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Dendritic cells, known to be the prime movers of the body’s immune response, are still notoriously difficult to study in humans. Samples, which come primarily from bone marrow or lymphoid tissue, are simply too difficult to obtain. But new research at Rockefeller University has shown scientists a...

Our cells live ever on the verge of suicide, requiring the close attention of a team of molecules to prevent the cells from pulling the trigger. This self-destructive tendency can be a very good thing, as when dangerous precancerous cells are permitted to kill themselves, but it can also go horri...

Fruit flies are not known for their sense of direction. Even among animals with tiny brains, they are particularly prone to sudden, sharp changes of direction and circuitous navigation. But their abrupt movements are not accidental. Understanding how they decide when to veer right or left is imp...

Following a five-month search in which nearly 80 candidates were considered, the university’s Board of Trustees voted on September 8 to name Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a leader in the study of brain development, president. Dr. Tessier-Lavigne, who is currently executive vice president for research and...

A few weeks ago, I announced that Marc Tessier-Lavigne had been selected to become the tenth president of The Rockefeller University. Marc is an outstanding scientist and an experienced and thoughtful leader and I was personally delighted when he accepted our offer to serve as Rockefeller’s presi...

by ZACH VEILLEUX The renovation of Welch Hall, which has housed the university’s library since its construction in 1929 and once served as its main dining facility, will begin in January, president Paul Nurse announced last week. The plan to modernize Welch, which has been under development for s...

Jeffrey M. Friedman, who first came to Rockefeller as a postdoc in 1980 and has been head of laboratory since 1991, is one of two recipients of this year’s Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, considered the most prestigious American prize in science. The Lasker award recognized him fo...

Virologist Paul Bieniasz, who studies retroviruses such as HIV, has been instrumental in discovering how they colonize cells and interact with host proteins as they replicate. This summer, the university’s Board voted to award Dr. Bieniasz tenure and promote him to professor. Dr. Bieniasz’s r...

by ZACH VEILLEUX Luciano Marraffini, a microbiologist, is interested in how bacterial pathogens modulate the transfer of foreign DNA into their genomes. He joined the university on July 1 as assistant professor and head of the Laboratory of Bacteriology. Fundamentally, Dr. Marraffini wants to un...

by BRETT NORMAN Daniel Kronauer, who will join Rockefeller in July 2011 as head of the Laboratory of Insect Social Evolution, is interested in understanding how evolution operates at different levels of organization in the rich context of insect societies, from the gene to the individual and soci...