In a recent interview with Reuters, NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said that the agency will turn its attention this upcoming year to how investment in biomedical research impacts clinical science around the country.

The NIH is the single largest source of biomedical research funding in the world, and throughout its history, it has been the catalyst for academic, clinical, and private work in the field. 

According to Dr. Collins, reinforcing how this research pays off for patients will energize the research enterprise.

Read the full article here.

In Time magazine’s cover story this week, John Cloud explores the potential of epigenetics.

The article highlights the past and current biomedical research projects pushing this important issue in biology forward, and concludes with the statement that “the age of epigenetics has arrived.”

Researchers in the epigenetics field study changes in gene activity that get passed down to at least one successive generation but are not associated with DNA. They investigate how lifestyle and the environment change the way our genes are expressed, and how the medical community might be able to use these facts to its fight disease.

Included in the article, Cloud cites breakthrough research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that has provided the foundation for additional research in the field.  In September 2008, the NIH launched a five-year epigenomics initiative entitled the Roadmap Epigenomics Program to conduct research on how epigenetic processes could lead to more effective ways to prevent and treat disease.

Thanks to the funding and the foundation of research on epigenetics, Researchers at the Southern California’s Salk Institute are performing cutting-edge research to help the cause.  And in October 2009, Salk researchers announced the first mapping of the human epigenome.

According to Linda Birnham at NIH, this research and subsequent paper “will help us better understand how a diseased cell differs from a normal cell, which will enhance our understanding of the pathways of the various diseases.”

Important epigenetics research continues around the country in this field.  For a full list of funded research projects, visit here.

WASHINGTON, DC – United for Medical Research applauds President Obama’s nomination of Dr. Francis Collins as Director of the National Institutes of Health. The driving, visionary force behind the mapping of the human genome, Dr. Collins is the most fitting scientific leader to help move our nation into a new century of growth and opportunity in the life sciences.

This appointment is a key marker of our nation’s renewed focus on making biomedical science and innovation a priority, and an important way of ensuring we may live longer and healthier lives while building a stronger economy in the future. Under Dr. Collins’ leadership, and with steady funding commitments over the long term, we believe the National Institutes of Health will continue to set the world standard for life-changing scientific pursuit and breakthroughs in the years ahead.

NIH recently provided the following news updates about important research underway:

New Imaging Technique Could Aid Help Identify Tumors
A new imaging technique can monitor, in living mice, the HER2 protein found in above-normal amounts in many cases of breast cancer as well as some ovarian, prostate and lung cancers. This new approach, once validated in mice and pending further experiments, could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who express HER2.

New Gene Expression Findings Could Lead To Better Treatment of Juvenile Arthritis
Scientists have discovered gene expression differences that could lead to better ways to classify, predict outcome, and treat juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Eventually such findings could enable doctors to target more aggressive treatment to children at risk of more severe arthritis, while those likely to have milder disease could be spared the stronger treatments that carry a greater risk of side effects.

Second Gene Linked to Familial Testicular Cancer
Specific variations or mutations in a particular can gene raise a man’s risk of familial, or inherited, testicular germ-cell cancer, the most common form of this disease, according to new research by scientists at the National Institutes of Health. This is only the second gene to be identified that affects the risk of familial testicular cancer, and the first gene in a key biochemical pathway.

New Biomarker Method Could Help Catch Cancer in Its Earliest Stages
A team of researchers has demonstrated that a new method for detecting and quantifying protein biomarkers in body fluids may ultimately make it possible to screen multiple biomarkers in hundreds of patient samples, thus ensuring that only the strongest biomarker candidates will advance down the development pipeline. The researchers have developed a method with the potential to increase accuracy in detecting real cancer biomarkers that is highly reproducible across laboratories and a variety of instruments so that cancer can be caught in its earliest stages.

Researchers Identify New Mechanism To Target Cancer Spread
Researchers have discovered a key to the function of a specific protein that helps control the levels of other critical proteins within cells, including a protein that suppresses the spread of cancer. The new information about the mechanism of action of the protein, called gp78, may enable researchers to explore new types of therapies to prevent the spread of cancer.