Some of Erich Jarvis’ research at Rockefeller includes mice genetically engineered to produce more complex sounds. He and colleagues are scrutinizing key genes that are active in good vocal learners. Mice with a human version of a protein called NOVA1, for instance, made more complex vocalizations. To be clear, this isn’t a talking mouse situation yet. But research is moving fast. Learn more in this Science News Magazine piece on AI and other tech advances that could someday enable chats with animals:
Last month, the Nussenzweig lab at Rockefeller revealed a new gene editing approach that produces enduring and protective levels of antibodies that have previously been difficult to engineer. The method could offer ways to treat viruses like HIV that can outsmart traditional vaccination approaches. Learn more in this piece from The Scientist:
Rockefeller's Dana Orange joins an Arthritis UK consortium aiming to tackle one of the largest unmet clinical needs in inflammatory arthritis—pain reduction. Current medical approaches for inflammatory arthritis largely focus on tackling inflammation, with pain not always being prioritized. This means that people with inflammatory arthritis do not always receive treatments that are appropriate for both their inflammation and their pain. The consortium will combine patients’ lived experience alongside multidisciplinary expertise, to achieve precision pain management that addresses individual needs. More below.
It's #InternationalLoveDataWeek, when we celebrate our love of all things data! Data is integral to science, and the proper management and sharing of data is critical for research quality and impact. Thank you to Rockefeller's Rita and Frits Markus Library for sharing the following resources: ❤️ Research Data Management: https://lnkd.in/ebW3wvTZ ❤️ Research Data Sharing: https://lnkd.in/e_KTGZ_m ❤️ Research Data Security: https://lnkd.in/eG9gb4iF
Rockefeller's Vertebrate Genome Laboratory has received support from Google.org for #AI science research. The funding will help the VGL accelerate the production and analysis of high-quality genomes across Earth’s #biodiversity. Learn more below.
A new study from Rockefeller's Jean-Laurent Casanova suggests that rare cases of brain inflammation linked to live-attenuated yellow fever and Chikungunya vaccines were due to autoantibodies carried in a small subset of the population, most often older adults. This version of the vaccine has been discontinued in the U.S. “We now know that a small percentage of people with these autoantibodies can end up with severe encephalitis if they receive this kind of Chikungunya vaccine,” says Shen-Ying Zhang, associate professor of clinical investigation in the Casanova lab. “So we strongly recommend screening people in countries still using this vaccine before administering it, especially if they are over age 65.”
A recent study from Rockefeller's Winrich Freiwald found that emotion-driven facial expressions activate the same cortical pathways as do voluntary movements, such as chewing. The findings suggest that emotion-driven facial expressions are not simply reflexive and challenge the long-standing idea that distinct cortical pathways encode emotional versus voluntary movements. “We like to think of emotions and cognition as two separate things,” says Freiwald. “But this shows that that distinction is likely artificial.” Learn more in this piece from The Transmitter:
Rockefeller's Paul Cohen helps explain what poor metabolic health is and how it can wreak havoc on the body in this piece from The New York Times: "Fat cells store energy in the form of triglycerides. When we chronically consume more calories than we expend, and exceed what our fat cells can store, those triglycerides begin to go where they don’t belong, like the liver and muscles, said Dr. Paul Cohen, an associate professor at Rockefeller University whose lab studies obesity and metabolic disease. "The fat cells release inflammatory molecules, which make it harder for insulin to work; insulin resistance in turn contributes to obesity. "'It’s a circular loop,' Dr. Cohen said." Read the full article below.
Don't miss this Q&A with Leslie Sibener of the Rajasethupathy lab from the Simons Foundation. In it, Sibener discusses her research on how our brains prioritize which memories to hold onto and which to let go.
T cell immunotherapies are on the cutting edge of #cancer treatments, but they're ineffective for many subtypes of cancers. The reasons why are unclear because a full understanding of how these treatments actually work has eluded researchers. Now, a new study from Thomas Walz's lab at Rockefeller has revealed key details about the T cell receptor, which is embedded in the cell membrane and essential to T cell therapies. This discovery is contrary to all previous cryo-EM studies of the complex. “The T cell receptor is really the basis of virtually all oncological immunotherapies, so it’s remarkable that we use the system but really have had no idea how it actually works—and that’s where basic science steps in,” says Walz. “This is some of the most important work to ever come out of my lab.” The findings have the potential to refine and expand T cell therapies, bringing their benefits to a much broader group of cancer patients, and may also be useful for vaccine design.
