The National Institutes of Health has awarded Columbia a five-year $18.5 million grant to establish the multidisciplinary National Center for Multi-Scale Analysis of Genetic and Cellular Networks. At the center, scientists in fields such as computational biophysics and structural biology will develop new technologies for mapping and analyzing molecular interactions within cells.
Columbia has renamed its dental school the College of Dental Medicine to reflect its focus on the relationship between oral health and general health. Students at the institution, formerly known as the School of Dental and Oral Surgery, take the same basic science classes during their first two years as do students in the University’s medical school. And faculty study many dental issues related to general health.
University trustee Clyde Wu and his wife, Helen, have given $10 million to endow the Clyde and Helen Wu Center for Molecular Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center. Under the direction of Andrew Marks, the Wu Professor of Molecular Cardiology and physiology chairman, researchers at the Wu Center are studying the molecular and cellular processes that lead to heart disease.
Students in Columbia’s master’s program in climate and society were assigned to discuss global warming with nonscientists outside of class last fall.They found that the politically charged topic confuses many people, leading them to dismiss it. So the students created a list of talking points, boiling down to basics the relevant science.
