Andrea Alfano, Author at ��ϳԹ��Դ

Seeding citizen science with DNA barcoding

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 18:00:58 +0000

New York City and Cold Spring Harbor, NY — School field trips can help make classroom lessons come alive. In science, these trips might include hands-on experiments, where students act like “scientists for a day.” But while a day of pre-planned experiments can be fun and educational, it rarely comes even close to an authentic...

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Suffrage Science award to Mikala Egeblad

Andrea Alfano — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 19:50:54 +0000

Scientific discoveries are a kind of intellectual heirloom, passed down across generations to scientists who add to the collection of knowledge during their own lifetimes. Associate Professor Mikala Egeblad recently received a different kind of scientific heirloom: handcrafted jewelry inspired by research and the Suffragette movement. On June 6, Egeblad and 10 other female scientists...

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Microbial masterpieces win ASM Agar Art Contest

Andrea Alfano — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 15:00:52 +0000

Science and art collided in a happy way at the Saturday DNA! Agar Art workshop at CSHL’s DNA Learning Center. Students as young as 10 learned about how laboratory techniques that scientists commonly use to study the living world can also be used to create unique works of art. Using glowing bacteria as their “paint,”...

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A science writer’s quest to understand heredity

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 30 May 2018 15:00:45 +0000

t this very moment, there is more Neanderthal DNA on Earth than there was when Neanderthals were alive. Bits of their DNA, inherited tens of thousands of years ago, persist in many of our genomes today. This astounding legacy is one of many revelations that renowned science writer Carl Zimmer uses to burst open readers’...

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Pershing Square Sohn prize to Camila dos Santos

Andrea Alfano — Tue, 22 May 2018 13:00:12 +0000

New York City and Cold Spring Harbor, NY — ��ϳԹ��Դ (CSHL) Assistant Professor Camila dos Santos, Ph.D., has been awarded the Pershing Square Sohn Prize for Young Investigators in Cancer Research. The announcement was made today by The Pershing Square Sohn Cancer Research Alliance. This is the fifth year the Alliance has...

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How do plants know when to flower?

Andrea Alfano — Fri, 18 May 2018 16:43:39 +0000

eather forecasting technologies and clairvoyant groundhogs are among the tools that we humans use to predict when spring will arrive. When colorful flowers and foliage burst from plants, we finally know it is here. But how do plants know that it is time to put out spring flowers? Plants have no nervous system to feel...

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Research profile: Robert Maki

Andrea Alfano — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:34:48 +0000

Robert Maki, M.D., Ph.D., has been determined to eliminate what he calls the “guessing game” aspect of cancer treatment from the very start of his more than 20-year career as a medical oncologist. His goal was “not just to practice medicine, but also to learn more about the ‘why’ part of medical problems.” With the...

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The course to science stardom

Andrea Alfano — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 15:33:55 +0000

For decades, David Haas had all but forgotten about the crystal freezing technique he invented in the late 1960s for visualizing molecules. But while he was off working in the manufacturing industry, this technique was helping researchers develop drugs for HIV, among other diseases. It facilitated Nobel Prize-winning advances including cryo-electron microscopy, which won the...

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Evans Foundation MDS Young Investigator Award to Lingbo Zhang

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 15:38:50 +0000

“Smoldering leukemia” is one way that experts once referred to a class of lethal blood cancers now known as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). CSHL Fellow Lingbo Zhang aims to extinguish MDS by developing a new treatment strategy, work for which the Edward P. Evans Foundation has recognized him with an EvansMDS Young Investigator Award. “What is...

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One experiment: Twice the tomatoes

Andrea Alfano — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 18:22:44 +0000

Those plump red fruits aren’t the only sweets spots of a tomato plant. The branches have them too. When breeding plants to produce more fruit, “you want to be in a sweet spot” in terms of branching because “plants have to be balanced in their growth,” says Professor Zachary Lippman. That two-pronged plant on the...

