THE SCIENTIST VOLUME 8, No:6 MARCH 21, 1994 (Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.) Articles publ
THE SCIENTIST
VOLUME 8, No:6 MARCH 21, 1994
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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TI : CONTENTS
PG : 3
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NEWS
BUDGET PROSPECTS: Science society leaders and science agency
officials are cautious in their praise of President
Clinton's proposed 1995 research and development budget,
recognizing it as the best that can be obtained in a year of
federal fiscal belt-tightening. Meanwhile, Congress' No. 1
science expert, Rep. George Brown, Jr. of California, is
outspokenly critical of the proposal, warning that the new
budget may not fare well among his colleagues on Capitol
Hill
PG : 1
INTEGRATING MEDICINE: The National Institutes of Health's
Office of Alternative Medicine is planning a research
methodologies conference this July to help bring scientific
rigor to investigations in such areas as
bioelectromagnetics, acupuncture, and prayer intervention.
Innovative programs funded by several philanthropic
foundations and educational efforts at some top medical
schools are also helping to integrate conventional and
alternative research thinking
PG : 1
MARY LASKER'S LEGACY: The cause of biomedical science has
lost a friend and champion with the recent death of Mary
Lasker, say scientists who have benefited from her efforts
on their behalf over the past half-century, including the
founding and sponsorship of the prestigious Lasker Awards,
and her fund-raising and lobbying for biomedicine
PG : 3
EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGISTS MEET: Researchers from an
increasingly wider array of disciplines will be gathering
next month for the Experimental Biology 94 conference. To
focus on the overlapping areas of investigation, theme
topics with applicability to many fields have been chosen
for the meeting
PG : 4
OPINION
PATHWAYS FOR WOMEN IN SCIENCE: An ongoing study that follows
women through college and into the early and middle stages
of their careers in science provides clear evidence that
much more needs to be done--at all stages and by everyone
concerned at the academic and career level--to nurture women
in this profession, say Wellesley College researchers Paula
M. Rayman and Belle Brett
PG : 11
COMMENTARY: The interests of scientific researchers, library
administrators, and science journal publishers have been in
conflict for a long time, notes publisher Eugene Garfield.
And recent claims that library acquisitions problems are now
approaching the crisis stage--the latest manifestation of
these perennially competing interests--could well be a
melodramatic overstatement
PG : 12
RESEARCH
SEX RESEARCH: Much study classified as "sex research" goes
unrecognized--and unfunded--because of moral and political
stigmas attached to the term. But, as basic scientists in
this field emphasize, their work covers a wide variety of
biological and biomedical areas, including the structure and
function of the reproductive system on other organs and
systems in the body
PG : 15
HOT PAPERS: A molecular biologist discusses his paper on the
molecular and functional distinction of NMDA receptor
subtypes
PG : 17
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
ELECTROPHORESIS SUPPORT SYSTEMS: As gel electrophoresis has
become a staple of biological laboratories, an array of
ever-improving computer hardware and software is helping
researchers in their quantification, image-enhancement, and
analysis tasks
PG : 18
PROFESSION
FROM BENCH TO BOOKS: Many investigators looking for a
science-related alternative to a career in research have
found satisfaction in various areas of science book
publishing, which they say challenges both their scientific
and literary skills
PG : 21
CHEMIST HOWARD E. SIMMONS, a retired vice president of
DuPont's central research and development department, has
won the 1994 Priestley Medal from the American Chemical
Society
PG : 23
SHORT TAKES
NOTEBOOK PG : 4
CARTOON PG : 4
LETTERS PG : 12
CROSSWORD PG : 13
ELECTROPHORESIS IMAGING AND ANALYSIS PRODUCTS DIRECTORY
PG : 19
NEW PRODUCTS
PG : 20
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
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NEXT:
NEWS
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TI : Alternative Medicine Ideas Widen Horizons In
Biomedical Research Scientists are becoming more
`integrative' in examining and applying unconventional
techniques
AU : FRANKLIN HOKE
TY : NEWS
PG : 1
At the National Institutes of Health on July 11-13, the
Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) will hold its first
technology assessment conference. One of the primary goals
of the conferees will be to begin development of research
methodologies appropriate to the study of such treatment
approaches as traditional Chinese herbal medicine,
acupuncture, and therapeutic touch, according to OAM
officials and others. A follow-up meeting, it is hoped, will
address specific issues of research design, measurement, and
data analysis.
Creating rigorous methodologies to test the efficacy of
unconventional medical practices, scientists say, will
become increasingly important as findings in some fast-
moving biomedical research areas--psychoneuroimmunology and
psycho- pharmacology, for example--converge with the
integrative ideas of alternative medicine. Several
innovative funding initiatives from philanthropic
foundations are also expected to help in this task, they
say, and newly established alternative medical education
courses at a number of top medical schools should serve to
further interweave establishment and alternative medical
research.
Investigators add that health-care reform, as it evolves,
may emphasize the preventive and behavioral aspects of
biomedicine, aspects considered central to many alternative
therapies, also contributing to growth in those areas.
"We're going to bring together people from the alternative
medicine field with research methodologists, to try to see
if there are new kinds of methodologies we can develop that
are more appropriate to the kind of work we're doing," says
James Gordon, a cochairman of the OAM methodology meeting
and a clinical professor of psychiatry and community and
family medicine at Georgetown University Medical School and
director of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, both in
Washington, D.C. Gordon says some questions arising in
alternative medical settings are crucial for health but will
be difficult to address scientifically.
"For example, what are the best ways of studying the
interaction between the person who's giving help and the
person who's receiving help?" Gordon asks. "How do we take
account of the fact that so many of these modalities, used
in an optimal way, are very carefully individualized?"
The questions to be confronted in designing new
methodologies to assess alternative treatments may challenge
researchers' basic biomedical perspectives, according to
David Eisenberg, an internist and instructor in medicine at
the Beth Israel Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in
Boston.
For example, he says, simply testing the effectiveness of a
Chinese herbal remedy prescribed for migraine headache on
migraine sufferers might be inappropriate, because the
underlying diagnostic categories in Chinese medicine could
differ dramatically from those in Western medicine. Ten
people with a diagnosis of migraine in Western medicine
might fall into three or four or more treatment categories
using what Eisenberg calls the "pulse-and-tongue" diagnostic
techniques of Chinese medicine. The diagnosis might be a
liver deficiency, with the corresponding prescription of a
certain herb.
"It would be senseless and, I think, intellectually arrogant
to simply look for an active ingredient without taking into
account the diagnostic theory with which that herb has been
used for a millennium," Eisenberg says. "We have to keep
that in mind before offering the simplistic approach that if
we just test all these herbs to see which ones fix
migraines, it'll work. That's not the way they're used, so
why test them that way?"
Still, there are ways to study the diagnostic system of
Chinese medicine, Eisenberg says. Researchers in China are
now working with sensitive pressure meters, for example, to
assess pulse aberrations on the radial artery.
"[This work] not only cuts across medical specialties, it
cuts across all the basic science disciplines as well," says
Gordon. "And once you start thinking in terms of another
diagnostic system, it calls into question all the
conventional ways that we've looked at illness."
Foundation Funders
A handful of private foundations are playing leadership
roles in supporting research into alternative therapies and
into the basic science disciplines seeking to describe the
biochemistry of mind-body links. For more than a decade, the
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago has
sought to address some of these questions and currently
invests roughly $3 million annually in such research.
"Our goal here is to bring hard-bitten science to bear on
issues at the interface of mental and physical health, and
of emotional state and physiological state," says Denis J.
Prager, director of the health program at the MacArthur
Foundation and a former deputy science adviser to Presidents
Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. "The alternative-medicine,
mind-body, faith-and-healing area--whatever all this is
called--is littered with anecdotal evidence and intuitions
and personal experiences, but has not been characterized by
much good science.
"But there's enough work now to say that we know mental
state has a role in health and in disease processes. We
can't say anymore that we don't have enough data--we do. The
questions are how can we get more data, how can we
understand the mechanisms, and how can we take what we know
to be proven and get it into practice?"
Psychiatrist Robert M. Rose says that while alternative
medical therapies are opening important new research
questions, new scientific methods are not needed to answer
them. Rose is head of the MacArthur Foundation's research
network on mind-body interactions.
"There are a lot of indications, mostly epidemiological,
that psychological and social phenomena can affect health,"
says Rose. "But one doesn't have to invoke strategies that
are not amenable to the same kinds of scientific rigor that
are extant in most biomedical research. Our own network is
an attempt to apply evolving new tools in studying how the
mind-brain works and its control of peripheral physiological
functioning [in a way] that is consonant with what is done
in more standard laboratories."
Rose's reference to a unified "mind-brain" suggests a view,
similar to that of other researchers in this area, of the
brain as more than just a physical organ--his concept also
includes psychological, emotional, and other aspects of
mental state.
The Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Mich., has also been a
prominent supporter of research into alternative medical
approaches, spending about $5 million a year currently.
