Cells use biomolecular condensates to organize and regulate when and where proteins are made. Among these, cytoplasmic RNA granules, including stress granules, P bodies, neuronal RNA granules, and germ granules, play a key role in storing and activating mRNAs, yet how individual components drive their function has been difficult to disentangle. By rebuilding germ granules from defined parts, we found that the DEAD-box RNA helicase Vasa and a simple RNA-binding scaffold are sufficient to recruit specific RNAs and trigger their translation.
Dianne Newman, Ph.D. California Institute of Technology
Mechanistic studies of life’s lower metabolic limits have been limited due to a paucity of tractable experimental systems. In this presentation, I will describe how we can investigate the physiology of maintenance (metabolic activity in the absence of growth) by studying anaerobic phenazine cycling in bacteria. Phenazines are a class of redox-active metabolites produced by diverse organisms. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model phenazine-producer, we have shown that anaerobic phenazine cycling supports cellular maintenance for non-growing cells in the cores of biofilms.
Once the ability of life to evolve in a Darwinian sense had become firmly established, life was free to adapt, diversify, and flourish, eventually giving rise to all the varieties of life we see around us today. However, during the origin of life, there were no protein polymerases or even ribozymes to catalyze the replication of the genetic material. Our work and many prior studies have shown that nonenzymatic primer extension proceeds with an error rate that is too high to allow for the evolution of even a small ribozyme.
Metals and metalloids are fundamental to human biology, shaping cellular function, metabolism, and resilience across the life course. At the same time, chronic exposure to toxic metals contributes to oxidative stress, inflammation, and accelerated aging, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, cognitive decline, and other age-related conditions. This lecture introduces the concept of the human metallome—the integrated profile of essential and toxic metals in the body—and its emerging role as a determinant of healthy aging.
(Watch live at the time of the event via videocast.nih.gov.) Summary: We will discuss the latest efforts in our laboratory to develop highly sensitive methods of microscopy, to go directly inside living cells and uncover the behavior of single biomolecules as they effect their function in transcription. Transcription is the first step in gene expression regulation, during which genetic information on DNA is decoded into RNA transcripts.
Yasmin Hurd, PhD Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Substance use disorders, particularly involving opioids and cannabis, represent a major public health crisis with profound neurobiological and societal consequences. This lecture highlights translational research integrating human postmortem brain analyses, animal models, and clinical studies to elucidate molecular mechanisms underlying addiction and related psychiatric risk.
Jamy Ard, MD Wake Forest University School of Medicine
The Past, Present, and Future State of Obesity Medicine will examine the evolution of obesity care from a public health and clinical research perspective, beginning with the epidemiology of obesity and the biologic, environmental, and societal forces that have fueled the epidemic.
Kathleen H. Burns, M.D., Ph.D. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Harvard Medical School
Our genome is replete with repetitive DNAs, many of which are accumulated self-propagating sequences. Long interspersed element-1 (LINE-1,L1) retrotransposons dominate this activity today, making copies of themselves by first being transcribed to RNA and then reverse transcribed to cDNA integrated into the genome. Increased L1 activity is a hallmark of cancers, and L1 insertions can act as driving mutations in tumorigenesis. L1 encodes a bicistronic RNA. The first of its open reading frames (ORFs) encodes ORF1 protein (ORF1p), which forms an RNA-binding homotrimer.
Francesca Dominici, PhD Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing research, education, and business—unlocking unprecedented opportunities across the environment, health, and beyond. In our lab, we’re developing the first foundation model for healthy adaptation to extreme weather events, pre-trained on the complete US Medicare dataset and enriched with nationwide Census, weather, and pollution data. This model enables powerful “what-if” scenario forecasting, using synthetic ground-truth data to validate counterfactual predictions and guide impactful climate actions.
