THE SCIENTIST VOLUME 7, No:19 October 4, 1993 (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Articles pu
THE SCIENTIST
VOLUME 7, No:19 October 4, 1993
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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October 4, 1993
NEWS
GENE THERAPY HORIZONS: Although its protocols are only three
years old in the clinic, the young field of gene therapy already
is showing great promise. With many universities now starting
departments and divisions devoted to genetic medicine and at
least two gene therapy research institutions launched in the last
year, the multidisciplinary research career opportunities linked
to the field are burgeoning
PG: 1
SAGE COUNCIL: Throughout its 20-year history, the Council of
Scientific Society Presidents has always been available to voice
its opinions and issue position papers when asked. Now, officials
of the organization say, the time has come for the council to
play a far more proactive role in shaping the future course of
the United States science community.
PG: 1
SPREADING THE WORD: Philosophers at Iowa State University are
taking a popular faculty tutorial program on ethics in biological
research on the road to the campus of the University of Illinois,
where it will be introduced initially among agriculture school
faculty
PG: 3
WHAT'S NEW IN THE LAB: The Analytical Laboratory Exposition and
Conference differs from similar lab equipment and technology
shows in that a major component of the expo is a program of
sessions, presentations, and lectures on a wide range of research
issues and methods geared especially to an audience of lab
managers
PG: 9
OPINION
RUSSIAN SCIENTISTS: The historical contributions of Russian
science and the need for that nation's researchers to get back on
their feet must not be overlooked by the global community; thus,
the current disenfranchisement of Russian scientists becomes a
problem that researchers throughout the world must address and,
where possible, move toward relieving, says Rutgers University
geography professor James K. Mitchell
PG : 11
COMMENTARY: The toppling of the Soviet Union has led to an influx
of highly skilled scientists into the United States; but these
researchers face many obstacles as they try to continue their
work in their new home. The U.S. science community should help
their orientation into its fold because, in doing so, they will
be facilitating the substantial contributions they can make to
U.S. science, says Peyrets Goldmacher, president of the
Association of Engineers and Scientists for New Americans
PG : 12
RESEARCH
TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE? The five-year moratorium on federally
funded research utilizing fetal tissue from elective abortions--
recently lifted by the Clinton administration--has already
severely hampered research on such diseases as Parkinson's and
Alzheimer's, say scientists working with the tissue
PG : 1
HOT PAPERS: A molecular geneticist discusses his paper on the
significance of the trinucleotide repeat in myotonic dystrophy
PG : 16
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
FOR THE RECORD: Documentation of the results of separating
proteins or sequencing DNA by electrophoresis used to involve
little more than taking a photograph. But today, gel-
documentation systems using still video images, computers, and
printers can safely record and manipulate fragile gels--at a
fraction of the cost
PG : 18
PROFESSION
REWARDING YOUNG INGENUITY: The National Invention Center's
Collegiate Inventors Program generates enthusiasm for science
among students, offers an incentive for aspiring inventors to
refine their work, and provides a career boost, both as a resume
enhancer and as an aid to gaining patents on inventions
PG : 20
F. IVY CARROLL, a chemist at the Research Triangle Institute in
North Carolina, has received the 1993 Pacesetter Award from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse
PG : 21
SHORT TAKES
NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
CARTOON
PG : 4
LETTERS
PG : 12
CROSSWORD
PG : 13
OBITUARIES
PG : 22
SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE DIRECTORY
PG : 30
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : With Five-Year Ban On Fetal Tissue Studies Lifted,
Scientists Are Striving To Make Up For Lost Time
New grant proposals are geared toward proceeding with studies,
delayed by the moratorium, that may relieve human suffering
AU : MYRNA E. WATANABE
TY : NEWS
PG : 1
Sometime this month, the National Institutes of Health will
announce the recipients of the first federal grants since 1988
for research on human fetal tissue transplants using material
derived from elective abortions--the main source of live and
healthy fetal tissue that can be maintained in culture and
used for therapeutic transplants.
Proposals for the projects were submitted in early 1993, only a
few days after newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton lifted a
five-year- old moratorium on federal funding for such research.
Throughout the ban's duration, it was vociferously challenged by
scientists who regarded it as a serious roadblock in the pursuit
of cures for many human diseases; the ire of these scientists was
heightened by the widespread assumption that the moratorium
resulted from pressure applied on the White House by anti-
abortion groups.
The moratorium prevailed until this year, however, despite the
recommendations by a blue-ribbon panel of scientists that human
fetal tissue research continue, with strict controls to ensure
that women would not be encouraged to abort in order to donate or
sell their fetuses.
When the ban was reversed on January 22, scientists who had had
to abandon or cut back on their fetal-tissue-related studies
naturally breathed a collective sigh of relief and went about
completing grant proposals they had begun after last November's
election in the hope that Clinton would indeed lift the ban.
In doing so, however, many of them wondered how they could
possibly make up for what they considered five lost years of
work--work that, they note, might have made a contribution toward
easing the suffering caused by such devastating afflictions as
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, conditions that are among a host of
targets for fetal tissue research (see story on page 14).
"As soon as Clinton was elected in November, on the assumption
that the ban would be lifted, we began writing a grant," explains
Curt Freed, a clinical pharmacologist at the University of
Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. Freed, who specializes
in movement disorders, is the author or coauthor of numerous
papers on the use of human fetal tissue transplants for
Parkinson's disease.
On February 1--a mere 10 days after Clinton's lifting of the
moratorium--he, his colleagues, and others submitted proposals to
NIH. The successful proposals that are to be announced this month
are from the batch submitted immediately after the ban was
lifted.
Freed describes the ban as "very peculiar" and "narrowly cut
politically." Another vocal opponent of the moratorium is
researcher Leonard Hayflick, who, 30 years ago, isolated and
cultured human fetal tissue lines that are still used today for
the production of human virus vaccines. Hayflick, a cell
biologist and gerontologist at the University of California, San
Francisco, School of Medicine, doesn't mince words. "It's just
the height of hypocrisy," he asserts, pointing out that
throughout the time of the ban, NIH continued to take advantage
of human fetal tissue cultures.
During the period of the moratorium, NIH--except for studies
involving fetal material obtained from elective abortions--
continued to support human fetal tissue research. In 1992, this
support totaled some $12.4 million, more than 90 percent of which
went toward extramural projects. And the agency apparently wants
to make its position on the matter very clear. The introduction
to an April 1993 report on its funding efforts in this area
states: "The use of human fetal tissue in basic biomedical
research has been well-established and important since the 1950s,
and [NIH] has supported this area of research for many years."
The report goes on to point out that human fetal tissue
transplantation therapy has been used successfully in certain
diseases, including Parkinsonism. But, according to the report,
in the past five years, this research had to be funded
privately or was done abroad.
Despite the NIH record, in 1988, the Reagan administration
dismissed recommendations by the Human Fetal Tissue
Transplantation Research Panel--an ad hoc scientific advisory
group assembled by NIH--and rejected guidelines that the
panel had devised for the conduct of therapeutic human fetal
tissue transplantation research, guidelines that, with strict
constraints, allowed for the use of tissue from induced
abortions. Indeed, the experts' recommendations were "just thrown
out the window," according to Nancy Wexler, a professor of
clinical neuropsychology at the Columbia University College of
Physicians and Surgeons in New York, a strong advocate of
continuing fetal tissue transplant research who is working with
researchers to devise protocols for treatment of Huntington's
disease using these transplants. Ironically, one member of the
panel who voted with the majority in favor of the guidelines and
of lifting the ban was Bernadine Healy, who went on to become
director of NIH and the enforcer of the ban.
Search For Funds
A researcher whose efforts have been hampered for the past
several years by the scarcity of human fetal tissue is
neuropathologist William D. Lyman of Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in the Bronx, N.Y. In 1992, Lyman received nearly $1.5
million from NIH--the largest NIH grant for human fetal tissue
studies that year--for work on fetal tissue and HIV-1 exposure
relating to neurological damage seen in children with AIDS. To
make sure he and other scientists had sufficient material of good
quality to work with, however, Lyman obtained private funding to
establish a tissue bank for transplantation purposes containing
material originally obtained from induced abortions. Previously,
he had begun cooperating with scientists in Tel Aviv--where
tissue from elective abortions is available--and was
contemplating the prospect of continuing his work with his
Israeli colleagues if the ban was not lifted.
Following implementation of the ban, scientists such as Yale
University School of Medicine's D. Eugene Redmond, one of the
pivotal investigators in the transplantation of human fetal
tissue into the brains of Parkinson's disease patients, had to
rely on foundation and other private funding for continuation of
their research (M. Clemmitt, The Scientist, July 20, 1992, page
1). To make matters worse, in Redmond's case, Yale's development
office--typical of policies at most universities--not only
refrains from raising money for individual faculty
members' research, but also discourages university researchers
from contacting foundations that, according to Redmond, the
school has been pursuing for major donations, scientific or
otherwise, or that had received proposals from other departments
in the university. While Redmond does not specify the foundations
he could not approach, he does say that his research group
obtained funding from Hammond, Conn.-based Axion Research
Foundation, the Communities Foundation of Texas in Dallas, an
unnamed Texas foundation, and private individuals, many with
family members suffering from Parkinsonism.
