Table of Contents (PDF)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Table of Contents (PDF) July 5, 2016 u vol. 113 u no. 27 From the Cover 7308 Finding causality in Big Data E3901 Treating inflammation-driven fibrosis 7403 Interactions between liquid droplets on solids 7667 Role of plant photoreceptors Contents THIS WEEK IN PNAS 7285 In This Issue Cover image: Societies now collect immense amounts of data from both LETTERS (ONLINE ONLY) controlled experiments and natural E3811 Avoid the hard problem: Employment of mental simulation for prediction is observations such as activity on the already a crucial step World Wide Web. Pictured is a Malte Schilling and Holk Cruse visualization of one possible archive of E3812 Consciousness explained or consciousness redefined? data in network form. Such databases Shelley Anne Adamo are analyzed and used for scientific, business, and health purposes. Effective E3813 Insects cannot tell us anything about subjective experience or the origin use of these large databases of of consciousness information, collectively termed Big Brian Key, Robert Arlinghaus, and Howard I. Browman Data, requires identifying the causal E3814 Reply to Adamo, Key et al., and Schilling and Cruse: Crawling around the hard forces behind patterns in the data. Such problem of consciousness an effort was the focus of the Sackler Colin Klein and Andrew B. Barron Colloquium on Drawing Causal Inference from Big Data. See the OPINION—Leading scientists discuss current issues Introduction to the Colloquium papers by Richard M. Shiffrin on pages 7308– 7287 In the wake of Paris Agreement, scientists must embrace new directions for 7309. Image courtesy of Alexander climate change research Vasilyev/Shutterstock. Olivier Boucher, Valentin Bellassen, He´le`ne Benveniste, Philippe Ciais, Patrick Criqui, Ce´line Guivarch, Herve´ Le Treut, Sandrine Mathy, and Roland Se´fe´rian COMMENTARIES 7291 Strategies to overcome the hurdles to treat fibrosis, a major unmet clinical need Jagdeep Nanchahal and Boris Hinz See companion article on page E3901 7294 Role reversal: Liquid “Cheerios” on a solid sense each other Anand Jagota See companion article on page 7403 7296 Unraveling the mystery of the ring: Tracking heme dynamics in living cells Margaret C. Carpenter and Amy E. Palmer See companion article on page 7539 7298 Multifaceted role of E-cadherin in hepatitis C virus infection and pathogenesis Che C. Colpitts, Joachim Lupberger, and Thomas F. Baumert See companion article on page 7620 7301 Plants wait for the lights to change to red Paul F. Devlin See companion article on page 7667 Free online through the PNAS open access option. PNAS u July 5, 2016 u vol. 113 u no. 27 u iii–viii Downloaded by guest on September 24, 2021 PNAS PLUS PHYSICAL SCIENCES 7304 Significance Statements APPLIED PHYSICAL SCIENCES Brief statements written by the authors about the significance of 7399 Electrorheology leads to healthier and their papers. tastier chocolate Rongjia Tao, Hong Tang, Kazi Tawhid-Al-Islam, Enpeng Du, ARTHUR M. SACKLER COLLOQUIUM ON DRAWING and Jeongyoo Kim CAUSAL INFERENCE FROM BIG DATA 7403 Liquid drops attract or repel by the inverted Cheerios effect INTRODUCTION Stefan Karpitschka, Anupam Pandey, Luuk A. Lubbers, Joost H. 7308 Drawing causal inference from Big Data Weijs, Lorenzo Botto, Siddhartha Das, Bruno Andreotti, Richard M. Shiffrin and Jacco H. Snoeijer See Commentary on page 7294 COLLOQUIUM PAPERS + − 7491 A macroscopic H and Cl ions pump via 7310 Causal inference in economics and marketing reconstitution of EcClC membrane proteins Hal R. Varian in lipidic cubic mesophases 7316 Estimating peer effects in networks with peer Chiara Speziale, Livia Salvati Manni, Cristina Manatschal, encouragement designs Ehud M. Landau, and Raffaele Mezzenga Dean Eckles, Rene´ F. Kizilcec, and Eytan Bakshy 7323 Quantity discounts on a virtual good: The results CHEMISTRY of a massive pricing experiment at King 7408 Metallurgically lithiated SiO anode with high capacity Digital Entertainment x and ambient air compatibility Steven D. Levitt, John A. List, Susanne Neckermann, Jie Zhao, Hyun-Wook Lee, Jie Sun, Kai Yan, Yayuan and David Nelson Liu, Wei Liu, Zhenda Lu, Dingchang Lin, Guangmin Zhou, 7329 Characterizing treatment pathways at scale using the and Yi Cui OHDSI network 7414 Two-dimensional polyaniline (C3N) from carbonized George Hripcsak, Patrick B. Ryan, Jon D. Duke, Nigam H. organic single crystals in solid state Shah, Rae Woong Park, Vojtech Huser, Marc A. Suchard, Javeed Mahmood, Eun Kwang Lee, Minbok Jung, Martijn J. Schuemie, Frank J. DeFalco, Adler Perotte, Dongbin Shin, Hyun-Jung Choi, Jeong-Min Seo, Juan M. Banda, Christian G. Reich, Lisa M. Schilling, Sun-Min Jung, Dongwook Kim, Feng Li, Myoung Soo Michael E. Matheny, Daniella Meeker, Nicole Pratt, Lah, Noejung Park, Hyung-Joon Shin, Joon Hak Oh, and David Madigan and Jong-Beom Baek 7337 Inferring cortical function in the mouse visual system 7420 Multiscale simulations reveal key features of the through large-scale systems neuroscience proton-pumping mechanism in cytochrome Michael Hawrylycz, Costas Anastassiou, Anton Arkhipov, Jim c oxidase Berg, Michael Buice, Nicholas Cain, Nathan W. Gouwens, Sergey Gratiy, Ramakrishnan Iyer, Jung Hoon Lee, Stefan Ruibin Liang, Jessica M. J. Swanson, Yuxing Peng, Ma˚rten Mihalas, Catalin Mitelut, Shawn Olsen, R. Clay Reid, Corinne Wikstro¨m, and Gregory A. Voth Teeter, Saskia de Vries, Jack Waters, Hongkui Zeng, Christof Koch, and MindScope COMPUTER SCIENCES 7345 Causal inference and the data-fusion problem 7310 Causal inference in economics and marketing Elias Bareinboim and Judea Pearl Hal R. Varian 7353 Recursive partitioning for heterogeneous 7345 Causal inference and the data-fusion problem causal effects Elias Bareinboim and Judea Pearl Susan Athey and Guido Imbens 7391 Modeling confounding by half-sibling regression 7361 Methods for causal inference from gene perturbation Bernhard Scho¨lkopf, David W. Hogg, Dun Wang, experiments and validation Daniel Foreman-Mackey, Dominik Janzing, Carl-Johann Nicolai Meinshausen, Alain Hauser, Joris M. Mooij, Jonas Peters, Simon-Gabriel, and Jonas Peters Philip Versteeg, and Peter Bu¨hlmann 7369 Improving massive experiments with threshold blocking EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC, AND PLANETARY SCIENCES Michael J. Higgins, Fredrik Savje, and Jasjeet S. Sekhon ¨ 7426 Relative influence of meteorological conditions 7377 Linear mixed model for heritability estimation that and aerosols on the lifetime of mesoscale explicitly addresses environmental variation convective systems David Heckerman, Deepti Gurdasani, Carl Kadie, Cristina Sudip Chakraborty, Rong Fu, Steven T. Massie, Pomilla, Tommy Carstensen, Hilary Martin, Kenneth and Graeme Stephens Ekoru, Rebecca N. Nsubuga, Gerald Ssenyomo, Anatoli Kamali, Pontiano Kaleebu, Christian Widmer, 7432 Multiple sulfur-isotope signatures in Archean sulfates and Manjinder S. Sandhu and their implications for the chemistry and dynamics of the early atmosphere 7383 Lasso adjustments of treatment effect estimates in E´lodie Muller, Pascal Philippot, Claire Rollion-Bard, randomized experiments and Pierre Cartigny Adam Bloniarz, Hanzhong Liu, Cun-Hui Zhang, Jasjeet S. Sekhon, and Bin Yu 7391 Modeling confounding by half-sibling regression PHYSICS Bernhard Scho¨lkopf, David W. Hogg, Dun Wang, 7438 Elementary quantum mechanics of the neutron with an Daniel Foreman-Mackey, Dominik Janzing, Carl-Johann electric dipole moment Simon-Gabriel, and Jonas Peters Gordon Baym and D. H. Beck iv u www.pnas.org Contents Downloaded by guest on September 24, 2021 STATISTICS 