew University's Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry detects the home-made explosive urea nitrate...

U of I scientist does nutritional detective work in Botswana

Many Americans have a soft spot for Botswana, developed while reading the best-selling #1 Ladies Detective Agency series. But few have had a chance to do any sleuthing of their own in that African country. That changed when University of Illinois scientist Karen Chapman-Novakofski acquired a Ba...

Carnegie Mellon scientist uses mass spectrometer to weigh virus particle, von Willebrand factor

BOSTONWith unprecedented sensitivity, Carnegie Mellon Universitys Mark Bier has characterized large viral particles and bulky von Willebrand factors using a novel mass spectrometer. These exciting results may lead to new biological discoveries and represent a step closer to rapid disease diagnosis...

New species of phallus-shaped mushroom named after California Academy of Sciences scientist

SAN FRANCISCO (June 15, 2009) - It's two inches long, grows on wood, and is shaped like a phallus. A new species of stinkhorn mushroom, Phallus drewesii , has been discovered on the African island of Sao Tome and graces the upcoming cover of the journal Mycologia . The mushroom is named after R...

Peter Baumann named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientist

Stowers Institute Associate Investigator Peter Baumann, Ph.D., has been named an Early Career Scientist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). HHMI appointments are among the most competitive and highly sought distinctions in biomedical research. Dr. Baumann and his team will contin...