Among other projects, the institute supported journalist
Bill Moyers's 1993 public television series "Healing and the
Mind," and it is a funder of David Eisenberg's work at
Harvard. Like others trying to structure investigations of
alternative medicine, Fetzer staff are struggling with how
best to address the new categories of questions being raised
by their efforts.
"I don't know of anyone who disputes the reality of
interactions between the nervous and the immune systems,"
says Ken Klivington, Fetzer vice president for science. "But
the real problem currently is [assessing] the clinical
significance of psychologically induced changes in the
functions of the immune system. And that's proving to be a
real bear to wrestle with. There are so many variables
involved in these clinical studies. People don't even agree
on what aspects of immune function to measure."
The institute's founder, John E. Fetzer, who was a pioneer
in radio broadcasting--and one-time owner of the Detroit
Tigers baseball team--had a special interest in the possible
medical applications of electromagnetic waves, according to
Kliving-ton. Now receiving funding from the institute is the
work of Jan Walleczek at Loma Linda Veterans Administration
Medical Center in California. Walleczek is working to
develop instrumentation for the new field of
bioelectromagnetics.
"There are many people who believe," says Harvard's
Eisenberg, "that the chemical alterations that we are most
comfortable discussing in terms of biology are fundamentally
electrical and electromagnetic field-related phenomena, and
that it may be that, at the more basic level, it is the
field phenomena that are driving the cell membranes and the
chemistry, not the other way around. . . . What Jan
Walleczek has done is create a new shielded apparatus to
explore low-frequency radiation effects on cells."
Klivington says Walleczek's experimental model looks at the
interaction between weak electro- magnetic fields and
biological systems, specifically the calcium uptake of
various cells in culture.
"Increasingly, hard-nosed scientists are willing to take a
look at things that they would have dismissed out of hand
not too long ago," Klivington says.
The New Schools
Several top medical schools have introduced or are in the
process of organizing alternative medicine components to
their curricula. In these settings, too, researchers are
making efforts to meld the scientific viewpoint and elements
of alternative medical thinking. Educating tomorrow's
biomedical professionals with a broader awareness of the
healing arts may serve to inform new research approaches in
the future, educators say.
"Part of what we hope to do, in addition to conducting
research, is also to develop courses for medical students
and graduate students on different ways of thinking about
research," says Fredi Kronenberg, associate professor of
clinical physiology and director of the Richard and Hinda
Rosenthal Center for Alternative/Complementary Medicine at
the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
in New York.
"In clinical trials and medical research, the double-blind,
placebo-controlled trial is the standard," Kronenberg says.
"Well, there are a lot of things for which that is not
appropriate. How do you do a double-blind study of
acupuncture? How do you do a double-blind study of body-work
techniques? People are beginning to talk about other
methodologies, other ways of looking at the outcome of a
particular treatment in order to determine effectiveness."
This year, Kronenberg's center sponsored an elective course
in alternative and complementary medicine at Columbia with
invited lecturers presenting talks on such topics as
nutritional medicine, hypnosis, biofeedback, chiropractic,
homeopathy, and therapeutic touch. At a January lecture,
Georgetown's James Gordon discussed mind-body medicine. In
April, Ted Kaptchuk, associate course director for
alternative medicine at Harvard Medical School, will address
the "Historical Concept of Vital Energy in Alternative
Medicine," and two sessions will review alternative cancer
and AIDS therapies.
Brian Berman, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and
family medicine at the University of Maryland School of
Medicine in Baltimore, has been working to design rigorous
methodologies for acupuncture and pain studies. Berman is
also director of the Laing/University of Maryland
Complementary Medicine Program, started in 1991 with funding
of $1 million from the Maurice Laing Foundation in London
and matching funds from the university.
"There are a lot of [acupuncture] studies, but not that many
have good methodologies," Berman says. "You've got to have
sham points, where one group gets acupuncture and the other
gets needles in non-acupuncture points. But when we started
to explore that, we realized that by doing that you are
eliciting a well-known mechanism called diffuse noxious
inhibitory control from the brain. You're actually doing
something by just putting needles into what you think are
nonacupuncture points. If that's the case, then you're
really narrowing the difference between the two groups. So,
we've come up with what we think is more of a real placebo,
where we're not actually puncturing the skin."
Berman adds: "But then--imagine the challenge--how do you do
good research on meditation or prayer? And yet people have
done it, good scientists. So, there's plenty of room for
good researchers."
This year, also, OAM is planning to begin funding a number
of postdoctoral training fellowships to help attract
qualified researchers to the alternative medicine area. The
awards will be for periods of up to three years in length,
with stipends ranging from $18,000 to $32,300 per year,
depending on the recipient's postdoctoral experience.
"These fellowships are for people who are trained in Western
science and research who now have an interest to learn more
and get more experience in alternative medicine," Berman
says. "The idea is that they can eventually put in for
research grants in this field. I've got [an application] on
my desk right now from somebody who's saying, `I've got a
Ph.D. in biochemistry and I'm interested in learning more
about how that could be applied to research in this field.
Do you have a slot for me?'"
Holistic Thinking
Among the aims of the new medical school programs in
alternative medicine is to reintroduce integrative
biological thinking, which some see as having been lost in
much of current biomedicine.
"I think we've lost touch with the whole," says Columbia's
Fredi Kronenberg. "There are fewer and fewer biology
departments around the country with whole-organism
physiology. It's a lot of molecular and cellular physiology,
which is fine, but there's a place for systems biology. You
can take things apart, but you have to put them back
together again to see how they work."
Kronenberg sees the new thinking not necessarily as
alternative to current biomedicine, but as supplemental to
it. The MacArthur Foundation's Robert Rose agrees.
"People are so worried about the molecularization of
medicine," says Rose, "that they say, `Let's look at
alternative treatments.' What I would argue is that we need
additional complementary strategies. It's not that we
shouldn't do biomedicine as it's evolving now, when we're
understanding gene structures for a variety of things. The
issue is how to then come back and be much more holistic or
integrative. That's the challenge."
Many researchers involved in bringing alternative medical
thinking into establishment biomedical settings say there
are implications for medical practice. As the United States
confronts health-care reform and considers new ways to keep
its population healthy, they say, behavioral and preventive
aspects of medicine are likely to gain prominence.
"We have a health-care system that was built on the model of
fixing people when they get acutely ill and that responds as
though the basic underlying causes of these illnesses are
biological pathogens," says Denis Prager, at the MacArthur
Foundation. "What we're not dealing with is the whole set of
mental, emotional, and environmental influences on health.
And that's what's breaking the bank, in a sense."
Editor's Note: This second part of a two-part series looks
at researchers' efforts to establish rigorous methodologies
to investigate alternative medical therapies. There are
signs that tomorrow's medicine may be quite changed from
today's, with medical schools now adding novel courses to
their curricula, private funders helping establish new
directions for biomedical investigations, and the United
States searching for cost-effective health-care reforms. The
first part of this series, which appeared in the March 7
issue, charted the ground shared by basic biomedical
research and alternative medicine and the emerging synergy
between the two.
----------
WE WELCOME YOUR OPINION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT
ON THIS STORY, PLEASE WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE
FOLLOWING ADDRESSES:
garfield@aurora.cis.upenn.edu
71764.2561@compuserve.com
The Scientist,
3600 Market Street, Suite 450, Philadelphia, PA 19104,
U.S.A.
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : Given Tight U.S. Economy, Science Leaders Consider FY
1995 R&D Budget Satisfactory
They say the proposal may be the best they can get, but Rep.
George Brown warns that it may not get through Congress
intact
AU : BARTON REPPERT
TY : NEWS
PG : 1
Officials at major scientific societies and associations say
they are generally satisfied with the Clinton
administration's $71 billion budget request for science
research and development in the 1995 fiscal year. The
proposed funding levels, they contend, are about as
favorable for the research community as could be expected--
in view of tight constraints on the overall federal budget.
But Rep. George E. Brown, Jr. (D-Calif.), chairman of the
House Science, Space, and Technology Committee--and regarded
widely as Congress' No. 1 science expert--has expressed
serious concern over the proposals and how they are likely
to fare at the hands of his colleagues on Capitol Hill.
The budget, released early last month, includes a 6 percent
increase for the National Science Foundation, up to a level
of $3.2 billion next year, and a 4.7 percent increase for
the National Institutes of Health, up to $10.994 billion in
fiscal 1995, beginning on October 1.
Albert H. Teich, director of science and policy programs at
the American Association for the Advancement of Science,
observes that "the budget is consistent with what the
administration has stated its priorities are. They're
essentially putting their money where their mouth is."
Teich adds that, "considering the overall state of federal
finances and the caps on discretionary spending, we could
not expect much--and we got a little [increase for R&D].
It's not much to jump up and down about, but on the other
hand it could have been worse."
And Martin A. Apple, executive director of the Council of
Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP), a group headquartered
in Washington, D.C., that brings together the heads of about
60 scientific societies, says that CSSP "would like to
commend the administration for promising to ensure
leadership in fundamental research ... and encourage them to
act accordingly as they make decisions."
