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Articles by Check Hayden
Lab fakery explored in interactive training tool
Erika Check Hayden The Lab is designed to probe tough ethical dilemmas.ORI You are a lowly graduate student, and suspect that the golden boy of your lab — your principal investigator's favourite postdoc — has faked data in a paper that is about to be published in a prestigious journal. What do you do?
Life hackers seek new tools
Published online 14 June 2011 | Nature 474, 261-262 (2011) | doi:10.1038/474261a Field aims to enlist techniques from molecular biology to attack fundamental challenges.
Science Journalism’s Unlikely Golden Age
Science Journalism’s Unlikely Golden Age 1Earth Systems Master of Arts, Environmental Communication Program, Stanford University, United States 2Science Communication Program, University of California, Santa Cruz, United States We live in a golden age of science and environmental journalism.
The rise and fall and rise again of 23andMe - Nature
How Anne Wojcicki led her company from the brink of failure to scientific pre-eminence. Credit: Gabriela Hasbun for <i>Nature</i> There's a placard in Anne Wojcicki's office enshrining the attitude that nearly ran her company, 23andme, aground. Tucked behind a toy unicorn, the small, wood-veneered nameplate reads: “I'm CEO, bitch.” It was with this kind of brashness that Wojcicki set out to disrupt the health-care industry in 2006.
The rise and fall and rise again of 23andMe
There's a placard in Anne Wojcicki's office enshrining the attitude that nearly ran her company, 23andme, aground. Tucked behind a toy unicorn, the small, wood-veneered nameplate reads: “I'm CEO, bitch.” It was with this kind of brashness that Wojcicki set out to disrupt the health-care industry in 2006.
Ebola outbreak in Africa ends - but gaps in public health leave region vulnerable
Epidemiologist Anne Rimoin boarded a flight to Kinshasa on 19 May with a precious cargo in her luggage: the components of a diagnostic test for Ebola. Rimoin hoped that the test, the GeneXpert Ebola Assay, would help officials to track cases in the latest Ebola outbreak, which was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 11 May. The test was developed during the disastrous 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
Aid organizations tap into social-science expertise
Behavioural and cultural studies seen as key to success of public-health initiatives. Condoms. Breastfeeding. Hand washing. After a decade of ramped-up spending, the donors to global-health programmes are grappling with a thorny issue: why are some health-care interventions that are proven life-savers failing to save as many lives as they should in the field, even after unprecedented investment to support them?
Drug brings HIV out of hiding
A study has boosted the prospects of a cure for HIV. For the first time, results have shown that a drug can safely kick-start production of the dormant virus in patients, so that it might be detected and attacked more easily by the immune system. The finding was announced today at the 19th annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Seattle, Washington.
World Health Organization rethinks its response to disease outbreaks
Three years after the start of the world’s worst Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has created a programme to improve its response to disease outbreaks and to prevent another such calamity. In June, WHO director-general Margaret Chan named medical epidemiologist Peter Salama to lead a new health-emergencies programme intended to streamline the agency’s response to crises.
Experimental treatments aim to prevent brain damage in babies
Neuroscientists and physicians have embarked on what they hope will be a revolution in treatments to prevent brain damage in newborn babies. As many as 800,000 babies die each year when blood and oxygen stop flowing to the brain around the time of birth. And thousands develop brain damage that causes long-lasting mental or physical disabilities, such as cerebral palsy. Physicians have few tools to prevent this, but they are optimistic that clinical trials now under way will change things.
Young scientists ditch postdocs for biotech start-ups
Nature | News Sharing Many biologists are founding their own firms as venture capitalists show increased interest in science. 01 November 2016 Article tools Lori Eanes Ethan Perlstein founded a biotechnology company rather than pursuing a conventional academic path after his PhD. Vindication was three years coming for Ethan Perlstein. On 19 October, his California biotechnology company, Perlara, announced a deal with Novartis.
The flip side of personal genomics: When a mutation doesn't spell disease
What started as a summer science project soon turned into a family medical crisis for geneticist Heidi Rehm. In July, she ordered a test to sequence her 14-year-old daughter’s DNA, hoping to find a genetic explanation for why one of the girl’s adult teeth hadn’t emerged. Instead, mother and daughter found that they both carried a genetic mutation linked to dilated cardiomyopathy — a heart-muscle abnormality that can lead to sudden death, especially in adults.