7470 Placebo effects in cognitive training 7316 Estimating peer effects in networks with peer Cyrus K. Foroughi, Samuel S. Monfort, Martin Paczynski, encouragement designs Patrick E. McKnight, and P. M. Greenwood Dean Eckles, Rene´ F. Kizilcec, and Eytan Bakshy 7475 The base rate principle and the fairness principle in 7353 Recursive partitioning for heterogeneous social judgment causal effects Jack Cao and Mahzarin R. Banaji Susan Athey and Guido Imbens SOCIAL SCIENCES 7361 Methods for causal inference from gene perturbation experiments and validation 7316 Estimating peer effects in networks with peer Nicolai Meinshausen, Alain Hauser, Joris M. Mooij, Jonas Peters, encouragement designs Philip Versteeg, and Peter Bu¨hlmann Dean Eckles, Rene´ F. Kizilcec, and Eytan Bakshy 7369 Improving massive experiments with threshold blocking 7353 Recursive partitioning for heterogeneous Michael J. Higgins, Fredrik Sa¨vje, and Jasjeet S. Sekhon causal effects Susan Athey and Guido Imbens 7377 Linear mixed model for heritability estimation that explicitly addresses environmental variation 7383 Lasso adjustments of treatment effect estimates in David Heckerman, Deepti Gurdasani, Carl Kadie, Cristina randomized experiments Pomilla, Tommy Carstensen, Hilary Martin, Kenneth Adam Bloniarz, Hanzhong Liu, Cun-Hui Zhang, Jasjeet S. Ekoru, Rebecca N. Nsubuga, Gerald Ssenyomo, Sekhon, and Bin Yu Anatoli Kamali, Pontiano Kaleebu, Christian Widmer, 7481 Increasing instruction time in school does and Manjinder S. Sandhu increase learning 7383 Lasso adjustments of treatment effect estimates in Simon Calmar Andersen, Maria Knoth Humlum, randomized experiments and Anne Brink Nandrup Adam Bloniarz, Hanzhong Liu, Cun-Hui Zhang, Jasjeet S. Sekhon, and Bin Yu SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE 7575 Global threat to agriculture from invasive species Dean R. Paini, Andy W. Sheppard, David C. Cook, Paul J. De Barro, Susan P. Worner, and Matthew B. Thomas SOCIAL SCIENCES ANTHROPOLOGY 7443 Geospatial modeling approach to monument BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES construction using
Recommended publications
  • Profile of Gary Ruvkun
    PROFILE Profile of Gary Ruvkun wash in the faint glow of a fluo- Brush with Molecular Biology rescent lamp, a pair of serpentine The story of Ruvkun’s metamorphosis Anematode worms lie on a Petri from a keen undergraduate into a leading plate, their see-through bodies light in his field of study begins at Har- magnified 100-fold by one of several vard University, where he enrolled in microscopes arrayed in a darkened bay in a Ph.D. program in 1976 upon returning National Academy of Sciences member to the United States. Like many other Gary Ruvkun’s laboratory at Massachu- scientific institutions across the world in setts General Hospital. While one of the the mid-1970s, Harvard was astir with the worms wiggles its way around the plate, promise of recombinant DNA technol- the other shows no signs of life, ogy, and Ruvkun wasted no time em- its midsection ruptured and its innards bracing its tools. “My undergraduate strewn asunder. A filter slides into place, education had not prepared me at all for and the worms are bathed in a dull recombinant DNA, but I immersed my- green haze. The wiggling worm has a bea- self into its culture at Harvard, much of con of nerve cells in its head, the ganglia which was James Watson’s creation from lit up by a genetic trick that has rescued a decade earlier,” Ruvkun says. Propelled the worm from death; its neighbor wears Gary Ruvkun. by a desire to be a part of the culture of no such beacon. The worms were deprived basic molecular biology, all while per- of a tiny RNA molecule, called a micro- forming science with the potential to im- RNA, which helps shepherd them through not 5-year-old children.