With the ban, therefore, the task of scrambling for financial
support became a worrisome, burdensome, and distracting challenge
for many individual investigators. "Besides doing the research,"
Redmond says, "we had to work on funding." While previously he
would be funded on a three-year NIH grant, he instead found
himself relying on private backing, he explains, which generally
means relatively short-term funding. Thus, he and his colleagues
found themselves in the position of constantly scrounging for
dollars to support very expensive work. Worries included not only
how to pay for the research itself, but also a host of mundane
administrative problems, such as meeting payrolls and dealing
with human resource concerns involved with hiring and firing.
"It's a very unsettling way to fund research activities," Redmond
says.
Animals No Substitute
Compounding the funding problem for Redmond and others were the
impediments to rogress in their research caused by the lack of
human fetal tissue. For example, during the period of the ban,
Redmond still received NIH funds for experimental transplantation
of monkey fetal tissue into the brains of nonhuman primates. But
furthering his work clearly entailed the use of human material.
Pointing out this requirement is John R. Sladek, Jr., a professor
and chairman of the department of neuroscience at Chicago Medical
School in North Chicago, Ill., who has been working with
Redmond's group transplanting primate fetal neuronal tissue into
brains of primates with Parkinsonism induced by MPTP (N-methyl-4
phenyl-1,2,3,6 tetrahydropy- ridine). MPTP, according to Sladek,
is a protoxin that can cause neuronal degeneration closely
resembling that which occurs in Parkinson's. The work has been
very promising, he says, but ongoing progress depends to a great
extent on the use of human fetal tissue transplants
into the primates.
"With fetal cell transplants, those animals improve," states
Sladek. "In many cases, they improve greatly." The studies have
shown that brain dopamine levels are significantly elevated after
the implant and that numbers of synapses increase. But the
research moratorium prevented Sladek and colleagues from
"studying the human cell." And, as Sladek explains, what one sees
in a rat brain or monkey brain is likely to be different from
what occurs when human fetal tissue is transplanted into a human
brain.
The scarcity of human fetal tissue has several profoundly
negative effects, says Colorado's Freed. One is pressure put on
the pocketbooks of patients, and the other is that research
subjects are limited to those patients who can afford the
transplant procedure, thus greatly skewing the experimental
group. During the ban, Freed was able to continue his work on
human neural fetal tissue transplants to ameliorate the effects
of Parkinson's disease. But an average transplant procedure costs
$30,000-$40,000, he says, and nine of his first 13 patients "paid
cash." Only four of the procedures were covered by the
laboratory's grants and, after publications began coming out on
the success of the technique, three patients reportedly were
reimbursed by their insurance companies. Nevertheless, Freed
complains that because of the high cost and the likelihood that
the cost had to be borne by the patient, "only people with a lot
of money could afford to participate, and that distorts the
research base."
Immediate Impact
According to Sladek and Redmond, the lifting of the moratorium
has served to remove the moral stigma on their research that the
presence of the ban produced. Sladek says that the ban "gave an
impression that the work was so unimportant, or unacceptable, or
controversial that it shouldn't have been done." But, he
adds, "when the moratorium got lifted, that general stigma and a
skewing of scientific perception was lifted."
However, although individual researchers once again are submitting
their proposals to NIH, scientists remain concerned that money
will not be available in the NIH budget to support human clinical
work. According to an NIH spokesperson, this is, indeed,
possible. Colorado's Freed points out that even with federal
funding available, the surgery is so expensive that only a
relatively small number of procedures could be carried out. And
Redmond cautions that the lifting of the moratorium without
sufficient money to fund all of the research that scientists have
been waiting to launch during the past five years is a double-
edged sword.
Although researchers are happy for the opportunity to apply for
the funding, he reasons, the private sector may be under the
misapprehension that federal money is available and that it no
longer needs to fund the research. This, he points out, could put
a further squeeze on proj-ects that have yielded promising
results but have been hindered by the unavailability of federal
funding.
An Interim Stage
Although Colorado's Freed has "concluded that only transplants
are likely to cure Parkinson's disease ...or make a
difference," Columbia's Wexler sees the use of fetal tissue as an
interim stage in development of disease treatment. Wexler is
president of the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Hereditary Disease
Foundation, which currently is developing protocols for fetal
tissue implants in patients with Huntington's disease, a genetic
disorder that leads to long-term neurological degeneration. By
using fetal tissue, Wexler explains, researchers will learn
exactly what factors are involved in these diseases, and,
eventually, gene transplants or pharmaceuticals will be developed
to counter the diseases'effects. Meanwhile, Wexler sees an
"opportunity to provide therapy" for patients suffering from what
she calls "horribly devastating diseases."
Chicago Medical School's Sladek notes that for now, as long as
abortion is legal, "we'll see the opportunity to help truly sick
people." Einstein's Lyman, however, wonders whether the current
legality of abortion and the availability of human fetal tissue
will prevail.
"I think the political winds can always shift," he says.
Myrna E. Watanabe is a biotechnology consultant based in Yonkers, N.Y.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : FETAL TISSUE RESEARCH AREAS
AU : MYRNA E. WATANABE
TY : RESEARCH
PG : 14
Fetal tissue is used extensively in research, from basic studies of cellular
processes and development to investigations of abnormal development of cells,
such as occurs in cancer and as a result of genetic and infectious diseases and
environmental insult. Numerous cancer treatments and diagnostics
for cancer and infectious diseases have resulted from studies
using human fetal tissue.
Human fetal tissue transplants, which are in the experimental
stage now, have been used successfully in individuals with
Parkinson's disease; diabetes; severe combined immunodeficiency
disease (SCID); thalassemia (a hereditary hemoglobin
abnormality); and complete DiGeorge's syndrome, a congenital lack
of the thymus, an organ necessary for the integrity and function
of the immune system. Animal studies indicate that fetal tissue
transplantation may be useful in patients with Huntington's
disease, various forms of blindness, skin diseases, and trauma,
such as spinal cord injury and burns.
The five-year moratorium on federally funded research using fetal
tissue from elective abortions prevented the government from
financing all of this work, forcing researchers to revamp their
studies and use only animal models or tissue from spontaneously
aborted fetuses or ectopic pregnancies--a limited source of
healthy, viable tissue--or look for funding elsewhere.
--M.E.W.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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SUGGESTED READING
PG : 15
C.R. Freed, et al., Advances in Neurology, 60:721-8, 1992
C.R. Freed, et al., Neurochemistry International, 20:S321-7, 1992
C.R. Freed, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 327:1549-55, 1992
W.C. Hatch, et al., FASEB Journal, 6:1328, 1992 (Abstract)
L. Hayflick, Bio/Technology, 10:824, 1992
J.R. Sladek, Jr., et al., Experimental Neurology, 122:16-27, 1993
D.D. Spencer, et al., New England Journal of Medicine, 327:1541-8, 1992
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Gene Therapy: Clinical Gains Yield A Wealth Of Research
Opportunities
As genetic medicine progresses, the demand rises for biological investigation
that will carry advances forward
AU : FRANKLIN HOKE
TY : NEWS
PG : 1
The transfer of genetic materials into humans to correct
diseases--gene therapy--is a new medical enterprise, barely three
years old in the clinic. But in the short time since a research
team at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., first
treated a young girl's genetically compromised immune system
with a transfusion of her own DNA-corrected white blood cells on
Sept. 14, 1990, gene therapy has grown to command considerable
public and scientific attention.
While the public focuses on the small but growing number of
clinical successes, scientists also predict an exponential growth
in multi- disciplinary research opportunities linked to the young
field. Disciplines that will be called on to contribute, these
researchers say, include virology, immunology, cell biology,
pathology, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology.
"The fun thing about gene therapy is that it requires a wide
variety of skills,"says Richard C. Boucher, director of the
division of pulmonary diseases at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. Planned trials there to treat cystic
fibrosis received approval from NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory
Committee (RAC) in March. "It spans a lot of disciplines, and the
groups that move fast are the ones able to make those disciplines
interact."
Two research institutes devoted exclusively to gene therapy
studies were launched just this year--the first under James M.
Wilson at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and the
other under Kenneth W. Culver at the Iowa Methodist Medical
Center, Des Moines. Increasingly, academic institutions are
organizing research efforts around the concepts of gene therapy.
"Most universities now are setting up their genetic medicine or
gene therapy divisions," says Culver, executive director of the
Iowa center's Human Gene Therapy Research Institute and a member
of the NIH team that designed the first gene therapy protocol.
"And many of them are in the process of trying to recruit."
The number of biotechnology companies specifically targeting
related technologies, though still small, also is growing. One of
the first entrepreneurial entries in this field was Genetic
Therapy Inc., Gaithersburg, Md. This 1986 startup has been
involved in developing the viral vectors used to deliver selected
genes to brain tumor cells in several RAC-approved protocols
proposed by NIH researchers.
"The biotechnology infrastructure certainly is growing to support
gene therapy, and this whole area won't move forward without
that," says Gary Nabel, an associate professor of internal
medicine and biological chemistry and a Howard Hughes Medical
Institute investigator at the University of Michigan Medical
Center, Ann Arbor. Nabel's research team has developed protocols
for treating melanoma tumors and AIDS that have been approved by
RAC and NIH.
But Nabel also emphasizes that basic researchers in academic
settings will have critical roles to play in the development of
gene therapy. For example, he says, most early gene therapy
protocols developed in nonprofit settings have tended to treat
orphan diseases with little market potential. These rare-disease
efforts, however, will be crucial in developing the fundamental
tools that will lead to broader success.
"These are diseases that may not be commercially attractive to
pursue," Nabel says, "but that provide very important paradigms
for what's to come."
