News

IND postdoc wins prize at scientific meeting

Postdoctoral scholar David Berry won 2nd place for his poster presentation at the PRION 2013 meeting. HIs poster, titled "Prion therapeutic efficacy is limited by the emergence of drug-resistant strains," reported his work about how drugs might change the properties of deadly prion proteins. His work has important implications about how and why therapies may or may not be effective.

The annual meeting is the largest international congress devoted to prion research. This year's meeting convened in Banff, Canada.

Congratulations, David!

Mad-Cow Disease May Hold Clues To Other Neurological Disorders

Published in The Wall Street Journal; 3 December 2012

By Amy Dockser Marcus

Scientists believe new ways to treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease could emerge from research into another neurodegenerative disorder: mad-cow disease.

The rare bovine disorder, which infects cattle, and the human form, called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, both fall into a category of so-called prion diseases, caused by aberrant proteins that spread aggressively from cell to cell.

While the human variant of mad-cow disease isn't normally lumped together with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Lou Gehrig's disease, which affect millions of mostly older people world-wide, the conditions share the ability to spread and wreak havoc through the body. And although there isn't evidence that these more common neurological disorders are transmissible to people, researchers are finding that... Read more ...

President Obama Honors Nation's Top Scientists and Innovators

Published by The White House; 15 October 2010

President Obama today named ten eminent researchers as recipients of theNational Medal of Science, and three individuals and one team as recipientsof the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honors bestowed by the United States government on scientists, engineers, and inventors. The recipients will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.

“The extraordinary accomplishments of these scientists, engineers, and inventors are a testament to American industry and ingenuity,” President Obama said. “Their achievements have redrawn the frontiers of human knowledge while enhancing American prosperity, and it is my tremendous pleasure to honor them for their important contributions.”

The National Medal of Science was created by statute in 1959 and is administered for the White House by the National Science... Read more ...