    [Show full text]
  • 2008 Harvard / Paul F
    The 2008 Harvard / Paul F. Glenn Symposium on Aging June 23, 2008 Paul F. Glenn Laboratories for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging Welcome to the 3rd Annual Harvard/Paul F. Glenn Symposium on Aging. Each year, the Paul F. Glenn Laboratories host the Harvard Symposium on Aging with a mission to educate the wider research community about advancements in this fast-paced field and to stimulate collaborative research in this area. We have been fortunate to have many of the leaders in the aging field speak at these symposia. As a result, attendees come not only from the Harvard research community but from across the nation and from overseas for this one day event. We are glad you could join us here today. The reasons for accelerating research molecular biology of aging are clear. First and foremost, the number of aged individuals in developed countries is growing rapidly, which is going to place an unprecedented burden on the families and the economies of those nations. Because chronic illness in the elderly is a major medical cost, enormous savings would be achieved if mortality and morbidity could be compressed within a shorter duration of time at the end of life. A study by the RAND Corporation in 2006 concluded that advances in medicine arising from aging research would be 10-100 times more cost-effective than any other medical breakthrough. Advances in aging research have shown that it is possible to extend the healthy lifespan of laboratory animals through genetic and pharmacological means. Many leaders in the aging field predict that significant strides will be made in understanding how human health and lifespan are regulated, leading to novel medicines to forestall and treat diseases of aging such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s and heart disease.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research Issues 2015
    Press Contacts: Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research Issues Seema Kumar 2015 Call for Nominations 908-405-1144 (M) [email protected] New Brunswick, N.J. – January 21, 2015 – The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Diane Pressman Biomedical Research today opens its 2015 call for nominations. This prestigious 908-927-6171 (O) award recognizes individuals whose scientific research has made, or has the [email protected] potential to make, significant contributions toward the improvement of human Frederik Wittock health. Nominations will be accepted until March 15, 2015 at +32 14 60 57 24 (O) www.pauljanssenaward.com for consideration by an independent selection [email protected] committee of world renowned scientists. Beginning in 2015, the cash prize awarded to the scientist or group of scientists receiving the Award will be increased to $200,000. This increase in the monetary award reflects the growing importance of basic biomedical research, and continued recognition by Johnson & Johnson of excellence in the field. The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research honors Dr. Paul Janssen (1926-2003), who is widely recognized as one of the most productive scientists of the 20th century. Known throughout the scientific community as “Dr. Paul,” Janssen was responsible for breakthrough treatments in disease areas including pain management, psychiatry, infectious disease and gastroenterology, and founded Janssen Pharmaceutica, N.V., a Johnson & Johnson Company. “Innovative science and technology have the power to transform the world,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson. “Through the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, Johnson & Johnson honors the inspirational legacy of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • April 8-11, 2019 the 2019 Franklin Institute Laureates the 2019 Franklin Institute AWARDS CONVOCATION APRIL 8–11, 2019
    april 8-11, 2019 The 2019 Franklin Institute Laureates The 2019 Franklin Institute AWARDS CONVOCATION APRIL 8–11, 2019 Welcome to The Franklin Institute Awards, the range of disciplines. The week culminates in a grand oldest comprehensive science and technology medaling ceremony, befitting the distinction of this awards program in the United States. Each year, the historic awards program. Institute recognizes extraordinary individuals who In this convocation book, you will find a schedule of are shaping our world through their groundbreaking these events and biographies of our 2019 laureates. achievements in science, engineering, and business. We invite you to read about each one and to attend We celebrate them as modern day exemplars of our the events to learn even more. Unless noted otherwise, namesake, Benjamin Franklin, whose impact as a all events are free and open to the public and located scientist, inventor, and statesman remains unmatched in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. in American history. Along with our laureates, we honor Franklin’s legacy, which has inspired the We hope this year’s remarkable class of laureates Institute’s mission since its inception in 1824. sparks your curiosity as much as they have ours. We look forward to seeing you during The Franklin From shedding light on the mechanisms of human Institute Awards Week. memory to sparking a revolution in machine learning, from sounding the alarm about an environmental crisis to making manufacturing greener, from unlocking the mysteries of cancer to developing revolutionary medical technologies, and from making the world III better connected to steering an industry giant with purpose, this year’s Franklin Institute laureates each reflect Ben Franklin’s trailblazing spirit.
