In 2006, researcher linkurl:Marsha Melnick;http://www.therapeuticassociates.com/locations/washington/olympic-peninsula/port-angeles/marsha-melnick/ was running out of ideas for how to get her therapeutic exercise program into the living rooms of Parkinson's patients. For years, she had been trying to adapt the program, which employs clinically tested physical movements to improve gait and balance, into an accessible format for people to use at home. But the National Institutes of Health had alre

In the first ever sequencing of twin genomes, researchers searched deep into the genetics of multiple sclerosis, coupling DNA sequencing with a panoramic look at the regulation and expression of genes, only to come up empty-handed. "It's really a tour de force," said linkurl:Eric Topol,;http://www.scripps.edu/research/faculty.php?rec_id=23654 director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute, who was not involved in the research. "It's a fascinating study. It's sobering that they didn't f

New Royal Society headlinkurl:Paul Nurse,;http://www.rockefeller.edu/research/faculty/abstract.php?id=316 Nobel Prize-winning cell biologist and president of Rockefeller University in New York City since 2003, has been linkurl:nominated;http://royalsociety.org/Sir-Paul-Nurse-nominated-as-next-President-of-the-Royal-Society/ by the Council of the Royal Society to lead the Royal Society in London. Following a vote of the Society's Fellows, the appointment will be confirmed in July. Paul NurseIma

Proposed salary increases have many postdocs waiting eagerly for a bigger check, but in the current economic environment, others are concerned about the potential consequences. 

Last year, the NIH funded fewer grants than it has for any year in the last nine years, and the average grant success rate -- 20.6 percent of reviewed grant applications funded among 26 institutions -- was the second lowest since 2000. Success rates are down from 21.8 percent in 2008 and only slightly higher than the 2006 ten-year low, when the NIH dispersed its funds out among only 20.0 percent of reviewed proposals. In total, 8,881 grant applications were funded last year, down from 9,460

Cancer, obesity, and even atherosclerosis share a common set of differentially expressed genes, suggesting a diverse number of human diseases share the same disrupted biological pathways, according to new research published this week in Cancer Cell. The genetic link also suggests that drugs currently used for the treatment of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases might also be used against cancer, researchers say. DNA microarrayImage: Wikimedia commons, Guillaume Paumier "In any year, there a

Estrogen and progesterone promote the proliferation and activity of mouse mammary stem cells, according to new research published online today (April 11) at Nature -- possibly explaining the link between exposure to the hormones and breast cancer. Microphotography of a preparationof a healthy mammary gland Image: Wikimedia commons, linkurl:Luis A. Pardo et al.;http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Healthy_mammary_gland.jpg "It's a pretty good paper," said linkurl:John Stingl,;http://www.cambri

By Megan Scudellari Stephen Smith: The Botanist Hacker © 2010 Alex Maness Photography Stephen Smith just wanted to study honeysuckle. As a new PhD student at Yale University in 2003, “I was going to do a strict monograph,” says Smith. But when he sat down to research the evolution of the genus, he learned that the honeysuckle fossil record is poor, so Smith decided to temporarily expand his research to include the fossils

A Living Legacy At the birthplace of stem cell research, the next generation of scientists continues to advance the field. By Megan Scudellari In Toronto’s downtown Discovery District, world-class stem cell researchers populate the buildings like athletes at the Olympics. On University Avenue, Andras Nagy, a renowned innovator in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, works at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, housed within the towering Mount Sin

Pluri–Pioneer With a simple insight and unselfish collaboration, Andras Nagy pushed stem cell research in directions it had never been before. By Megan Scudellari © 2010 Icon Photography Inc./www.iconphotoinc.com Andras Nagy bent over his coffee-stained menu and began to scribble. Pentao Liu, a cancer geneticist from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom, watched from across the lunch table. It was January

The Big Ome Can an international group of scientists map the entire regulatory network of a cell? By Megan Scudellari In May 2004, a steady stream of more than 75 researchers from France, Italy, Singapore, and other nations around the world arrived in Ottawa, Canada, a hub of industry and government activity nestled in the confluence of three rivers. Each scientist was hand picked by Michael Rudnicki, a renowned stem-cell researcher at the Ottawa H

Mind Your Elders Over the next 2 decades, Canadian scientists will collect and analyze samples from 50,000 people as they age, to figure out how to make the process easier for everyone else. By Megan Scudellari Canada, like every other developed nation, is going gray. Next year, the first baby boomers across Canada will celebrate their 65th birthdays. Seniors are Canada’s fastest-growing age group, and as the years go by, the country’