The early studies, in many cases, have been designed to
demonstrate the basic principle of gene therapy, that it is
possible to successfully infect specific cells or tissues with
genes that will then express therapeutic proteins. They are what
Boucher calls "proof-of-concept studies." This aspect of these
proj-ects--that the early studies have implications beyond
immediate efficacy--is one reason, he adds, that they've
attracted such widespread attention.
Still, there are important basic science hurdles to jump,
researchers agree, before gene therapy can realize its full
therapeutic potential. These include the development of improved
vectors for delivery of genetic materials to target cells and
tissues, better understanding and control of gene regulation, and
more detailed knowledge about the immune system and its
responses to the introduced genes and their products.
Optimizing Viral Vectors
For now, most gene therapy protocols have taken advantage of the
ability of viruses to introduce and integrate their DNA into
cells. "What we're really trying to do in gene therapy is to
learn how to deliver genes, regulate their expression, and
maintain them at specific sites in patients," says Nabel. "And
that's something viruses learned to do long ago."
The two types of viruses used most often in experiments are
adenoviruses, which are often accompanied by cold symptoms in
humans, and retroviruses, especially murine retroviruses. They
each have advantages and disadvantages, and it is in this area--
development of vectors--that scientists say the most research
needs to be done for the field to move forward.
"There's a tremendous amount of vector development going on,"
says Edward Oldfield, chief of the surgical neurology branch of
NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Oldfield, along with Zvi Ram, Michael Blaese, and Culver,
helped develop an experimental brain tumor protocol in the NIH
clinics. "The biggest problem with gene therapy right now is one
of targeted delivery, successful delivery to specific tissues,"
Oldfield says.
Oldfield and colleagues take advantage of the fact that
retroviruses target only dividing cells, such as tumor cells,
while healthy brain cells are nondividing. The virus is
engineered to carry the gene for producing thymidine kinase, a
herpes simplex product, and is injected un- der general
anesthesia directly into the tumor region. Tumor cells that
accept the virus and its genetic payload become susceptible to
the antiviral drug ganciclovir. So far, the procedure has
produced encouraging results.
For now, the characteristic of retroviruses that Oldfield's group
is putting to use, the fact that they enter only dividing cells,
is also a limitation in other areas. Researchers would like to be
able to introduce genes into stem cells, the relatively quiescent
marrow cells that give rise to blood cells. This is an area in
which basic research in cell biology and other disciplines will
be very important.
"If we can genetically alter the hematopoietic stem cell
sufficiently well to get good expression in peripheral cells in
the blood," says Culver, "then that will accelerate the pace of
gene therapy unbelievably. Theoretically, we could treat a
variety of infectious diseases--HIV being one--and it would allow
us a good vehicle for attacking autoimmune disease and for
treatment of malignancy."
A. Dusty Miller, associate member in the program in molecular
medicine at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in
Seattle, and a member of RAC, sees this area as crucial, also.
Researchers there are working on genetic therapies for Gaucher's
disease, HIV, and other diseases with genetic components.
"If you could isolate a liver stem cell, let's say," Miller says,
"you could then repopulate large portions of the liver [with
genetically corrected cells]. So, understanding the basic biology
of organs and developmental biology will be important."
A number of research groups have chosen to work with cystic
fibrosis, including Boucher at UNC and the University of
Pennsylvania's Wilson. One reason this disease has attracted
research attention is that direct delivery to the affected
cells lining the lung or nasal passages is relatively
straightforward.
In the protocols for cystic fibrosis, an adenovirus is engineered
so that it cannot cause illness and so that it carries the
normal, functioning cystic fibrosis gene missing in the disease
victims. Under Wilson's protocol, performed on a 32-year-old New
Jersey woman September 3, the virus is introduced to the lungs
using a bronchoscope. The virus infects the lung epithelial cells
with the normal gene, after which the infected cells should begin
producing the lacking protein.
`Pluses And Minuses'
Although the virus has been altered so that the patient will not
contract a cold, per se, there are safety concerns associated
with the procedure that Wilson intends to monitor.
Such worries, specifically fears of an inflammation response in
the lung, are among the reasons Boucher plans to treat only the
nasal passages of patients in his procedure treating cystic
fibrosis. He says adenoviruses, while efficient delivery vehicles
for genes, have, "pluses and minuses"--they are not necessarily
ideal vectors.
"We're not comfortable that the safety aspects are well enough
worked out in the lung yet," says Boucher. "So, the strategy is
[to treat] the cells that line the nasal mucosa, which are
virtually precisely like the ones in the lower lung, and they
express the same defect. If there's inflammation, we can see it,
and it's easier to treat."
Worry over the safety of some current viral vectors is one reason
investigators say that continued research in this area is
critical to moving gene therapy forward.
Penn's Wilson has also developed an ex vivo protocol to treat
familial hypercholesterolemia, a genetic deficiency in which the
liver lacks the receptor for low-density lipoprotein, leading to
extremely high cholesterol levels and severe heart and
circulatory problems.
While at the University of Michigan, Wilson treated a 29-year-old
Canadian woman for the deficiency by removing approximately a
tenth of her liver cells, infecting those cells in the laboratory
with a retrovirus carrying the missing gene, and then returning
the cells to the woman's body through the portal vein leading
back to the liver. The cells, it was hoped, would lodge in the
liver and produce the necessary receptor. Since the operation,
the woman's cholesterol levels have indeed dropped significantly.
Wilson traces his interest in gene therapy to the case of Stormie
Jones, a Texas girl who died at the age of 13 after surgeon
Thomas Starzl at the University of Pittsburgh attempted a heart-
and-liver transplant to correct her familial hypercholesterolemia.
"I thought that there had to be a more elegant approach to
treating this disease," Wilson says. "Her own liver cells
functioned normally. They were only dysfunctional with respect to
one gene. So, I kept thinking about how to utilize a gene-
transfer technology."
Getting genes to the sites in the body where they are needed will
continue to be the biggest challenge for gene therapy, say
researchers. Epithelial cells, those that line cavities and
vessels in the body, will be relatively accessible, they say, but
reaching other tissues, including many tumors, will be more
difficult.
"The difficulty is going to be delivery to solid tissues," says
Oldfield. "If that can be overcome, the field will successfully
develop new therapies, and it may occur relatively rapidly."
Another limitation that will have to be confronted is the
relatively small carrying capacity of current viral vectors,
says Jeffrey Chamberlain, an assistant professor of human
genetics at the University of Michigan.
Chamberlain's team announced in August that they had cured
Duchenne muscular dystrophy in transgenic mice through insertion
of the correct dystrophin gene into embryos. But the embryos were
sometimes damaged in the procedure.
To treat people, a way of introducing the healthy gene to muscle
cells will have to be found--and the gene involved is the largest
gene yet known, Chamberlain says. Adenoviruses and retroviruses
can accept genetic inserts of about 7,000 to 8,000 base pairs,
after some viral removal. The dystrophin gene, by contrast, is
about 2.5 million base pairs. Even the cDNA, although shorter, is
about 14,000 base pairs, still double the capacity of current
vectors.
The difficulties of working with the dystrophin gene illustrate
why basic research in gene regulation and other areas of basic
biology must be part of progress in gene therapy, says
Chamberlain. His lab is working to trim the gene down for
insertion, while trying to identify and retain all sections of
code necessary for functionality. The medical and scientific
payoff, he says, could be dramatic and not only in terms of
muscular dystrophy.
"People have already shown that there are probably a lot of genes
that, if you get them into the muscle, will secrete their protein
products directly into the bloodstream," says Chamberlain. "So,
finding ways to efficiently deliver genes to muscle could go well
beyond the muscular dystrophies and be applicable to a lot of
systemic diseases as well."
As research continues in gene therapy and in understanding the
immune system, scientists anticipate that recombinant vaccines
for cancer, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders may
eventually be added to the tool kit of genetic medicine. Already,
the pace of progress in gene therapy has been encouraging--even
astounding--to its advocates, and it shows few signs of slowing.
"In 1987, I went to NIH to work there on gene therapy until it
could be done outside the NIH, and then I was going to leave,"
says Culver. "Then, between 1987 and 1993, in that six-year
period, that all happened. Not only did we start [therapies] in
1990, but it was just a couple of years later when it was
reasonable to do it just about anywhere. That's quite
remarkable."
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Society Presidents' Council Mobilizes For Dynamic Role In
Reshaping Science
Washington group pursues financial independence along with ways to deepen the
influence of its prestigious membership
AU : RON KAUFMAN
TY : NEWS
PG : 1
In the very near future, if things go according to plan, the
traditionally low-profile Washington, D.C.-based Council of
Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) will be exerting influence
in the science community far greater than it has ever exerted
before in its 20-year history.
According to its new executive director, Martin Apple, the
organization--whose membership comprises past, present, and
future leaders of some 60 scientific societies--will serve as the
hub of an electronic mail-based communications network linking
the members not only with one another, but also with a variety
of other important science community participants and observers.
Establishment of the E-mail network, says Apple, symbolizes the
steps the council intends to take in fulfilling the assertive
role in guiding the course of scientific enterprise in the United
States that organization members believe it can, and must, now
perform. "We're concerned about the future of science in this
country," says Apple, a20former University of California
biochemist who assumed his CSSP position this past summer
following six years as head of long-range planning for the
science society Sigma Xi. Stating that the "shape of U.S.
research in the post-Cold War world is not always working to our
advantage," Apple believes that his organization is equipped to
play a positive, needed part in "redeveloping the science
community."
If the nation's science leaders are "not more proactive," he
says, "we'll find ourselves reacting to things that may be ineffective
in doing what the U.S. deserves science to do."
