The Rockefeller University

In Nature Medicine, the Casanova lab reports on the crucial role that a single protein known as PD-1 plays in protecting the body from both tuberculosis and autoimmune disease. Clinicians have long known that cancer patients receiving PD-1 blockade drugs are prone to life-threatening TB infections and autoimmune diseases. In this new study, Jean-Laurent Casanova and his team discovered that a child who contracted severe TB and later died of pulmonary autoimmunity had an inhe...rited PD-1 deficiency. Mounting evidence of PD-1 deficiency as a key factor in severity of these diseases could open the door to new treatments for millions of patients. About 25 percent of the global population is estimated to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis; some eight million Americans suffer from autoimmune diseases. Casanova writes: "Our work highlights the indispensable role of human PD-1 in governing both antimycobacterial immunity and self-tolerance, while identifying potentially actionable molecular targets for the diagnostic and therapeutic management of TB and autoimmunity in patients on PD-1 blockade." The full study is available here: https://go.nature.com/3y613mj

Humans, we are learning, wouldn’t really be human without a little help from the trillions of bacteria we hostmany of which interface directly with our own cells. Check out this Q&A with Daniel Mucida in #SeekMagazine to learn more about the microbes within.

In another interview from our #oralhistory project, #LaskerLaureate James Darnell talks about growing up in segregated Mississippi and the research that led to discovering ribosomal RNA processing.

Check out this Quanta Magazine piece featuring Rockefeller's Vanessa Ruta:

As it falls on a Saturday this year, Rockefeller is closed today in observance of Juneteenth. May we reflect on the terrible history of racial injustice in the United States and commit to building a just and equal society.

Robert Roeder has won the -Kyoto Prize! Congratulations, Bob!

New research from the Victora and Mucida labs suggests that our immune system may play an active role in shaping the digestive-tract flora, which is tightly linked to health and disease. #RockefellerScience

ICYMI: Earlier this month, CNN wrote about the #BradyLab's innovative methods for discovering new antibiotics. The work could represent major breakthroughs in fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Dr. Jean-Laurent Casanova and President Rick Lifton share the latest #COVID19 findings: how misguided antibodies and specific genetic mutations may explain a significant percentage of severe and life-threatening responses to SARS-CoV-2.

In a painstaking experiment, scientists in the Alushin lab suspended a single protein filament between two microscopic beads. Their results have shed light on an elusive process in which cells receive and respond to mechanical cues. #RockefellerScience

ICYMI: Rockefeller's own Daniel Kronauer wrote a book! It's a comprehensive monograph on army ants, the creatures at the center of his evolutionary-biology research. Check out this Q&A with Daniel on his literary endeavor:

Tomorrow at 5:30 PM: Joanne Chory of the Salk Institute, who pioneered the application of molecular genetics to plant biology and transformed our understanding of photosynthesis, will receive Rockefeller's Pearl Meister Greengard Prize in a virtual ceremony. Don't forget to register! https://bit.ly/36YzVM1

A novel anti-inflammatory compound, discovered in the Breslow lab and now licensed to Bridge Medicines, will be designed to treat immune-mediated diseases without harming the rest of the immune system.

Luciano Marraffini has been named a 2020 recipient of the Max Planck Humboldt Medal. He receives the award for his achievements studying CRISPR-Cas, a bacterial immune mechanism whose discovery led to modern gene-editing tools. Congratulations, Luciano!

Joanne Chory will receive Rockefeller's Pearl Meister Greengard Prize in a virtual ceremony on October 22. Don't forget to register! https://bit.ly/36YzVM1 And check out this The Scientist piece to learn how Chory revolutionized our understanding of photosynthesis:

Female mosquitoes are armed with syringe-like stylets that begin to pump furiously only in the presence of blood. Scientists in the Vosshall lab are now studying the specific neurons that line the stylet, and asking what mosquitoes taste when they bite us. #RockefellerScience

Congrats to #RockefellerAlum Fangyu Liu, formerly of the Chen lab, for winning the Birnstiel Award from the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)! Liu's work has laid the foundation for structural-based drug discovery to treat cystic fibrosis. Learn more: https://bit.ly/33JMpFh

Watch psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman from Weill Cornell Medicine and host Dr. Leslie Vosshall discuss mental health concerns associated with the #COVID19 pandemic and coping strategies for parents and kids.

Charlie Rice thought the early morning call must be about a crisis with lab equipment. Turns out it was the Nobel Prize committee! Then I was pretty much convinced that it was a prank phone call, Rice says. Watch the full press conference here:

The Rice laboratory worked on the hepatitis C virus for three decades and became the first to produce a version of it that could be grown and studied in the laboratory. Here is the lab today, celebrating Nobel Prize laureate Charlie Rice!