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June 2007
NEW YORK — Most animals appear symmetrical at first glance, but we're full of internal lopsidedness. From the hand used to pick up a pencil or throw a baseball, to where language is generated in the brain, to the orientation of our internal organs, humans are a glut of asymmetries. Worms aren't so different: The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has nerves on its left and right sides that perform different functions. Like handedness, the determination of which nerves develop on which side seems random from worm to worm. Rockefeller University scientists working to demystify the worm's asymmetry have discovered that the arbitrary left-right configurations of two types of olfactory neurons are established during development. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — It turns out there's more than one way to skin a gene. New research from Rockefeller University suggests that two closely related DNA unpackaging mechanisms may not work the way scientists thought. Access to a gene requires a host of proteins to work in tandem to pry open DNA's protective chromatin shell, formed by complexes of DNA and special packaging proteins called histones. Research in David Allis's Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics focuses on understanding chemical modifications to the threadlike protein "tails" that hang from histones. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Animals have biological clocks with a cycle of about 24 hours - these circadian rhythms allow them to align their physiology and behavior to the earth's rotation. Now new research from Rockefeller University shows that the same molecular clock responsible for helping flies sync themselves with patterns of light and dark might be what helps them sync to patterns of temperature, too. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Depressed mice, like depressed humans, often appear listless and antisocial - the result of aberrant levels of brain chemicals such as serotonin. The most commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs, Prozac and other drugs of its class, act to normalize levels of serotonin. But by comparing mice that had been given Prozac with mice given an alternate drug, researchers from Rockefeller University have identified a new class of chemicals that could offer better control over serotonin and more effective treatments for the debilitating mental illness. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — From bacteria to humans, every organism must replicate its DNA. This basic process, which occurs millions of times a day in an average mammal, is driven by three core protein complexes that act as tiny machines, zipping along an unwound strand of DNA to assemble a duplicate copy. New research from Rockefeller University now shows that one of these complexes, a "clamp loader," requires several previously unidentified steps to get the process started. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Researchers at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory are playing an important role in the investigation of so-called bee colony collapse disorder (CCD). Their work, as reported recently in the New York Times, focuses on viral disease incidence as it relates to honey bee colony deaths, specifically the increased deaths in bee colonies with unique symptoms. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Scientists in the Jerome L. and Dawn Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues in the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia and 454 Life Sciences have discovered a new virus that was responsible for the deaths of three transplant recipients who received organs from a single donor in Victoria, Australia. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — New York University (NYU) and the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI) jointly announced the establishment of the Emotional Brain Institute (EBI), a new research endeavor aimed at understanding the neuroscience of emotions and their impact on behavior. A multi-disciplinary group of researchers will investigate origins of emotion from the level of behavior to neural systems, cell activity, molecules, and genes. See Press Release TOP
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Steven M. Podos (Courtesy of Mount Sinai School of Medicine) |
NEW YORK — Steven M. Podos, Thomas W. Mittag and Bernard Becker were awarded a patent for 8-iso-prostaglandins for glaucoma therapy. The patent was assigned to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Tarek A. Ramadan was awarded a patent for a coupler-multiplexer permutation switch. The patent was assigned to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Detail TOP
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Ramesh Karri (Courtesy of Polytechnic University) |
NEW YORK — Ramesh Karri, Malathi Veeraraghavan, Brian Douglas and Haobo Wang were awarded a patent for signaling for reserving a communications path. The patent was assigned to Polytechnic University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Davi Geiger and Hiroshi Ishikawa were awarded a patent for signaling for a method and apparatus for segmenting an image in order to locate a part thereof. The patent was assigned to New York University. Detail TOP
BRONX — Richard Hubert Furneaux, Peter Charles Tyler and Vern L. Schramm were awarded a patent for a process for preparing inhibitors of nucleoside metabolism. The patent was assigned to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Detail TOP
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Henry Bertoni (Courtesy of Polytechnic University) |
BROOKLYN — Henry Bertoni and Binay Sugla were awarded a patent for signaling for a locating an object of interest using back tracked-rays derived from multipath signals. The patent was assigned to Polytechnic University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Xiaokui Zhang, Curt Horvath, Melissa H. Wrzeszczynska and James E. Darnell, Jr. were awarded a patent for methods for identifying modulators of transcriptional activator protein interactions. The patent was assigned to The Rockefeller University. Detail TOP
BRONX — Richard Hubert Furneaux, Peter Charles Tyler and Vern L. Schramm were awarded a patent for methods for inhibitors of nucleoside metabolism. The patent was assigned to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Detail TOP