More Dynamic
Apple is quick to point out that, since its creation in 1973, CSSP has
consistently addressed issues of consequence to the research community--
ethics, education, government affairs, public understanding of science,
environmental matters, research priorities, and so forth. "This is not
new," he says. However, while the society has always been available to
issue its recommendations and position papers--and has, indeed, been at
the forefront in addressing some of these issues--it now intends its
participation to be far more dynamic.
He envisions, for example, the E-mail system's functioning as a
combination bulletin board and conferencing forum for CSSP members, a
tool that will encourage immediate response to events of consequence to
science and then to "articulate and disseminate our visions" concerning
them.
Inspiration for becoming more proactive, he says, has sprung from within
CSSP, but motivation has also come from the outside. For example, he
says, "Congress believes we [CSSP] are uniquely qualified and is asking
us to help play a role as they go about setting priorities."
Association With ACS
Accompanying its assumption of a more aggressive posture is a move by the
society to be financially independent. Since its inception, the society
has relied heavily for its sustenance on the American Chemical Society.
In addition to a significant financial subsidy, the 145,000-member ACS
has provided free office space and staff support to the council. But now,
both groups acknowledge, CSSP has grown to the point where ACS should no
longer shoulder the burden of support. While Apple declines to reveal
financial details at this point, he is confident that alternative sources
of support will be obtained shortly.
Commenting on the separation from ACS, another CSSP official, secretary
Christopher D'Elia, says, "Right now, I guess we're like a teenager leaving
home." D'Elia, who is director of the Sea Grant Program in the University of
Maryland system, says CSSP currently is pursuing external funding sources to
support its annual budget needs. For the time being, membership and
institutional affiliate dues guarantee some revenue; D'Elia, like Apple,
declines to release details on other means the council is using to obtain
additional funding.
D'Elia is in favor of the separation, offering the notion that CSSP,
during its two-decade dependence on ACS, may have been "overincubated."
"It's time for us to go out on our own," he says. "It's part of the
maturation process."
"ACS has been very instrumental and helpful in doing far more than its
fair share in providing space, staff assistance, and other expense
assistance through the years," says Gordon Nelson, last year's CSSP
chairman and a former president of ACS.
"The reason ACS is very much interested in CSSP is because we feel that
if the scientific community speaks as a common voice, we can achieve much
more than if just the individual disciplines gave their opinions," says
Ernest Eliel, ACS president in 1992 and a chemistry professor at the
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
"I think this change will be good for CSSP because all the organizations
that belong to it need to feel that they have an equal input in the
group's decisions. With the ACS, it's more a matter of principle. While
we helped the organization when it started out, in the long run, it
should stand on its own feet. Both organizations realize that."
Eliel says that ACS will now be treated like any other CSSP member
society, and he predicts that total financial independence for the
organization should be established in about a year.
Organizational Structure
CSSP was launched in 1973 by Alan Nixon, a University of California,
Berkeley, scientist who was, at the time, president of ACS. It was formed
to provide an organization in which presidents representing different
scientific societies could get together and talk over common interests
and concerns.
Today, the council is a consortium of presidents, past presidents, and
presidents-elect of both large and small U.S. societies ranging in size
from the mammoth ACS to the 2,500-member Estuarine Research Federation,
which focuses on wetlands and ecosystems. Also represented are several
societies that are not officially identified with basic scientific
research, such as the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and
the Association for Computing, which is now working to facilitate CSSP's
E-mail system.
At present, the council's member societies represent well over a million
members. It has a 12-member board, which appoints the executive director
and other working officers, and a chairperson, who is elected for a one-
year term. The current chairperson is Bonnie Brunkhorst, a science
educator from California State College, San Bernardino, and immediate
past president of NSTA. The excutive director's term is unspecified; in
assuming that position recently, Apple became the third executive
director in CSSP's history.
The council creates and coordinates seminars, symposia, and invited
conferences for its membership on topics--such as funding and education--
which are of concern across most scientific disciplines. It has three
standing committees--government and public affairs; ethics and science;
and mathematics and science education--as well as task forces on
strategic planning and priorities in science. The group, and its
committees, meet twice a year in Washington, in May and December, with
each meeting usually carrying a given theme of interdisciplinary
importance; for example, the May 1993 meeting topic was the public
understanding of science.
Enrichment
While attendees bring their individual concerns to these meetings, they
also are exposed to discussions with representatives of other societies
and of guest speakers. Ivo Lindauer, president of the 7,000-member
National Association of Biology Teachers, says that, over time, the
meetings have "often brought to our attention additional topics we've
shared with our membership."
E. Gerald Meyer, president of the 5,000-member American Institute of
Chemists, says that CSSP, when voicing the concerns of the scientific
community, shows there is strength in numbers.
"Probably the principal advantage to our organization and others is the
consensus resolutions regarding various items dealing with science and
engineering that are arrived at during the meetings," he says. "These can
then be transmitted to Capitol Hill as representing a major segment,
probably 85 percent, of all the science and engineering societies in the
country.
"While separate organizations could voice opinions which reinforce one
another, the fact that one voice comes out lends a great deal of
credibility to the positions that we all have."
CSSP also presents two annual awards to outstanding scientists and
administrators. One is the Support of Science Award, which was introduced
in 1983 and usually goes to individuals in government. For example, the
1986 winner was Erich Bloch, then-director of NSF; the 1991 winner was
Rep. George Brown, Jr. (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Committee on
Science, Space, and Technology; and last year's winner was D. Allan
Bromley, science adviser to President Bush.
The other award was initiated last year and is called the Public
Understanding of Science Award. The award's first recipient was Carl
Sagan, director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell
University.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Weighty Endeavor
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
Last month, the U.S. Senate approved funding for a modified version of
space station Freedom, and a group of volunteers, many of whom are
scientists and others involved in the aerospace industry, would like to
believe that the weight of their arguments played no small role in saving
the project. In at least one respect they are right. Over the summer, the
group, calling itself the Space Station Freedom Fighters, collected more
than 30,000 signatures on petitions calling for renewal of the station;
the combined weight of the petitions was more than 15 pounds. The grass-
roots organization says that signatures were obtained in all 50 states
and the District of Columbia. According to the group, it was the largest
demonstration of public support for a spacecraft since "Star Trek" fans
named the first space shuttle after the Enterprise.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Chemical Interactions
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has established two new parallel
programs to provide discretionary funding to academic leaders in chemical
science research and education. The Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
focuses primarily on individual research attainment and promise, along
with evidence of excellence in teaching. The Henry Dreyfus Teacher-
Scholar Award "stresses teaching, mentorship, and the nominees'
accomplishments as role models for undergraduates embarking on careers in
the chemical sciences." Grants of $60,000 are awarded in both programs to
the awardee's academic department, with $5,000 going to the department
itself and the rest to a scholar's professional activities, with the
exception of salary. Nominations must be received by November 15. For
information, contact the Henry and Camille Dreyfus Foundation
Inc., 555 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10022-3301; (212) 753-1760.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Tourette Syndrome Funding
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
The Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA) is soliciting applications for
grants in three categories: proposals in basic neuroscience specifically
relevant to Tourette syndrome ($5,000-$25,000); clinical studies related
to the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of the disease ($5,000-
$25,000); and one- or two-year training postdoctoral fellowships
($15,000-$20,000, depending on the applicant's experience level).
Applicants' letters of intent are due by October 15, after which they
will be notified whether to deliver a final proposal, which is due
December 22. Application materials can be obtained by calling (718)
224-2999 or by fax request at (718) 279-9596. Letters of intent are to be
sent to: Anne B. Young, M.D., Ph.D., Chairperson, TSA Scientific Advisory
Board, 42-40 Bell Blvd., Bayside, N.Y. 11361.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Coming To Fruition
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
The first two volumes of Flora of North America, published by Oxford
University Press in New York, were released on September 27. The mammoth
project, being produced by 30 botanical institutions and hundreds of
botanists and coordinated by the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis,
is the first comprehensive description of all the plants growing
spontaneously in the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. In all, 14 volumes will
be published over the next 12 years. Descriptions of each species are
written and reviewed by experts from the worldwide botanical community,
with each volume containing identification keys, distributions, and other
biological information for particular groups of plants. Volume 1 contains
introductory essays that discuss climate, geology, the history of
vegetation and its current status, expeditions and research, overall
classification, and how to use the book. Volume 2 contains taxonomic
treatments of ferns and gymnosperms. For information, call Oxford
University Press at (800) 451-7556.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Fowl Play
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
While allusions to the rarity of chickens' lips and hens' teeth may
persist through eternity, Iowa State University animal scientists are
determined to settle at least one matter pertaining to the biophysical
makeup of these birds. Researchers at the institution currently are in
the process of identifying the DNA fingerprints of chickens--part of an
effort to develop rapid, low-cost, accurate methods of determining
desirable genes for disease resistance, feed efficiency, and reproductive
performance. With a minor blood test, DNA samples are obtained, then cut
and sorted by size through electrophoresis. By studying the resultant
fingerprints, called bands, scientists can determine the presence
and location of genetic markers linked to the trait they want, and breed
accordingly.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Channel Hopping
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
A Boston University scientist's approach to the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence is unlikely to be made into a major motion
picture any time soon. But it may have cleared a radio wave hurdle that
has stymied much of the effort in this area. Nathan Cohen, an assistant
professor of science and engineering at BU, along with Yale University
colleague David Charlton, claims to have found a new way to solve the
problem of "multipath," an effect that makes shortwave signals fade and
bounce up and down in intensity. It is known that phenomena in
interstellar space can cause the multipath effect on radio signals; and
scientists searching for signals from space have assumed that the best
way for extraterrestrial beings to transmit these signals was to use a
very narrow frequency channel. Over the years, researchers have sent out
similar narrow-channel signals to search for the incoming transmissions,
but Cohen and Charlton have conducted simulations using as many as five
channels, spread out in frequency like teeth on a comb, which they hope
will increase the probability of providing one channel that does not
fade. The pair acknowledge that the search has a long way to go before
they can say for sure that they have discovered intelligent signals from
space. At least, however, they figure that their method
makes sure that they won't miss a broadcast that is heading this way.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : CRADA Kudos
TY : NOTEBOOK
PG : 4
The Department of Energy has announced the execution of its 500th cooperative
research and development agreement (CRADA) since 1991. A CRADA is a
contractual agreement in which a DOE facility with one or more partners,
generally from industry, shares the costs of, and pools the results from,
a particular research and development program. To date, 26 percent of the
agreements have been in information and communications, 24 percent in
advanced materials and instrumentation, and 22 percent in manufacturing.