    [Show full text]
  • Hox Genes in Arthropod Development and Evolution 373 Henry, Jonathan Q., and Mark Q
    GENETIC REGULATORY NETWORKS in Embryogenesis and Evolution Proceedings of a workshop sponsored by THE CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES IN THE SPACE LIF_ SCIENCES AT THE MBL 11 - 14 June 1997 Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts Funded by THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION under Cooperative Agreement NCC 2-896 CONTENTS Genetic Regulatory Networks in Embryogenesis and Evolution Cameron, R. Andrew Akam, Michael Introduction ............................. 361 Hox genes in arthropod development and evolution 373 Henry, Jonathan Q., and Mark Q. Martindale Slack, Frank, and Gary Ruvkun Evolution of cleavage programs in relationship to axial Heterochronic genes in development and evolution . 375 specification and body plan evolution ........... 363 Hobert, Oliver, and Gary Ruvkun van Loon, A. E., and J. A. M. van den Biggelaar A common theme for LIM homeobox gene function Changes in cell lineage specification elucidate evolu- across phylogeny? ......................... 377 tionary relations in Spiralia ................... 367 Satoh, Noriyuki Shanldand, Marty, and Ashley E. E. Bruce Mechanisms of specification in ascidian embryos . 381 Axial patterning in the leech: developmental mecha- Published by title only ....................... 384 nisms and evolutionary implications ............ 370 Chairs and speakers ........................ 384 359 GENETIC REGULATORY NETWORKS in Embryogenesis and Evolution Proceedings of a workshop sponsored by THE CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDIES IN THE SPACE LIFE SCIENCES AT THE MBL 11 - 14 June 1997 Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts Funded by THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION S_-_o!a_rative Agreement NCC 2-896) Reprinted from The Biological Bulletin, Vol. 195, December 1998 Printed in U.S.A. Reference: Biol. Bull. 195: 361-362. (December, 1998) Introduction The participants in the workshop "Genetic Regulatory of novel developmental processes, by exchange, translo- Networks in Embryogenesis and Evolution" gathered to cation, addition, or subtraction of cis-regulatory modules.
    [Show full text]
  • H. Robert Horvitz
    WORMS, LIFE AND DEATH Nobel Lecture, December 8, 2002 by H. ROBERT HORVITZ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachus- etts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A. I never expected to spend most of my life studying worms. However, when it came time for me to choose an area for my postdoctoral research, I was in- trigued both with the problems of neurobiology and with the approaches of genetics. Having heard that a new “genetic organism” with a remarkably sim- ple nervous system was being explored by Sydney Brenner – the microscopic soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans – I decided to join Sydney in his efforts. THE CELL LINEAGE After arriving at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology (the “LMB”) in Cambridge, England, in November, 1974, I began my studies of C. elegans (Figure 1) as a collaboration with John Sulston. John, Figure 1. Caenorhabditis elegans adults. Hermaphrodite above, male below. John Sulston took these photographs, and I drew the diagrams. Bar, 20 microns. From (2). 320 Figur 2. John White. trained as an organic chemist, had become a Staff Scientist in Sydney’s group five years earlier. John’s aim was to use his chemistry background to analyze the neurochemistry of the nematode. By the time I arrived, John had turned his attention to the problem of cell lineage, the pattern of cell divisions and cell fates that occurs as a fertilized egg generates a complex multicellular or- ganism. John could place a newly hatched C. elegans larva on a glass micro- scope slide dabbed with a sample of the bacterium Escherichia coli (nematode food) and, using Nomarski differential interference contrast optics, observe individual cells within the living animal.
