NCI Frederick Authors and Collaborators Map Full Transcriptome of Cottontail Rabbit Papillomavirus

When Joshua Yu became a semifinalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, he continued a tradition he didn’t even know existed. A Werner H. Kirsten (WHK) intern, Yu is the latest in a long line of students hailing from Nadya Tarasova, Ph.D.’s lab to make the semifinals in the Regeneron competition, which bills itself as the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science and math competition for high school seniors.

Ben Orsburn, Ph.D., stood in the middle of a 180-square-foot laboratory, speaking over the white noise that flooded the room. The source of the din—large, desk-sized objects called mass spectrometers—filled nearby rows of lab benches. Orsburn pointed to one along the periphery of the room, a white-and-black box with the words “Orbitrap Fusion” emblazoned on the front in small blue text.

Technology transfer at national laboratories presents challenges, and the Frederick National Laboratory is no exception. But that hasn’t stopped Claudia Haywood, Tom Sova, and Candice Garner-Groves from notching a series of accomplishments that span their tenure at FNL.

An anti-leukemia compound identified at NCI at Frederick is one step closer to entering clinical trials in humans thanks to a $4.2-million grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). CPRIT recently gave the funds to Allterum Therapeutics, Inc., a Texas-based biotechnology startup company created to manufacture the compound, Allterum, and advance it to human trials. The grant represents the first step in the multi-million-dollar process to bring Allterum to the clinic.

February was American Heart Month, and although it’s now over, Occupational Health Services hasn’t skipped a beat.