Category: Research
Neurobiologist becomes advisor to Hillary ClintonMay 8, 2012Frances Colón ’04, who studied developmental neurobiology in the Birren Lab, was recently named deputy science and technology advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Her primary role is promotion of science, technology and innovation dialogues.
Computing Symposium aims to expand diversityApril 26, 2012The fourth annual New England Undergraduate Computing Symposium took place last Saturday on campus, attracting over 100 computer science students and faculty from a dozen universities. Attendance and project submissions nearly doubled since last year.
- Willrich receives Lawrence W. Levine Award for 'Pox: An American History'April 24, 2012
Professor of History Michael Willrich has been selected by the Organization of American Historians to receive the 2012 Lawrence W. Levine Award, which is given annually for the best book in American cultural history.
Marder receives awards for neuroscience advancesApril 20, 2012Division of Science head Eve Marder '69 has been given the George A. Miller Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society and the Karl Spencer Lashley Award in Neuroscience from the American Philosophical Society.
Targoff to use Guggenheim to study love after deathApril 18, 2012Shakespeare drew on Italian and French sources in writing 'Romeo and Juliet,' but the end he gave to the lovers' story differed radically from those earlier tales -- and it's a difference that sets Renaissance English literature apart from its Continental contemporaries. Ramie Targoff is exploring how that happened.
AAAS elects Turrigiano; brain research praisedApril 17, 2012Professor of Biology Gina G. Turrigiano has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,which has been recognizing premier 'thinkers and doers' in American society since the 1780s. Turrigiano's work on brain function has created a framework for thinking about some brain disorders.
Grants reward innovations in software, life sciencesApril 11, 2012A total of $80,000 in grant money has been awarded to seven teams of students, fellows and faculty entrepreneurs who participated in the second annual Sprout Grant competition. Products to be developed range from a dirty-bomb detector to a mobile app that acts as a virtual business card.
Pre-med track has a long, successful history April 9, 2012Brandeis students long have been interested in the field of medicine, from research to surgery. Many graduates who are now working in medical fields attribute their success to basic science research done at Brandeis.
DARPA grant exploring auto-translation of ChineseApril 5, 2012As the U.S. and China continue to increase interaction, the ability to communicate becomes more critical. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently awarded Brandeis a $2 million grant to help develop new translation technologies.
Schuster Fellow exposes international adoption flawsApril 5, 2012Erin Siegal has published two books based on three years of extensive reporting in which she examines fraudulent, criminal and corrupt practices in international adoption between Guatemala and the United States. Siegal tells the true story of one woman’s kidnapped daughter and another woman's attempt to adopt her.
- Christine Thomas experiments on NOVA March 29, 2012
Fewer than one hundred naturally occurring elements make up everything in our world — from rocks to the living cells in our body. Researchers at NOVA, along with Christine Thomas, assistant professor of chemistry, explore the elements through hands-on experiments at 9 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, on PBS.
Brandeis scientists win prestigious Gairdner prizeMarch 21, 2012Michael Rosbash, the Peter and Patricia Gruber Professor of Neuroscience and director of the Brandeis National Center for Behavioral Genomics, and Professor Emeritus of Biology Jeffrey C. Hall were given the Canada Gairdner Award for work on circadian rhythms that 'contributes significantly to improving the quality of human life.'
Rosbash named to new Gruber neuroscience chairMarch 14, 2012Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation cites outstanding work by Professor Michael Rosbash, high quality of neuroscience research at Brandeis generally, and the leadership of President Fred Lawrence, in creating the chair, which will be named for Peter Gruber.
- Video contest focuses on federally funded scientific research March 12, 2012
JBS class study reveals poor air quality in Boston nail salonsMarch 8, 2012Students in Professor Laura Goldin’s Environmental Health and Justice Program have uncovered problems with the air quality in nail salons in Boston and are working to inspire change. The course has ended, but the students haven't stopped working to help salon employees.
Heller team helps fight prescription drug abuseMarch 5, 2012Prescription drug abuse is rising at alarming rates. To combat the problem, prescription monitoring programs are becoming more sophisticated, aiming to put the brakes on abusers and, in some cases, incorporate rehabilitation programs. Scientist Peter Kreiner explains how the programs work and what they hope to accomplish.
Grant to fund research into impact of epilepsy testsFeb. 28, 2012While genetic testing is available for several epilepsy syndromes, Assistant Professor of Sociology Sara Shostak says, very little data has been produced on the ways that the possession of genetic information affects people with epilepsy and their families. Research in this area is urgently needed, she says.
President: India mission far exceeded expectationsFeb. 17, 2012Exchanges of scholars, significant donations and possibilities for broadening Study Abroad opportunities are among results of the trip, which also included meetings with alumni, friends of the university and potential future Brandeisians.
