“In the last century and a half, scientific development has been breathtaking, but the understanding of this progress has dramatically changed. It is characterized by the transition from the culture of science to the culture of research. Science is certainty; research is uncertainty. Science is supposed to be cold, straight, and detached; research is warm, involving, and risky. Science puts an end to the vagaries of human disputes; research creates controversies. Science produces objectivity by escaping as much as possible from the shackles of ideology, passions, and emotions; research feeds on all of those to render objects of inquiry familiar.”
Bruno Latour, Science
10 April 1998;280(5361):208-209
In the hope of providing clues and approaches to ensure the birth of healthy babies, ensure the health of infants who develop into adulthood, and optimize the health of women, the Division of Intramural Research of NICHD focuses its research effort on the acquisition of information that will enhance our understanding of the biology of development and reproduction. Our research program emphasizes the importance of fundamental investigations into the physics, chemistry, and biology of cells, their component parts, and the processes that govern and regulate their function. As part of its investigative focus, the Division’s scientific staff accords primary importance to the transmission of new information to future generations of scientists. Science and research flourish only in an environment in which imagination and scientific inquiry can have a free and unfettered opportunity to ask questions about the nature of living organisms. In such an environment investigators can work in concert with their postdoctoral fellows, graduates, and trainees.
The past year has been more unsettled than even those who thrive on uncertainty might prefer. For the NIH and the Division of Intramural Research, the "soft-landing" for decreased funding for biomedical research is the susurrous, worrisome prelude to a moment that may not place the well-being of people at the forefront of scientific development. And yet, the results of biomedical research provide the foundation for future advances in healthcare; they are the guarantors that the medical practice of today is not the practice for tomorrow. In an environment that nurtures scientific inquiry and places a premium on those efforts, those who are engaged in the quest for certainty resonate with Louis Pasteur, who wrote: “Knowledge belongs to humanity, and thus science knows no country and is the torch that illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of a nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.”
During the past year, investigators in the Division of Intramural Research have made unique scientific discoveries. Some of the highlights include:
- Altan-Bonnet N, Sougrat R, Lippincott-Schwartz J. Molecular basis for Golgi maintenance and biogenesis. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 2004;16(4):364-372.
- Lizunov VA, Matsumoto H, Zimmerberg J, Cushman SW, Frolov VA. Insulin stimulates the halting, tethering, and fusion of mobile GLUT4 vesicles in rat adipose cells. Journal of Cell Biology 2005;169:481-489.
- Dey M, Cao C, Dar AC, Tamura T, Ozato K, Sicheri F, Dever TE. Mechanistic link between PKR dimerization, autophosphorylation, and eIF2alpha substrate recognition. Cell 2005;122:901-913.
- Brown SL, Joseph J, Stopfer M. Encoding a temporally structured stimulus with a temporally structured neural representation. Nature Neuroscience 2005;8(11):1568-1576.
- Pang PT, Teng HK, Zaitsev E, Woo NT, Sakata K, Zhen S, Teng KK, Yung WH, Hempstead BL, Lu, B. Proteolytic conversion of proBDNF to mature BDNF by the tPA/plasmin system is essential for long-term hippocampal plasticity. Science 2004;306:487-491.
- Karginov VA, Nestorovich EM, Moayeri M, Leppla SH, Bezrukov SM. Blocking anthrax lethal toxin at the protective antigen channel by using structure-inspired drug design. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2005;102(42):15075-15080.
- Meyers SM, Ostrovsky MA, Bonner RF. A model of spectral filtering to reduce photochemical damage in age-related macular degeneration. Transactions of the American Ophthalmological Society 2004;102:83-95.
- Mayer ML. Some assembly required. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 2005;12:208-209.
- Horvath A, Mathyakina L, Vong Q, Baxendale V, Pang ALY, Chan WY, Stratakis C. Serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE) in adrenocortical hyperplasia caused by a germline PRKAR1A mutation. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 2005; Nov. 8 [Epub ahead of print].
- Mor G, Romero R, Aldo PB, Abrahams VM. Is the trophoblast an immune regulator? The role of Toll-like receptors during pregnancy. Critical Reviews in Immunology 2005;25(5):375-388.
- Newman TK, Syagailo YV, Barr CS, Wendland JR, Champoux M, Graessle M, Suomi SJ, Higley JD, Lesch KP. Monoamine oxidase A gene promoter variation and rearing experience influences aggressive behavior in rhesus monkeys. Biological Psychiatry 2005;57:167-172.
These contributions are representative of the quality and diversity of the research accomplished within the intramural program of NICHD. Passions have led to clarity, risks have illuminated new, objective realities. In the volume that follows, I am proud to present the record of a year of productive engagement on the part of NICHD intramural scientists.
Owen M. Rennert, M.D.
Scientific Director
National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development