A radical revision of human genetics
Illustration by Darren Hopes Lurking in the genes of the average person are about 54 mutations that look as if they should sicken or even kill their bearer. But they don't. Sonia Vallabh hoped that D178N was one such mutation. In 2010, Vallabh had watched her mother die from a mysterious illness called fatal familial insomnia, in which misfolded prion proteins cluster together and destroy the brain.
Facebook couple commits $3 billion to cure disease
They are not the first billionaires to try to disrupt science. But Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, physician and educator Priscilla Chan, have enlisted a ‘dream team’ of scientific leaders to oversee a US$3-billion effort to boost basic research. “We see this work as being led and done by scientists,” Chan told Nature before the couple unveiled the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's plans on 21 September.
Science group seeks to guide Silicon Valley philanthropists
Poring over a list of the top 50 US philanthropists in 2014, physicist Marc Kastner noticed that 16 were based in California, compared with just 6 in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey combined. “That made it pretty clear where I should be,” says Kastner, who established the offices of the Science Philanthropy Alliance in Palo Alto, California, when he was named the organization’s first president in February 2015.
Rwanda feels the pinch as donors slash health aid
Rwanda has made major public-health strides since the country's genocide against the Tutsi people ended in June 1994, but declines in foreign aid now threaten that progress. Donors such as the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have reduced assistance to Rwanda by 40% over the past three years, jeopardizing advances in a country seen as a development success story.
South Africa’s political turmoil endangers research
South Africa’s universities have long been viewed as among the strongest in sub-Saharan Africa. But ongoing financial and political turmoil are endangering research at the nation’s centres of higher learning. It is an extension of the overall crisis that currently faces South Africa. The country’s economy is in tatters, with its currency falling in value, and a corruption scandal has weakened President Jacob Zuma and his ruling political party.
Funding for model-organism databases in trouble
Researchers are protesting plans to reorganize and cut the budgets of five model-organism databases supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The databases host a rich trove of information on species of budding yeast, flies, roundworms, zebrafish and mice that hastens progress in biology and human disease, according to an open letter signed by 46 researchers, addressed to NIH director Francis Collins and NIH institute heads.
‘Radically rewritten’ bacterial genome unveiled
Synthetic biologists report the most far-reaching rewiring yet of a bacterial genome. The feat, described today in Science, involved repurposing 3.8% of the base pairs of the bacterium Escherichia coli1. The scientists replaced 7 of its 64 genetic codons — sequences that code for amino acids — with others that produce the same components. They were able to reduce the number of codons by synthesizing the DNA in 55 fragments, each of which was 50,000 base pairs long.
Myriad Genetics embroiled in breast-cancer data fight - again
Genetic-testing firm Myriad Genetics is facing a legal challenge from people who say the company refused to give them access to their own genomic data, in violation of a US government rule on medical records. Although Myriad has now agreed to release the data to those individuals, the patients are pressing ahead with their complaint to the US government.
Scientists worry as cancer moonshots multiply
The recent launch of multiple major US cancer initiatives has infused cash into immunotherapy, one of the most promising new methods of cancer treatment. But researchers warn that the money may be wasted without concrete plans to coordinate the programmes.
Gene variants linked to success at school prove divisive
The largest-ever genetics study in the social sciences has turned up dozens of DNA markers that are linked to the number of years of formal education an individual completes. The work, reported this week in Nature, analysed genetic material from around 300,000 people. “This is good news,” says Stephen Hsu, a theoretical physicist at Michigan State University in East Lansing, who studies the genetics of intelligence.
Zika highlights role of controversial fetal-tissue research
A protein that helps Zika virus infect adult skin cells might also give the virus access to stem cells that make brain cells, suggests a study carried out on donated human fetal tissue. The result — published today in Cell Stem Cell1 — is part of a growing body of research that seeks to determine how Zika might cause birth defects, but that requires a type of tissue that is increasingly controversial for researchers in the United States.
The race is on to develop Zika vaccine
Public-health officials say that the first human trials of a Zika vaccine could begin this year. But they caution that it will take until at least next year, and possibly much longer, to determine whether a vaccine works. In the meantime, they are trying to avoid a repeat of their experience with the Ebola epidemic, during which most vaccine trials began too late — just as the rate of infection began to taper off.
Dengue vaccine aces trailblazing trial
Scientists have found what may be the strongest evidence yet that a vaccine can prevent dengue, by deliberately infecting volunteers with a weakened form of the disease-causing virus. This method of testing vaccines, known as ‘human challenge’, fell out of favour during the last century, but could be crucial for combating certain diseases, including Zika.