Says Apple: "I'm very pleased to see the proposed increases
for the National Science Foundation [and] the continued
commitment to the Human Genome Project, the important
commitment to energy conservation research."
Another association official expressing overall satisfaction
with the R&D budget is Clifford J. Gabriel, executive
director of the Washington-based American Institute of
Biological Sciences. "In the biomedical area it could be
better, but at least we didn't go down any," he says. "I
guess I was particularly pleased with the NSF budget. Also
the USDA [United States Department of Agriculture]
competitive grants program got a good budget. I think
overall we did real well."
Other association and society officials, while voicing
general approval for the funding proposals, have some strong
reservations.
Frank Fitch, president of the Federation of American
Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), based in
Bethesda, Md., comments about the budget: "I think that it
is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough." He
notes that for NIH, FASEB's consensus recommendation calls
for a fiscal 1995 budget of $11.934 billion--$940 million
more than the Clinton request.
Fitch, director of the Ben May Institute at the University
of Chicago, contends that strong support for biomedical
research is essential for maintaining the U.S. world lead in
biotechnology.
"Biotechnology is probably the fastest-growing industry in
the United States.... It's estimated that this is going to
be up to a $50 billion-a-year business by the year 2000.
Biotechnology is really fueled by discoveries that are made
in the labs that are conducting fundamental research," the
FASEB president says.
Cornelius J. Pings, president of the Washington-based
Association of American Universities, representing major
U.S. research-intensive schools, says with regard to
Clinton's R&D budget that "generally I think it was a quite
favorable outcome, given the circumstances and the context."
But Pings calls a proposed clampdown on indirect costs an
"unfortunate" step that will tend to hurt younger
researchers. The plan, he says, is "counterintuitive and in
fact erodes the real impact of the budget increases."
The Clinton budget suggests a one-year "pause" on
reimbursements to universities for indirect research
overhead costs, which currently run more than $3 billion
annually. The budget document states that "in a year in
which total discretionary spending is being frozen and
government administrative costs are being aggressively
reduced, it is necessary to ask universities and other
nonprofit institutions to participate in this restraint.
Instead of a permanent cut or cap on overhead payments, the
1995 budget proposes a one-year pause that instructs grantee
institutions not to seek additional payments for overhead
above the amounts claimed in 1994."
`Grim' Outlook
Rep. Brown's concerns about the budget address both the
proposals themselves and how his fellow legislators will
react to them. "The good news on deficit reduction heralds
tough times ahead for the nation's R&D investments," Brown
said in a statement. "The stringency of budget caps has
seriously squeezed funding for a number of worthwhile
science programs, and the long-term outlook for many science
and R&D budgets is very grim."
An analysis prepared by Brown's committee staff finds that
under Clinton's budget, the nation next year would spend
less on R&D--as a percentage of gross domestic product--than
in any year since 1958.
One area of reduced funding that has prompted strong
criticism from Brown is the budget for the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. Brown said in another
statement that "the FY95 budget is too low to support the
vigorous space program envisioned by the administration and
by NASA."
The administration's budget calls for a cut of more than
$160 million in overall funding for NASA, down to a fiscal
1995 level of $14.301 billion. This marks the first time
since cancellation of the Apollo program in 1974 that a
president has requested a decrease for NASA. The R&D portion
of NASA's activities, however, is to receive a $105 million
increase, up to $8.597 billion.
The California Democrat noted that projections show NASA
increases are expected to remain at about 1 percent for the
next several years. In constant dollars, Brown said, "this
growth will not even keep pace with inflation and represents
an actual decline in NASA's buying power. This will almost
certainly mean restructuring and redefining our space goals
drastically."
Moreover, the analysis cautions, Congress may well make
program cuts or increases that are substantially different
from the admini-stration's when the House and Senate
appropriations committees take up the FY 1995 request.
The analysis notes that options available to congressional
appropriators are limited because of the budget "caps" or
ceilings on discretion- ary spending that Congress and the
administration have agreed to impose in order to help reduce
the federal deficit. Such caps need to be adhered to without
cuts in so-called entitlement programs, for example Social
Security.
Also, "once appropriations allocations are made to
subcommittees, possible trade-offs are narrowed still
further. NASA, for example, is pitted against housing and
veterans programs; NOAA [the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Admini- stration] is pitted against the Census
Bureau and the crime initiative; and general science and
energy R&D [at the Department of Energy] are pitted against
water projects."
The committee analysis warns that "the combination of
spending caps and the appropriations process rather
arbitrarily circumscribes the arena within which science,
space, and technology programs compete for scarce budget
resources. As programs whose payoffs, no matter how
valuable, tend to be longer-term and intangible in the short
run, they are particularly vulnerable to short-sighted
budget-cutting efforts."
Rosier Views
A considerably more upbeat examination of the
administration's R&D budget has been issued by the
Washington-based Council on Competitiveness, a nonprofit
organization of chief executives from business, higher
education, and organized labor. Studies by the council
contributed to shaping Clinton's science and technology
policy during the 1992 campaign and during his first year in
office.
The council's analysis says the proposed overall federal R&D
spending level for fiscal 1995--$71.029 billion, or a 4
percent increase over the 1994 figure--"is highly
respectable considering the declining nature of
discretionary spending and the proposed terminations and
reductions in many other areas."
The analysis states: "Critical technology initiatives that
target national goals--such as improved information and
transportation infrastructure, health, and environmental
protection--are a cornerstone of the FY 1995 budget."
But the group expresses some concern with regard to the
National Science Foundation, noting that "over the longer
term ... NSF's budget is only expected to rise another 3
percent between FY 1995 and FY 1997. This slower rate of
growth falls short of inflation and does not keep pace with
the council's recommended timeframe for significantly
increasing NSF funding."
At a press briefing on the day the budget was released,
White House science and technology adviser John H. Gibbons
emphasized that "tough fiscal discipline is clearly the name
of the game for us now, in the closing years of this
century. And I think the FY '95 budget ... reflects just
that. We have cuts throughout the federal government. But
taken judiciously, and key presidential priorities are
preserved--including a commitment to science and
technology."
Gibbons emphasized proposed substantial boosts for high-
priority areas such as advanced manufacturing technology,
particularly programs at the Commerce De- partment's
National Institute of Standards and Technology;
environmental technology; biomedical research;
transportation; the national information infrastructure; and
defense industry conversion under the administration's
Technology Reinvestment Program.
Also, he contended that the administration aims to "ensure
continued leadership in fundamental science through
continued investments in basic science, math, and
engineering research. This fundamental research is what
ultimately drives our basic understanding of the world, and
is the seed ground for new technologies and new options for
the future."
At another February budget briefing, NSF director Neal Lane
called the proposed $3.2 billion for his agency--including a
$180 million, or 8.3 percent, increase (to $2.349 billion)
for research and related activities--"a very good budget in
a very tough budget year."
Asked about how the foundation is responding to the Senate
Appropriations Committee's call last fall for increasing its
focus on "strategic" research areas, Lane responded that
"the largest fraction of the increment is certainly [for]
strategic research.... The reason that NSF was given real
growth in its budget [for FY 1995] was because of the role
NSF has been able to play and the capacity it has to invest
additional resources in these strategic areas."
NSF budget documents distributed at the briefing indicate
that these requested increases include a 46.2 percent boost
for global change research, up to $208 million; a 23.1
percent increase for high-performance computing and
communications, up to $329 million; a 4 percent increase for
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education,
up to $650 million; and a 3.3 percent increase for
biotechnology, up to $206 million.
At the National Institutes of Health, the administration's
proposed 4.7 percent increase for fiscal 1995 is less than
the 6.1 percent boost that NIH received for this year--which
included $288 million added by Congress to the White House's
request.
During a February meeting with science writers, NIH director
Harold Varmus commented that "NIH fared reasonably well,
considering the constraints on discretionary spending." But,
he added, in view of the modest spending increments, as well
as a continuing need to increase the average size of grants,
"an awful lot of excellent [research] proposals are not
going to be funded."
NIH's recently reconstituted Office of AIDS Research is
budgeted at $1.379 billion for FY 1995, up from this year's
AIDS research spending totaling $1.301 billion. The Human
Genome Project, being conducted by NIH and the Department of
Energy (DOE), is slated to receive a 22 percent increase, up
to a fiscal-1995 level of $241 million.
A number of science society and association officials echo
either administration views or Brown's concerns, especially
over Congress' treatment of the new proposals. Kathleen
Ream, head of the American Chemical Society's department of
government relations and science policy, says about the
fiscal 1995 budget that "relative to NSF we were quite
pleased. We were not expecting the administration request to
be as high as it is."
However, she says, it is likely that some of the funding
increases proposed in the budget will face a tough fight on
Capitol Hill, particularly in the Senate Appropriations
Committee. "It looks real good on paper, but it's going to
be an uphill battle," Ream says.
Fred W. Weingarten, executive director of the Computing
Research Association, also based in Washington, disagrees.
He observes that, "considering the current politics of the
day, it's an excellent budget. Probably it's one that even
has some chance of succeeding in the Congress.... I'd rather
have a modest request with some chance of success than a
wild one with everything I'd want, but without a chance in
the world."
