The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has announced that Richard J. Youle, Ph.D., a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is one of four recipients of the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.
Press Releases
![Picture of Richard Youle](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/youle_headshot.jpg?itok=9L46HQDg)
![Neruons in the worm nervous system](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/hobert_neuron_diversity_v2.jpg?itok=7kTS0PSh)
When it comes to brain cells, one size does not fit all. Neurons come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, and contain different types of brain chemicals. But how did they get that way?
![Brain scan of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma examined in this study.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_venneti_dipg_brain_scan.jpg?itok=cWrAgcIt)
Every year, 150 to 300 children in the United States are diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), aggressive and lethal tumors that grow deep inside the brain, for which there are no cures.
![Picture of stem cells used in study colored in red, blue, green, and yellow.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image2_nath_hervk_stem_cell_advisory.jpg?itok=VERixaCP)
For every cell in the body there comes a time when it must decide what it wants to do for the rest of its life. In an article published in the journal PNAS, NIH researchers report for the first time that ancient viral genes that were once considered “junk DNA” may play a role in this process.
![Side view of the human brain in grey overlaid with a network diagram of the words used in this study.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_memorable_words_brain_map_png.png?itok=Wl4Gtf_h)
Thousands of words, big and small, are crammed inside our memory banks just waiting to be swiftly withdrawn and strung into sentences.
![Image of neurons](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/ninds_stock-dreamstime_andreus_0.jpg?itok=AfmR4j8w)
The National Institutes of Health plans to invest $25 million over 5 years in a new program to spur innovative research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive and fatal neurological disease that weakens and eventually paralyzes voluntary muscles.
![Photo of researcher pipetting in the lab](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/2h5d8749.jpg?itok=SwDeDeFU)
![Image showing HIV infection of CD4+ T cells in the mouse brain. (red), Human T cells (magenta), human astrocytesHIV (green), nuclei (Blue). Arrows identify uptake of HIV from astrocytes into T cells.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_al_harthi_hiv_astrocytes.jpg?itok=SfaM5wJI)
Researchers have found that astrocytes, a type of brain cell can harbor HIV and then spread the virus to immune cells that traffic out of the brain and into other organs.
![Fluorescent image of mouse nasal passages infected with virus](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/2020-06-02_11-22-25.jpg?itok=J-au2xjr)
Researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a part of the National Institutes of Health, have identified a specific, front-line defense that limits the infection to the olfactory bulb and protects the neurons of the olfactory bulb from damage due to the infection.
![Sideview brain scan in black and white. Cavernous angioma in middle of brain is highlighted in color.](/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail_100px_h/public/migrate-images/image_awad_gut_bacteria_brain_vessels_media_advisory.jpg?itok=ESU_GsxZ)
In a nationwide study, NIH funded researchers found that the presence of abnormal bundles of brittle blood vessels in the brain or spinal cord, called cavernous angiomas (CA), are linked to the composition of a person’s gut bacteria.