They’re the first fish kids kill. But they’re a godsend to a developmental geneticist like new MCB professor Alex Schier. "Zebrafish are great," he says. In 48 hours, they go from fertilization to the end of embryogenesis. "They’re transparent as embryos, so you can see every cell and inside every cell. You can combine embryology with genetics to find mutations that affect development. You can observe at the subcellular level what a gene is doing." [more]

A tragic truth is that the mammalian central nervous system (CNS) has very limited ability to regenerate following injury. There is intense interest in trying to understand these limits, so that they can be circumvented, thereby providing hope to victims of spinal cord and brain injuries. [more]

On December 9-10, MCB is pleased to present a scientific symposium and several social events in celebration of Jack Strominger's 80th birthday.  A general reception and dinner on Friday will be followed on Saturday by a science symposium at Harvard Medical School. [more]

Three MCB graduate students were recognized for their academic achievement at MCB’s retreat at Loon Mountain in New Hampshire last month. This year’s Merck-Wiley Fellowship recipients were Xi Chen and Benjamin de Bivort, and Erik Procko was awarded the Peralta Prize. [more]

In a set of experiments published in the November 17 issue of Cell (Yoon et al., 2005), Catherine Dulac and Hayan Yoon, along with L.W. Enquist of Princeton, identify a complex neuronal network controlling reproduction and fertility in mice. Remarkably, in contrast to established notions on the nature of sensory inputs modulating reproduction, their study uncovered a major olfactory component of these circuits. [more]

Markus Meister has been awarded the Golden Brain Award by the Minerva Foundation, which annually recognizes an investigator for significant findings in vision and brain research. Meister’s research has revealed surprising ways that sensory organs, specifically the retina, organize and code information before sending it to the brain. [more]

Kevin Eggan, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, has been appointed Assistant Investigator by the Stowers Medical Institute (SMI), based in Cambridge and founded and funded by Jim and Virginia Stowers. [more]

We are pleased to announce the arrivals of new MCB faculty members: Erin O’Shea, Alex Schier, Kevin Eggan, Victoria D’Souza, and Naoshige Uchida. [more]

O’Shea’s research is motivated by her desire to understand how cells interpret and respond to their environments. "This is fundamental to the life of the cell," she explains. "The whole manner by which cells detect and respond to their environment is relevant to so many basic and applied questions." [more]

The synapse is the heart of the nervous system, the site at which information is processed and passed between cells.  Its formation involves signals passed between the pre- and postsynaptic partners. Using the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), whose large size and accessibility has made it a favorite preparation for studies of synaptic development, two recent papers from the Sanes lab shed new light on how these cells collaborate. [more]

Dr. Richard Flavell’s research is directed towards understanding the interactions between the innate and adaptive immune systems and how these interactions lead to T cell activation. [more]

A paper from the Strominger lab sheds interesting new light on the regulation of maturation of dendritic cells. Dendritic cells are the primary antigen presenting lymphocytes in the immune system and their maturation plays a critical role in responding to foreign antigens derived from invading pathogens. [more]

Federal funding restrictions? Public controversy? These challenges might deter some young scientists from stem cell research, but not Kevin Eggan, who this year begins a new job as MCB Assistant Professor. [more]

The ingredients of a human cell include about 100,000 different proteins, 500 kinds of fat, 25 different molecules of DNA, something called RNA, a lot of water, minerals and some "proprietary flavors." An overarching problem in molecular and cellular biology is the question of how all these molecules are (a) made and then (b) assembled to build a cell. [more]

To test whether Human Embryonic Stem (hES) cells could reprogram human somatic cells, we have fused hES cells with human skin cells and investigated the characteristics of the resulting "hybrid" cells. We found that the appearance, growth characteristics and developmental potential of these hybrids cells were identical to an hES cell.  [more]

18 high school biology teachers participated in the third annual HHMI-MCB Outreach Program’s summer session, which wrapped up on July 22. The two-week program, cosponsored by MCB and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, drew a diverse group of energetic educators who attended lectures, labs, and workshops centered on this year’s topic, neurobiology. [more]

Eighty years ago, Jack Strominger, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry, began his "tortuous journey to immunoland." En route, he discovered how penicillin kills bacteria and how the immune system fundamentally works. Now he explores autoimmune diseases, the "enigma" of pregnancy, and natural killer cells. [more]

Water and salt balance in our bodies and removal of toxic wastes is carried out by a high powered filtration system, the kidney. The entire volume of blood in our bodies is filtered through the kidneys many times every hour. This work is carried out by a battery, 500,000 in us, of specialized tubular units called nephrons. [more]

Our eyes report the visual world to the brain, but not very faithfully. Instead, the retina creates a cartoonist's sketch of the visual scene, highlighting the edges of objects while suppressing the less interesting regions of flat illumination. Because edges are rare compared to flat regions, this amounts to a search for novel features. But what happens in a visual environment where edges are common? [more]

"It’s my ambition that someday the word ‘topoisomerase’ will be in the dictionary," says Professor Jim Wang, Mallinckrodt Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, who is retiring after 28 years at Harvard. [more]

Researchers working together in the Howard Berg lab in MCB, the Rowland Institute at Harvard and the Whitesides lab in CCB have observed a new, interesting behavior of motile Escherichia coli cells:  given the right prompting, the bacteria will “drive on the right.” [more]