Robert Park, public affairs director for the American
Physical Society, College Park, Md., sees merit in both
views: "The fact is that the fraction of the gross national
product going to science is declining--and that is not a
reassuring trend. On the other hand, one has to be impressed
that in a year in which there are serious cuts, science is
not badly hurt, and many applied programs are up
substantially."
Under the fiscal 1995 budget, DOE support for high-energy
physics is to be held essentially level at $621.9 million,
while funding for other nuclear physics research is slated
to be cut by 14 percent, down to $300.8 million.
The Brown committee's analysis of the budget request notes
that, particularly in view of last fall's congressional vote
to terminate the superconducting supercollider, "level
funding for the programs in FY 1995 will cause major
disruptions and job losses within the high-energy physics
community, as well as precluding any new research
initiatives, such as U.S. collaboration on CERN's Large
Hadron Collider."
Other DOE programs are slated for substantial increases,
including a 14 percent increase for renewable energy R&D, up
to $397 million; a 60 percent boost for the electric and
magnetic fields program, up to $16 million; an increase of
almost 50 percent for energy conservation R&D, up to $645
million; and a 23 percent increase for electric and hybrid
vehicles, up to $91.8 million.
Park adds about the R&D budget in general: "It could have
been a lot worse. These are hard times, and scientists are
going to share in that. But I agree with George Brown that
the trends are certainly worrisome, and one hopes to see
that reversed."
Barton Reppert is a freelance science writer based in
Gaithersburg, Md.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : PROPOSED SCIENCE R&D BUDGET FOR FY 1995
TY : NEWS
PG : 5
Budget authority; in millions of dollars (not including
funds for facilities)
FY 1993 FY 1994 FY 1995
Actual Enacted Request
National Science 1,882 2,026 2,220
Foundation
(research and related)
National Institutes of 9,891 10,486 10,994
Health
Other Department of 445 547 490
Health and Human Services
Department of Energy 5,827 6,054 6,052
National Aeronautics 8,090 8,493 8,597
and Space Administration
Department of Commerce 667 919 1,204
(including National
Institutes of Standards
and Technology)
Environmental 508 536 582
Protection Agency
Department of 1,335 1,393 1,394
Agriculture
Department of 578 617 692
Agriculture
Department of 38,617 35,538 36,971
Defense
Department of 232 252 211
Veterans Affairs
Other research 1,678 1,623 1,622
and developments
TOTAL--federal R&D 69,750 68,484 71,029
Source: Office of Science and Technology Policy
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #5, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : Biomedical Researchers Mourn The Loss Of An Advocate
AU : BARBARA SPECTOR
TY : NEWS
PG : 3
Mourning the passing of philanthropist and biomedical
research advocate Mary Woodard Lasker--who died February 21-
-scientists and United States government officials alike are
praising her unique commitment to advancing the cause of
science. In lamenting her death of heart failure at her home
in Greenwich, Conn., at the age of 93, they point out that
no layperson is likely to come forward in the near future to
take Lasker's place as a spokesperson for the research
community.
"She was a remarkable woman," says Paul Berg, director of
the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Molecular and
Genetic Medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center.
"Had we been wise, we would have cloned her so we could use
her today."
In addition to convincing U.S. government leaders to step up
the budget for medical research, Lasker did her own part to
fund this work. She and her husband, the late Albert D.
Lasker, owner of the Lord & Thomas advertising agency,
created the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation in 1942 and
established the Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards, first
given in 1944. The Lasker Awards have become known as the
United States' premier scientific prizes; 51 recipients have
gone on to win the Nobel Prize.
At press time, it was expected that the awards would
continue after Lasker's death, although plans for the future
of the program had not been finalized.
Deep Devotion
Lasker's success as a lobbyist was attributable to "her
devotion, dedication, determination--and her knowledge,"
says Michael E. De-Bakey, chancellor of Baylor College of
Medicine in Houston and chairman of the Lasker Awards jury.
"She knew what the death rates were; she knew what the
trends were. The congressional leaders had great admiration
for her. She had the ability to transmit to them the urgency
of doing something to control disease and suffering."
On February 23, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) paid tribute on the
Senate floor to Lasker, saying: "... we will never be able
to count the number of strangers' lives that were saved by
her rock-solid resolve, and her unwavering courage, and her
unflagging commitment to the lives and health of others."
The day before, Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) had made a
statement to the Senate saying: "Her legacy is a living
vibrant message that one person can make a difference."
"She was unbelievably persistent and immune to any form of
rejection," says Samuel Broder, director of the National
Cancer Institute (NCI). "Her unwillingness to accept no for
an answer was very effective in its time."
Lasker hired professonal lobbyists--most notably, the late
Mike Gorman--to help further her objective of increasing the
federal funds allocated for biomedical research. But, says
Terry Lierman of Washington, D.C.-based Capitol Associates,
a government-relations firm hired by Lasker, she was not a
typical client. "She was the one who inspired; she taught,
and she directed the war, so to speak," Lierman says.
Moreover, he says, the very fact that Lasker was the client
opened doors in Washington: "Just by having Mary either with
you or [being] associated with her cause helped."
What helped give Lasker's arguments weight, Lierman says,
was her lack of self-interest. "Everyone knew that she had
nothing to gain," he says. "She wasn't a scientist looking
for a research grant; she wasn't a lobbyist getting paid;
she wasn't a company making a product; and she wasn't a
consumer who had a disease.
"She believed that healthy people make a productive
society," Lierman says.
Even as Lasker aged, she continued to make an impression,
says Stanford's Berg, who describes "the awe at watching a
woman who was not well, who you knew was suffering, still
with the enthusiasm to get up and travel, to go to
Washington, to talk to people. She could easily go off to
her Connecticut home and relax and forget about it, but
she was doing what she knew was right for the country.
Today, there is a paucity of leadership--we don't have the
people who want to do that."
Enlisting Public Support
Lasker was instrumental a half-century ago in urging
Congress to increase federal support for the National
Institutes of Health and was generally recognized as one of
those responsible for creating NCI, among other NIH
institutes.
"When she began to get interested in this in '42 and '43,
the amount [of funding for NIH] was small," says Jordan U.
Gutterman, chairman of the department of clinical immunology
and biological therapy at the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Lasker Foundation
executive vice president. "She was appalled at the lack of
funds, given the size of the federal treasury," Gutterman
says.
Lasker devoted considerable energy to obtaining cancer
research funds. In the late 1940s, she initiated the
American Cancer Society's research program. She worked for
passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971, which made the
conquest of cancer a national goal and allocated the then-
astronomical amount of $100 million for that purpose.
Lasker recognized that, in order to get the bill to pass, it
was necessary to demonstrate public support--and that, in
order to stir up public support, it would be helpful to
enlist the help of her friend Eppie Lederer, also known as
Ann Landers, a nationally syndicated advice columnist.
President Richard Nixon was originally opposed to spending
such a large amount on research, Lederer recalls.
Lasker "contacted me and said I must do something to make
sure this bill gets passed," Lederer says. "I did a whole
column on it; the column produced over 1 million pieces of
mail. There had never been anything like this in the history
of journalism. Richard Nixon could no longer ignore it."
In 1985, Lederer received an Albert Lasker Public Service
Award, in part to honor her support of the act. "This was
the sort of thing that Mary Lasker did--she educated and
alerted me so I could educate and alert the public," says
Lederer.
Another way in which Lasker brought the importance of
medical research to the public's attention was through the
Lasker Awards. "She had a very insightful and prescient
recognition that an award would have value only if it was a
judgment of peers--of tough peers--[rather than] the
judgment of a benefactor," says NCI's Broder. Lasker's
sister, Alice Fordyce, was the director of the awards
program until December 1990, when Gutterman took over.
Fordyce died in 1992 (B. Spector, The Scientist, Oct. 12,
1992, page 4).
Lasker's last public appearance was at the Lasker Awards
luncheon in October 1993 in New York City (B. Spector, The
Scientist, Oct. 18, 1993, page 1). At the luncheon, keynote
speaker Hillary Rodham Clinton called her "a woman who
represents the ideal of American citizenship to me, a woman
whose vision and intelligence, humanity, selflessness, have
really been gifts to the entire nation."
A Generous Contributor
Lasker generously gave of her personal funds to support the
work of biomedical scientists, Gutterman says: "She would
give seed money to individual [researchers] in cancer, heart
disease, mental health--anything that caught her interest.
She did it with me with interferon research in 1977-78. She
sold some paintings to support [the interferon studies]."
She was also able to rustle up financial support from
others, Berg says. "She came to visit me here at Stanford in
early 1980," he recalls. "I was in the throes of trying to
raise funds to build the Beckman Center. She was so taken
with what we were trying to do that she lined up some
contributors, one of whom gave us $6 million."
Born in Watertown, Wis., Lasker graduated from Radcliffe
College in 1923, where she studied art history. She also
attended the University of Wisconsin and Washam College,
Oxford.
