Focus In Sound

One of the keys to ultimately conquering disease and extending the healthy lifespans of human beings is going to be to advance and refine our understanding of the machinery of living cells. Our guest on this edition of FOCUS In Sound, Dr. John York, has done as much as any scientist in the last two decades to contribute to knowledge of cellular processes, particularly in the area of inositol signa...

Staphylococcus aureus is probably the most important bacterial pathogen affecting the public health of Americans. Staph is the leading cause of pus-forming skin and soft tissue infections, the leading cause of infectious heart disease, the number one hospital-acquired infection, and one of the four leading causes of food-borne illness. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staph aureus, is a highly virul...

On this edition of FOCUS In Sound, we welcome a scientist who explores the way the brain encodes information about the world around us – she combines computational and biological approaches to study the mechanisms behind the transformation of sensory representations. Dr. Maria N. Geffen is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery and Neuroscience at t...

On this edition of FOCUS In Sound, we welcome a married couple of researchers, both of whom have been recipients of Burroughs Wellcome Fund grant support – Doctors Alice Chen-Plotkin and Joshua Plotkin. Of course, one of the major challenges in a scientific career is an ability to balance the demands of work life and home and family life, and you can multiply those challenges when you have two act...

On this edition of FOCUS In Sound, we’re going to learn about a devastating infectious pathogen – Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium with incredible staying power and, unfortunately, considerable killing power as well. Although we might think of it as a somewhat old-fashioned disease, tuberculosis is still an enormous global health problem, with 15 million new cases every year and as many as...

On this edition of Focus In Sound, we focus on research on a devastating disease that threatens millions of people in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa—Human African Trypanosomiasis, better known as African Sleeping Sickness. It’s caused by a parasite transmitted to the bloodstream of mammalian hosts by the bite of an insect vector, in this case, the tsetse fly. As with malaria and other insect-b...

On this edition of Focus In Sound, we meet a young investigator who is conducting groundbreaking basic research to characterize how the brain coordinates our movements and how it operates when we’re making decisions. These are both very basic but complex neural operations, and understanding their mechanisms will not only shed light on brain function, but will contribute to development of brain-mac...

On this edition of Focus In Sound, we meet a young investigator who is making significant contributions to our basic knowledge of cell signaling pathways, cell death mechanisms, innate immunity, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. Dr. Maya Saleh of McGill University was named an Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in 2009. Maya received h...

Engaging children in science has been a prime objective of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund since it became an independent, private foundation in 1994. The Fund operates on the principle that all children, regardless of their future career path, need basic science literacy to participate fully in civic life. One of the Fund’s long-standing grant-making activities puts that principle into practice. The...

What is the biology of fear, the emotional response that drives so much behavior in humans and animals alike? Our guest on this edition of Focus In Sound, Dr. Kerry Ressler, is determined to answer that question, and in doing so to help the millions of people who suffer from fear-based disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder and panic disorder. Kerry is an Associate Professor of Psychiatr...

Our guest on this edition of Focus In Sound is Dr. Blossom Damania, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. In 2006, Blossom was named a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease in support of her research into the role of...

Our guest on this edition of Focus In Sound is Dr. Laura Miller, Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is the principal investigator in the Mathematical Physiology Group at UNC. In 2006, Laura received the Career Award at the Scientific Interface from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. That award calls for Candidates to draw from their training in a s...

On this edition of Focus In Sound, we highlight a very successful science education program for high school students that has received support from the Fund’s Student Science Enrichment Program. It’s called LEAP, or Launch into Education About Pharmacology. Based at the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, LEAP targets students...