All cells are faced with two very basic problems each cell cycle: (i) they must coordinate DNA replication with cell division such that replication occurs both in a timely manner and only once per cell cycle, and (ii) they must precisely segregate replicated (sister) chromosomes into two daughter cells.  Recent work of David Bates and Nancy Kleckner has addressed these problems in the model organism, E. coli.  [more]

In April, Richard Losick, the Maria Moors Cabot Professor of Biology, was elected member of the American Philosophical Society (APS), the country’s first learned society. Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, the APS has long dedicated itself to the pursuit of "all philosophical Experiments that let Light into the Nature of Things, tend to increase the Power of Man over Matter, and multiply the Conveniences or Pleasures of Life." [more]

The polo-like kinase (plk) family has emerged as a key player in many cell cycle related events. In a search for Plk1-interacting partners using a yeast two-hybrid system, we identified a component of 900 kD chaperonin containing TCP1 complex (CCT). [more]

Pamela Björkman returns to MCB on Thursday, June 2nd, to deliver the 20th Konrad Bloch Lecture.  Björkman’s research at Caltech has focused on the structure and function of proteins involved in cell surface recognition in immunity, an interest sparked by her graduate work at MCB. [more]

Students, faculty and fans of cognitive science gathered last week in the churchlike setting of Harvard’s Andover Hall to hear from a polyglot assortment of philosophers, linguists, computer scientists, and biologists at the first annual Mind/Brain/Behavior graduate student conference, "The Nature of Thought." [more]

Bessie and Victoria are back, but from where? Nearly two years have passed since the rhinos, which normally stand guard at the entrance to the Bio Labs, disappeared in the summer of 2003... [more]

May 10, 2005 marked the end of an era, both for Professor John Dowling and Biological Sciences 80 ("Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience"), as Professor Dowling gave his last lecture—after 31 years teaching the course. [more]

To foster communication among students studying thought from different perspectives and approaches, the graduate student members of The Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative are pleased to announce their first annual conference, "The Nature of Thought.". [more]

Studying Bacillus subtilis, a microbe that can form spores when times are tough, Richard Losick of MCB and Jonathan Dworkin, now at Columbia University, have identified the genes necessary for commitment to sporulation. Their studies appear in the May 6 issue of Cell. [more]

Last fall, members of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) elected MCB Professor Nancy E. Kleckner as one of three new associate members for 2004. This is a tremendous honor for the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology, because EMBO has only 100 non-European associates in addition to 1,200 European members. [more]

Communication between neurons occurs at specialized structures called synapses, where neurotransmitters released by synaptic vesicles activate receptors on the postsynaptic neuron to elicit chemical and electrical signals. Once used, synaptic vesicles are recycled locally for future release of neurotransmitter... [more]

A symposium will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2005, to celebrate the accomplishments of Jim Wang on the occasion of his retirement from the Harvard faculty. [more]

Approximately 600 high school students participated in the annual MCB-HHMI Outreach Spring Biology Laboratory Workshops, which ran from Tuesday, March 1 through Wednesday, April 12, 2005.  Jointly sponsored by MCB and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the six-week program gave high school students hands-on experience in the Science Center’s teaching laboratories. [more]

The field of microbiology, pulsing with new excitement, has become a magnet for scientists from such varied disciplines as earth and planetary sciences, evolutionary biology, environmental microbiology and ecology, and synthetic chemistry. A Microbial Sciences Symposium on Saturday, April 16, is designed to showcase this excitement and spark interest in the initiative. [more]

Harvard students and faculty gathered with representatives from Merck on March 21 to congratulate the latest winners of the Merck Genome-Related Research Awards. The awards are given as part of a five-year gift through MCB to support genomics research in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). [more]

Dividing cells face the challenge of ensuring that newly duplicated chromosomes are faithfully segregated to their daughters.  This challenge is particularly acute in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis in which a specialized process of asymmetric cell division results in the formation of a dormant cell called the spore... [more]

More often than not, those who achieve success in their professional endeavors are motivated by an interest sparked early in life. MCB Professor Andy McMahon, with his studies of how embryos are formed, is no exception. [more]

A recent study by Kishi et al. shows how research programs can take unexpected directions. The authors wanted to study how small parts of neuronal processes become specialized to release neurotransmitter at synapses. As their starting point, they focused on a gene from worms called SAD-1, which had been found to be essential for synapse formation in this species. [more]

Double-wide color monitors glow in the darkened room like fish tanks at the New England Aquarium. Each paired screen is attached to a highly automated, computer-controlled laser scanning microscope used to watch and record the activities of fluorescently labeled nerve cells in the bodies and brains of living organisms. [more]

Although microarray technology is wildly popular among biologists, even its biggest fans are sometimes overwhelmed by the sense of having too much information. This is especially frustrating for systems biologists trying to spot patterns in data sets that can seem as vast as the Milky Way. MCB graduate student Benjamin de Bivort became interested in this problem in early 2003... [more]

Errors in chromosome segregation lead to disease and death. To prevent such errors, sister chromatids are held together with the protein complex cohesin, and this link is not broken until they align properly on the mitotic spindle.  Proper alignment is achieved when the sister chromatids attach via their kinetochores to spindle microtubules that emanate from the opposite poles of the spindle. [more]