January 2015

By Howard Young

Editor’s note: This article is adapted from Dr. Young’s January 12, 2015, post to the I am Intramural Blog of the Intramural Research Program.

When I started this project, it was not my objective to develop a model for any specific disease, nor did I even suspect that the ultimate result would be some insight into autoimmune disease. The basic research question I was asking was why there are sequences in the 3? untranslated region (3?UTR) of the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) mRNA that are more highly conserved than in the coding region of the gene.

By Thomas Stackhouse, Joseph Conrad, and Michele Newton, Contributing Writers, and Rosemarie Truman, Guest Writer

Sixty-one teams have been accepted into, and are now competing in, the Neuro Startup Challenge, a new collaboration established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI) and Heritage Provider Network, Inc.

As of Jan. 5, all visitors to Fort Detrick are required to undergo a National Crime Information Center background check prior to entering base. The background checks are conducted at Old Farm Gate. The new access procedures may cause delays at all Fort Detrick gates, but especially at Old Farm Gate.

Access requirements have not changed for employees and personnel with a federal/NIH PIV card. Other types of identification badges are no longer acceptable.

By Ashley DeVine, Staff Writer

If the past is any indication, judges at the Protective Services Chili Cookoff give high marks for chili recipes containing unique or uncommon ingredients. Previous winning recipes have included ingredients such as black beans, pumpkin, pineapple, pork loin, and even bourbon.

Judges at the 12th annual event, held Jan. 5, continued this tradition by voting for Ross Smith’s Big Pot of Chili, which featured three types of meat, four different sauces, baker’s chocolate, and parmesan rind.

By Ken Michaels, Guest Writer

As the anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. approaches, I’m reminded of two other, equally noteworthy, events that have special meaning to aficionados of excellence in speechifying. And they are especially significant to those in our geographical area; both occurred within 50 miles of Frederick, Md.                                    

The first event occurred on Aug. 28, 1963, when King delivered a speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the celebrated March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom demonstration. The other event was 100 years earlier, on Nov. 19, 1863.