Others have been in such areas as pollution minimization and remediation,
biotechnology and life scien-ces, energy, and aerospace and
transportation technologies.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : 1993 ALEX Show: A Meeting Place For Lab Managers
AU : RON KAUFMAN
TY : NEWS
PG : 9
Like other shows of its kind, the third annual Analytical Laboratory
Exposition and Conference (ALEX)--which runs this week, Oct. 5-7, at the
San Francisco Fashion Center--will offer its anticipated 4,000 attendees
access to a wide array of exhibits by manufacturers of laboratory
equipment. What distinguishes this event from otherwise similar trade
fairs, according to ALEX director Lance Jacobson, is its function not
only as a showcase for state-of-the-art lab technology, but also as a
gathering place for hands-on scientists and the people who run their
labs. Jacobson notes that the ALEX show features an extensive schedule of
lectures and tutorials on issues and methods of lab management, in
addition to more than 180 exhibits displaying the latest advances in
research equipment.
"Rather than being strictly a technical program, we brought in
independent consultants, academics, and other lab personnel to talk about
their successes in running a lab," Jacobson says.
ALEX's Productivity Conference Program, which runs all three days
simultaneously with the industry exhibits, consists of 37 sessions
divided into several tracks:
* Analytical Lab Management discusses team-building, operational
efficiencies, and total-quality management.
* Analytical Lab Regulations and Procedures covers the disposal of
hazardous waste, guidelines for good laboratory practice, and regulatory
compliance.
* Automation and Information Technology deals with molecular modeling, virtual
reality, and data standardization.
* Advances in Instrumentation and Techniques consists of sessions on such
subjects as high-speed/high-resolution separations, on-line monitoring systems,
and chromato- graphy-mass spectrometry.
* Systems Approach to Sample Analysis includes presentations on DNA analysis,
polymer characterization, and trace contaminant detection.
Scheduled sessions include such topics as Regulatory Trends and
Compliance, Data Management, the Lab as a Cost Center, Waste Management
and Disposal, and Environmental Criminal Law.
Laboratory automation specialist W. Jeffrey Hurst, senior staff scientist at
Hershey Foods Corp. in Hershey, Pa., says that unless a scientist seeks out
groups like the Analytical Laboratory Managers Association (ALMA), very few
conferences offer any organized sessions at which individuals who run labs can
gather or exchange ideas.
For example, on Wednesday, Robert J. Kadunce, a manager of analytical
science at Akron, Ohio-based BFGoodrich Co., will speak about maintaining
operational efficiency; and on Tuesday, Sid Topiol, a fellow at the
Sandoz Research Institute in East Hanover, N.J., will discuss molecular
modeling.
"The ALEX meeting provides a different perspective than many of the
meetings I go to," says Hurst, who is on the conference's advisory board.
"The laboratory is not immune to things that also face industry, such as
improving lab productivity, teamwork, waste disposal, and legal
obligations--so getting a management perspective can be very helpful."
Nonetheless, according to Jacobson, the conference's chief concentration is on
the many exhibits, including dozens of new product introductions by both large
and small equipment manufacturers, such as Brookhaven Instruments Corp.,
Ronkonkoma, N.Y.; Hewlett-Packard Co. of Palo Alto, Calif.; Zymark Corp.,
Hopkinton, Mass.; and Beckman Instruments Inc. of Fullerton, Calif.
Examples of new product releases are Waltham, Mass.-based Groton Technology
Inc.'s SoloNet diode array detector for Windows and West-bury, N.Y.-based
Brinkmann Instruments Inc.'s new Metrohm pH meter model 713.
"The exhibit part is a necessary evil for a society meeting," says
Jacobson, "but in our case, looking at the marketing and connection
between the buyer and the seller is the primary focus for the event."
The conference organizers say the attendees are mostly scientists, lab
managers, and technologists from the West Coast and Rocky Mountain
states.
ALEX was created by The Interface Group, a company based in Needham,
Mass., that specializes in trade shows, transportation, and tourism.
Since 1979, Interface has produced COMDEX, the largest computer industry
trade show in the United States with more than 2,000 exhibitors and
an attendance of more than 145,000 at each of its annual presentations.
The firm also owns the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and a travel
company in New England, and rents out four private jet liners.
Next year's ALEX West conference in San Francisco is scheduled for
October 25-27. A newly developed ALEX East show will premiere in
Philadelphia Oct. 11-13, 1994.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Let's Give Russian Scientists The Chance To Succeed--And
Contribute--In The U.S.
AU : PEYRETS GOLDMACHER
TY : OPINION (COMMENTARY)
PG : 12
Never in the history of emigration from Eastern Europe and Russia have so many
highly qualified science and technology professionals come to the United States
as have arrived in the last few years. According to New York City government
statistics, between 18,000 and 22,000 Eastern Europeans a year are settling in
the New York area alone. Of these, more then 12,000 a year are employable adults.
Sixty percent of them have university degrees; of this 60 percent, 9
percent are scientists and research engineers.
These emigre scientists face many challenges as they try to become productive
members of American society. Insufficient knowledge of English is one of their
major obstacles; compounding this is their unfamiliarity with such essential
steps in the job-hunting process as resume writing, interviewing, and salary
negotiating. Because of such difficulties, these scientists are often forced to
take unskilled, poorly paid jobs; many end up turning to welfare.
Because the Soviet Union was a closed society, American scientists are largely
unaware of the qualifications of these potential colleagues. Many Russian
immigrants have earned not only the "candidat nauk" degree--roughly the
equivalent of the U.S. Ph.D.--but also a "doctorat nauk," generally
granted after prolific post-Ph.D. research output.
One way in which the U.S. scientific community could absorb the new immigrants
would be to take advantage of their considerable pedagogical experience. As the
products of European academic institutions, imbued with centuries of scientific
tradition, the newcomers may help to encourage the younger generation of
Americans to become scientists. Some recent Russian emigres are already working
at prestigious U.S. academic institutions such as Harvard University, Columbia
University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the City University
of New York. Occasional success stories notwithstanding, many newcomers need
assistance.
The Association of Engineers and Scientists for New Americans (AES)--a
nonprofit mutual assistance association--exists to help these people
help themselves and each other. AES was founded in 1981 by refugee
professionals from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Originally a
branch of the Jewish Union of Russian Immigrants, it became an
independent organization in 1986. Any technical professional who has
immigrated legitimately to the U.S., regardless of ethnic background or
country of origin, can become a member of the association. Advising
AES are scientists from universities and research centers, some of whom are
emigres themselves.
AES has established a Refugee and Immigrant Scientists Program aimed at helping
newcomers find jobs through which they can be most beneficial to their new
country.
Among other activities, the program is involved in:
* organizing English courses to acquaint the new arrivals with technical
language and scientific terminology;
* seeking out American counterparts who can introduce refugees to the job
market on a one-to-one basis;
* identifying positions and helping the refugees to apply for them;
* arranging for continual contacts with various academies of science; and
* helping the refugees to prepare technical reports and arranging for
their participation in conferences to expose them to the professional milieu.
AES is continually trying to make new contacts with government agencies and
private foundations in an effort to finance its programs. But these activities
need some support from the U.S. scientific community, as well. We welcome
volunteers to serve on our Advisory Committee and Reference Team or to
participate in our mentoring program or any other AES activities. Helping to
accelerate the integration of talented Russian researchers into the U.S.
scientific community and to facilitate their involvement in the professional,
economic, and cultural activity of their new homeland is a most noble and
useful task.
Peyrets Goldmacher is president of the New York-based Association of
Engineers and Scientists for New Americans. This text is excerpted from
an address he gave at the 38th annual meeting of the New Jersey Academy
of Science, held in May at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. For
information, contact AES, 45 E. 33rd St., Third Floor, New York, N.Y.
10016; (212) 447-5040. Fax: (212) 889-9366.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Undergraduate Research
TY : OPINION (LETTRS)
PG : 12
Regarding the commentary by Eugene Garfield entitled "Top-Flight Research At
Small Colleges Merits More Recognition, More Support" (The Scientist, May 31,
1993, page 12): I agree wholeheartedly that undergraduate hands-on research is
an extremely effective means of exciting students about science.
