Featured series 
Tag: Research
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Health
Financial risk-taking behavior is associated with higher testosterone
Higher levels of testosterone are correlated with financial risk-taking behavior, according to a new study in which men’s testosterone levels were assessed before participation in an investment game. The findings help to shed light on the evolutionary function and biological origins of risk taking.
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Health
Advance in pluripotent cell creation
A team of Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) scientists has taken an important step toward producing induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells that are safe to transplant into patients to treat diseases. Excitement over the ability of researchers to create this form of stem cell by inserting four genes into adult cells has thus far been…
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Campus & Community
Dental School’s Goldhaber dies at 84
Paul W. Goldhaber, dean of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM) for 22 years, died this past July 14 from complications of pancreatic cancer. He was 84.
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Health
New approach to gene therapy may shrink brain tumors, prevent their spread
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers are investigating a new approach to gene therapy for brain tumors — delivering a cancer-fighting gene to normal brain tissue around the tumor to keep it from spreading. An animal study described in the journal Molecular Therapy, the first study to test the feasibility of such an approach, found that…
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Campus & Community
Lab aims to advance innovations in public education
A new education research and development laboratory at Harvard University will identify and advance strategies to improve student achievement in America’s public schools, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation announced Sept. 25 at the Clinton Global Initiative.
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Campus & Community
Broad Institute gets major grant for epigenomics research
Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT announced Sept. 30 that they have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to map the epigenomes of a variety of medically important cell types, including human embryonic stem cells.
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Health
Seeing what they hear, to better understand ourselves
It was a long drive from St. Louis to Florida, but Darlene Ketten had finally made it. Standing in the warm surf of St. George Island, she watched with delight as tiny, colorful bean clams popped out of the sand and then quickly reburied themselves as the waves foamed around her calves.
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Health
Health, rights journal open to all
December will mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a United Nations convention that in 30 articles memorializes basic freedoms involving speech, property, health, security, and the rule of law.
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Health
Harvard Forest: 3,500 acres, global impact
Harvard may be rooted in Cambridge, but it has a lot more roots in the small north-central Massachusetts town of Petersham. That’s where you’ll find the woods, streams, and fields of the Harvard Forest, a 3,500-acre research and teaching facility that’s been part of the University for more than a century. Having been closely monitored…
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Campus & Community
Thomas Weller, Nobel laureate, HSPH professor emeritus, dies at 93
Thomas H. Weller, a Nobel Prize winner in 1954 and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) professor emeritus, passed away on Aug. 23. He was 93.
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Health
HPV, cervical cancer link earns scientists Alpert Prize
Two scientists who discovered that specific types of human papillomavirus, or HPV, cause cancer of the cervix received the 20th annual Warren Alpert Foundation Scientific Prize on Sept. 15. As part of the day’s celebration, the prize winners Harald zur Hausen and Lutz Gissmann — both professors at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg…
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Campus & Community
Scholars, officials welcomed as Mossavar-Rahmani Center fellows
A director of international banking for one of the top banks in Vietnam, a seasoned government relations executive, and the former deputy general counsel for National Grid are among the incoming fellows being welcomed this fall at Harvard Kennedy School’s (HKS) Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government.
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Campus & Community
Susan E. Mango named professor of molecular and cellular biology
Susan E. Mango, whose study of pharynx development in nematode worms has provided biologists with one of their most robust models of organ development, has been named professor of molecular and cellular biology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), effective July 1, 2009. Mango, 46, was previously professor of oncological sciences at the…
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Campus & Community
HSPH honors Bernard Lown
A professorship and scholarship program to honor the career of Bernard Lown in advancing public health is being established at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). School officials made the announcement Sept. 10.
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Campus & Community
Ruvkun among Lasker Award winners
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) investigator Gary Ruvkun is one of three co-recipients of the 2008 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.
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Campus & Community
Program on U.S.-Japan Relations names associates, fellows
The Program on U.S.-Japan Relations has announced its 16 Program Associates and Advanced Research Fellows for the 2008-09 academic year. This year’s class of Program Associates includes scholars, professors, government officials, businesspeople, and journalists from Japan, the United States, and elsewhere.
