Personal favorites

• "My Cell Phone Rings in A Minor" - exploring the science of perfect pitch.
  Extras: Listen to related story podcast; watch a short video.

• Q&A with Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., who talks about doing science because he believes in God, and why religion needs science to protect it from literal creationism.

• "Almost Immortal" - a look at Stowers' first-in-kind planaria core facility and some of the science inspired by these simple invertebrates.

• "A Curious Mind" - HHMI profile of scientist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado.

• A discussion with Stowers investigator Kausik Si about studying Drosophila to better understand long-term memory formation and storage.

• "The Aging Brain" - a new approach to unraveling the mystery of Alzheimer's.

• A discussion with Stowers investigator Peter Baumann about his research, which straddles telomere biology alongside asexual reproduction in whiptail lizards.

• My Favorite Enemy - a graduate student promotes peace through music.

• "Once Upon a Time" - looking back at how Dartmouth women have been forging a place in medicine and science.

• Building a world-class liver bank at KU Medical Center. 

• "Killing the Queen" - probing the deadly ways of cancer stem cells.

Cancer research

• "The Quest for Off-the-Shelf CAR T Cells" - exploring ways and means of engineering an allogeneic version of this immunotherapy, and the challenges therein.

• "STINGing Antitumor Immunity into Action" - an overview of efforts in immuno-oncology to modulate STING signaling for therapeutic purposes.

• "Converging on RAS" - supercomputer simulations, building on bench studies, aim to illuminate RAS in action on the plasma membrane.

• At The Bench - The University of Kansas Cancer Center's first print publication, featuring 10 research stories that range from the potential clinical applications of exosomes in cancer therapy to hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a bone marrow homing signal for transplanted cord blood stem cells.

• "The Forgotten Genome: Mom's the Word" - how mitochondrial DNA might influence susceptibility toward complex diseases like heart failure and metastatic cancer.

• Emily Scott uncovers the structure of a protein linked to prostate cancer.

• KU Cancer Center joins the national Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative.

• Danny Welch and his cancer biology crew confront the complexities of metastasis.

• Scientists are studying a protein that may be a key factor in some cancers.

• A learning collaborative to solve the riddle of sarcomas, including in dogs.

• Closing in on a natural compound to fight pancreatic cancer.

• Student's research may lead to a better understanding of colorectal cancer.

• "Subsidized Science" - using revenue from premium oncology services to fund risky research.

Basic science

• "One of these stem cells is not like the other" - researcher Jay Vivian asks why.

• Fertility specialist sees better-than-hoped for results from ovarian transplants.

• Researchers discover how the first two groups of cells form in a developing organism.

• Steven Weinman and his colleagues battle a virus on behalf of 3.2 million Americans.

• Shedding light on the placenta's key role in fetal development.

• Autism study is no laughing matter (or is it?)

• Probing cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, for clues about ALS.

• Turning therapeutic antibodies into better drugs.

• ALS researchers aim for the fences.

Profiles/Q&A

• "Wherever The Science Takes Her" - Stowers profile of Marina Venero Galenternik.  

• A discussion with Stowers associate investigator Julia Zeitlinger on her research ferreting out fresh connections between DNA sequence and cellular function, and how science and art are equally creative, as careers go.

• "Summers of Imagination" - Stowers profile of Maggie Pruitt.

• "Of Science and Spunk" - Stowers profile of Michaela Smolle.

• "The Thrill of the Scientific Chase" - Stowers profile of Chengqi Lin.

• A discussion with Stowers investigator Jennifer Gerton covering, among other topics, her research on cohesinopathies and the importance of bridging the gap between scientists and lay people. 

• KU medical student Tim Kamerzell gets a break from class - to do research on programming cells.

• "Heart and Soul" - Dartmouth alumnus John Kennedy, a Los Angeles-based cardiologist who preaches focused relaxation as a way to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

• "Still in Genes" - profile of Dartmouth alumnus John Mulvihill, whose research emphasizes the crossroads of genetics and cancer.