Alzheimer’s treatment appears to alleviate memory loss in small trial
A drug called aducanumab might remove the toxic proteins thought to trigger Alzheimer’s disease from the brain, suggests findings from a small clinical trial. The results, reported on 31 August in Nature1, showed that aducanumab broke up amyloid-β proteins in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Biology software promises easier way to program living cells
Synthetic biologists have created software that automates the design of DNA circuits for living cells. The aim is to help people who are not skilled biologists to quickly design working biological systems, says synthetic biologist Christopher Voigt at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, who led the work. “This is the first example where we’ve literally created a programming language for cells,” he says.
Ebola virus lingers longer than scientists thought
Nature | News Sharing Long-term tracking of people who beat the virus reveal its remarkable longevity in the human body. 13 September 2016 Article tools Michel du Cille/TWP/Getty Studies of people who survived Ebola are altering scientists’ understanding of the virus. Ebola survivors are teaching scientists some surprising lessons. Long-term studies have revealed that the virus lasts longer in survivors’ bodies than previously suspected.
Spectre of Ebola haunts Zika response
Public-health workers are still struggling to stamp out the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. But the lessons learned from that outbreak — which exposed major flaws in the global public-health system — are shaping the escalating international response to the spread of Zika virus in the Americas. “Ebola is the gorilla in the room,” says Lawrence Gostin, a health-law and policy specialist at Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Should you edit your childrenâs genes?
Preston Gannaway Ruthie Weiss walks home from playing basketball with her father (centre) and uncle. Her sight problems have not prevented her from excelling at sport. Ruthie Weissâs basketball team seemed to be minutes away from its fourth straight loss. But even as she stood on the sidelines for a brief rest, the nine-year-old had not given up. She convinced the coach to put her back in the game. Then, she charged out onto the court, caught a pass from a teammate and drove straight to the basket.
Proving Zika link to birth defects poses huge challenge
Public-health authorities are investigating whether the Zika virus has caused an apparent surge in the number of infants born with microcephaly, or abnormally small heads, in Brazil. But conclusively determining whether the mosquito-borne virus is to blame could take months to years, researchers say. Concerns rose after Brazil declared a national public-health emergency in November.
Unusual deal ensures Ebola vaccine supply
With the Ebola outbreak in West Africa stubbornly hanging on, officials have brokered an agreement to ensure that a vaccine is available to fight future occurrences. On 20 January, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, announced that it has paid US$5 million to Merck, the manufacturer of the first Ebola vaccine shown to protect against the virus in a human clinical trial. The deal marks the first time that the public-health organization has moved to purchase a vaccine before it has been licensed.
Cancer blood test venture faces technical hurdles
A leader in genetic sequencing is betting that it can detect cancer at its earliest stages on the basis of minuscule amounts of genetic material circulating in a person's bloodstream. But specialists warn that there are many technical hurdles to such an application. On 10 January, Illumina of San Diego, California, announced that it has formed a venture that will use genetic-sequencing technology to detect cancer through a simple blood test.
Genetic cancer screening would detect illness with a blood test
A leader in genetic sequencing is betting that it can detect cancer at its earliest stages on the basis of minuscule amounts of genetic material circulating in a person's bloodstream. But specialists warn that there are many technical hurdles to such an application. On 10 January, Illumina of San Diego, California, announced that it has formed a venture that will use genetic-sequencing technology to detect cancer through a simple blood test.
Scientific society withholds honour over lab death
A US scientific society has decided not to award an honorary fellowship to chemist Patrick Harran, who was prosecuted for the 2009 accidental death of a 23-year-old researcher in his lab. On 22 December, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced that chemists in the organization had voted not to install Patrick Harran, a chemist at the University of California, Los Angeles, as an honorary fellow.
Spread of Ebola ends: 7 lessons from a devastating epidemic
Samuel Aranda/Panos Boots hang out to dry in a camp set up by health workers in Tana, Guinea, to fight against the last cases of Ebola there. Update, 15 January: After this article was published, a death from Ebola was announced in Sierra Leone â underlining, as health officials have emphasized, the potential for new cases of the virus to emerge.
Racial bias continues to haunt NIH grants
Minority scientists are less likely than their peers to have biomedical research grants funded — and the disparity has barely changed in 30 years, according to data from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). The numbers, requested by two California researchers to reignite discussion about diversity in the scientific workforce, show no consistent improvement, even though the proportion of minority grant reviewers has climbed.