    [Show full text]
  • Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., and Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., Win 2014 Dr
    Contact: Seema Kumar 732-524-2646 [email protected] Diane Pressman 908-927-6171 [email protected] Frederik Wittock +32 14 60 57 24 [email protected] Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., and Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., Win 2014 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research SAN DIEGO – June 24, 2014 – Johnson & Johnson today named Dr. Jennifer Doudna of the the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, of the Hannover Medical School and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI), Germany and The Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå University, Sweden, the winners of the 2014 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research. Their collaboration led to the discovery of a new method for precisely manipulating genetic information in ways that should produce new insights in health and disease, and may lead to the discovery of new targets for drug development. “Their discovery of this new DNA editing strategy is considered one of the most significant breakthroughs in molecular biology in the past decade,” said Paul Stoffels, MD, Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson. “We are pleased to be able to recognize two researchers whose insights, persistence and collaboration have led to a significant leap in our understanding and ability to manipulate genetic processes. The work of Drs. Doudna and Charpentier has the potential to make a significant impact on human health, which is the very heart of Dr. Paul’s legacy, as well as our mission at Johnson & Johnson.” The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research was created by Johnson & Johnson to honor the legacy of one of the most passionate, creative and productive scientists of the 20th century, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Genet Honors and Awards 719..72
    Copyright Ó 2006 by the Genetics Society of America The 2006 GSA Honors and Awards The Genetics Society of America annually honors members who have made outstanding contributions to genetics. The Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal recognizes a lifetime contribution to the science of genetics. The Genetics Society of America Medal recognizes particularly outstanding contributions to the science of genetics within the past 15 years. The George W. Beadle Medal recognizes distinguished service to the field of genetics and the community of geneticists. We are pleased to announce the 2006 awards. The 2006 Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal Masatoshi Nei Masatoshi Nei ASATOSHI Nei has been a major contributor to elegant statistic involving allele frequencies from two M population and evolutionary genetics theory populations that, under the infinite alleles mutation throughout his career. He is one of a select group to model, had an expected value proportional to the time have a statistic named for him: ‘‘Nei’s genetic distance’’ since those populations had diverged from an ancestral is a cornerstone of population genetic analyses. His body population. The measure therefore provided a natural of work includes two influential textbooks and a remark- basis for reconstructing phylogenies and it was quickly able 55 (of nearly 300) articles with over 100 citations adopted for distance-based methods for building evo- each, 9 of which have over 1100 citations and 1 of which lutionary trees. Nei provided further discussion of the has over 12,000. sampling properties of his distance statistic in Genetics When Nei received the International Prize for Biology in 1978. His most widely cited work is his 1987 article in 2002, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science with Saitou in Molecular Biology and Evolution, said: ‘‘Through these achievements, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018-01-03-Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research Issues
    Press Contacts: Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research Issues 2018 Call for Nominations to Celebrate Champions of Science Seema Kumar 908-405-1144 (M) [email protected] New Brunswick, N.J. – January 3, 2018 – Nominations are now being accepted for the 2018 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research. This prestigious award Diane Pressman 908-927-6171 (O) celebrates today’s most dedicated researchers and champions of science whose [email protected] basic or clinical discoveries have made, or have the potential to make, significant contributions toward improving human health. Nominations will be accepted until February 28, 2018 at www.pauljanssenaward.com for consideration by an independent selection committee of world-renowned scientists. A $200,000 cash prize will be awarded to the scientist or group of scientists receiving the Award. The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research honors Dr. Paul Janssen (1926-2003), one of the most productive pharmaceutical scientists of the 20th century, who was responsible for breakthrough treatments in key disease areas including pain management, psychiatry, infectious disease and gastroenterology. Janssen founded Janssen Pharmaceutica, N.V., now part of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies. “Behind every discovery that holds the promise for saving and improving lives are the scientists who pursue a vision and work tirelessly for many years to make it all possible,” said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson. “We are proud to honor the legacy of Dr. Paul by recognizing the outstanding researchers and champions of science who make a lasting impact on our world.” In 2017, the Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Sample Conversation with Jennifer Doudna
