Press Releases Annual Report 2011

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06/03/10
Caltech Biologists Provide Molecular Explanation for the Evolution of Tamiflu Resistance
Biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have pinpointed molecular changes that helped allow the global spread of resistance to the antiviral medication Tamiflu (oseltamivir) among strains of the seasonal H1N1 flu virus.
David Baltimore

06/30/10
Caltech Researchers Show How Active Immune Tolerance Makes Pregnancy Possible
Understanding of mouse immune-system response to specific fetal antigens also may provide insight into issues that arise during human pregnancies
David Baltimore

07/01/10
Caltech Biologists Discover How T Cells Make a Commitment
When does a cell decide its particular identity? According to biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in the case of T cells—immune system cells that help destroy invading pathogens—the answer is when the cells begin expressing a particular gene called Bcl11b.
Ellen Rothenberg

07/19/10
Of Bugs & Brains: Caltech Researchers Discover that Gut Bacteria Affect Multiple Sclerosis
Biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have demonstrated a connection between multiple sclerosis (MS)—an autoimmune disorder that affects the brain and spinal cord-and gut bacteria.
Sarkis Mazmanian

08/02/10
Gain and Loss in Optimistic Versus Pessimistic Brains
Our belief as to whether we will likely succeed or fail at a given task—and the consequences of winning or losing—directly affects the levels of neural effort put forth in movement-planning circuits in the human cortex, according to a new brain-imaging study by neuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Richard Anderson

08/04/10
Caltech Biologists Discover MicroRNAs that Control Function of Blood Stem Cells
Finding is important for diagnosis and treatment of cancer and anemia
David Baltimore

08/18/10
Two Caltech Scientists Receive 2010 NIH Director's Pioneer Awards
Michael Roukes, Pamela Bjorkman recognized for their "highly innovative approaches" to biomedical research
Pamela Bjorkman

10/04/10
Two Caltech Scientists Named Among 2010 NIH Director's New Innovator Awardees
As part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiative to stimulate highly innovative research and support promising new scientific investigators, two scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) were named among the 2010 class of the NIH Director's New Innovator Award recipients.
Alexei Aravin

10/27/10
Controlling Individual Cortical Nerve Cells by Human Thought
Five years ago, neuroscientist Christof Koch of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried of UCLA, and their colleagues discovered that a single neuron in the human brain can function much like a sophisticated computer and recognize people, landmarks, and objects, suggesting that a consistent and explicit code may help transform complex visual representations into long-term and more abstract memories.
Christof Koch

11/09/10
Caltech Scientists Describe the Delicate Balance in the Brain that Controls Fear
Two different neural subtypes act like a seesaw to control the level of fear output from the brain's amygdala
David Anderson

02/01/11
Neurobiologists Find that Weak Electrical Fields in the Brain Help Neurons Fire Together
Coordinated behavior occurs whether or not neurons are actually connected via synapses
Christof Koch

02/09/11
Caltech-Led Team Pinpoints Aggression Neurons in the Brain
Finding could lead to new treatments for impulsive violence
David Anderson

04/21/11
Learning to Tolerate Our Microbial Self
The human gut is filled with 100 trillion symbiotic bacteria—ten times more microbial cells than our own cells—representing close to one thousand different species. "And yet, if you were to eat a piece of chicken with just a few Salmonella, your immune system would mount a potent inflammatory response," says Sarkis K. Mazmanian, assistant professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
Sarkis Mazmanian

06/03/11
From Pre-Gut Cells to Glory
Caltech researchers discover a genomic control system that regulates gut formation in sea-urchin embryos
Eric Davidson

06/16/11
Caltech Scientist Awarded $5 Million Grant for Plant Research
Elliot Meyerowitz, a plant genetics and developmental biology expert at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), has been awarded one of 15 five-year, $5 million grants for fundamental plant science research.
Elliot Meyerowitz

06/17/11
Caltech Students Win National and International Prizes
Students from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) won a large number of awards this spring, including a Fulbright grant, a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, three Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, two Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, a Xerox Technical Minority Scholarship, and 36 National Science Foundation Fellowships.

06/21/11
$6 Million Gift To Spur Innovative Research Collaborations Between Caltech, City of Hope
As part of a program to foster innovative biomedical research projects, an anonymous donor has pledged $3 million each to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and City of Hope to strengthen scientific collaborations between the two leading research institutions.

07/25/11
Sharper, Deeper, Faster: Interdisciplinary Team Develops Advanced Live-Imaging Approach
For modern biologists, the ability to capture high-quality, three-dimensional (3D) images of living tissues or organisms over time is necessary to answer problems in areas ranging from genomics to neurobiology developmental biology.
Scott Fraser