As the fall and winter seasons progress, you may be attending more scientific conferences, where you may find a number of opportunities for research collaborations. To assist your lab in reaching its research goals through collaborations, the staff of the National Cancer Institute Technology Transfer Center can guide you through a tool box of agreements you may need for protecting your intellectual property and effectively managing your collaboration.

What started out as a way for Howard Young, Ph.D., to thin out his garden last fall turned into the NCI at Frederick Green Team’s Plant Swap. The group held its Fall Plant Swap on October 24, encouraging all members of the Fort Detrick community to pick up a free plant or swap a plant of theirs for another. “Those who love to garden introduce others to the joy of gardening,” said Dolores Winterstein, a member of the Green Team and the coordinator of the Fall Plant Swap.

Cytokines are proteins that play a crucial role in the human immune system by delivering messages that trigger the activation of immune cells to fight off attacks from viruses or other invaders. Cristina Bergamaschi, Ph.D., NCI Center for Cancer Research, has been studying the mechanism of expression and function of a cytokine known as interleukin-15 (IL-15) for the last five years, in collaboration with Elena Chertova, Ph.D., and other researchers in the Retroviral Protein Chemistry Core of the AIDS and Cancer Virus Program, Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research.

Scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University and the AIDS and Cancer Virus Program of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research have used a novel vaccine approach to achieve a “functional cure” and apparent eradication of infection with a monkey version of the AIDS virus.

The Employee Diversity Team (EDT) is out and about this fall, making the NCI at Frederick community aware of various cultural traditions and events around Frederick County that employees can participate in. The team is working with staff members of Native American descent to feature a display case and movie selection celebrating Native American Heritage Month in November. The team will keep you informed about Frederick events taking place in November and December. Keep a look out for EDT e-mails.