In 1978, as an undergraduate at Drexel University in Philadelphia, I
participated in research under the tutelage of R.O. Hutchins, who is
currently head of the chemistry department. This experience, without a
doubt, led me to pursue graduate work in chemistry, which eventually
resulted in my founding Biomol Research Laboratories Inc. of Plymouth
Meeting, Pa.
Funding organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the
National Science Foundation, and even the American Chemical Society
should certainly recognize the value of undergraduate research and fund
these programs generously.
AU : ROBERT ZIPKIN
President
Biomol Research Laboratories Inc.
Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Predicting Adult Success
TY : OPINION (LETTERS)
PG : 12
E.G. Sherburne's commentary ("What Is The Best Way To Determine A Student's
Aptitude For The Science Profession?" The Scientist, June 14, 1993, page 12)
contains a non sequitur with dangerous implications. He rightly points
out that "different selection criteria tend to select different
students," but does not acknowledge the equally valid point that
different selection criteria also tend to select different adults.
The validity of the conclusion that one student selection criterion (such
as success at a research project) is better than another (such as written
examination) at predicting subsequent adult research success depends
entirely on the criterion used to define adult success. A correlation
between one form of student success and one form of adult success may
prove very little.
In these times, success at research is largely determined by a
researcher's ability to get funded. To do this, he or she must succeed at
peer review.
It is easy to take the view that the peer review system is perfect and
that we should disregard other selection criteria (see D.R. Forsdyke,
"Bicameral grant review: an alternative to conventional peer review,"
FASEB Journal, 5:2312, 1991). However, the peer review process is highly
error-prone, and many gifted scientists who do not happen to have the
personal characteristics required to succeed in peer review are being
lost to the system (see D.R. Forsdyke, "On giraffes and peer review,"
FASEB Journal, 7:619, 1993). Failure to recognize this has dangerous
implications for progress in the biomedical sciences, particularly
if we use success at peer review as an end-point in evaluating different
types of student achievement, and then use this as a policy guide.
AU : D.R. FORSDYKE
Department of Biochemistry
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Stop Knocking Mendel
TY : OPINION (LETTERS)
PG : 12
I notice that Lewis Wolpert in his recent book, The Unnatural Nature of
Science (Harvard University Press, 1993), excerpted in The Scientist
(June 14, 1993, page 11), is one of many people who like to suggest that
Gregor Mendel's "results that established his ideas on inheritance
were...just too good to be believable." We clearly now know that Mendel's
laws of genetics were incredibly insightful and accurate for nearly all
species. Mendel did only what the majority of all scientists do: We
"select" projects or subjects for study or publication that we are
capable of understanding, that advance our understanding of science, or
present new or modified technology. Indeed, human geneticists have
"selected" to study Mendelian gene disorders for most of this century,
and it is only recently that non-Mendelian genetics (such as X-linked
inheritance, mitochondrial disorders, genomic imprinting, or multigenic
traits) has been recognized. It is incredibly discourteous to equate
Mendel with the small number of fraudulent scientists who give our
profession a bad name in the press. Rather, Mendel should be recognized
for his unique role in our history, as the "father" of genetics.
AU : ROBERT D. NICOLLS
Cleveland
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : CELL BIOLOGY
TY : RESEARCH (HOT PAPERS)
PG : 16
---
NOTE: The articles listed here (Hot Papers) are less than two years old,
have received a substantially greater number of citations than others of
the same type and vintage, according to data from the Science Citation
Index~ of the Institute for Scientific Information, Philadelphia. Why
have these research reports become such standouts? A comment following
each reference, supplied to The Scientist by one of the authors, attempts
to provide an answer.
---
J.S. Pollock, U. Furstermann, J.A. Mitchell, et al., "Purification and
characterization of particulate endothelium-derived relaxing factor
synthase from cultured and native bovine aortic endothelial cells,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 88:10480-84, 1991.
Jennifer S. Pollock (Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Ill.): "In 1980,
R.F. Furchgott and J.V. Zawadzki reported that several receptor agonists
relax vascular smooth muscle preparations only if the endothelium is
intact (Nature, 288:373-6). This was the first clear evidence for the
existence of an `endothelium-derived relaxing factor,' or EDRF. The
search for EDRF (now generally agreed to be nitric oxide) and the
elucidation of its role in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology
has generated a tremendous amount of interest. In particular, a number of
labs participated in the effort to identify the enzyme responsible for
the generation of nitric oxide (NO), referred to as EDRF synthase, or
better known as NO synthase.
"In our paper, we describe how we isolated the endothelial isoform of NO
synthase to homogeneity. We found that it was located in the particulate
fraction of cultured and native endothelial cells and that it is a
myristoylated protein. Thus, we have provided support for the idea that
this enzyme is co-translationally modified and possibly regulated in a
different manner from the other constitutive isoform of NO synthase found
in nonendothelial cells of the brain, kidney, pancreas, and other organs.
"Current knowledge of how endothelial-derived NO may play an
important physiological role is more advanced compared to NO produced by
the other isoforms. Research in this area, including our study, has been
used to fill a void in our understanding of endothelial-mediated events.
The purification of the endothelial isoform of NO synthase has allowed us
to generate specific monoclonal antibodies to the whole protein, which
has enabled us to characterize the regulation of endothelial NO synthase
in situ through a variety of methods."
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : MOLECULAR GENETICS
TY : RESEARCH (HOT PAPERS)
PG : 16
Y.-H. Fu, D.P.A. Kuhl, A. Pizzuti, et al. "Variation of the CGG repeat at the
fragile X site results in genetic instability: Resolution of the Sherman
paradox," Cell, 67:1047-58, 1991. Y.-H. Fu, A. Pizzuti, R.G. Fenwick, Jr., et
al., "An unstable triplet repeat in a gene related to myotonic muscular
dystrophy," Science, 255:1256-8, 1992.
C. Thomas Caskey (Institute for Molecular Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine,
Houston): "My beagle used her nose to find a rare rabbit in the vast woods. We
frequently use our scientifically trained noses to hunt for new biology. The
significance of trinucleotide repeat was realized from such a hunt in my
laboratory. The highly polymorphic [AGC]n repeat in the androgen receptor gene
interested us because of our focus on this new class of polymorphism.
"It was Kurt Fischbeck (A.R. la Spada, et al., Nature, 352:77-9, 1991) who
associated expansion of this repeat with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy
(SBMA). The [CCG]n trinucleotide repeat in the fragile X gene (FMR-l) was
discovered as a consequence of much hard work and collaboration with excellent
colleagues (A.J.M.H. Verkerk, Cell, 65:905-14, 1991). We used a positional
cloning strategy to identify FMR-1.
"Following the SBMA and fragile X discoveries, the data suggested that triplet
repeat expansion could be the molecular basis of clinical `anticipation' (that
is, increasing severity and earlier onset over generations) in heritable
diseases. Anticipation was well-known in myotonic dystrophy. We therefore
elected to use GC-rich triplet repeat oligonucleotides to scan for such a
trinucleotide repeat region in the myotonic dystrophy locus. This simple
strategy rapidly identified the [AGC]n repeat responsible for the
myotonic dystrophy mutation. We speculated in that report that diseases
with anticipation, such as Huntington's disease (R.M. Ridley, et al.,
Journal of Medical Genetics, 28:224-31, 1991) and spinocerebellar ataxia
(H.Y. Zoghbi, et al., Annals of Neurology, 23:580-4, 1988) may also be
caused by trinucleotide repeat expansions. This was indeed the case
(Huntingdon's Disease Collaborative Research Group, Cell, 72:971-83,
1993; H.T. Orr, et al., Nature Genetics, 4:221-6, 1993).
"Since some trinucleotide repeats display somatic instability, it was
logical to suspect their involvement in cancer and aging. The instability
of dinucleotide repeats in colorectal cancer reported by Bert Vogelstein
(L.A. Aaltonen, et al., Science, 260:812-6, 1993; P. Peltomki, et al.,
Science, 260:810-12, 1993) and age-dependent [AGC]n amplification in
myotonic dystrophy suggest progressive somatic changes in DNA sequence
and perhaps associated genes.
"There is much more to be understood of the pathogenesis, mechanism of
amplification, and association with other diseases of unstable triplet
sequences. Perhaps there is even an association with diseases thought to
be multifactorial that result in dramatic newborn developmental defects."
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Video Gel Documentation Improves On Photography
AU : CAREN D. POTTER
TY : TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
PG : 18
As laboratory investigators in molecular genetics, biochemistry, and related
fields know all too well, the end product of electrophoresis--whether the
process is used to separate proteins or to sequence DNA--is a fragile gel
displaying narrow and sometimes difficult-to-read dark bands. Gels break
easily if bent and can deteriorate under the light required to interpret
them clearly. So, to preserve a record of an electrophoresis run,
researchers traditionally have taken a photograph of the gel using an
instant or 35 mm camera.
Unfortunately, this documentation method has drawbacks: It is relatively
expensive (about $1 per print for instant prints); the researcher's
control over the photograph's quality is limited; and there isn't much he
or she can do with the image besides tape it into a log book.
Over the past half-dozen years, lab equipment suppliers have developed a
series of new gel-documentation systems based on still video technology
to overcome these limitations. These systems use a video camera instead
of a conventional one to take a picture of a gel, and then transmit the
image to a computer or printer. (Still video cameras differ from those
used to record motion in that the only way to capture an image from a
still video camera is to transfer it to another device, such as a
printer; the image is not recorded on videotape.)
These gel-documentation systems provide for additional uses of a gel image
because they digitize it, making it compatible with a variety of computer
software packages--image-analysis software, for instance--and output
devices. But their main use is for documentation, not analysis, and their
strength is greater control over the resulting gel image at a more
affordable cost.
