To remain competitive in our 21st century global economy, the nation must foster new opportunities, approaches, and technologies in math and science education. This begins with a coordinated effort to bolster science, technology, engineering, and math (S.T.E.M.) education nationwide, starting at the earliest stages in education. Developing a more diverse and academically prepared workforce of individuals in S.T.E.M. disciplines will benefit all aspects of scientific and medical research and care.
NIH Awards $18.3 Million in Recovery Act Funds to Support Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education
January 7, 2010 | by
NIDA Researchers Discover a New Mechanism Underlying Cocaine Addiction
January 7, 2010 | by
Researchers have identified a key epigenetic mechanism in the brain that helps explain cocaine’s addictiveness, according to research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.
The study, published in the January issue of the journal Science, shows how cocaine affects an epigenetic process (a process capable of influencing gene expression without changing a gene’s sequence) called histone methylation. These epigenetic changes in the brain’s pleasure circuits, which are also the first impacted by chronic cocaine exposure, likely contribute to an acquired preference for cocaine.
Small Changes in Protein Chemistry Play Large Role in Huntington’s Disease
December 24, 2009 | by
In Huntington’s disease, a mutated protein in the body becomes toxic to brain cells. Recent studies have demonstrated that a small region adjacent to the mutated segment plays a major role in the toxicity. Two new studies supported by the National Institutes of Health show that very slight changes to this region can eliminate signs of Huntington’s disease in mice.
Drug for Multiple Myeloma Demonstrated to Significantly Extend Disease-Free Survival
December 18, 2009 | by
Initial results from a large, randomized clinical trial for patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, showed that patients who received the oral drug lenalidomide (Revlimid, also known as CC-5013) following a blood stem cell transplant had their cancer kept in check longer than patients who received a placebo. The clinical trial, for patients ages 18 to 70, was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and conducted by a network of researchers led by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) in collaboration with the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) and the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). The BMT CTN is co-sponsored by NCI and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, both parts of the National Institutes of Health.
