NEWS ARCHIVE: 2006

Although we spend a third of our life asleep, it is still unclear why we sleep and how sleep is regulated at the level of genetic and neural circuits. Members of the Schier lab want to tackle these questions by developing and employing zebrafish as a model system. In the December 20 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, they report that hypocretin, a gene that regulates human sleep, promotes wakefulness in zebrafish. [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 Erik Procko and Martin Willensdorfer, and Martin Samuels was awarded the Peralta Prize. [more]

In a paper appearing in the November 28, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences we are now describing an aspect of IgG's ability to promote the destruction of foreign particles. We speculate that IgG-induced activation of the lysosome/phagosome targeting pathway is particularly important in the defense against intracellular pathogens, a group of germs that cause disease by growing inside phagocytes. [more]

Naoshige Uchida, a neuroscientist and new Assistant Professor in MCB, studies the neural circuits that link sensory organs with decision centers in the brain. His objective is to find out how the brain codes and uses sensory information to trigger thought, action, and learning. [more]

A new MCB Assistant Professor, D’Souza comes to Harvard from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC), where, in 2004, she used NMR to solve the largest RNA structure to date: the encapsidation signal of the murine leukemia virus. She hopes her fundamental investigations will lead to better drugs against retroviral pathogens, especially those linked to cancer. [more]

Our experiments looked at the "engine" part of TAP, or nucleotide binding domain, which drives peptide transport.  TAP has a pair of similar (but non-identical) nucleotide binding domains, which can be thought of as a two-cylinder engine. [more]

MCB is pleased to announce that Kevin Eggan, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology is a recipient of this year's MacArthur “genius” award in recognition of his stellar contribution to stem cell research. [more]

On Friday, September 29, David Baltimore will deliver the 21st Konrad Bloch lecture in MCB. A Nobel Prize Laureate, Dr. Baltimore is one of the most prominent and honored researchers in the life sciences.  He will speak on “Negative Controls on NF-kB Action” at noon in the Sherman Fairchild Lecture Hall. [more]

Cell cycle checkpoints are surveillance mechanisms that ensure the ordered progression of events during the cell division cycle. In this study we have looked at how the budding yeast spindle checkpoint is regulated as cells leave metaphase. [more]

Eighteen teachers from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, and Mississippi gathered to update their knowledge, create new curricula, and forge new collegial relationships. This year’s program focused on evolution, because of its high public profile and controversial nature in school communities. [more]

Bone can be produced by two distinct mechanisms: direct differentiation from the mesechymal progenitor (occurring in the skull and face, called intramembranous ossification) or the formation of bone on a cartilage scaffold (called endochondral ossification, used by the rest of the skeleton). Endochondral ossification, the focus of our current study, is initiated by the condensation of multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells into structures that anticipate elements of the adult skeleton. [more]

Associate Professor Rachelle Gaudet has made gratifying progress on both her TAP and TRP projects, which both entail understanding how the structure of proteins affects their biological function. She combines that structural information with cellular biology and biochemistry to learn about the protein’s mechanism by studying mammalian proteins produced in cell cultures. [more]

Life exists in an impressive variety of forms, but the processes responsible for generating all that variation typically take far longer than the average biologist’s career. Luckily, many single-celled organisms with short generation times and prolific reproductive capacity can be easily manipulated to study the mutations associated with adapting to environmental changes. [more]

Professor J. Woodland (Woody) Hastings has been awarded the 4th annual Peter C. Farrell Prize in Sleep Medicine from the Harvard Medical School Division of Sleep Medicine. Professor Hastings, Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Natural Sciences in MCB, was cited as a "pioneer in photobiology and founding father of the field of circadian biology". [more]

Recent reports have suggested that the mouse ovary might have surprising regenerative potential after chemotherapeutic injury and, remarkably, that oocyte production can be maintained through continual seeding of the ovary by circulating, bone marrow-derived germ cells. [more]

In our recent study (Krzewski et al., J Cell Biol 173, 121-32, 2006) we discovered a huge (~ 1.3 megaDa) multiprotein complex, formed during NK cell activation, comprised of WASp (actin polymerization factor), WIP (WASp activity regulator and filamentous actin stabilizing protein), myosin IIA (actin motor protein) and actin. This multiprotein complex was affected by KIR inhibitory signaling. [more]

Tom Maniatis has been awarded an honorary degree from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  The Thomas H. Lee Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology was recognized for  a lifetime of achievement as an outstanding scholar and researcher. [more]

For the first time since 2000, there are two winners of the annual Henderson Prize: Milena Andzelm of the Strominger lab and Shelly Choo of the Gaudet lab.  Each winner will receive a $350 book award, a framed certificate, and a copy of "Fitness of the Environment" by Laurence J. Henderson.  The late Professor Henderson (1878-1942) was known for his research on blood biochemistry. [more]

MCB Professor Markus Meister has become a leading figure in neurobiology — a pioneer who tracks and deciphers neuronal circuits in the retina and their intimate connections with brain physiology. His studies have revealed numerous, and often surprising, aspects of the retina’s capacity to organize and process information. Due largely to his efforts, scientists now know the eyes play dynamic roles in the hardwiring of the nervous system. [more]

