The CCIB is an affiliation of faculty drawn together by a common interest in the study of biology through methods engaging a broader scale of inquiry than the existing standard of the era. The faculty collectively has highly diverse interests, ranging from inquiries into the origins of life, the mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions in plants and model organisms, the relationship between atherosclerosis and inflammatory responses in vertebrates, and the collection and analysis of comprehensive measures of physiology in an attempt to understand the harbingers of adverse outcomes (principally sepsis and its sequelae) in individuals treated for trauma.

The Center for Computational and Integrative Biology provides support for investigators at the hospital and across Boston through a variety of autonomous cores that provide services in DNA sequencing, oligonucleotide synthesis, microarray analysis, and research laboratory automation.

Jack Szostak Wins the 2008 Heineken Prize

Jack Szostak of the CCIB, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been awarded the 2008 Heineken Prize by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences for his original contributions to our understanding of the fundamental processes of life.

The Academy recognizes that he:

has been responsible for a series of scientific breakthroughs. Each discovery has concerned the fundamental processes of life and evolution. For example, he is one of the forefathers of today's genetic research with 'knockout mice', genetically engineered mice in which one or more genes have been turned off. This method, which has played a major role in many areas of biomedical research, can be traced back to the early 1980s, when Szostak first aired his revolutionary ideas about the crucial function of telomeres, the specialised DNA sequences at the tips of chromosomes, in cell division.

Click here for the full press release from the Royal Netherlands Academy.

Dr. Szostak was also awarded the 2006 Lasker Award for his accomplishments in basic medical research for his work in the prediction and discovery of telemerase. Click here for more information on the 2006 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute recently featured the work of the Szostak Lab in exploring the origins of life on our planet. Click here to go to the page summarizing the lab's progress.

The Szostak Lab has participated in the development of a web site exploring the origins of life in parallel with its own research goals on the origins and development of the first living cells on Earth. "Exploring Life's Origins" describes current research on the beginnings of life to a broad nontechnicl audience using three-dimensional molecular visualizations.  The website is part of a multimedia exhibit on the origins of life to be held this summer at the Boston Museum of Science. The animations and illustrations on the website were created by Janet Iwasa, an NSF Discovery Corps Postdoctoral Fellow,  in collaboration with the Szostak group. Funding for this project was provided by the National Science Foundation. Click here to go to the site.

Gary Ruvkun is the Recipient of the 2008 Gairdner Award

Gary Ruvkun was recently honored by the 2008 Gairdner Award for medical research. The Gairdner Foundation made the award to Dr. Ruvkun for his role in the discovery of microRNAs, which are significant in the understanding of cancer, diabetes and heart failure. He started his work on microRNAs and their target mRNA genes in 1982, and has since published numerous papers on their role in gene regulation. His papers reveal a world of RNA regulation at an unprecedented small scale and elucidate the mechanism of this regulation.

The Gairdner Awards recognize outstanding contributions by medical researchers whose work will significantly improve our quality of life. Dr. Ruvkun's current work includes research into longevity and fat storage, insulin signaling, and a project to look for evidence of life on Mars.

Dr. Ruvkun was also the recipient of a number of other honors in the past year. In April, the National Academy of Sciences elected him to membership in the Academy at their 145th annual meeting. He was also the recipient of the 2007 Warren Triennial Prize, given by the Massachusetts General Hospital, and of the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, awarded by the Franklin Institute each year.

Click here for the press release from the Gairdner Foundation on the award and on Dr. Ruvkun's work.
Click here to go to the press release from the National Academy of Sciences announcing his election to membership.
Click here for the announcement by the Franklin Institute of the Benjamin Franklin Medal award to Dr. Ruvkun.

The Center for Computational and Integrative Biology Massachusetts General Hospital Richard B. Simches Research Center 185 Cambridge Street, 7th Floor Boston, MA 02114 Ph: 617.643.3300 Fax: 617.643.3328

CCIB Core Facilities Massachusetts General Hospital 38 Sidney Street Suite 100 Cambridge, MA 02139 Ph: 617.726.0069 Fax: 617.726.0077