During her lifetime, Lasker received numerous awards,
including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United
States' highest honor for a private citizen, from President
Lyndon Johnson in 1969 and a Congressional Gold Medal from
President George Bush in 1989 (The Scientist, May 29, 1989,
page 17). In recognition of her support of numerous public
beautification projects, a variety of pink tulip was named
for her in 1985.
In 1984, NIH's Mary Woodard Lasker Center for Health
Research and Education was named in her honor. At the
ceremony marking the event, she said, "The reason I am so
dedicated to medical research and have lobbied so many
congressmen and senators is that when I was very young, I
was sick a great deal and had severe infections of the ears,
causing the most agonizing pain... . When I was about 10
years old, I resolved that I would try to do something when
I grew up for medical research."
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : Biomedical Researchers Meet In Anaheim For EB 94
AU : KAREN YOUNG KREEGER
TY : NEWS
PG : 4
A variety of topics--including, for example, the
pathophysiology of asthma, genetic manipulation in
pharmacology, and nutritional epidemiology of chronic
diseases--will highlight the agenda at the second
Experimental Biology 94 (EB 94) conference, which gets under
way in Anaheim, Calif., next month. Fifteen thousand
researchers are expected to attend the meeting, whose multi-
and interdisciplinary thrust will be geared to
physiologists, pharmacologists, immunologists, experimental
pathologists, nutritionists, and anatomists who study human
health and disease.
EB 94, a multi-society-sponsored meeting, will be held at
four venues in Anaheim from Sunday, April 24 through
Thursday, April 28. Six organizing societies--the American
Physiological Society, American Society for Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics, American Society for
Investigative Pathology, American Institute of
Nutrition/American Society for Clinical Nutrition, American
Association of Immunologists, and American Association of
Anatomists--along with 10 other "guest" societies, have come
together to develop and sponsor the meeting.
Guest societies are affiliates of this year's six sponsoring
societies--whose mix can change from year to year, depending
on whether they hold their annual meetings as part of the
larger EB conference.
The Experimental Biology conferences replace the Federation
of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
annual meeting. The EB meetings were created to give FASEB
member societies more flexibility to stage their own
meetings or choose which years they would participate in the
EB conferences.
Although EB 94 maintains an affiliation with FASEB--for
example, contracting the federation for expertise in setting
up a job-placement service and managing marketing schemes--
EB 94 is a separate entity, explain organizers. The six
organizing societies are also members of FASEB.
To focus on the overlapping disciplines of the participating
societies, theme topics--areas of biomedical research
pertinent to participants--will again be used to organize
many of the presentations, as they were at the 1993 EB
meeting. Nine topics have been chosen for this year:
cardiovascular biology, cell injury, epithelial cell
biology, growth and development, inflammation, metabolic
processes, molecular communication and structural biology,
neurobiology, and respiratory biology.
David Kauffman, EB 94 program chairman and a professor of
pathology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
says that one of the purposes of the thematic approach
is to create "several smaller meetings within a larger
meeting context." In addition, he says, the themes offer a
"more coherent organization of topics," as opposed to having
talks organized society by society. The purpose of this
intersociety organization of programs, the meeting's
organizers say, is to accommodate the needs of individual
attendees, such as clustering talks by subject matter in the
same location or avoiding conflicts in scheduling.
Kauffman explains that presentations have four levels of
organization: "symposia, made up of invited speakers; mini-
symposia; oral sessions; and poster sessions--[all of which
are] made up of presentations from invited speakers and
submitted abstracts."
Nearly 6,000 scientific oral and poster presentations
arranged into more than 250 sessions are expected. Many
special sessions, discussions, and workshops covering
subjects such as mentoring, grant writing, and the use of
laboratory animals are also being sponsored by individual
societies and their subsections (see story on page 4).
Scientific presentations span the biomedical spectrum from
those with a very narrow appeal to those with a broad,
interdisciplinary interest. For example, "Diet and Chronic
Diseases in Countries in Socio-economic Transition,"
sponsored by the American Institute of Nutrition and the
Society for International Nutrition Research, is expected to
draw epidemiologists, cardiologists, and cancer experts.
Benjamin Caballero, a pediatrician and director of the
Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, who is cochairman of the session, explains that
this symposium will highlight "substantial changes in the
quality and quantity of the diet [of people in developing
countries] . . . and what this means for the health-care
systems of these countries."
The symposium "What Happens to Cardiovascular and Renal
Homeostases During Pregnancy?", sponsored by the American
Physiological Society, "aims to bring the study of the
physiology of pregnancy more into the limelight," according
to Virginia Brooks, an associate professor at the Oregon
Health Sciences University in Portland, and cochairwoman of
the session. Brooks explains that this symposium, under the
neurobiology "theme," will present an "integrated view of
the many pregnancy-induced changes in the cardio-renal
system--some that may not be beneficial to [a mother]." She
expects this session to have a broad appeal, bringing
together basic scientists such as molecular biologists as
well as clinicians.
Donald Capra, the American Association of Immunologists
(AAI) program chairman and a research physician at the
University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, points out
that the symposium on "Apoptosis and Necrosis," cosponsored
by AAI and the American Society for Investigative Pathology,
will feature Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in
Paris, the codiscoverer of the AIDS virus, as one of its
speakers. Capra adds that the AAI symposium on "Gene
Expression in Lymphocyte Development" has "the top list of
speakers around...everyone is a star." These speakers
include Fred Alt, a Howard Hughes investigator from Harvard
Medical School who is presenting "Analysis of Lymphocyte
Development by Rag-2-Deficient Blastocyst Complementation,"
and Daniel Littman of the University of California, San
Francisco, cochairman of the session, who is presenting
"Analysis of CD4 Gene Regulation in Transgenic Mice."
One of the special sessions thought to be a big draw is "The
Use of Animals in Biomedical Research and Teaching: Where Do
We Stand?", sponsored by subsections of the American Society
for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and the
American Physiological Society. Roger Maickel, a professor
in the School of Pharmacy at Purdue University in Lafayette,
Ind., and chairman of this session, says its purpose is to
"stimulate thinking on this subject" in the vein of "where
have we been, where are we going, what are we doing, and
what are the implications" of using animals in research,
teaching, and testing. Maickel expects an attendance of 200
to 300, from "grad students to deans of colleges."
Exhibits And Job Placement
Organizers expect about 500 groups representing industry,
government, publishers, and biomedical associations to be
displaying state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, supplies,
books, and journals in the EB 94 Exhibit Hall at the Anaheim
Convention Center, April 25 through 28, 8:30 A.M. to 5:00
P.M. Government agencies such as the National Institutes of
Health Division of Research Grants and the National Library
of Medicine will also have staff members on hand to answer
questions.
Tutorials on various techniques such as the use of reagents,
instrumentation, and data analysis will round out the types
of exhibits available for attendees. These are expected to
run from one to two hours.
A computerized program that will let participants tailor
their schedule of talks and exhibits will again be available
to attendees. This service will be offered at three to five
computer stations located in the Exhibit Hall at the
Convention Center. At the computers, attendees can use
keywords to search for topics or presenters, as well as for
exhibit products and demonstrations. New to the service this
year is the ability to constantly update the database. For
example, if a certain device proves to be particularly
popular at the show, exhibitors can add more information
about it to the database, thereby making the service more
interactive with the interests of participants.
Organizers also mention that a computer diskette with the
complete EB 94 program can be ordered before the meeting--by
April 1--to allow attendees to sift through the program
using a personal computer.
Another popular highlight of EB 94 is the job-placement
service, located at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena at
various times April 24 through 27. This service will arrange
and manage formal interviews between candidates seeking
postdoctoral training or permanent positions in the life
sciences and recruiters from academia, government, and
industry. On-site registration will be available, although
organizers suggest that advance registration, which closes
on April 15, is more convenient.
EB 94 organizers also stress that there will be no
logistical problems because of the January 17 Los Angeles
earthquake, but advise attendees to fly into the airport
closest to Anaheim--John Wayne (Orange County) Airport--not
the Los Angeles International Airport.
For more information, contact the FASEB Office of Scientific
Meetings and Conferences, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, Md.
20814-3998; (301) 530-7010.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
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TI : AT A GLANCE
TY : NEWS
PG : 4
Experimental Biology 94 is an interdisciplinary biomedical
meeting and exposition to be held April 24-28. More than
6,000 oral and poster presentations are expected. Here is a
sampling of special sessions.
Preparing for Tenure: Five Perspectives
Sunday, April 24, 4:00 P.M.
Anaheim Convention Center, Room A2/3
The Use of Animals in Biomedical Research and Teaching:
Where Do We Stand?
Sunday, April 24, 4:00 P.M.
Anaheim Hilton, California A
Women in Physiology Mentoring Program
Sunday, April 24, 5:00 P.M.
Anaheim Marriott, Grand Ballroom Salon J/K
Today's Scientist: Mentor, Manager and Role Model
Sunday, April 24, 6:00 P.M.
Anaheim Hilton, California A
Grantsmanship Today: Peer Review at NIH
Sunday, April 24, 8:00 P.M.
