Office of Science and Technology Policy Blog

USAID Launches Development Labs at Seven Universities

Last week, OSTP Director John P. Holdren joined USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah in launching the Higher Education Solutions Network (HESN)  – a groundbreaking partnership between USAID and seven top universities that is designed to harness the ingenuity and passion of university faculty and students  to develop innovative solutions to global development challenges.

USAID’s HESN was first announced at the White House in February 2012 and its formal launch marks the latest milestone in the Administration’s work to leverage US comparative advantages in science, technology, and innovation to accelerate progress toward global development goals. The effort is a direct response to the President’s Policy Directive on Global Development, which calls for investments in game-changing innovations with the potential to solve long-standing development challenges—such as vaccines for neglected diseases; drought-resistant seed varieties; and clean energy technologies.

Two American Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Today two American chemists, Robert J. Lefkowitz of Duke University and Brian K. Kobilka of Stanford University, were awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize in Chemistry. OSTP is pleased to congratulate these exceptional scientists and celebrate their high achievement. OSTP Director John P. Holdren called both winners today to convey those good wishes.

The Nobel Prize Committee cited the two winners "for studies of G-protein–coupled receptors,” tiny sensors that allow cells to “read” their surrounding environment.

Scientists have long understood that cells in the body are able to sense and respond to various substances and stimuli, including environmental chemicals, hormones produced by other cells, and in some cases physical phenomena such as light. Taken together, these cells and their sensors provide the foundation of all the body’s major senses, while also facilitating a level of cross-talk among cells needed to ensure proper physiological and metabolic balance.

Yet until a few decades ago, the form and function of this crucial communications network remained elusive to scientists, even as it became clear that it held the key to critical mysteries in pharmacology and medicine. Understanding exactly how cells are able to sense and respond to their surroundings became a great challenge of chemistry.