When animals meet, how do they distinguish friend from foe? Such determinations must be made quickly, since any delay could mean a missed opportunity, but also accurately, since mistaking an enemy for a potential mate could have dire consequences. [more]

Florian Engert, Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is a recipient of the 2006 McKnight Scholar Award. The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience seeks innovative research in the field of brain function and diseases. [more]

What if a famous professor came to you and offered to pay you to do research at a Harvard laboratory with one of the world’s most renowned investigators – and you were only a college freshman and even had a poor science background to boot? [more]

In their latest work, published in the journal Developmental Cell, members of the Kunes lab show that targeting of Hedgehog to axons, growth cones and synapses relies on a phylogenetically conserved amino acid motif located at  the Hedgehog C-terminus. [more]

The Hedgehog signaling pathway has emerged as a key regulator of normal embryonic development and a major contributor to a spectrum of cancers. A recent report from Toyo Tenzen and Benjamin Allen, postdoctoral scientists in the McMahon group in MCB, identifies two new components of this pathway that ensure the appropriate outcome to Hedgehog signals in their target tissues. [more]

The graduate student members of Harvard's Mind/Brain/Behavior (MBB) Initiative are pleased to announce their second annual conference, to be held May 11th and12th. This year’s conference, "War:  The Science of Conflict", will present research on both social and organismic perspectives on the nature of conflict. [more]

Neurons are constantly engaged in a chatter of synaptic transmission and action-potential generation. If the neurons are electrically silent, they are non-functioning, and if they are too active, the circuit becomes epileptic and equally non-functional. [more]

This Symposium, sponsored by the Genetics and Genomics Training Program, will be on Friday, April 28th, from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm in the Sherman Fairchild Lecture Hall. Speakers include Richard Wrangham (Harvard University), Joan Strassmann (Rice University), Goran Arnqvist (University of Uppsala), Ashleigh Griffin (University of Edinburgh) and Laurent Keller (University of Lausanne). [more]

Tadpoles don’t behave, but zebra fish do, and that’s why newly promoted Associate Professor Florian Engert is switching the focus of his neuroscience experiments to fish. He has established in vivo electrophysiology and two-photon microscopy in the zebra fish’s central nervous system, and the zebra fish obedience school. [more]

The Microbial Sciences Initiative (MSI) at Harvard is an interdisciplinary science program aimed at a comprehensive understanding of the richest biological reservoir of the planet, the microbial world. Microbes are ubiquitous and have an impact on every aspect of our existence. Yet, their intrinsic invisibility has meant that they have remained largely unknown, their effects and enormous potential often unrecognized. [more]

Although it is generally agreed that neural activity plays an important role in the proper development of the visual system, the mechanisms by which this occurs and the extent to which activity can instruct visual development remains hotly debated. We have investigated these questions using the visual system of the developing Xenopus laevis tadpole. [more]

One of the 10 biological commandments is "Thou shall keep thy genome stable!" One way that proliferating cells accomplish this is to rely on cell cycle checkpoints to slow down the cell division cycle when their DNA is damaged. [more]

The 2006 Merck Genome-Related Research Awards were announced on February 27. This year, Merck generously agreed to fund two additional postdoctoral fellows, for a total of four postdoctoral awards, in addition to four awards for Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) members. [more]

A new study from the Erikson lab by Xiaoqi Liu and Ming Lei, appearing in Molecular and Cellular Biology, offers important insight into the function of Polo-like kinase 1 and its role in cell regulation and carcinogenesis in mammalian cells. [more]

To understand Axel Nohturfft’s fascination with cell membranes, think of a time billions of years ago, when life first flickered in a primordial soup, bubbling on a new earth. Some primitive molecules—structured as fatty substances called lipids—began to agglomerate into little bags of membranes that ultimately morphed into the ancestors of modern cells. [more]

Research by Antonio Giraldez, Alex Schier, and their collaborators now indicates that the microRNA miR-430 represses hundreds of mRNAs during early zebrafish embryogenesis by removing their poly(A) tail. [more]

In this week’s Cell, Craig Ellermeier, Errett Hobbs, Eduardo Gonzalez and Rich Losick report the discovery of an unusually simple system by which bacterial cells sense and respond to an external signal. [more]

Anyone who’s ever taken a freshman biology course in college knows the ordinary routine: a big textbook, a big class, and lots of facts to memorize before exams. Now, a new undergraduate course offered by the Life Sciences Division aims for a more compelling approach. [more]

We have provided a first glimpse of protein synthesis at synapses as an animal forms a long-term memory, and discovered a new mechanism that regulates it. In this work, postdoctoral fellow Shovon Ashraf, with help from Harvard College undergraduates Anna McLoon and Sarah Sclarsic, used fluorescent reporter constructs to visualize synaptic protein synthesis as a fly forms a long-term memory. [more]

In this week’s Nature, Brian Ciruna, Alex Schier and colleagues reveal how a major cellular signaling pathway controls the formation of an embryo's neural tube – its future spinal cord and brain. The finding may shed light on the underlying cause of common neural tube closure defects, such as spina bifida, which afflict 1 in 1,000 newborn children. [more]