National Institutes of Health
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Scientists led by the National Institutes of Health have discovered antibodies that will prevent most HIV strains from infecting human cells. Two potent human antibodies have been found to stop more than 90 percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the lab. Scientists have even demonstrated how one of the disease-fighting proteins is able to do it. They found the antibodies using a novel molecular device that homes in on the specific cells that make antibodies that fight HIV. According to the scientists, the antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vaccines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection. Moreover, the method used to find the antibodies could be used to find therapeutic antibodies for other infectious diseases.
July 21, 2010 -
NIH hosts a free film festival designed to promote public understanding of science, health, and medicine. Films with a medical science theme are screened, and an expert on the subject provides a commentary and leads an audience question-and-answer period. Bruce Fuchs, Director of NIH\'s Office of Science Education, tells us about it.
July 20, 2010 -
Dr. Doug Meckes says his job is more than barns and chicken coops. As director of DHS\'s Food, Agriculture, and Veterinary Defense Division, he helps secure the nation by protecting our food supply. And he says the role of federal vets is only growing.
July 14, 2010 -
Administrator Gordon says strategic sourcing is one way to ensure the government gets the lowest price and to consolidate existing contracts. Gordon also wants agencies to submit business cases for new multi-agency contracts, but doesn\'t commit to asking agencies to justify all types of multiple award contracts.
July 01, 2010 -
So who are the smartest TSP investors in government? Are they rocket scientists, economist, medical researchers or postal employees? Take Senior Correspondent Mike Causey\'s TGIF quiz to test your investment smarts.
June 18, 2010 -
NIH director Dr. Francis Collins testified before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce\'s Subcommittee on Health yesterday that the immediate future could be difficult because of poor economic conditions and stimulus funds running dry.
June 16, 2010 -
A new initiative promises to monitor the impact of federal science investments on employment, the generation of knowledge, and health outcomes, to a degree not previously possible. The Science and Technology for America\'s Reinvestment: Measuring the Effect of Research on Innovation, Competitiveness and Science, or STAR METRICS, is a multi-agency venture that will be lead by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Together, NSF and NIH have committed $1 million for the program\'s first year. The first phase of the two-phase program will use university administrative records to calculate the employment impact of federal science spending through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and agencies\' existing budgets.
June 07, 2010 -
The STAR METRICS will create a reliable and consistent inter-agency mechanism to account for the number of scientists and support staff that are on research institution payrolls supported by federal funds. Details from Julia Lane, program director with the National Science Foundation.
June 07, 2010 -
The Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health have launched a new Web site that, when fully developed, will provide a mechanism for the reporting of pre- and post-market safety data to the federal government. Currently, the Web site can be used to report safety problems related to foods, including animal feed, as well as adverse events that might happen in relation to human gene transfer trials. Consumers can also use the site to report problems with pet foods and pet treats. The new site, called the Safety Reporting Portal, is meant to provide greater and easier access to online reporting. FDA officials say it\'s a first step toward a common electronic reporting system that will offer one-stop shopping, allowing people to file a single report that may be of interest to several agencies.
May 31, 2010 -
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health - using an electro-encephalogram, a machine that records the brain\'s electrical activity - shows newborn infants are capable of a simple form of learning while they\'re asleep. The finding may one day lead to a test that can identify infants at risk for developmental disorders. The NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development sponsors research on development, before and after birth. The machine measured the babies brain\'s electrical activity while a video camera recorded each baby\'s facial expressions, as researchers played a tone, as a machine blew a puff of air at each sleeping infant\'s eyelids. The electroencephalogram detected changes in brain wave activity that occurred simultaneously with the tone, showing the infants had learned to associate the tone with the puff of air.
May 25, 2010 -
Congressional staff members call the current MAC environment \"chaos.\" The administration will decide in a matter of weeks whether NIH should continue to run its CIO-SP3 governmentwide contract. OFPP administrator Gordon says several broad policy decisions must be made to address the challenges around multiple award contracts.
May 19, 2010 -
Scientific research does more than just save lives. The work also creates jobs. That, at least, is what the Obama Administration is banking on, as the President toured a lab at the National Institutes of Health, and heralded $5 billion dollars in government grants to fight cancer, autism, and heart disease.
October 01, 2009 -
Increasingly, people are getting health information online, and very few organizations have as much health information as the National Institutes of Health. NIH last week held a educational session with the team behind the online…
July 20, 2009 -
Some of the top minds in federal, state and local government joined members of the scientific and medical community for a one-day summit on the H1N1 (swine) flu virus today. That summit was held at…
July 09, 2009 -
One area of President Obama’s first budget undergoing some major changes is the request for the National Institutes of Health. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education heard about the…
May 22, 2009