• Integrating Clinical and Genomics Data: How John Quackenbush is mining patient data to better understand cancer.

• "Sequencing, Sequencing, Sequencing" - the Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) tackles the cute, the edible, and pretty much everything else.

• "A young and slightly off-kilter scientist thrives" - Stanford faculty Ricardo Dolmetsch, who combines serious research with a lighthearted approach to laboratory teamwork.

• "The Bourn Identity: preserving the school's legacy" - Drew Bourn, Stanford Medical School's first archivist.

• Worried about donating bone marrow? Derek Leith will gladly soothe your fears.

• From "kampung boy" to conservation force in the Malaysian rainforest.

Pharmaceutical drug discovery/development, Bioinformatics

• Clinical Imaging: Focus on Service

• GSK's Helium Rises to the Top

• Next-Gen Sequencing Software: The Present and the Future

• Protein-Powered Drug Discovery

• Taking the High Road

• Informed Integration

• Integrating Lead Discovery

• Intelligent Drug Surveillance

• Safety Works at GlaxoSmithKline

• Bringing Personalized Medicine to Cancer Patients

• PharmaSpeak: James Greenwood, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO)

• HUYA: A Conduit between Chinese Pharma and U.S. Clinical Trials

• Of Ghrelin and the Gut: Tranzyme Pharma

• Boosting the Pipelines: Drug discovery via Mother Nature's resources.

• The Research Triangle Park: 50 Years of Innovation

• Skewering Pain at Javelin Pharmaceuticals

• Millennium President Deborah Dunsire on the Takeda Takeover

• Prolong Pharmaceuticals: PEGged for Success?

• Breathing New Life into Old Drugs

• Triple Play: Tripos Collaboration with Wyeth and Accenture Enhances Research Efficiency

Broader human interest

• A KU Medical Center associate professor's personal tragedy leads to better child care standards in Kansas.

• Crystal Lumpkins applies the power of the pulpit to the fight against cancer.

• Bioethics expert calls for a national strategy to address chronic pain.

• A new exhibit at Clendening Library displays Civil War medicine at its cutting edge.

• Dartmouth students are all ears for patient stories.

• Students find elders "kind" and "witty."

• Photography club offers new outlet to aspiring artists.

• UCSC researchers help Mexican fishermen save loggerhead turtles. 

• Monarchs wing their way back to Santa Cruz.

Press releases (most are not bylined, according to institutional policy)

• Activating ALC1: with a little help from friends

• Dartmouth is a top performer in federal project

• Cancer: getting the big picture

• Normalizing tumor vessels to improve cancer therapy

• Gaining ground on sickle cell disease

• Learning to talk to teens about sex - while at work

• Internet crawling: a new tool for tracking infectious disease

• New source of heart stem cells discovered

• UC students travel to Denmark for renewable energy summer program           

• Peregrine falcons at San Jose City Hall draw crowds online

• UCSC physicists eagerly await launch of NASA space telescope they helped build

• Moore Foundation renews support for marine microbiology research at UCSC

• Mouse model could provide clues to autistic behaviors

• Hand-held computers prove good at prodding people to exercise more

• Giving spines a SPORTing chance

Meeting summaries

• Arnold and Mabel Beckman Initiative for Macular Research: 2009 task group summary - developing a plan for both short- and long-term stem cell products with the ultimate goal of improving vision of those with atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

• The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative: 2008 task group summary - "Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Biological Aging: The Roles of Nature, Nurture and Chance in the Maintenance of Human Healthspan."

Peer-reviewed publications

• Zhang WH, Poh A, Fanous AA, Eastman A. DNA damage-induced S phase arrest in human breast cancer depends on Chk1, but G2 arrest can occur independently of Chk1, Chk2 or MAPKAPK2. Cell Cycle. 1 June 2008

• Levesque AA, Fanous AA, Poh A, Eastman A. Defective p53 signaling in p53 wild-type tumors attenuates p21waf1 induction and cyclin B repression rendering them sensitive to Chk1 inhibitors that abrogate DNA damage-induced S and G2 arrest. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. February 2008