Gates Foundation awards grant to tackle malariaFeb. 13, 2012Can an innovative wallpaper-like liner help reduce the number of cases of malaria, and if so, will it be cost effective? Professor Donald S. Shepard wants to know, and he has gotten the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help. A grant, totaling nearly $500,000 over the next three years, will allow Shepard and collaborators to pursue their research.
Lawrence's India trip advances partnership Feb. 8, 2012Faculty and administrators of Brandeis University and India’s National Center for Biological Sciences have agreed to work toward creating a formal institutional partnership that could involve graduate students, undergraduates and post-docs.
Closer to understanding, averting drug resistanceJan. 30, 2012Bacterial resistance against antibiotics is growing exponentially. One reason is because drug resistant proteins are transporting “good” antibiotics out of the cells leaving them to mutate. Professor Dorothee Kern and collaborators looked at how one of these drug transporters works.
Grants help research go from laboratory to marketJan. 28, 2012Seed money from last year’s Virtual Incubator landed one group additional funding for its smartphone study aid. Another group's ALS therapy is now under license for commercial development. Do you have a big idea? Preliminary proposals are due by Friday, Feb. 10, 2012.
Nurturing mothers rear physically healthier adultsJan. 22, 2012Nurturing mothers have garnered accolades for bolstering self-confidence. Now they’re gaining merit for their offspring’s physical health in middle age. A recent study in the journal Psychological Science, Margie Lachman and colleagues examine parental nurturance and the effects of childhood disadvantage.
A new twist on surface tensionJan. 9, 2012Researchers have engineered a new way of controlling surface tension, by creating reversible transitions of a flat two-dimensional membrane to a single dimension. It is part of an overall research mission to manipulate microscale structures of materials.
Faculty Focus: Michael Rosbash, biologistJan. 3, 2012Director of the Brandeis National Center for Behavioral Genomics, Rosbash was recently awarded the Louisa Gross Horowitz Prize from Columbia University for groundbreaking studies on the molecular basis of circadian rhythms.
Researchers explain granular material propertiesDec. 14, 2011What is it is that makes granular materials change from a flowing loose state to a “jammed,” or solid, state? In a study out this week in the Journal Nature, researchers at Brandeis explain how granular materials are transformed when force is applied at a particular angle, a process known as shearing.
- Physicists say they are near epic Higgs boson discoveryDec. 13, 2011
The Holy Grail of high-energy physics — the predicted but elusive Higgs boson — is almost within reach, and the Brandeis high-energy physics group, along with other particle physicists around the world collaborating on making the finding, is almost giddy with excitement.
Researchers discover drug-resistance mechanismDec. 9, 2011Antibiotics are used for everything from squelching strep throat to suppressing the immune system after an organ transplant. Understanding how some microbes resist high concentrations of antibiotics is important to designing new drugs and deciding how and when to prescribe existing drugs.
Addressing pain and disease on the flyDec. 6, 2011Studies of a protein that fruit flies use to sense heat and chemicals may someday provide solutions to human pain and the control of disease-spreading mosquitoes. Research from the Garrity lab was recently published in the journal Nature.
Nobelist MacKinnon '78 speaks at science retreatNov. 3, 2011The chemistry researcher's much anticipated talk was delivered on the subject of eukaryotic K+ channels, the molecules responsible for the movement of potassium ions into cells. More than 100 Brandeis scientists participated in the annual event.
Growing cohort of women in science calling Brandeis homeOct. 31, 2011Since its founding, the university has made a concerted effort to recruit and maintain female faculty in the sciences. 'It's a welcoming place,' says Division of Science Chair Eve Marder '68. 'Women feel comfortable when they come to interview.'
- Nahum Sonenberg to receive 41st Rosenstiel AwardOct. 26, 2011
Structure of Parkinson’s disease protein identifiedOct. 21, 2011The Petsko-Ringe, Pochapsky and Agar laboratories have produced and determined the structure of alpha-synuclein, a key protein associated with Parkinson’s disease. Information may someday be used to produce a new kind of treatment.
Report reveals economic, social costs of hunger Oct. 5, 2011New study by researchers at Brandeis and the Center for American Progress finds the social and economic cost of hunger and food insecurity in the United States in 2010 hit $167.5 billion in addition to federal expenditures to address hunger.
- Hoffmann, recipient of 2010 Rosenstiel Award, wins 2011 NobelOct. 4, 2011
This year's Nobel Laureates for physiology of medicine have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation. One of the winners, Jules Hoffmann, was bestowed the 2010 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science.
- Bernice and Henry Tumen collection invaluable religious artifact resourceOct. 3, 2011
Retirement insecurity dramatically rises among seniors of color Sept. 28, 2011Four percent of Latino seniors and 8 percent of African-American seniors have the resources to maintain economic security for the duration of their lives. The report was compiled by the Heller School's Institute on Assets and Social Policy and the national policy center Demos.
