As many as 2.5 million Americans live with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, or ME/CFS for short. It’s a serious disease that can often arise after an infection, leaving people profoundly ill for decades with pain, cognitive difficulties, severe fatigue, and other debilitating symptoms.

In 2020, a team of NIH researchers reported the discovery of a rare and often-deadly inflammatory disorder, which they named VEXAS. Affected people have varying symptoms that can include anemia, recurrent fevers, painful rashes, blood clots, and shortness of breath.

A research team led by Dr. Hasan Erbil Abaci of Columbia University has been working on methods to make 3D engineered skin in the shape of complex body parts. Such custom grafts could then be transplanted intact, with minimal suturing required.

This past summer, the NIAMS Intramural Research Program’s (IRP’s) Career Development and Outreach Branch (CDOB), welcomed the first hybrid class of interns to the Intramural Virtual Training Research Opportunities (InVTRO) program.

To keep your teeth and gums healthy for a lifetime, it’s important to brush and floss each day and see your dentist regularly. But what you might not often stop to consider is how essential good oral health really is to your overall well-being. The mouth, after all, is connected to the rest of the body, and oral infections can contribute to problems elsewhere.

Lindsey A. Criswell, M.D., M.P.H., D.Sc., Director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), encourages researchers she supports to think outside the box. Dr. Criswell talked with NIH MedlinePlus Magazine about how diverse ideas can help us better understand conditions such as autoimmune diseases (when the immune system attacks healthy cells by mistake) and initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion in research.

On March 23, 2023, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosted Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, at the NIH Bethesda Campus.

On May 2, 2023, NIAMS Scientific Director of Intramural Research, Dr. John O’Shea, was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences at the conclusion of the Academy’s 160 th annual meeting. This designation – considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can achieve – recognizes distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. In addition to this latest accolade, Dr. O’Shea has received numerous prizes, including the Howley Prize for Research in Arthritis, the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine, the Millstein Prize from the International Cytokine and Interferon Society, the AAI-Steinman Award for Human Immunology, the ASCI-Harrington Prize

Carpal tunnel syndrome usually begins with numbness or a burning sensation in the hands and fingers – at night or first thing in the morning. The condition is caused by pressure on the median nerve traveling down the arm to the fingers.

Melanocytes are the cells that produce the pigment responsible for skin and hair color. They arise from melanocyte stem cells (McSCs). McSCs fail earlier than the hair follicle stem cells responsible for hair growth, leading to hair graying with age.