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Campus & Community
Du Bois Institute announces new fellows
Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, has announced the appointment of 18 new institute fellows for the 2008-09 academic year.
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Campus & Community
David Korn named University’s vice provost for research
David Korn, a longtime leader in research policy and science administration, will become the University’s vice provost for research, Provost Steven E. Hyman announced today (Sept. 15). A distinguished pathologist who was dean of the Stanford University School of Medicine for more than a decade, Korn has served since 1997 in senior roles at the…
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Campus & Community
Shorenstein Center announces fellows, visiting faculty
The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently announced its fall fellows. “There has never been a more challenging — nor a more exciting — time to focus on the press, politics, and public policy, and our fellows and visiting faculty this…
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Campus & Community
NHGRI/NIH awards Harvard researchers $6.5M
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a $6.5 million grant (over four years) to a team of Harvard University researchers to further develop electronic sequencing in nanopores. The grant is part of more than $20 million in total funding given by NHGRI/NIH to spur innovative…
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Health
Jamaican lizards’ calisthenics mark territory at dawn, dusk
What does Jack LaLanne have in common with a Jamaican lizard? Like the ageless fitness guru, the lizards greet each new day with vigorous push-ups. That’s according to a new study showing that male Anolis lizards engage in impressive displays of reptilian strength — push-ups, head bobs, and threatening extension of a colorful neck flap…
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Campus & Community
Semitic Museum extends docent deadline
The Semitic Museum is currently seeking volunteer docents for the coming year. Docents will provide guided tours to school groups and the general public on the museum’s collection of archaeology of the ancient Near East.
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Campus & Community
Davis Center announces 2008-09 award recipients
The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies has announced its fellowship, prize, research travel grant, and internship recipients for the 2008-09 academic year.
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Campus & Community
Eli and Edythe Broad make unprecedented gift
Los Angeles-based philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Sept. 4 declared the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT an unprecedented success as an experiment in science and philanthropy and announced that they have increased their total gift to the Broad by $400 million to $600 million. The $400 million will be an endowment to convert…
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Campus & Community
Broad awarded $86M NIH grant to develop chemical probes for disease
Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT have been chosen to receive a six-year, $86 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to identify and develop molecular tools known as “small molecules,” which can probe proteins, signaling pathways, and cellular processes that are crucial to human health and disease.
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Health
HSCI researchers see major breakthrough
In a feat of biological prestidigitation likely to turn the field of regenerative medicine on its head, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) co-director Doug Melton and postdoctoral fellow Qiao “Joe” Zhou report having achieved what has long been a dream and ultimate goal of developmental biologists — directly turning a fully formed adult cell into…
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Campus & Community
In brief
Harvard-affiliated study runs in Journal of Community Psychology; Docents sought for Semitic Museum; Habitat for Humanity sale begins Aug. 23; HMS to host second ‘Freecycle’ event, donations sought; HMS to host quantitative genomics conference, poster component; Deadline for first print issue
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Health
Next-generation tool for visualizing genomic data introduced
Researchers are collecting vast amounts of diverse genomic data with ever-increasing speed, but effective ways to visualize these data in an integrated manner have lagged behind the ability to generate them. To address this growing need, researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed the Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV), a novel and…
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Campus & Community
Susan Carey awarded Rumelhart Prize
Susan Carey, a Harvard psychologist whose work has explored fundamental issues surrounding the nature of the human mind, has been awarded the 2009 David E. Rumelhart Prize, given annually since 2001 for significant contributions to the theoretical foundation of human cognition.
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Health
Neurons created from skin cells of elderly patients with ALS
Less than 27 months after announcing that he had institutional permission to attempt the creation of patient- and disease-specific stem cell lines, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) principal faculty member Kevin Eggan proclaimed the effort a success — though politically imposed restrictions and scientific advances prompted him to use a different technique than originally planned.