Life Sciences & Biology

Dr Gary Williams | Dr Rodolfo Cardoso – Probing the Link Between Perinatal Nutrition and Puberty in Cattle
For almost two decades, Dr Gary Williams and his graduate students at Texas A&M AgriLife Research/Texas A&M University have worked to unveil the mysteries of puberty in young female cattle. With this research, Dr Williams and his former graduate student and...

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation promotes academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from abroad and from Germany. To this end, it grants more than 700 research fellowships and research awards annually. These allow researchers from all over...

Worldwide Cancer Research
Worldwide Cancer Research is a UK-based charity, founded in 1979. It funds research into all types of cancer across the globe, specifically focusing on early-stage basic laboratory science aiming to provide the seeds of discovery which may ultimately lead to...

Dr Yi Li – Health Starts in the Cell: Approaching Obesity from the Inside Out
Over the last few decades, obesity has become substantial public health concern. Obesity is associated with a myriad of other ailments and is on the rise in most developed countries. As with many chronic diseases, the development of an obese body type is often more...

Professor Michael O’Donnell – The Incredible Ways of DNA Replication
For over 30 years, Professor Michael O’Donnell, based at the Rockefeller University in New York, has focused on the mechanisms involved in the duplication of genetic material in cells, a process known as DNA replication. Professor O’Donnell’s work spans from the early...

Dr Jerry Silver – Spinal Cord Damage and Emerging Treatments
Injuries to the spinal cord can cause permanent paralysis and even lead to death, with little to no hope of regaining lost functions once the trauma has occurred. Dr Jerry Silver and his team at Case Western Reserve University Medical School, USA, have been working to...

Professor Yubin Zhou – Let There Be Light!
Professor Yubin Zhou, from the Center for Translational Cancer Research at the Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences & Technology, USA, is developing ways to use light to control cellular function. The researcher and his team are responsible for a...

Calder Biosciences: Engineering Solutions for Improved Vaccines
Designing better vaccines is the end goal for Calder Biosciences Inc., a company that has found a new way to engineer vaccines, ensuring greater stability, prolonging their duration in the body and thereby enhancing protection. Using a natural chemical reaction known...

Professor Thomas Bosch – The Metaorganism: The Microbiome and Its Host
A human body is not only composed of human cells – we are host to a multitude of microorganisms, without which we would not be able to survive. As such, humans, and all other organisms are truly metaorganisms composed of a host and a complex microbiome....

Dr Zhihua Jiang – RNA and the Key to the Diversity of Life
Over 90% of a mammalian genome is transcribed into RNA molecules, including both protein-coding and non-coding transcripts. Genes often produce one or more expressed isoforms. Dr Zhihua Jiang at Washington State University has developed novel next-generation...

Dr Charles Wray – Teaching the Genome Generation
Since the release of the first human genome, our understanding of genetics has grown significantly. However, keeping up with developments in the field can be overwhelming for students, and even teachers. Dr Charles Wray of The Jackson Laboratory has created a unique...

Professor Tony Moore – An Enzyme for the Future
Professor Tony Moore and his team at the University of Sussex are investigating the alternative oxidase. This enzyme provides an alternative route for molecular oxygen in the pathways of energy production that are often considered to be wasteful of energy but hold the...

Professor Charles Carter – The Evolution of Genetic Coding
The research of Professor Charles Carter, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA, unravels some of the biggest mysteries of molecular evolution. His research is dedicated to investigating how information flows from genes to proteins found in living organisms...

Orange Innovation: Creating Citrus Disease Resistance
Florida’s citrus industry is under threat from Huanglongbing (HLB, or citrus greening disease), a devastating plant disease. A collaboration between the University of Florida and the University of Connecticut aims to develop resistance to HLB in citrus plants, using...

Professor Jeffrey Becker – A New Method to Understand Cell Communication
The question of how cells communicate with their environment has long fascinated scientists. Typically, cells receive information from the outside through a group of proteins known as membrane receptors. For many years, these receptors have been the focus of...

Dr Stuart C. Sealfon – Using Mathematical Modelling to Predict Biology
With unprecedented advances in scientific research comes a growing body of data. Accurately interpreting these data is a significant obstacle to an improved understanding of biological systems and their behaviour during disease. To overcome this challenge, Dr Stuart...

Dr Thomas Wahli – Brown Trout & Its Parasite: A Complicated Relationship
The brown trout and Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae are two animals with a close connection: that of a host and its parasite. The brown trout represents an important native species in many parts of Europe for fishing activities. Thus, declines in brown trout...

