Life Sciences & Biology
Dr Chang-Won Lee – Global Health is for the Birds: Studying Avian Diseases to Protect Human Health
Every year, outbreaks of diseases that affect livestock cause massive economic losses, and occasionally these diseases also threaten human health. The dynamics that influence the emergence and transmission of these diseases are complex, and studying them effectively...
Mark Hoddle – Biological Control: Protecting Agriculture and Wilderness Areas from Invasive Insect Pests
Invasive organisms become pests, in part, because they escape control of their natural enemies that regulate population growth in areas where the invader is native. Biological control attempts to re-associate host specific natural enemies with target pest populations...
Dr Guihua Bai – Genotyping our Daily Bread: Genetic Markers in Modern Wheat Breeding
Wheat is a staple crop, and is of utmost importance for global food supply. Dr Guihua Bai and his group at USDA-ARS conduct wheat genomics research to analyse wheat DNA markers, and assist in the breeding of new cultivars, to ensure high grain yields and quality, as...
Professor Thomas Fleischner and colleagues – Why Field Studies Matter for Teaching Biology
Professor Thomas Fleischner and his colleagues at the Natural History Institute at Prescott College, and across the United States, are working to highlight the importance of field studies for teaching biology. Here, we discuss why the decline of field studies should...
Professor Jim Kasting – Pinning Down the Habitable Zones of Different Stars
One of life’s greatest mysteries is whether or not we are alone in the Universe. One way to find planets that could support life is by working out whether they lie in the ‘habitable zone’ of their parent star – a distance at which liquid water might exist on the...
Dr Gábor Csányi – Macropinocytosis: The Macrophage Drinking Problem Behind Atherosclerosis
Dr Gábor Csányi and his team at the Vascular Biology Center of Augusta University explore the molecular mechanisms involved in an alternative pathway of macrophage LDL cholesterol uptake, with hopes of finding new targets for the treatment of atherosclerosis. HDL, LDL...
Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz – Mitochondria – A Novel Target in the Fight Against Cancer
There is an urgent need for new therapies to target challenging, difficult-to-treat cancers such as glioblastoma. To meet this need, Professor Varda Shoshan-Barmatz, a renowned researcher in the field of mitochondrial biology from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in...
Dr Frederick A. Moore & Dr Lyle Moldawer – The Sepsis And Critical Illness Research Center: From Patients To The Bench And Back
By taking a complex disease and breaking it down to its basics, The Sepsis and Critical Illness Research Center (SCIRC) has evolved into an organisation with the unique ability to tackle sepsis from biological, clinical and translational standpoints. What is Sepsis?...
Professor Robert Fairman – Twists and Turns in Protein Assembly
In nerve cells, the accumulation of protein into bundles of insoluble fibres is the underlying cause of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Robert Fairman and his team at Haverford College are developing cutting edge techniques to unravel this process....
Professor Costantino Vetriani | Professor Frank T. Robb – Uncovering the Relationship Between Aquatic Thermophiles and Human Bacterial Pathogens
Thermophiles thriving on hydrothermal vents are opening new avenues towards understanding the chemical mechanisms of human diseases. Here we discuss the work of Professors Costantino Vetriani and Frank Robb, who isolate these extreme microorganisms and study their...
Dr Branwen Williams – Coralline Algae as a Climate Archive
The unique structure and anatomy of a coralline red algae found in the Arctic-Subarctic makes them useful markers, or ‘proxies’ of past climate and environment. Known as Clathromorphum, these encrusting algae can live up to 850 years and form thick crusts of layers....
The American Society for Cell Biology
Founded over half a century ago, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) is an inclusive, international community of biologists studying the cell – the fundamental unit of all life on Earth. The Society aims to advance scientific discovery, advocate sound...
Professor Michael Roth – Uncovering New Pathologic Mechanisms of Asthma
Professor Michael Roth, Head of the Pulmonary Cell Research unit at the University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, has been investigating the pathologic causative mechanisms behind asthma and COPD for the last 30 years, with the aim of developing novel treatments...
DIGS-BB: Setting the Standard for Modern PhD Training
Over the past decade, the Dresden International Graduate School for Biomedicine and Bioengineering (DIGS-BB) has risen to the forefront of PhD student training. The program combines cutting edge research projects with innovative mentoring strategies to train...
Professor Matilde Inglese – Imaging Multiple Sclerosis: Searching for Patterns in the Brain
Professor Matilde Inglese, Director of the Neurology Imaging Laboratory in the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, is at the forefront of using sodium MRI as a means to better monitor and understand the pathophysiological changes caused during multiple...
Professor William F. Marzluff – Histones: Tailless mRNAs
Professor William F. Marzluff and his colleagues at the University of North Carolina study the regulation of gene activity in animal cells. Specifically, they are interested in the regulation of gene expression during the cell cycle by postranscriptional...