Anaheim Convention Center, Room A1
Workshop for High School Teachers and Biology Students
Monday, April 25, 8:30 A.M.-3:30 P.M.
Anaheim Convention Center/Anaheim Marriott
Experimental Biology Internet Workshop
Wednesday, April 27, Noon
Anaheim Convention Center, Room A6
Faculty Career Development
Wednesday, April 27, 5:00 P.M.
Anaheim Marriott, Orange County Salon 3/4
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
NOTEBOOK
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Harassment Hotline
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
The widely publicized sex-discrimination case of Margaret
Jensvold v. Donna Shalala--in which Jensvold, a former
National Institutes of Health investigator, alleges
discrimination, harassment, and retaliation against her by
various officials of NIH and the Department of Health and
Human Services--went to trial on February 28 in the Federal
District Court in Baltimore and was expected to last about
five weeks. Jensvold and her supporters have organized a
"court watch," hoping to pack the courtroom with supporters,
members of the press, and the public. A taped telephone
message, updated regularly, is operating 24 hours a day at
(202) 483-3641, as well, giving information on the trial's
status. According to a statement jointly distributed by the
Federation of Organizations for Professional Women; the
Institute for Research on Women's Health (which Jensvold
heads); and Self-Help for Equal Rights (SHER), an informal
employment-rights group at NIH, the action is intended not
only to support Jensvold but also to "send a very powerful
message to NIH and HHS officials that people are watching,
and that they care about the crucial issues raised by this
trial." Jensvold came to the National Institute of Mental
Health in 1987 to study premenstrual syndrome. There, she
says, she was denied important professional opportunities
made available to male fellows, harassed, and later
retaliated against when she complained.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
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TI : ACS Trains Chemistry Teachers
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has been awarded a $2.75
million grant from the National Science Foundation to launch
Operation Chemistry, a training program for elementary and
middle-school chemistry teachers. According to ACS, 36 four-
person teams--consisting of a college faculty member, a high
school chemistry teacher, an elementary or middle-school
science specialist, and a member of the local chemical
industry who has been involved in pre-high school science
education--will start working with fourth- through eighth-
grade teachers in their home districts beginning in the
fall, providing these teachers with a minimum of 72 hours of
training in the 1994-95 academic year. For information,
contact ACS at (202) 872-6179.
----------
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ON THIS STORY, PLEASE WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE
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U.S.A.
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : Healthy Communication
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
Tufts University School of Medicine and Emerson College,
both in Boston, have joined forces to establish a new
graduate degree in health communication. According to the
schools, the new program is designed to "meet the increasing
demand for professionals skilled in maximizing the power and
impact of the media on individual and community health;
planning, developing, and managing health policy and
delivery; and designing campaigns to effectively disseminate
health information." The program will offer courses
including marketing and political communication, media,
policy, public relations, advertising, global and community
health, negotiation, leadership, and professional
communication and ethics. For more information, contact the
Office of Graduate Admission, Emerson College, 100 Beacon
St., Boston, Mass. 02116, (617) 578-8601; or Tufts
University School of Medicine, Health Communication Program,
136 Harrison Ave., Boston, Mass. 02111, (617) 636-0935.
----------
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ON THIS STORY, PLEASE WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
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TI : Webs Of Desire
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 3
Biology professor Fred Singer and his students at Radford
University in Virginia are discovering that vibrations in
spiderwebs are a good indicator of their creators' mating
activities. In a collaborative effort with the university's
Natural Computing Laboratory, Singer and the students have
built a device that attaches an ultrasensitive galvanometric
needle to the web, which then registers the changes in
vibrational frequencies as the spiders begin to mate. An FM
decoder and videotape complete the assemblage, which is
designed to allow the researchers to study the spiders in a
mating environment that is as close to a natural environment
as possible. Singer will be using the device to look at
aspects of mating behavior in funnel web spiders, including
the dance signatures of males and the selection of mates by
females.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Pediatric AIDS Internships
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
The Pediatric AIDS Foundation's Student Intern Awards
program provides training and on-the-job work experience to
high school, college, graduate, and medical school students
to encourage them to enter clinical and research programs
related to pediatric AIDS. Program participants intern with
sponsoring clinicians or researchers whom the Santa Monica,
Calif.-based foundation recognizes for their contributions
to pediatric AIDS. Sponsors must apply for the one-year,
renewable $2,000 award. Applications must be received by
April 5, with awards to be made May 5. For information,
contact Trish Devine at the foundation: (310) 395-9051.
----------
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================================
NEXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Hard Cash For Software
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
Last month the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) announced its creation of the Software of the Year
award to recognize the creators of software or software
technology used by NASA. The award, which will include a
monetary prize of up to $100,000, will be presented to the
winning software author or authors in late November at the
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center's annual Software
Engineering Workshop in Greenbelt, Md. Entries will be
judged by a NASA Software Award Review Panel. According to a
NASA statement, submissions--due June 1--should include
copies of the software, sample applications and data, and
documentation that demonstrates the software's impact and
degree of innovation. Call Paul Curto, a researcher with
NASA's Inventions and Contributions Board, at (202) 358-2279
for full award criteria and information on where to send
entries.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
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================================
NEXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Viral-Resistant Vintage
TY : NEWS (NOTEBOOK)
PG : 4
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, a New York-based luxury
products group, and its subsidiary, Mo t & Chandon, a
French champagne house, recently announced the first genetic
transformation of chardonnay, the well-known grapevine
cultivar, to make it resistant to one of its major diseases-
-grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV). Researchers at the
Institute for Plant Molecular Biology in Strasbourg, France,
and the National Institute for Agronomy Research in Colmar,
France, obtained the GFLV-resistant grape by isolating and
cloning the gene that codes for the capsid protein of GFLV.
According to LVMH, this is particularly significant, since
the only existing chemical treatment for GFLV is being
banned in some countries because of its negative impact on
the environment.
----------
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================================
NEXT:
OPINION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Clearing The Path For Women Scientists
AU : PAULA M. RAYMAN
AND BELLE BRETT
TY : OPINION
PG : 11
****
Editor's Note: In 1991, with funding support from the Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation of New York, a sociologist and a chemist
at Wellesley College led an interdisciplinary research team-
-including social scientists, physical and life scientists,
and mathematicians--in the first phase of an extensive
study, called "Pathways for Women in the Sciences." The
study addressed the issues of why undergraduate women set
their sights on careers in scientific fields and what
promotes or impedes their success. Subjects of the study
were the women enrolled in the Massachusetts college's class
of 1995 in addition to several cohorts of former Wellesley
math and science majors now in their early career years.
Part II of the study, begun in the fall of 1993, focuses on
the years after graduation and the factors that influence
whether a woman decides to pursue a science career or to
abandon it for other professional options. For Part II, the
researchers, while continuing to follow the experiences of
the class of 1995 through their graduation, will study the
work and graduate school experiences of both science and
nonscience graduates in their middle career years. In the
following essay, two of the key researchers--Paula M.
Rayman, director of the project, and Belle Brett, senior
research associate--discuss some of their salient Part I
findings.
****
The history of modern science demonstrates that women, in
terms of their professional involvement, have been "weeded
out of," rather than "cultivated into," the field. It is
abundantly clear that, while females have made certain gains
in specific disciplines, they remain woefully
underrepresented overall in science, mathematics, and
engineering.
The situation begs for strong corrective measures.
Scientific advancement in today's world depends upon the
ability of each society to enlist the talents and skills of
all people. And the effort to ensure equity for women in
science is essential for excellence in science.
In the past, research on women's persistence in pursuing
science careers has focused too often on individually
formative characteristics, such as the occupation of a young
woman's father, that generally are not subject to mitigation
by subsequently experienced social forces. Part I of the
Pathways for Women in the Sciences project, however, focused
on women's persistence in science over a long time--during
their undergraduate, graduate, and early- to middle-career
years. We found that--in addition to initially formative
influences--prevailing factors in the educational
environment are highly associated with whether or not a
woman chooses a major and/or career in the sciences.
This discovery provides a hope and a challenge: a hope that
adjustment of academic programs and policies can indeed make
a difference in achieving equity, and a challenge to the
appropriate institutions to make the necessary changes.
In the Pathways project, we studied how students choose
majors. Interest in the subject was the No. 1 reason that
students chose a particular major, followed by consideration
of their future goals and their perceived aptitude for that
course of study. Generally, a woman's interest in science
was clearly developed before her college years. If a student
did not report having enjoyed a science or mathematics
course in high school, she was much less likely to choose a
science or mathematics major. However, even students who
came in with an interest were influenced by their
experiences in their introductory and other early courses.
A strong predictor of whether a young woman would choose a
major in science was if she indicated a preference for
subjects in which the material has precise answers, as
compared with multiple interpretations. Thus, choice of
major is associated with how students think as well as how
science is taught.
