The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has named Flaminia Catteruccia, professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, as one of 33 new HHMI investigators. HHMI will provide Catteruccia with about $9 million in support, including salary, benefits, and a research budget, over a seven-year term. This support will allow Catteruccia to pursue her scientific…
Four Harvard Medical School faculty members were named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators on Sept. 23. They are among 33 individuals recognized as outstanding scientists working to solve some of the most challenging problems in biomedical research. HHMI selected the new investigators because they’re thoughtful, rigorous scientists who have the potential to make transformative discoveries over time, said David Clapham, HHMI’s vice president and…
The Transformative Scholars Program in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital was established to support talented physician-scientists in taking on critical challenges facing health and health care today. With the support of visionary philanthropists, the program provides the opportunity for outstanding young faculty to pursue innovative, high impact, interdisciplinary work. By linking the individual support to the world-class…
A deepening understanding of the brain has created unprecedented opportunities to alleviate the challenges posed by disability. Scientists and engineers are taking design cues from biology itself to create revolutionary technologies that restore the function of bodies affected by injury, aging, or disease — from prosthetic limbs that effortlessly navigate tricky terrain to digital nervous systems that move the body…
Hyperlipidemia induces accelerated rejection of cardiac allografts and resistance to tolerance induction using costimulatory molecule blockade in mice due in part to anti-donor Th17 responses and reduced regulatory T cell function. Accelerated rejection in hyperlipidemic mice is also associated with increased serum levels of IL-6. Here, we examined the role of IL-6 in hyperlipidemia-induced accelerated rejection and resistance to tolerance.…
Five members of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard are among the 33 biomedical researchers nationwide who will become Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigators this fall. Emily Balskus, Cassandra Extavour, Sun Hur, Cigall Kadoch, and Shingo Kajimura will receive long-term, flexible funding from HHMI, providing them the freedom to move their research forward in creative and new directions.…
Inside our brains lives a myriad of cell types that support complex human thought — from our ability to make memories and decisions, to our capacity for smell, taste, movement, and communication. Scientists do not yet fully understand how this critical cellular diversity arises as the brain grows and develops. Now, researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard…
Anna Greka, HMS associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s, was one of 10 individuals named by the National Academy of Medicine to the class of 2021 Emerging Leaders in Health and Medicine Scholars, which recognizes early- to mid-career professionals. With a focus on laying the foundation for molecularly targeted therapies, Greka’s scientific work is centered on understanding membrane proteins…
The cell adhesion molecule transmembrane and immunoglobulin (Ig) domain containing1 (TMIGD1) is a novel tumor suppressor that plays important roles in regulating cell–cell adhesion, cell proliferation and cell cycle. However, the mechanisms of TMIGD1 signaling are not yet fully elucidated. TMIGD1 binds to the ERM family proteins moesin and ezrin, and an evolutionarily conserved RRKK motif on the carboxyl terminus…
Influenza virus was the cause of the flu pandemic of 1918 that killed over 20 million people world-wide, and different variants continue to cause new epidemic flu outbreaks every year that threaten the health and livelihoods of many. The Centers for Disease Control and Intervention (CDC) estimate that influenza has resulted in between 9 million and 45 million illnesses, 140,000…