Ada Hamosh, MD, MPH – OMIM® – The Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man Knowledgebase: A Wardrobe Full of Genes
The OMIM knowledgebase provides a map to the complex world of human genetics, linking genes and their associated traits in an easy-to-understand system that is an essential resource used by researchers and clinicians worldwide. A commercial and technological...
Dr Mollie Manier – How Female Flies Choose the Right Partner After Mating with Multiple Males
Research led by Dr Mollie Manier at The George Washington University has revealed how female fruit flies choose the right sperm to fertilise their eggs after mating with multiple males. Secondary sexual male ornaments are advantageous in acquiring mates and can...
Dr David Marcinek – Guiding Ageing Research into Maturity
Old age is a bigger part of life today than ever before, yet our ability to tackle age-related diseases is lagging behind our extraordinary leaps in lifespan. One of the many dedicated researchers delving into the ageing process is Dr David Marcinek, who is bringing...
Dr Diana P. Bratu – Real-Time Visualisation Of Mrna Regulation And Transport
Dr Diana Bratu’s laboratory utilises biophotonics to image the movement of mRNA and the proteins it interacts with during the development of the fruit fly egg, informing research ranging from the basics of mRNA transport to therapeutic development. The Importance of...
Dr Florence Bareyre – A Chordate with Destiny
Spinal cord injuries have garnered the dedication of countless researchers. Nevertheless, the path towards understanding and mastering neuronal repair in the central nervous system (CNS) remains more tortuous than even the tangled nerves themselves. It...
Dr Kristin M Aquilino | Professor Gary Cherr – Bringing White Abalone Back from the Brink
The white abalone snail has been overfished to the verge of extinction, but Dr Kristin Aquilino and Professor Gary Cherr at UC Davis hope to save the species by reintroducing their captive-bred population back into the wild. Threatened by Overfishing Although trying...
CAPRISA: Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
The Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) was established in 2002 with a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant award. The organisation was created as a partnership between five institutions: University of KwaZuluNatal, University of...
The Galapagos Conservation Trust
Galapagos Conservation Trust (GCT) is the only UK registered charity to focus exclusively on the conservation and sustainability of the Galapagos Archipelago. Launched in 1995 at the Royal Society, GCT has supported a vast array of projects in Galapagos...
Dr Scott Carver – Conservation, Connections of Humans and Nature, and Unravelling a World of Infectious Diseases
Dr Scott Carver and his team at the University of Tasmania use a multidisciplinary approach to study the spread of disease within and among wild animals, their domestic counterparts, and humans. ‘No man is an island,’ says the poem, ‘entire of himself.’ It was...
Dr Leonard Bryan Coop – Cloudy, With A Chance Of Insects
The Integrated Plant Protection Center at Oregon State University is both a hub for research into agricultural pest management and the host of widelyused pest forecasting tools. Dr Leonard Coop and his co-workers plan to improve those tools even further. Should I...
Dr Nicolo Riggi | Dr Ivan Stamenkovic – Shining Light on Paediatric Cancers
Paediatric tumours often follow different developmental pathways than adult cancers, and may require different approaches to treatment for the best outcomes. Drs Ivan Stamenkovic and Nicolo Riggi work to unravel the mysteries of paediatric cancer by illuminating the...
Dr Irina S. Druzhinina – Using Mother Nature to Help Clean Up Mother Nature
Mycologist and Environmental Engineer Dr Irina Druzhinina and her colleagues at the Biochemical Technology Research Division of the Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Biological Engineering, TU Wien in Vienna, Austria, are looking for a compound to use in the...
Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society
Founded in 1886 at Cornell University, Sigma Xi is an international community of scientists and engineers dedicated to promoting excellence in research, enhancing public engagement with science, and fostering the next generation of researchers. Here, we have had the...
Dr Matthew D. Hirschey – Combatting Carbon Stress To Keep Cells Healthy
Aging is a complex process through which cumulative cellular wear and tear leaves us vulnerable to disease. One avenue for aging occurs when enzymes in our bodies break down food into energy. Dr Matthew Hirschey at Duke University aims to explain the biochemistry...
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
The national heart, lung, and blood institute (nhlbi) is one of 27 centers, institutes, and offices within the national institutes of health (nih). It was established originally as the national heart institute in 1948 with amission to support research and research...
Professor Reinhard Dallinger – Investigating Metals In The World’s Invertebrate Animals
Ecotoxicologist Professor Reinhard Dallinger and his colleagues at the University of Innsbruck in Austria look for ways to locate and measure environmental metal fluxes and pollution in non-model invertebrate and indicator organisms, like worms and shellfish. Looking...