Pathways I was also concerned with the post-graduation
retention in science-related professional roles of women who
had majored in science and mathematics in college. We found,
first, that science majors who participated in undergraduate
research opportunities were more likely to continue in
science after college. Additionally, we found that graduates
who reported receiving a lot of encouragement from their
college teachers to pursue science, those who had mentors,
and those who received career advice both from their
advisers and from other faculty continued on in science in
larger numbers than those who did not have these kinds of
contact with faculty. Thus, both formal and informal
advising systems figure prominently in a young woman's
career pathway. Parental encouragement--both mother's and
father's--was a more important factor than family
background, we discovered.
Our findings demonstrated that scientific workplaces are
often not "user friendly" for women. Those women who left
science careers at some point after graduation were more
likely to feel that their new choices were more compatible
with family life, suggesting that science was not as
hospitable to the dual lives that most women lead as are
some other fields. In addition, experiences with sexual
harassment and discrimination were common among those in the
sciences and medicine, both in graduate school and in the
workplace. Although many women showed resilience in the face
of these problems, they often had to settle for working in
hostile or unsupportive environments.
Meeting The Challenge
The Pathways findings suggest programs and policies that
institutions can adopt to ensure that larger numbers of
talented women will opt for science careers:
Supporting parental encouragement. Despite their own anxiety
about or lack of accomplishment in science and math, parents
need to be careful about the messages they transmit to their
daughters about these fields. Encouragement seems to be a
key factor in future choices. Thus, schools and colleges can
help by providing opportunities for parents to learn more
about science as a career option and more about how to
encourage their daughters.
* Providing undergraduate research opportunities. Colleges
can provide undergraduate research opportunities that allow
students close contact with faculty and hands-on exposure to
the work of scientists. Many of these opportunities are now
restricted to graduate students.
* Enabling support and encouragement from faculty. Colleges
need to ensure that students have regular access to support
and advice from faculty through informal encounters as well
as through more formal mentoring programs. Research on what
students remember about their college experiences reveals
the importance of dialogue conducted in informal contexts.
* Offering solid career advice. Schools and colleges should
provide better information about career alternatives in
science and engineering and should encourage faculty and
teachers to be the links between students and this
information through a career center or other kinds of
programs. This information should cover career options in
industry and government as well as academia.
* Valuing different styles. Schools and colleges should be
encouraged to explore a variety of ways of teaching to
accommodate different ways of learning. Different modes of
teaching are especially important as students are forming
their interests during their school years. Hands-on
experience, cooperative learning, and connections of subject
matter to daily life are all key ingredients.
* Making science more inclusive. Colleges should shift from
the "weeding out" mentality to a more inclusive attitude by
encouraging smaller class sizes in introductory courses and
promoting in the classroom a greater awareness of cultural
diversity.
* Fostering supportive work environments. Science workplaces
need to institute and enforce strong policies that not only
help thwart and punish hostile attitudes and behaviors
toward women, but also provide a "family-friendly"
environment that does not penalize women and men who have
other responsibilities.
All of us--educators, bench scientists, policy developers,
and members of the industrial sector--need to take up the
challenge of how to bring about equity for women within our
own schools and workplaces. Let us start by promoting open
discussion on what makes a difference in achieving this goal
in order to create models for success from which we all
could learn and as a result of which the science community
stands to gain immeasurably.
Paula M. Rayman is director and Belle Brett is senior
research associate of the Pathways Project at Wellesley
College Center for Research on Women, Wellesley College. For
copies of the Pathways I report, contact the Center for
Research on Women, Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
02181.
----------
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(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
COMMENTARY
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Science Will Survive The Recurring Tension Among
Researchers, Librarians, And Publishers
AU : EUGENE GARFIELD
TY : OPINION (COMMENTARY)
PG : 12
The relationship between libraries and the scientific
journals they carry has its troubles now and then, but has
proved to be enduring over time--like any long, if perhaps
imperfect, marriage. Most of the problems that spring up
periodically--like the proverbial seven-year itch--to
threaten the stability of the marriage arise from the
sometimes competing needs, demands, and claims of
researchers, library administrators, and publishers.
Scientists would like libraries to be comprehensively
stocked with the specialized journals that support their
investigative work. Conscientious library administrators,
while sympathetic to their clients' needs, nevertheless
complain that rising costs of science publications, along
with space constraints and lack of personnel, frustrate
their efforts to accommodate all users. Meanwhile, many
publishers, while professing the desire to serve the
broadest possible audience, are perceived as pricing their
products to maximize profits, thereby putting them out of
reach of individuals and smaller institutional subscribers.
A recent article in The Scientist (F. Hoke, "Scientists
Press For Boost In Federal Library Funding," Feb. 21, 1994,
page 1) noted the formation of a committee of scientists
concerned about this issue. They warn that insufficient
financial support for libraries is causing a "declining
accessibility" of materials that, in time, may threaten
their investigations. The committee seems to suggest that an
emergency exists, and that the future of research is in
peril unless the government subsidizes libraries to solve
the purported acquisitions crisis.
The situation is troublesome, to be sure. But in spite of
this latest manifestation of frustration about science
library budgets, I doubt that the process of scientific
research is in peril. More than 30 years ago, science
historian Derek de Solla Price forecast consequences of
continued exponential growth in the number of people doing
scientific research. One of these was the number of
published papers and journals by new "invisible colleges"--
his term for emerging scientific specialties.
Price's predictions have been borne out in the ensuing
years. But the machinery of science has not come to a halt,
despite the alarmist warnings sent up every few years by
researchers, library administrators, or publishers. One way
or another, scientists will find a way to publish and be
read. So, in my opinion, the melodramatic lobbying of this
committee is excessive. Or, I might say, if there is a
crisis, it's nothing new.
Libraries should have adequate archives, of course--a core
of stable publications that the majority of researchers find
useful--but they do not have to subscribe to and keep every
issue of everything. I remember when university libraries
proudly proclaimed that they subscribed to 25,000 or more
scientific serials per year. If that figure were to drop to
5,000, you would still have on hand five times the 1,000
core journals whose articles account for 85 percent of what
is cited by subsequent researchers. Greater selectivity by
library administrators could ease their burden without
compromising the level of service to the user to any
significant degree.
If, by reducing subscriptions, librarians in effect cause
some scientific journals to merge or to fold, others,
history tells us, will emerge in response to shifting tastes
and trends in scientific investigation. Publishers are,
generally speaking, sufficiently resourceful and financially
motivated to accommodate such change with new journals. This
is especially true today, when new technology has made it
economically feasible to produce journals in print runs of
fewer than 200 copies.
I believe that the cyclical show of discontent centering on
research libraries will continue to repeat itself every so
often in the future. And I believe that--with or without
financial support from the government--the problems will be
resolved according to the dictates of prevailing research
patterns, library acquisition trends, and publishing
economics.
In this regard, one can only speculate on what the impact of
the burgeoning information highway will have on researchers,
librarians, and publishers.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
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================================
NEXT:
LETTERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : Gallo On Montagnier
AU : Robert C. Gallo
TY : OPINION (LETTERS)
PG : 12
I was pleased with the interview with Luc Montagnier that
appeared in The Scientist [Dec. 13, 1993, page 11].
Montagnier's statements, as far as I am concerned, are fair
and accurate. Indeed, he has made it abundantly clear that
once we knew the viruses from his lab and mine were the same
subtype, there was never any doubt that the paper of
Montagnier and coworkers was the first (F. Barre-Sinoussi,
et al., Science, 220:868-71, 1983) to identify the virus
later (M. Popovic, et al., Science, 224:497, 1984; R. Gallo,
et al., Science, 224:500, 1984; J. Schutbach, et al.,
Science, 224:503, 1984; M.G. Sarngadharan, et al., Science,
224:506, 1984) shown to be the AIDS virus. The opening
statements in your article highlight the "Acrimonious debate
over who discovered the virus...." This was never a debate,
nor is it fair to imply "Gallo was claiming all the credit
for himself." This is a media phenomenon.
What was claimed in the April 1984 press conference by
Secretary of Health Margaret Heckler was (1) that we knew
the cause of AIDS and had the data to convince the
scientific community for the first time (this is more than a
virus isolate or a few isolates), and (2) we had a life-
saving, sensitive, and accurate blood test, which would,
first of all, protect the blood supply and, secondly, allow
the epidemic to be properly monitored for the first time. In
her press release, Heckler noted the earlier isolation of
what would probably turn out to be the same virus type by
the French group. I said the same in my statements to the
press. Let us not forget that the 1983 paper by Montagnier
and coworkers did not claim their isolate caused AIDS, nor
were their data available at that time to make the claim.
There are many instances in scientific history of an early
identification and even isolation of a microbe that later is
shown to be the cause of a disease --for example, polio and
anthrax.
Of course, none of the points I make here is in disagreement
with Montagnier's statements in the interview, but they do
disagree with some of the implications in Bass's questions
and comments-- which are straight out of the legal dispute
over the patent for the blood test. It is the blood test
patent, not claims of priority, that led to years of
problems, fanned the media flames, and distorted reality.