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Kids today are doing what forensics experts couldn’t just 25 years ago

Andrea Alfano — Tue, 06 Mar 2018 16:14:32 +0000

ny savvy criminal in today’s world would try not to leave DNA evidence behind at the crime scene. But 5,000 years ago, criminals didn’t have to be so careful. At a recent session of the DNA Learning Center’s Saturday DNA! program, students aged 10 to 13 used DNA evidence to try to identify the killer...

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Welcome to the real world of science, I’ll be your guide

Andrea Alfano — Mon, 05 Feb 2018 19:06:30 +0000

cience is not too hard for you to understand. That was Jackie Novatt’s attitude during every tour she gave at CSHL, where she herself was a researcher, and it showed. She wasn’t interested in merely dazzling visitors with high-tech equipment and triumphant success stories. She was determined to show the people on her tours how...

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Dr. Leemor Joshua-Tor honored with Mildred Cohn Award from ASBMB

Andrea Alfano — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 18:51:32 +0000

The idea that understanding the form and function of molecules that make up life is essential to understanding life itself has guided Professor Leemor Joshua-Tor throughout more than 25 years of research. The latest honor in her distinguished career is the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology’s 2018 Mildred Cohn Award in Biological Chemistry,...

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45 years later, a scientist realizes he’s a star

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 18:59:15 +0000

or decades, David Haas had all but forgotten about the crystal freezing technique he invented in the late 1960s for visualizing molecules. But while he was off working in the manufacturing industry, this technique was helping researchers develop drugs for HIV, among other diseases. It facilitated Nobel Prize-winning advances including cryo-electron microscopy, which won the...

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Turning off the immune system is hard. Turning it on against cancer is easier.

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 10 Jan 2018 21:14:38 +0000

he immune system’s awesome power has captivated Professor Douglas Fearon throughout over 45 years of study, both as a medical doctor and as a scientist. Yet just 10 years ago, he “didn’t believe in cancer immunology,” he admits frankly. Today, cancer drugs based on the idea of harnessing the immune system’s power are helping to...

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Dr. Anne Churchland honored with Marshall Award for promoting women in science

Andrea Alfano — Mon, 11 Dec 2017 15:03:35 +0000

In recognition of her efforts to promote and mentor women in neuroscience, Associate Professor Anne Churchland was honored with The Louise Hanson Marshall Special Recognition Award at the Society for Neuroscience’s 2017 Annual Meeting in November. Each year, the award goes to “an individual who has significantly promoted the professional development of women in neuroscience...

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A spot at the podium: The Women in Biology Speakers List

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 01:49:52 +0000

The gender imbalance in slates of invited speakers for scientific conferences is an issue that CSHL’s Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) group and Meetings & Courses division were well-positioned to tackle. They created the Women in Biology Speakers List to inspire conference organizers to invite more women to speak. hen a group dedicated to...

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Big decisions

Andrea Alfano — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 20:05:42 +0000

Base Pairs podcast Who will use CRISPR to alter their child’s DNA? Who gets to decide which traits are desirable? Following up on our last episode, “Good genes, bad science,” we hear from David Micklos, executive director at CSHL’s DNA Learning Center, and Miriam Rich, CSHL Archives Sydney Brenner Research Scholar and doctoral student at...

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For brain cells, you are who you speak to

Andrea Alfano — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 18:31:34 +0000

Tracking a person entails searching through their email, phone, and other means of communication to map out their network. To do this for a brain cell, more creativity is called for. fter more than a century of investigation into the diverse cells of the brain, neuroscientists still are not sure what exactly makes one neuron different from...

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Good genes, bad science

Andrea Alfano — Sun, 15 Oct 2017 20:05:34 +0000

Base Pairs podcast The early 1900s was an exciting time to study genetics. Gregor Mendel’s famous laws of genetics had just been rediscovered at the turn of the century, giving rise to a field rich with untold truths about the nature of life. Yet it was during this period that the bogus concept of hereditary...

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Andrea Alfano, Author at ���ϳԹ���Դ