With epidemics and outbreaks of Ebola virus, Zika virus, West Nile virus and others posing serious threats, many virologists are scrambling to learn how to better fight these human pathogens. Luis Villarreal has studied viruses for nearly 50 years, and considers them much more than infectious agents. For…
When asked to describe her research, Titia de Lange says she has been “working on the same simple question for 25 years.” That’s a modest account of a dogged dedication that has revealed information critical to understanding both genome maintenance and cancer development. De Lange studies how cells…
While most sleep research is conducted using laboratory mice, David Prober studies the molecular basis of sleep in the zebrafish, a small freshwater tropical fish that populates many pet store aquariums. Zebrafish have several surprising advantages for understanding how sleep works. Unlike mice, which are nocturnal and sleep…
Hao Wu was a medical student in Beijing when she first saw the images that would change the course of her career. At an international biochemistry meeting, Michael Rossmann of Purdue University presented the intricate three-dimensional structures of viruses that his group had elucidated…
Gregory Hannon (Photo: CRUK Pioneer Award) Gregory Hannon grew up in western Pennsylvania, where his father worked as a quality inspector at a factory. Hannon had professional aspirations, and assumed he was “destined” to become a physician. “Growing up, I didn’t even know that the…
Gilbert Chu’s passion for biology stretches far back. By ninth grade, he was conducting brain surgery in rats and corresponding with researchers about implanting brain electrodes. But during his first week of college at Princeton, a run-in with a premed student who demanded to copy his lab report…
David Tuveson was born a naturalist. Growing up in Michigan, he says, “I was always outside—looking under a rock, going out on the water to observe and catch things and let them go…I’ve loved science ever since I was conscious.” David Tuveson(Photo: Courtesy of David…
Ajay Chawla delighted in exploring the mechanics of everyday objects from an early age. At first, he recalls, “I spent most of my time taking things apart and not putting them together.” This impulse served him well in school, where he was drawn to math and science, and…
As an undergraduate at The Ohio State University, Christopher Lima split his time between studying biochemistry and playing the trombone in a ska band. When the time came to choose between these two pursuits, Lima opted for a career in science. He delved into structural biology, first as…
Laura Johnston worked as a chemist at an oil refinery, a city council staffer, and a landscape and portrait artist before shifting her focus to biomedical research. Now, she seeks to understand how cells push and prod one another as an organism grows and develops. She has spent…