Outcomes of Gender Summit 11, Co-hosted by NSERC
From November 6 to 8, 2017, more than 675 advocates of gender equity from across many different fields in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) took part in Gender Summit 11, in Montreal, Quebec. Co-hosted by the Natural Sciences and Engineering...

Dr Mark D. Ohman – New Perspectives on Marine Ecology: Technology Informs Oceanic Carbon Models
The world’s oceans are responsible for absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping to mitigate its warming effect on the planet. However, the way in which marine ecosystems respond to temperature changes can impact the ocean’s ability to...

Dr Merari Feliciano-Rivera – Towards Sustainable Yam Production in Puerto Rico
Yams provide a staple food source in Puerto Rico, supplying an essential source of nutrients and fibre. However, pests and disease have been severely diminishing local yields. To tackle this problem, Dr Merari Feliciano-Rivera and her team at the University of...

Dr Lalit Pukhrambam – Targeting Thioredoxin-Interacting Protein: The Future for Treating Diabetic Retinopathy?
Diabetic retinopathy is one of the main causes of blindness in developed countries. Currently, there is no known cure. Dr Lalit Pukhrambam is working to change that. Along with his group at Wayne State University, he is investigating the influence that a molecule,...

Dr Anju Vasudevan – Linking Blood Vessel Development to Psychiatric Disorders
The research of Dr Anju Vasudevan, from the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, focusses on the early development of blood vessels in the brain and how defects in this process may be associated with a diagnosis of neuropsychiatric...

Dr William Lovallo | Dr Ashley Acheson – The Interaction Between Genetics and Environment in Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders
The longstanding collaboration between Dr William Lovallo, of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Centre, and Dr Ashley Acheson of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, is shedding important light on how individuals differentially react to stress and...

Dr Paul Montagna – Nature’s Vital Signs: Using Bioindicators to Understand Ecosystem Health
The 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was an environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico that may take decades to recover. In the immediate wake of the crisis, scientists began to study the developing effects of the spill. Dr Paul Montagna at Texas A&M, Corpus...

Professor Phillip Hylemon | Professor Huiping Zhou – Bile Acids Are Not Just for Digestion
Over the last two decades, bile acids have gone from being thought of as mere helpers during digestion of fats and fat-soluble vitamins, to crucial players in the signalling pathways operating in the liver. Professor Phillip Hylemon and Professor Huiping Zhou, from...

Professor Andrea Duina – The Many Complexities of DNA Packing and Gene Expression
Although fundamental to life itself, many processes involving DNA and its packing inside cells still remain to be elucidated. Here, we follow the work of Professor Andrea Duina and his team at Hendrix College, Arkansas, USA, in their efforts to understand the...

Dr Claudio Fiocchi – An Integrated Approach to Fighting Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) causes significant pain and discomfort to sufferers and severely affects quality of life. Research on IBD focusing on the individual contributing factors has failed to provide truly effective treatment options, and the broader picture...

Professor Charles Bangham – The Forgotten Cousin of HIV
The catastrophic impact of HIV – human immunodeficiency virus – is well-known worldwide. Not so well known is its distant cousin HTLV-1, human T cell leukaemia virus type 1, which also has the potential to destroy lives. The study of HTLV-1 can shed light on HIV...

Dr Mark Hixon – Combatting the Lionfish Invasion
Lionfish are predators that typically inhabit Pacific and Indian Ocean coral reefs. In areas where they have been introduced, they have become troublesome invaders. Populations have spread and grown in some regions to the extent that they are wreaking havoc on local...

Professor Thomas Wilke – A Novel Tool to Better Understand the Diversity of Life
Completing the inventory of the Earth’s biodiversity is a huge challenge. Supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG), Professor Thomas Wilke and his research group at Justus Liebig University Giessen in Germany are addressing this challenge head on. The team is...

NIGMS – Leading the Way in STEM Education & Training
Established in 1962, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) is one of the 27 Centers, Institutes and Offices within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – the primary medical research agency of the US Government. In addition to supporting basic...

Dr Johanne Brunet – Buzzing & Blooming: Bee-Flower Interactions in Crop Production
Pollination by flying insects is often the forgotten key to high agricultural productivity. Dr Johanne Brunet, research ecologist at the USDA-Agricultural Service, is investigating insect-flower interactions, and their implications for crop production. Bees as...