This exhibit explores the Nobel Prize-winning work of NHLBI's Marshall Nirenberg, who deciphered the genetic code in the early 1960s with the collaboration of his NIH colleagues.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was the first to describe the nervous system, including neurons, in exquisite detail. His original drawings, as well as information about current NIH neuroscience, are on exhibit in NIH Building 35, the Porter Neuroscience Center.
How medical researchers study diseases, by answering three basic questions. Focuses on Dr. Roscoe Brady's team at NINDS and their work with Gaucher disease.
Formally titled “Rewriting the Book of Nature: Charles Darwin and the Rise of Evolutionary Theory,” the exhibit describes the Charles Darwin’s life and the fortunes of the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Dr. Joseph Goldberger discovered of the cause of pellagra, a disease that killed many poor Southerners in the early part of the 20th century. His finding, that pellagra was caused by a diet deficient in vitamin B, was meant by politicial and social resistance.
This looks at the history of the home pregnancy test and examines its place in our culture. Research that led to a sensitive, accurate pregnancy test was done by scientists in the Reproductive Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health.
In the 1950s, the NIH's Dr. Robert Bowman developed a sensitive instrument called the spectrophotofluorometer, or “SPF”, that allowed scientists to use fluorescence as a way to identify and measure tiny amounts of substances in the body. This exhibit explores the instrument and its use in scientific studies ranging from anti-depressant medication to AIDS research and the Human Genome Project.
Innovation and Invention: NIH and Prosthetic Heart Valves
The development of artificial heart valves involved surgeons, engineers, patients, and regulators. This exhibit explores their stories and presents current and future examples of artificial heart valve innovation. The exhibit is currently in the process of moving from the NIH to the FDA and is expected to be on display again by 2020. The virtual exhibit is under construction and the physical exhibit is currently on display at the FDA.
NIH's first supercomputer, the Cray X-MP/22, was the world's fastest supercomputer from 1983-1986, and the first one devoted solely to biomedical research. Both the physical and virtual exhibits are under development, but you can still see the Cray at its exhibit site by visiting the real thing [this would be a link to the map page].
This Siemens 1-A Electron Microscope was used for over three decades by Dr. Albert Kapikian, NIAID. The instrument was used to detect and characterize various viruses. While the virtual exhibit is being constructed, you can Visit the real thing [this would be a link to the map page].
A Varian A-60 NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) was used at NIH in the 1960s to identify molecular structures and their reactions in relation to biomedical research. The virtual exhibit is under construction, but visit the real thing [this would be a link to the map page].
