Updated: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 4:16pm
As a college student, Joan Steitz was fascinated by science. A chemistry major, Steitz stumbled upon molecular biology — then an emerging field — while assisting senior scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through her laboratory stint, Steitz even befriended James Watson, one of the scientists responsible for discovering the DNA double helix. At...
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — Ten years ago, University President Richard Levin laid out his goals for advancing Yale over the next decade. Investing in the sciences was among them — and the gleaming new Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center and the Class of ’54 Chemistry Research Building are proof of that. But on an urban campus, new laboratories can only be built so...
WEST HAVEN, Conn. — Next to the West Campus’ gleaming, brick-and-steel laboratory buildings lies an unadorned warehouse, clad in metal paneling and weathered from many a New England winter. To Yale’s scientists, those gleaming, state-of-the-art research buildings seem like the complex’s biggest prize. But art aficionados may argue otherwise. To them, that...
Few careers include both research on lemurs in Africa and successful negotiation of environmental reform. But Alison Richard — one-time University provost and former Director of the Yale Peabody Museum — has somehow managed all this and more. The Peabody Museum presented Richard with the Addison Amery Verrill Medal for achievement on Wednesday, its highest honor for...
When Michael Koelle, director of undergraduate studies in the Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry department, came to Yale 10 years ago, there were twice as many MB&B majors as there were last year. His initial reaction: it was simple coincidence. Biology-oriented students, he assumed, were probably just drifting to other biology-related majors. But a departmental...
Yale’s Faculty of Engineering will be spun off into its own school, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the University announced Monday. In a move approved by the Yale Corporation over the weekend, Dean of Engineering T. Kyle Vanderlick will take the helm of the new school, whose faculty will be increased in size by nearly 20 percent, the University said in...
Kenneth Kidd, professor of genetics, psychiatry and ecology and evolutionary biology, chuckles softly as he explains that the “Asian flush” is actually rooted in science. “We all have East Asian friends who turn bright red with alcohol,” Kidd said. The reason for this “flushing reaction,” he explained, is that many Asians carry variants of genes regulating...
Not all breast cancers are created equal. New genetics research by Olufunmilayo Olopade, a professor in the Department of Medicine and Human Genetics at the University of Chicago, suggests that the type and severity of breast cancer are largely dependent on patients’ ethnicity. Olopade determined that genes belonging to African-American women often have mutations...
A speaker whizzing around the lecture hall on a personal transporter, a robot bumping into audience members’ feet, free donuts — this scene may not be like a typical lecture on Science Hill. But at “Science Saturdays,” it is by no means out of place. A concept pioneered by mechanical engineering professor Ainissa Ramirez in 2004, “Science Saturdays” bring the...
Even as scientists across the country struggle to work around federal restrictions on stem cell research, Yale researchers will now enjoy the benefits of almost $6 million in grants. Twelve Yale stem cell research projects received grants totaling $5.6 million from the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee on Tuesday. The money was distributed as part of...
Mary Tinetti and colleagues perform research on aging-related health conditions at the Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, a foundation funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1992, Tinetti said, who is director of the Pepper Center and the Yale Program on Aging. But a few days ago, Tinetti said, they were informed that their annual grant had...
Complexity, so the saying goes, doesn’t necessarily equal perfection: There is always room to improve. Now Yale scientists are learning this adage holds true in evolutionary biology. According to recent research by Yale scientists, organisms do not become less evolvable — that is, less responsive to natural selection — as they become more complex, a finding that...