Researchers in the labs of the pathology department at Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine in Baltimore, for example, are hoping these
features will help pay for the still video system they recently purchased
while also improving the quality of their gel documentation. Their
Stratagene Eagle Eye system from Stratagene Cloning Systems, La Jolla,
Calif., cost them about $14,000.
"Right now, it's costing us about $1 per [photograph], and it often takes
two or three shots to get the right exposure," says Lora Hedrick,
assistant professor of pathology at Johns Hopkins. "Often your gels
aren't stained well enough, so you have to restain or destain and take
more photographs. The cost of thermal prints from the still video system
is lots cheaper, and, over time, especially since more than one lab will
be using the system, everybody will save money."
Some labs, however, may need to balance some hidden costs with the
gel-documentation systems against their advantages.
"If you decide to store the image, you have to consider how you will
store it and how much that will cost," says Joe Runde, news manager of
Eastman Kodak Co.'s Professional Printing and Publishing Imaging division
in Rochester, N.Y. Several gel-documentation systems incorporate Kodak
still video cameras.
"An image of a single gel can take up to one megabyte of space on a computer,"
Runde adds. "That much computer storage--on a hard disk or floppies--
doesn't come cheap."
Many labs will not need to store gel images on a computer; a thermal print will
be sufficient, and these cost about 10 cents each--a significant savings over
conventional photography. But in cases in which a computer file of a gel is
necessary, the enormous amount of disk space required may pose a barrier to the
cost-effectiveness of video-based gel-documentation systems.
However, these systems offer important advantages over photo- graphic
documentation, especially for labs that generate a large number of gels.
And, in time, as advances in computer storage technology make the
affordability of file storage capacity less of an issue, video-based
documentation may begin to replace conventional gel photography.
System Configuration
To create video-based gel-documentation systems, suppliers have taken several
pieces of disparate equipment and gone through the headache of making them
communicate--no small task when the components include a video camera (an
analog device) and a computer (a digital device).
A video-based gel-documentation system includes the following parts: a still
video camera; a stand or cabinet that holds the camera above and the gel below
it; a computer or monitor; a thermal printer; and lighting equipment, such as a
white light or UV transilluminator, situated below the gel.
Documentation systems differ from analysis systems designed to analyze and
quantify images of electrophoresis gels, although there is quite a bit of overlap
in components. Gel-analysis systems are much more expensive, however,
selling in a range from $30,000 to $60,000. By contrast, prices for gel-
documentation systems range from approximately $7,000 to $15,000. The
vendor usually provides a number of configuration options which affect
the price.
For example, Fotodyne, in Hartland, Wis., offers a system called the
Foto/Analyst II that incorporates a Macintosh Centris 650 computer from
Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple Computer Corp. and some image-enhancement
and basic analysis software, and sells for $14,675. The company also
sells a system called the Foto/Analyst Visionary for around $8,000 that
does not include a computer. A 9-inch black-and-white video monitor is
used for viewing gel images before printing. The latter system is
strictly for documentation; output is hard copy from the system's thermal
printer. With the former system, the user has the option of manipulating
the image on the computer.
Also, the Foto/Analyst Visionary system can send output to DOS,
Macintosh, or UNIX computers configured with off-the-shelf frame
grabbers--add-in boards that allow a computer to accept video images.
This represents a kind of do-it-yourself system configuration, but for
labs with the necessary expertise on hand and some underused computers
available, this may be a good option.
Video-based gel-documentation systems using still video cameras differ
from other types of systems using video cameras to record motion. The
image on the monitor appears similar, but the result, whether stored in a
computer or output to a thermal printer, is different.
"With a still video camera, you get a continuous video image," explains
Paul Kubiak, product manager at Stratagene Cloning Systems. "If you wave
your hand under the camera you see it waving on the computer screen or
monitor. But once you're ready to take a picture--after adjusting light
levels and making sure you have what you want--you freeze the image and
take a picture of it. Then you store it on a hard disk or floppy or print
it on a thermal printer."
The still video camera used in gel-documentation systems comes equipped
with a zoom lens and is sensitive to low levels of light. Most can detect
less than one nanogram of DNA on an ethidium bromide-stained gel--
Stratagene claims its Eagle Eye can detect as little as 0.25 ng of DNA on
a gel. Vendors also supply the necessary interference filters for use
with ethidium bromide-stained DNA gels.
Advantages Over Photography
The ability to take a look at the image on a screen and make sure the
photograph will be acceptable before it is taken is one significant
advantage that video documentation systems have over conventional
photography. With gel-documentation systems based on traditional film
cameras, this is not the case.
"You hope the aperture setting is right, you hope you've got the
region you want, but you don't see the image until you shoot," Kubiak says,
explaining some problems with photographic documentation. "You may have
to take more than one photo to get it right. But in a still video system,
you're manipulating everything in real time."
Still video gel-documentation systems offer other advantages over
conventional photography. One of the most important is that once the
video image is stored on a computer, it can be incorporated into other
computer applications, such as those for producing manuscripts and
slides. This is possible because video documentation systems store gel
images in a computer industry standard image format known as TIFF. Having
the image in a widely supported format gives a researcher the ability to
copy the image file from the documentation system onto a floppy and
transfer it to his or her own computer for use in a variety of other
applications.
There is one further benefit to computer-based gel-documentation systems.
Computers can be linked to other computers by means of a network, making it
possible to transmit gel image files to colleagues around the world. To date,
this has not been a widely used feature, but these systems are new.
In the Tuberculosis Center at the Public Health Research Institute in New York
City, plans are under way to link the center's Millipore gel- analysis system
with similar systems at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and a
research facility in the Netherlands.
Each of these labs uses an expensive, full-featured gel-analysis system
as an epidemiology tool to perform DNA fingerprinting of various strains
of tuberculosis. Their aim is to develop techniques to more quickly and
accurately identify cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis. But similar
linking could also be done with gel-documentation systems.
Even though gel-documentation systems are designed primarily to replace
conventional gel-photography methods, each supplier offers something to
differentiate its product from those of its competitors. Stratagene, for
instance, includes annotation software with its system. Annotation
software lets users add text and graphic elements such as arrows to gel
images. The company also has plans to sell densitometry software that
works with its documentation system.
With Fotodyne's complete Analyst II system comes software called Collage which
handles quantification and statistical analysis of gels. While extras such as
these don't bring documentation systems up to the level of full-fledged
gel-analysis systems, they do offer additional functionality at a lower price
than that of the analysis systems.
Not all DNA labs need full image-analysis capabilities, and video
documentation systems need not be thought of as their poor cousins. "In
the ideal world, every P.I. [principal investigator] would have a high-
powered analysis system," says Kubiak of Stratagene. "In the real world,
people are saying, `All I want is a picture of my gel that costs less
than a Polaroid. I want to store some of them and use them in manuscripts
and as slides.'" The current crop of video-based gel-documentation
systems is for these people.
Caren D. Potter is a freelance science writer based in McKinleyville, Calif.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : STILL VIDEO-BASED GEL-DOCUMENTATION AND GEL-ANALYSIS SYSTEMS
TY : TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
PG : 19
The following suppliers are among those offering still video-based
gel-documentation systems and gel-analysis systems.
Biomed Instruments Inc.
1020 S. Raymond Ave., Suite B
Fullerton, Calif. 92631
(714) 870-0290
Fax: (714) 870-6385
Video Densitometer II gel-
analysis system.
Fotodyne Inc.
950 Walnut Ridge Dr.
Hartland, Wis. 53029-9388
(800) 362-3686
Fax: (414) 369-7013
Foto/Analyst I and II;
Foto/Analyst Visionary
gel-documentation systems.
Millipore Corp.
80 Ashby Rd.
P.O. Box 9125
Bedford, Mass. 01730-9125
(617) 275-9200
Fax: (617) 275-5550
Bio-Image 60S Series and 110S
Series gel-analysis systems.
Stratagene Cloning Systems
11099 N. Torrey Pines Rd.
La Jolla, Calif. 92037
(800) 424-5444
Fax: (619) 535-0045
Eagle Eye and Eagle Eye II
gel-documentation systems.
U.V. Products Inc.
5100 Walnut Grove Ave.
San Gabriel, Calif. 91776
(800) 452-6788
(518) 285-2940
GDS 5000 gel-documentation
system (analysis software
optional).
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : Contest Demonstrates To Students That Inventing Has Its
Rewards
AU : EDWARD R. SILVERMAN
TY : PROFESSION
PG : 20
Three years ago, the staff at the National Invention Center (NIC)--a nonprofit
organization based in Akron, Ohio, dedicated to fostering scientific
creativity--faced what they thought was a serious problem. So, as any good
inventor would do, they dreamed up a solution.
NIC, which administers the National Inventors Hall of Fame, feared that young
United States students were losing interest in the sciences and engineering. To
fire up their enthusiasm, the center established the Collegiate Inventors
Program, an annual contest for college and university students, with
backing from the BFGoodrich Co., a leading manufacturer of chemicals and
aircraft systems, also based in Akron.
The goal was to encourage and recognize scientific problem-solving and to
promote collaborative relationships between students-- whether
undergraduates or doctoral candidates--and their advisers.
"We want to keep these kids in the field," says Rose Heintz, director of
NIC's BFGoodrich program. "Many students get little, if any, recognition,
particularly those working on campuses, where the money isn't great," she
says, referring to paltry student stipends. "A secondary bonus is that it
[the contest] can enhance careers. And [the winners] become role models
for others."
