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The article announces that Peter Walter, Franziska Michor and Rob Knight received the 2015 Vilcek Foundation Prizes, which recognize contributions of immigrant biomedical scientists in the U.S.

In 1970, the US government chartered the Institute of Medicine (IOM), a component of the National Academies, to serve as an independent counsel on issues concerning health policy. Today, the IOM has become a leading adviser on an array of topics from vaccine safety to the organizational structure of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The institute has nearly 1,600 members who carry out studies, conduct workshops, hold public forums and publish influential reports. Harvey Fineberg, former provost of Harvard University, has served at the helm of the IOM as the institute's president since 2002. During his tenure at the institute, Fineberg has overseen a raft of studies on topics ranging from AIDS prevention to new medical technologies. He spoke to Prashant Nair about the role of the IOM in biomedical research in the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Stanford University physical chemist W. E. Moerner is presented. He discusses the things that can be revealed by single-molecule studies that biochemical and biophysical methods cannot. He answers whether his single-molecule studies have implications for discovering human diseases. Moreover, he explains how the neurotoxin he developed works to analyze the function of single molecules in a channel that delivers sodium ions to nerve cells.

An interview with Susan Lindquist, a biology professor and a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S., is presented. When asked on her view on the role of prions in cells, she refers their research on Hsp104 protein. She stresses that prion which functions as a switch can benefit the organism. Lindquist also discusses the implications of the beneficial roles played by prions.

The article reports on the research on the comparative effectiveness of treatment alternatives for diseases from Alzheimer's to asthma by U.S. National Institutes of Health. It notes that the $400 million from the economic stimulus package will support the research for two years. In addition, it will have a huge effect on biomedical research in the U.S. and which will also provide medical health care providers evidence-based information to make informed decisions about health care.