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Winfried Edelmann (Courtesy of Albert Einstein College of Medicine) |
BRONX — Winfried Edelmann, Richard D. Kolodner, Jeffrey W. Pollard and Raju S. Kucherlapati were awarded a patent for methods for identifying compounds which modulate the activity of MSH5. The patent was assigned to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. (BOSTON). Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Marc Bessler and John D. Allendorf were awarded a patent for methods for endoscopic gastric bypass. The patent was assigned The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Detail TOP
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Michael R. Treat (Courtesy of Columbia University) |
NEW YORK — Michael R. Treat, Fred H. Co, George D. Hermann, Thomas A. Howell, Theodore R. Kucklick, Michelle Y. Monfort and Kenneth H. Mollenauer were awarded a patent for methods for electrothermal instrument for sealing and joining or cutting tissue. The patent was assigned The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Michael R. Treat was awarded a patent for methods for electrothermal instrument ringed forceps. The patent was assigned The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Detail TOP
BROOKLYN — Kurt Friedrich Brandstadt, Thomas Howard Lane and Richard A. Gross were awarded a patent for enzyme catalyzed organosilicon esters and amides. The patent was assigned to Polytechnic University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Junming Le, Jan Vilcek, Peter Daddona, John Ghrayeb, David Knight and Scott Siegel were awarded a patent for methods of treating disseminated intravascular coagulation by multiple administration of anti-TNF antibodies. The patent was assigned to Centocor, Inc. (Malvern, PA) and New York University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Leon Axel was awarded a patent for a method, system storage medium and software arrangement for homogenizing a magnetic field in a magnetic resonance imaging system. The patent was assigned to New York University. Detail TOP
BROOKLYN — Ramesh Karri, Malathi Veeraraghavan, Brian Douglas and Haobo Wang were awarded a patent for signaling for reserving a communications path. The patent was assigned to Polytechnic University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Tarek A. Ramadan was awarded a patent for a coupler-multiplexer permutation switch. The patent was assigned to The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Robert R. Alfano and Wei Cai were awarded a patent for a hybrid-dual-fourier tomographic algorithm for a fast three-dimensional optical image reconstruction in turbid media. The patent was assigned to the Research Foundation of City University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Nicolas Bruno, Nikolaos Koudas and Divesh Srivastava were awarded a patent for a method and system for pattern matching having holistic twig joins. The patent was assigned to the AT&T Corp. and The Trustees of Columbia University. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Sheikh Kaisar, Ernest Joseph Feleppa, Frederic Louis Lizzi were awarded a patent for an ultrasonic method for visualizing brachytheraphy seeds. The patent was assigned to Riverside Research Institute. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Neal Rosen and Pamela Nathalie Munster were awarded a patent for methods for enhancing the efficacy of cytotoxic agents through the use of HSP90 inhibitors. The patent was assigned to Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Kenneth O. Lloyd and Beatrice W. T. Yin were awarded a patent for nucleic acid sequence encoding ovarian antigen, CA125, and uses thereof. The patent was assigned to Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Lawrence P. Abrahamson, Richard F. Kopp, Lawrence B. Smart and Timothy A.Volk were awarded a patent for a fast-growing willow shrub named `Canastota`. The patent was assigned to The Research Foundation of State University of New York. Detail TOP
BRONX — Jed M. Shivers has been appointed Associate Dean for Finance and Administration at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, it was announced by Allen M. Spiegel, M.D., The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean of the medical school. See Press Release TOP
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Dr. Ruth L. Gottesman (Courtesy of Albert Einstein College of Medicine) |
BRONX — Dr. Ruth L. Gottesman, Professor Emerita of Pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has been unanimously elected Chairperson of the medical school's Board of Overseers. Dr. Gottesman is the first faculty member in the school's 52-year-history to be named Chair of the Board. She is also the first woman to hold the office. See Press Release TOP
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Vern L. Schramm, Ph.D. (Courtesy of Albert Einstein College of Medicine) |
BRONX — Vern L. Schramm, Ph.D., Professor and Ruth Merns Chair of Biochemistry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the nation's most prestigious honorary society for scientists. His election was announced at the Academy's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. See Press Release TOP
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Jeffrey V. Ravetch (Courtesy of The Rockefeller University) |
NEW YORK — The 2007 William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic and Tumor Immunology has been awarded to Jeffrey V. Ravetch, head of Rockefeller University's Leonard Wagner Laboratory of Molecular Genetics and Immunology. The Cancer Research Institute, which administers the prize, chose Ravetch for his work on Fc receptors, which has led to fundamental discoveries critical to the design of therapeutic antibodies. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Collaborative work between Professor George John's group at the City College of the City University of New York's Department of Chemistry and Professor Pulickel Ajayan's group at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new approach of obtaining a metal nanoparticles assembly directly from a metal precursor where the template itself plays a role in synthesizing nanoparticles, stabilizing them and assembling them in defined structures. In this novel approach we demonstrate how to obtain the MNPs embedded in LCs based on the synthesis in situ of MNPs by using glass-forming mesogens without any external reducing and stabilizing agents. See Press Release TOP
