News

The Interdisciplinary Research program has transitioned from Common Fund support. For more information, please visit http://commonfund.nih.gov/Interdisciplinary.

• Taking out a cancer’s co-dependency 
  July 13, 2011
  Scientists at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have discovered a novel compound that blocks a protective response to oxidative stress selectively in cancer cells but spares normal cells, with an effectiveness that surpassed a chemotherapy drug currently used to treat breast cancer.
• Fountain of Youth? Worms Reveal New Clues About Long Life 
  May 12, 2011
  Scientists in the Common Fund’s Interdisciplinary Research Consortium for Geroscience at the Buck Institute for Age Research have identified a class of molecules called N-acylethanolamines (NAEs) that alert worms when calorie intake is low, and trigger responses that slow aging and increase lifespan.
• Colorful solution to extending lifespan
  April 1, 2011
  Researchers at the Common Fund’s Interdisciplinary Research Consortium for Geroscience have discovered that the laboratory dye Thioflavin T (ThT) extends median lifespan in roundworms by 60%.
• Mouse Genetics Leads to New Clues for Human Psychiatric Disorders 
  March 10, 2011
  In a paper available online March 10, 2011 in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers in the Common Fund’s Interdisciplinary Research program’s Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics report that they have identified several genes associated with poor impulse control in mice, and that these findings might be applicable to humans as well.
• Major Finding in Trainee Led Project at the Taskforce for Obesity Research at Southwestern (TORS) Consortium Reveals How One Molecule- Adiponectin- Exerts Broad Protective Effects in obesity, diabetes, and disease states involving cell death.
  January 2011
  New clues uncover how 'starvation hormone' works, investigators at UT Southwestern report
• Scientists Identify Brain Cells Responsible For Anti-Diabetic Actions of Serotonin
  November 11, 2010
  Dr. Joel Elmquist and colleagues at the Taskforce for Obesity Research at Southwestern (TORS) Consortium, one of nine interdisciplinary research consortia funded by the Common Fund, have recently identified the group of neurons that mediate the anti-diabetic actions of serotonin
• Regulation of Proteins Plays an Important Role in Aging
  September 7, 2010
  Dr. Gordon Lithgow and colleagues at the Buck Institute, one of nine interdisciplinary research consortia funded by the Common Fund, have uncovered cellular processes that play an important role in longevity and protection from environmental stress
• Deciphering Fragile-X Associated Diseases
  January 1, 2010
  Dr. Paul Hagerman and colleagues at the Neurotherapeutics Research Institute at the University of California-Davis, one of nine Interdisciplinary Research Consortia funded by the Common Fund, are deciphering the molecular and cellular basis of a late onset disorder called Fragile-X associated tremor/ataxia syndrome, or FXTAS, in order to provide new avenues for early intervention which are desperately needed.
• Novel Approaches to Restore Fertility in Cancer Patients
  October, 2009
  Advances in fertility preservation offer hope to cancer survivors