    This is a free sample of content from Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. Volume LXXX: 21st Century Genetics: Genes at Work. Click here for more information on how to buy the book. A Conversation with Jennifer Doudna INTERVIEWER:JAN WITKOWSKI Executive Director, Banbury Center at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Jennifer Doudna is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California–Berkeley. Jan Witkowski: People know of you primarily through information to recognize DNA molecules with a matching your work on the CRISPR–Cas9 system for genetic en- or complementary sequence. Cas9 is also useful because gineering. Can you go over the biology of the system and the enzyme cuts both strands of double-stranded DNA. how you got involved in working on it? Jan Witkowski: From an engineering point of view, how Dr. Doudna: We started working on CRISPR (clustered does it improve over other ways of making directed cuts regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) biology in DNA systems, like TALENs (transcription activator- about 10 years ago. A colleague of mine at Berkeley, like effector nucleases)? Jillian Banfield, was doing research on bacterial commu- nities and the viruses that infect them. She had noticed a Dr. Doudna: Introducing double-stranded breaks into a lot of repetitive sequences in their genomic data and won- cell’s genome can be a useful way to change the genetic dered if these were being used in the form of RNA mol- sequence of those cells in a precise fashion, and over the ecules to protect the bacteria from viral infection.
    [Show full text]
  • Broad Institute
    Broad Institute The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute is a collaboration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Officially launched on May 1, 2004, the Broad Institute formally operated for only the last 60 days of the reporting year. This report provides an introduction to the mission and organization of the Broad Institute. Mission The Broad Institute’s scientific mission is: • to create tools for genomic medicine and make them broadly available to the scientific community • to apply these tools to propel the understanding and treatment of disease Its organizational mission is: • to enable collaborative projects that cannot be accomplished solely within the traditional setting of individual laboratories • to empower scientists through access to cutting-edge tools Research The Broad Institute is organized around Scientific Programs/Initiatives and Platform Organizations. Scientific Programs The Scientific Programs are intellectual communities consisting of faculty, trainees, and professional scientists from groups across the Broad community with a shared biomedical interest. The program is the nucleus for (1) regular scientific meetings among the groups and (2) conceptualization, planning, and execution of major collaborative projects. There are currently eight programs, including four that are designated as initiatives because they are in the pilot stage. Cancer Program The Cancer Program focuses on genomic and computational solutions to problems in cancer biology and cancer medicine. The availability of genomic tools and computational biology present an unprecedented opportunity to systematically study 3–44 Broad Institute the biological basis of cancer and to develop new genomics-based therapeutics.
    [Show full text]
  • Center for Cancer Research ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 Daniel Haber Photo by Scott Eisen in Cancer Research and Symposium Presented by the Our Research Program
    CENTER FOR CANCER RESEARCH CANCER CENTER FOR ANNUAL REPORT 2019-2020 CENTER for CANCER RESEARCH Annual Report 2019-2020 Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center Cancer Hospital General Massachusetts CENTER FOR CANCER RESEARCH Charlestown Laboratories Building 149, 13th Street Charlestown, MA 02129 Jackson Laboratories Jackson Building 55 Fruit Street Boston, MA 02114 Simches Laboratories CPZN 4200 185 Cambridge Street Boston, MA 02114 www.massgeneral.org/cancerresearch/ Microfluidic device for the generation of droplets containing mixed cell populations for long term culture. Image courtesy of Rohan Thakur, Stott Laboratory Ex vivo culture of circulating tumor cells from a breast cancer patient. Image courtesy of Haber/Maheswaran Laboratory EGF stimulation rapidly triggers actin/ERM- (green) and pAkt (red) rich macropinocytic cups on the surface of Nf2-/- cells. Image courtesy of Christine Chiasson-MacKenzie, PhD, McClatchey Laboratory Report design by Catalano Design; Cover background photo by Lee Hopkins, OLP Creative Hopkins, OLP Creative Lee by photo Design; Cover background Catalano Report design by CONTENTS Message from the Director ................................................................................................................................... ii Kurt J. Isselbacher – In Memoriam ..................................................................................................................... iv Scientific Advisory Board .....................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]