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Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan (Courtesy of New York University) |
NEW YORK — Srinivasa S. R. Varadhan, a professor at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, will receive the Abel Prize in mathematics from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters on Tues., May 22 in Oslo. His Majesty King Harald will present the award. Her Majesty Queen Sonja will also attend the award ceremony. The Minister of Education and Research, Øystein Djupedal, will be among the many prominent guests, and Norway's Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will host a banquet honoring Varadhan at Akershus Castle in the evening of the award ceremony. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — New York University biologist Fabio Piano, an associate professor at NYU's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, was selected by National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to lead one of the teams charged with decoding the genome. NHGRI is an institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH). See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — Albert J. Libchaber, head of Rockefeller University's Laboratory of Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, and Michael W. Young, head of the Laboratory of Genetics, were elected to the National Academy of Sciences during its 144th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. The Rockefeller scientists are among 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 12 countries who were chosen for distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. See Press Release TOP
NEW YORK — C. David Allis, Joy and Jack Fishman Professor at Rockefeller University, is a recipient of the 2007 Gairdner Foundation International Awards. Allis is one of five scientists honored by the Gairdner Foundation for "fundamental discoveries that will have impact on human genetic development, cancer and other diseases." See Press Release TOP
National Science Foundation Awards
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Raymond Tung (Courtesy of CUNY Brooklyn College) |
BROOKLYN — Raymond Tung of CUNY Brooklyn College is the recipient of a $370,117 NSF grant for systematic atomic and molecular layer control of Schottky Barrier Height. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Andrew Kent and Jonathan Sun of New York University is the recipient of a $345,000 NSF grant for GOALI: Spin Transfer in Magnetic Nanostructures. Detail TOP
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Nabil Simaan (Courtesy of Columbia University) |
NEW YORK — Nabil Simaan and Spiros Manolidis of Columbia University is the recipient of a $329,999 NSF grant for a study of robot-assisted cochlear implant insertion and active bending electrode arrays. Detail TOP
JAMAICA — Panayotis Meleties, Paris Svoronos, Thomas Brennan, Ruel Desamero and Patrick Lloyd of CUNY York College are the recipient of a $297,100 NSF grant for pathways to chemical technology education and careers. Detail TOP
BROOKLYN — Chaya Gurwitz, Theodore Raphan, Sophia Perdikaris, Jennifer Basil and Elizabeth Sklar of CUNY Brooklyn College is the recipient of a $149,966 NSF grant for developing a STEM curriculum for early college programs: a high school to college continuum. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Fang-Hua Lin of New York University is the recipient of a $117,563 NSF grant for analysis on faddeev, skyrme and some complex fluid models. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Gisela Winckler and Robert Anderson of Columbia University is the recipient of a $108,557 NSF grant for tracing glacial-interglacial changes in the dust source to Antarctica using helium isotopes. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Eric Jean-Paul Urban of Columbia University is the recipient of a $107,000 NSF grant for p-adic automorphic representations, p-adic L-functions and Bloch-Kato conjectures. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Liam Paninski of Columbia University is the recipient of a $100,000 NSF grant for CAREER: using advanced statistical techniques to decipher the neural code. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Luis Silvestre of New York University is the recipient of a $95,014 NSF grant for issues in nonlinear elliptic equations and free boundary problems. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Jalal Shatah of New York University is the recipient of a $70,343 NSF grant for nonlinear waves. Detail TOP
National Institutes of Health Awards
NEW YORK — Jeremy J. Mao of Columbia University Health Sciences is the recipient of a $648,784 NIH grant for stem cell based soft tissue reconstruction. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Eric C. Lai of the Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research is the recipient of a $470,000 NIH grant for annotation of the small RNA/microRNA component drosophila genome. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Kenneth Kien-Feng Teng of Weill Medical College of Cornell University is the recipient of a $315,500 NIH grant for cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurotrophin actions. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — James W. Young of Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research is the recipient of a $312,246 NIH grant for genetic modification of human dendritic cells for cancer immunity. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Oliver Hobert of Columbia University Health Sciences is the recipient of a $271,986 NIH grant for stem cells and cell lineage specification. Detail TOP
NEW YORK — Timothy H. Bestor of Columbia University Health Sciences is the recipient of a $201,250 NIH grant for silencing of transposons in mammalian germ cells. Detail TOP
Small Business Innovation Research/
Small Business Technology Transfer Awards
BROOKLYN — Farokh Eskafi of TagArray Incorporated is the recipient of a $100,000 NSF grant for a SBIR Phase I: clock-on-demand: high performance, ultra low power. Detail TOP
