A Look Back at a Strong Year in ߣƵ Research
The engine of ߣƵ research was strong in 2022, with abundant and significant grants awarded and papers published. Among the year's highlights were major scientific prizes received, positive media coverage, and a number of papers issuing from the ߣƵ's Advanced Research Training Courses.
Award-Winning Science
In September, the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences was awarded to Clifford Brangwynne and Anthony Hyman for the discovery of a new organizing principle in cells, first recognized while they were teaching in the 2008 ߣƵ Physiology course. Their observation of cells forming liquid-like compartments stimulated an exciting new paradigm in biology and biomedicine, with much of the field’s early groundwork laid at the ߣƵ ().
Soon after, ߣƵ Trustee Timothy Springer received the Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, often considered a harbinger of a Nobel Prize. Springer, Richard O. Hynes and Erkki Ruoslahti were honored for original discoveries concerning the integrins, cell-adhesion proteins now related to an astonishing array of fundamental processes. Springer conducted collaborative research on the integrins in the ߣƵ’s Whitman Center in the mid-2010s.
Speaking of the ߣƵ Courses …
Living up to their reputation for creative science, the ߣƵ’s Advanced Research Training Courses incubated several papers that were published in 2022. To name a few: A study in on improving resolution in fluorescence microscopy acknowledges the Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy course, in which co-author Alejandro Linares was a student. A protocol for live imaging of adult C. elegans sprang from the ߣƵ Embryology course; and Neural Systems & Behavior faculty member Michael Brecht and student Senmiao Sun illuminated torpor in the smallest known mammal, the Etruscan shrew, in . The fount of discovery in the ߣƵ courses flows!
In the Media Spotlight
Cephalopod research at ߣƵ continues to attract media attention and public fascination. Last spring, The New York Times profiled ߣƵ's initiative to develop cephalopods as new research organisms in an extensive feature. Other big cephalopod news stories included coverage of research led by ߣƵ Grass Fellow/UChicago graduate Z. Yan Wang; and a major study in Nature Communications comparing the genomes of one octopus and two squid species, including the local squid Doryteuthis, led by ߣƵ’s Carrie Albertin.
Among the other ߣƵ stories garnering news and social media attention last year were the discovery of a novel DNA modification system by Irina Arkhipova’s lab in the Bay Paul Center; and the first model of how the day/night cycle affects marine phytoplankton, led by Joe Vallino in the Ecosystems Center.
Finally, both and media outlets reported on the initiative to prepare the village for climate change impacts. The ߣƵ is a partner in the private-public initiative.