Indeed, former winners say that the program offers a tremendous
opportunity for aspiring inventors to refine their laboratory experiments
and field work in the hopes of bringing home an award that may very well
also provide a career boost.
"In grad programs, you rarely get validation of the work you're doing,
except the degree itself," says Jonathan Spindel, a doctoral student in
biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia. Spindel picked up a
prize in the 1993 BFGoodrich contest for inventing an implantable,
electromagnetic hearing aid that transmits vibrations directly to the
inner ear, eliminating acoustic feedback problems.
"Moments of recognition are few and far between, so it's validation," he
says. "And it's a big resume tag. I think it was instrumental in getting
me a job offer to remain here as an assistant professor once I graduate."
Spindel, who expects to graduate next year, is currently considering the
offer.
Encouraging Creativity
The competition is open to graduate and postgraduate students, as well as
undergraduates. While undergrads have always been able to compete in the
all-collegiate category, beginning with the 1994 competition there will be a
separate judging category for them, as well. Undergraduate entries will be
automatically submitted in both the all-collegiate and the undergraduate
category. "We're doing this to encourage more participation," says
Heintz. "They [undergraduates] don't have the same resources to do these
projects. There's no backing from a lab to sponsor their research." In
addition to the prestige it confers, the annual contest, now in its third
year, enables the students to obtain a cash award. In the all-collegiate
category, up to three students or student teams each receive a cash prize of
$5,000, with another $2,500 going to their advisers. In the undergraduate
category, up to three winners or teams of winners each garner a $1,000 prize,
with their advisers getting $500.
This year, the contest sponsors expect to receive more than 100
applications. A preliminary judging panel will select the semifinalists;
a national panel of eight scientists, physicians, environmentalists, and
patent attorneys will pick the finalists and the winners. "We all look
for the same thing: originality, uniqueness, creativity, and usefulness
in the world," says research physicist and engineer James Hillier, a
retired executive at RCA Corp. who holds 41 patents and was inducted into
the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1980.
"I don't think there's anything comparable to this," says Heintz. "About
75 percent of the entrants, of which more than half are graduate or
doctoral students, are usually in the process of applying for a patent,
anyway. This gives them even more encouragement. And that's the whole
purpose."
"[Winning the contest] certainly did give me a lot of recognition in the
school," says James Versalovic, an M.D.-Ph.D. student at Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston. Versalovic took a prize in the 1992 competition
for his efforts in developing new techniques in DNA fingerprinting, which
he is using to identify outbreaks of infectious diseases.
"And it helps the patent application," he adds. "The U.S. Patent Office
was impressed by the award. It was also a real support tool, because
money is pretty thin here in academia."
Another perk is being invited to the annual Hall of Fame ceremony in
Akron, where the newly minted inventors get to meet some of the most
prestigious names to ever hold a patent, such as Robert Ledley, a dentist
who invented the whole-body computerized tomographic (CT) scanner and is
now a BFGoodrich contest judge, and Baruch Blumberg, master of Balliol
College, Oxford University, and Fox Chase Distinguished Scientist at
Philadelphia's Fox Chase Cancer Center, a member of a team that developed
the vaccine for hepatitis B, and a winner of the Nobel Prize in
physiology or medicine in 1976.
"It's pretty awe-inspiring to be around those Hall of Famers," says Roger
Ruth, who was Spindel's adviser and is director of the communicative
disorder division in the otolaryngology department at the University of
Virginia.
"This made clear that inventors have status and that the act of inventing
is an important thing, not just people tinkering in garages," says
Spindel. "Inventors, oftentimes, have very little reward but struggle to
make headway. And that's a spirit the U.S. needs to foster."
The deadline to submit applications for next year's contest is February
15. For more information, call Rose Heintz of the National Invention
Center at (800)968-4332.
Edward R. Silverman is a freelance writer based in Millburn, N.J.
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : San Antonio Research Unit Appoints Science Director
AU : RON KAUFMAN
TY : PROFESSION (PEOPLE)
PG : 21
John L. VandeBerg has been appointed scientific director of the Southwest
Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR). VandeBerg, 46, has headed SFBR's
department of genetics since 1982. He began his new position October 1.
The nonprofit foundation is located in San Antonio. Its 2,700 primates are used
in a variety of studies on human diseases. The foundation studies
atherosclerosis, hypertension, cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis, as well as
infectious diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis, and herpes.
In the coming year, VandeBerg will oversee a move to larger facilities at the
Texas Research Park in San Antonio. He is also involved in plans to form new
research partnerships with private biotech companies.
A collaboration is currently under way between SFBR and Se-quana
Therapeutics in La Jolla, Calif. Using the baboon model, the combined
research team will explore treatments or preventative measures for the
debilitating bone condition osteoporosis. They will do this by
identifying nearly 300 gene markers in the baboon and then using those
markers to find the location of the comparable genes that control bone
mass in humans.
"This is really a combination of Sequana's expertise in molecular biology and
positional cloning and our expertise in genetics and osteoporosis," VandeBerg
says.
The project is being funded by the National Institutes of Health's
Human Genome Project and is the only grant from that project supporting
the gene mapping of a nonhuman primate.
"Baboons are very closely related to human beings," says VandeBerg. "Their
genetics, physiology, and pathology of disease are very similar to those in
humans. Because we can completely control their diet and environment, we can
dissect out the genetic contributions to common diseases in ways that are not
possible with human subjects."
VandeBerg received his Ph.D. in genetics from Macquarie University
in Sydney, Australia, in 1975. From 1975 until he joined SFBR in 1982,
VandeBerg was a researcher in genetics at the University of Wisconsin,
Madison.
--Ron Kaufman
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : National Institute On Drug Abuse Honors North Carolina
Chemist
AU : RON KAUFMAN
TY : PROFESSION (PEOPLE)
PG : 21
F. Ivy Carroll, a chemist at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) in Research
Triangle Park, N.C., received the 1993 Pacesetter Award last month from the
National Institute on Drug Abuse. The award, first presented in 1976,
acknowledges individuals or organizations for their accomplishments in
drug abuse research, prevention, and treatment.
Carroll, the director of RTI's Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry, was
honored for his discoveries associated with biochemical mechanisms of action of
cocaine and the synthesis of cocaine analogs with potential as medications.
"The mechanism of action for cocaine is believed to be involved in the
inhibition of dopamine uptake," he says. "We've been studying the protein
that does that, called the dopamine transporter....Our research has
identified what's happening.
"We're doing this with the hope that we can find ways of treatment for
drug abuse in people, but also as basic information, so if we can't
find a treatment, maybe someone else can find ways to make use of the
[data]."
A summary of Carroll's work can be found in "Cocaine receptor:
biochemical characterization and structure activity relationships of
cocaine analogs at the dopamine transporter," Journal of Medicinal
Chemistry, 35:969, 1992.
"The next step in this research is identifying two things," Carroll says.
"First, can you block the effect? And, to my knowledge, nobody has found
a way to do that," he says. "The other is a maintenance type of chemical
that may not block the effect, but you can provide people with something
that would stop them from having the cravings and rushes you get with
cocaine."
Carroll received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Auburn University in
1957 and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill in 1961. He has worked at RTI since 1960.
RTI is a nonprofit, independent research institute founded in 1958. It
performs research in the social, chemical, statistical, biological,
environmental, and engineering sciences.
--Ron Kaufman
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : OBITUARIES
TY : PROFESSION
PG : 22
Mildred Gordon, a cell biologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York, died August 23 of cancer. She was 73 years old. Gordon's work
centered on basic research on the human sperm and the endometrium, the
inner lining of the uterus.
She received her bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College in 1941 and her
Ph.D. in anatomy from Yale University in 1966. Between 1956 and 1978,
Gordon was on the faculty of five different universities. Her last
position was as a professorial lecturer in the departments of cell
biology and anatomy at Mount Sinai, a job she obtained in 1981 and held
until her death.
----
Donald William Kerst, a physicist and inventor of the betatron atomic
accelerator, died August 19 of a brain tumor. He was 81 years old.
Kerst, a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1962
until his retirement in 1980, developed the device during World War II. The
betatron, a transformer that could produce 300 million electron volts, allowed
physicists to accelerate electron beams and inspect subatomic particles.
Kerst received his bachelor's degree in 1934 and his Ph.D. in 1937 from the
University of Wisconsin.
----
Francis Merlin Bumpus, a medical researcher who performed studies on high blood
pressure at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, died August 8 of coronary artery
disease. He was 70 years old.
Bumpus, who performed research until his death, explored the use of inhibitors
and blockers to treat many coronary ailments, including high blood pressure and
arteriosclerosis.
He received his B.S. from Purdue University in 1944 and his Ph.D. in
biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin in 1949. He joined the
Cleveland Clinic in 1949 as a chemist.
----
Arie Nicolaas Habermann, a computer scientist and an assistant director at the
National Science Foundation, died August 8 of a heart attack. He was 62 years
old.
Habermann had been assistant director for NSF's Computer and Information
Science and Engineering department since October 1991. Prior to that he
was head of the computer science department at Carnegie Mellon
University.
Born in Groningen, the Netherlands, he received his B.S. from the Free
University of Amsterdam in 1953 and his Ph.D. in computer science from
Eindhoven University of Technology in 1967. Habermann joined the faculty
of Carnegie Mellon in 1968 and became head of the school's computer
science department in 1979.
----
(The Scientist, Vol:7, #19, October 4, 1993)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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