Asian Food Network taps Prof. Hayes for documentarySept. 23, 2011China and India have joined overweight Americans in the obesity epidemic that’s sweeping across the world. This concern has prompted the folks at the Asian Food Channel to create a documentary investigating healthy diets.
Prof. Brooten to research early enslaved womenSept. 21, 2011'Slavery has been part of our lives for most of history,' says Professor Brooten. 'Christianity, Judaism and Islam tolerated slavery for most of its history and the habits of slavery are deeply entrenched in our thinking.' In order to overcome them, she says, we need to see how deep they are in our history and our habits of thought.
Failure of brain's clock could play role in causing neuropsychiatric disordersSept. 19, 2011People who battle neuropsychiatric disorders can also have poorly regulated biological rhythms, which leads to altered sleep/wake cycles and hormonal rhythms. New research shows evidence that these circadian system symptoms, which have long been considered a result from the pathology, may also be involved in the cause of psychiatric disorders.
How much sleep's enough? Navy wants to knowSept. 7, 2011Brandeis' Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory has long inquired into topics such as sensory motor adaptation and motion sickness, making the lab a hot spot as the Navy develops small combat ships with limited crew that must always be on top of their game.
- Special Collections puts spotlight on disability studies and advocacySept. 7, 2011
Prof. Turrigiano wins HFSP Nakasone AwardSept. 6, 2011The Nakasone Award honors scientists who have undertaken frontier-moving research in biology, encompassing conceptual, experimental or technological breakthroughs. Turrigiano’s work in synaptic scaling is allowing scientists to further understand how the brain self-regulates and maintains balance.
Researchers explain how railways in cells are builtSept. 1, 2011Every cell in the human body contains a complex system to transport critical material such as proteins and membrane vesicles from one point to another. Bruce Goode, professor of biology, and his team have come one step closer to understanding the elusive mechanics of this process.
Butterfly can't leaf it alone, so biologist lends a handAug. 15, 2011Field biologist Eric Olson has long been a crusader against invasive species. They can crowd out native species, and generally disrupt the natural order. But this summer Olson's been busy protecting a weed from Europe for the sake of a prized butterfly.
Marcus Long awarded new HHMI fellowshipAug. 4, 2011Research on a new strategy that aims to selectively tag and target proteins for destruction has won Marcus Long a Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellowship for international graduate students. A member of the Hedstrom Lab, Long says that the ability to target disease-causing proteins, in principle, could save lives.
Artificial cilia spur new thinking in nanotechnologyJuly 26, 2011Cilia, tiny hair-like structures that perform feats such as clearing microscopic debris from the lungs and determining the correct location of organs during development, move in mysterious ways. Brandeis researchers have created artificial cilia-like structures that offers a new approach for cilia study.
Graybiel Lab poised for next round of space explorationJuly 21, 2011Companies are currently taking reservations for suborbital flights on their spaceships, and payload specialists - astronauts needed to carry out research and commercial work- must be be trained. The Graybiel Lab is one of a handful of facilities in the country that can do this.
New report shows seniors' economic security fallingJuly 19, 2011The ranks of seniors at risk of outliving their resources has increased by nearly 2 million households in the last four years, according to researchers at the Heller School and the public policy group Demos, and 75 percent of senior households have little or no buffer against traumatic events.
When it comes to eating, rats follow their nosesJuly 7, 2011Would your favorite dinner taste the same if you couldn’t smell it? Does a sense of smell require a sense of taste? Associate professor Don Katz set out to find some answers in his laboratory. The results reveal the complex connections between taste and smell.
Collaborative develops drug to help hemophiliacsJune 23, 2011Collaborative work by Brandeis researchers and doctors at Children's and Brigham and Women's hospitals may lead to development of long-acting clotting medications that free patients from frequent infusions and from worries that an internal bleed has gone unnoticed.
Scientists discover protein complex linked to memoryJune 22, 2011Forget where you put your keys or recalling names at a cocktail party? New research from the Lisman Laboratory points to a molecule that is central to the process by which memories are stored in the brain.
- Supreme Court rules against Stanford in patent disputeJune 7, 2011
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with a drug company over Stanford University in a patent dispute. Brandeis and 53 fellow members of the Association of American Universities (AAU) had urged the Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court decision granting rights to Roche Molecular Systems for federally-funded research conducted at Stanford.
Four recent graduates receive Fulbright grantsJune 7, 2011You get a plane ticket and living expenses for a year. Your side of the deal is to continue researching what you’re passionate about. Sound like you’ve hit the jackpot? For four Brandeis Fulbright Grant winners, the answer is “yes.”
Sprout Grant Program looks for the next big ideasJune 3, 2011Have the next innovation that could change the world? Fourteen Brandeis scientists think that they do, and recently pitched their work to a panel of industry experts to win part of a $50,000 grant created to grow their ideas which ranged from targeting mutated proteins in cancer to a mobile application for studying.
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