Facebook couple commits $3B to cure disease
They are not the first billionaires to try to disrupt science. But Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, physician and educator Priscilla Chan, have enlisted a ‘dream team’ of scientific leaders to oversee a US$3-billion effort to boost basic research. “We see this work as being led and done by scientists,” Chan told Nature before the couple unveiled the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's plans on 21 September.
Promising gene therapies pose million-dollar conundrum
Drugs that act by modifying a patient’s genes are close to approval in the United States, and one is already available in Europe. The developments mark a triumph for the field of gene therapy, once considered controversial. But with estimated price tags of at least US$1 million per patient, how will anyone pay for these treatments?
Mobile-phone health apps deliver data bounty
Last summer, physician Yvonne Chan wondered how the wildfires raging through Washington state were affecting people with asthma — for whom smoke and heat can trigger breathing difficulties. So she tapped into data collected through the Asthma Health iPhone app, which 8,700 people with asthma use each day to record their symptoms and triggers. Chan found that when fires flared up, so did asthma symptoms and reports of environmental triggers among users living near the blazes.
Google offers jackpot to one research group
There is much that is unconventional about a new Google project in heart disease research. But in some ways, it is almost inevitable that the company would take on the leading cause of death worldwide. On 8 October, Google and the American Heart Association announced that each would chip in US$25 million to fund research in coronary heart disease, which causes one of every three deaths in the US.
Scientists hope to attract millions to 'DNA.LAND'
Geneticists have launched a project to test whether they can study millions of genomes — without collecting a drop of blood or tube of spit themselves. The project, DNA.LAND, aims to entice people who have already had their genomes analysed by consumer genetics companies to share that data, allowing DNA.LAND geneticists to study the information.
Out of regulatory limbo, 23andMe resumes some health tests and hopes to offer more
As DNA-testing firm 23andMe resumes selling health-related services in the wake of a regulatory shutdown, the company says that it remains committed to its original business plan of providing genetic information directly to consumers. It plans to work with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expand its offerings. On 21 October, 23andMe rolled out a US$199 test that can show whether a person carries genes associated with 36 different disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and β-thalassaemia.
Researchers wrestle with a privacy problem
In 2011, six US economists tackled a question at the heart of education policy: how much does great teaching help children in the long run? They started with the records of more than 11,500 Tennessee schoolchildren who, as part of an experiment in the 1980s, had been randomly assigned to high- and average-quality teachers between the ages of five and eight. Then they gauged the children's earnings as adults from federal tax returns filed in the 2000s.
‘Stealth bomb’ antibiotic vanquishes drug-resistant bacteria
A targeted antibiotic can eliminate infections caused by microbes that are resistant to most drugs, experiments in mouse cells suggest. A team at biotechnology company Genentech in South San Francisco, California, borrowed a concept used in cancer treatment, in which an antibody — a protein designed to attach to particular cells — is connected to a cancer-fighting drug.
Why biomedical superstars are signing on with Google
Free tasty food, brightly coloured bicycles and high salaries are well-known hallmarks of the Googleplex — Google’s famed headquarters in Mountain View, California. But it was not these perks that led cardiologist Jessica Mega to pause her thriving academic career at Harvard Medical School to become the chief medical officer of the company’s life-sciences team. She was lured by the ambitions of the effort, soon to be incorporated under Google’s parent firm Alphabet.
California agriculture weathers drought - at a cost
Three brown, withered lawns surround David Behar’s home in Marin County, north of San Francisco in California. Behar, who directs the climate programme at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, no longer waters his grass — after several years with next to no rainfall, he gave in and brought greenery to his home in the form of drought-resistant plants instead.
Psychologists' betting market hints at most reliable research findings
When psychologists are asked which findings in their field will pass a replication attempt, their predictions prove little better than flipping a coin. But if they play a betting market on the same question, the aggregate results give a fairly good prediction of which studies will hold up if repeated, a prediction experiment suggests1.
Ebola experience leaves world no less vulnerable
Nature | News Sharing Report concludes that not enough has changed nearly two years after the start of the catastrophic epidemic in West Africa. 22 November 2015 John Moore/Getty The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has not spurred enough reforms to prevent a similar catastrophe, a review finds. The world is no better prepared for the next global health emergency than it was when the current Ebola epidemic began nearly two years ago, a panel of health experts warns.
Proposed Ebola biobank would strengthen African science
As West Africa’s Ebola outbreak winds down, an effort is under way to make the best use of the tens of thousands of patient samples collected by public-health agencies fighting the epidemic.
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