ROBERT C. GALLO
Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, Md. 20892
----------
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(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : `Interesting' Juxtaposition
AU : SHARON M. RUSSELL
TY : OPINION (LETTERS)
PG : 12
The juxtaposition in the Nov. 15, 1993, issue of The
Scientist--Nobel laureate David Hubel's thoughtful essay
regarding the threat to medical progress posed by the animal
rights movement ("Animal Rights Movement Threatens Progress
Of U.S. Medical Research," page 11) and the letter by
antivivisectionist Neal Barnard (page 12)--was interesting,
to say the least.
In his article, Hubel pointed out the ties between the
terrorist Animal Liberation Front and the above-ground
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. A January 1992
publication of the Office of Technology Assessment
(Technology Against Terrorism: Structuring Security) links
these groups with Barnard's own organization, the Physicians
Committee for Responsible Medicine, whose views, the OTA
report notes, appear "to have little support within the
medical community" (page 27). Some of Barnard's comments
clearly illustrate why this should be the case.
For example, Barnard makes the unsubstantiated claim that
more than half the drugs marketed from 1976 through 1985
"were so much more toxic than premarket animal and limited
human trials had indicated that they had to be relabeled or
withdrawn." I am not certain how serious a problem
"relabeling" is, but according to the Office of Planning and
Evaluation (OPE) of the United States Food and Drug
Administration, only five (3 percent) of the 172 new drugs
introduced into the U.S. during that decade were
discontinued for safety reasons (A.E. Hass, Jr. and P.L.
Coppinger, OPE Study 78, September 1989). Moreover, only two
additional drugs (for a total of seven out of 279) were
withdrawn because of safety concerns over the period of
1970-88. Thus, contrary to Barnard's allegations, the U.S.
has an admirable record of protecting its citizens from
unsafe drugs, and animal testing plays a vital role in that
process.
Other examples of Barnard's misrepresentations of the truth
about animal research and its importance for medical
progress have been documented previously (for example, C.
Nicoll and S.M. Russell, Molecular and Cellular
Neuroscience, 3:271-2, 1992; and the segment "Michael Carey,
M.D.," on "60 Minutes," broadcast Jan. 26, 1993).
SHARON M. RUSSELL
Department of Integrative Biology
University of California
Berkeley, Calif. 94720
----------
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================================
NEXT:
------------------------------------------------------------
TI : The Science Of Sex: What Is It And Who's Doing It?
AU : NEERAJA SANKARAN
TY : NEWS
PG : 3
If sexual activity is a prickly issue for discussion in
society and our daily lives, it appears no less so as a
research topic in some areas of the scientific and medical
communities. The very definition of the word sex seems
troublesomely elusive for many researchers when it comes to
classifying their investigative efforts and obtaining the
funding to support them.
"When I ask my students to define sex, or sexuality," says
physiology and anatomy professor Robert Friar of Ferris
State University in Big Rapids, Mich., "their response is
usually `male-female.'
"But I tell them they are wrong. That is gender, not sex."
In his class, Friar describes sexuality as "a diffused
sensuality that permeates our whole personality and
everything that we do."
"Sex research covers everything from A to Z--anthropology to
zoology," says Howard Ruppell, executive director of the
Society for the Scientific Study of Sex, headquartered in
Mount Vernon, Iowa, and an adjunct professor of social work
at the University of Iowa. A functional definition,
according to him and Friar, would include not only
behavioral studies (typically characterized as sex
research), but also all research pertaining to the structure
and function of the sexual and reproductive systems and
related organs, as well as their effects on other organs and
systems.
Not everyone agrees. For instance, C. Dominique Toran-
Allerand, a neuroscientist at the Columbia University
College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York who studies
the effects of estrogen (the female sex hormone) on the
brain, emphatically denies that her work could be classified
as sex research. "I am studying the effects of a hormone on
the development of the brain," she says, adding that the
sexual function of estrogen is incidental to her focus. "It
would be a great disservice to call this sex research."
At least part of the reason for scientists' reluctance to
label themselves as "sex" researchers is the stigma that
continues to be attached to the term, says Terri Fisher, an
associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University
in Mansfield. Funding difficulties are often associated with
such a stigma, adds James Weinrich, a population biologist
in the department of psychiatry at the University of
California, San Diego (see accompanying story).
Nevertheless, the subject of sex abounds in the research
community, spanning a broadening scope of disciplines and
ranging in levels from genes and cells to gross structures
and behavior.
Hormones, Sex, And The Brain
A psychologist at Columbia University's department of
psychiatry, Heino Meyer-Bahlburg, for example, is interested
in the effects of prenatal sex hormones on human behavior.
He is studying patients with endocrine disorders like
congenital adrenal hyperplasia, in which the patients were
exposed to excessive levels of testosterone, the male
hormone, while still in the womb.
"Genetic females--with two X chromosomes--exposed to
testosterone prenatally are very tomboyish as children," he
says. "As adults, they show higher rates of bisexuality, and
some even go on to change their gender to male." Meyer-
Bahlburg adds that with currently available medical
technology, behavioral studies are still the best gauge of
the effects of prenatal hormones.
"It would be interesting to examine the brain structures,
particularly nuclei in the limbic system," he says, "but
current imaging techniques are just not powerful enough.
Biopsies are obviously not an option."
Scientists are not confining hormone/behavior studies to
humans alone, as is evident from several articles that
appeared in the scientific and popular press recently (N.
Angier, New York Times, Nov. 12, 1991, page C1, and Aug. 31,
1993, page C1 [articles on cichlid fish]; N. Angier, New
York Times, Nov. 2, 1993 [prairie voles]; see reading list
on page 16 for magazine/journal articles).
Carole Carter-Porges of the University of Maryland, College
Park, is one of many biologists who are studying the mating
habits of prairie voles, a rare breed of animal that has a
monogamous lifestyle, with the male of the species actively
helping in rearing pups. Recent data from the laboratories
of Carter-Porges and others indicate that such behavior is
related to vasopressin, a peptide hormone released in males
soon after mating. Furthermore, the synthesis of vasopressin
appears to be controlled by testosterone.
"Our studies with voles show that there is a definite
chemical and biological basis for social bonding and
behavior," says Carter-Porges.
In an interesting twist, Stanford University neurobiologist
Russell D. Fernald has shown that, among cichlid fish at
least, socio-sexual behavior induces changes in the brain
and hormone levels, rather than the other way around. The
size of the hypothalamus of the male--the region of the
brain responsible for the fish's breeding abilities--is
directly and profoundly affected by the cichlid's social
status. As the fish battle one another for breeding
territory, the hypothalmic cells of the dominant male become
six to eight times larger in size, but will shrink back when
challenged by a more aggressive male. These cells produce
the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, GnRH, that normally
regulates the sex organs; shortly after the brain cells
shrink, testes of the fish follow suit.
Fernald is currently researching the molecular mechanisms of
the transformation, and the role of GnRH in the process.
"The GnRH molecule is the same in all animals across
evolution and even related to the yeast mating factor [the
equivalent of a sex hormone in yeasts, which are not
animals]," says Fernald. Thus, while he does not yet know if
GnRH-producing cells undergo size changes in humans, his
findings could have a great impact on the understanding of
human sexual behavior and its control.
Sexual Chemistry
The relevance of sex research in animals to human situations
is exemplified by the discovery of the vomeronasal organ
(VNO) in humans. This organ is found in most vertebrate
animals, acting as a receptor and detector for certain
chemicals (that may have no discernible odor) called
pheromones that mediate sexual/mating behaviors. In mammals
like the rat, the VNO is a pair of small sacs located by the
vomer bone behind the nostrils. Standard anatomy textbooks
have stated that this organ disappears in humans during
embryonic development, but investigations by two separate
groups of researchers during the 1980s refuted this claim.
Like the rat VNO, the human organ consists of a pair of sacs
that open into two shallow pits on either side of the nasal
septum. The sensory cells that line these sacs are different
from olfactory cells present in the nose. Currently, various
scientists are trying to find out more about structure and
function by correlating human studies with animal models.
Charles Wysocki, a researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses
Center in Philadelphia who studies the effects of male odors
on hormone levels in females, speculates that the VNO may
play a role in regulating these effects.
"In laboratory experiments we have seen that the length and
timing of the menstrual cycle are markedly influenced by
odors from the underarms of males," he says, suggesting a
possible link between such responses and the observation
that the menstrual cycle of women living around men is apt
to be more regular. It is not clear if the hormones are
responding to true odors or to chemical stimuli picked up by
the VNO. Wysocki is trying to gauge the physiological
effects of destroying this organ in animals and extrapolate
this work to human models.
Meanwhile, a New York-based company, Erox Corp., has
released a new line of perfumes that exploit the possible
applications of VNO-binding compounds. In an interview in
the Wall Street Journal last year (J. Bishop, April 7, 1993,
page B1), David Berliner, a former professor of anatomy who
helped found the company, mentioned that the purpose of
these compounds, "human pheromones," was to make the wearers
feel better about themselves, not to attract the opposite
sex, as many would believe.
But while Berliner doesn't ascribe any aphrodisiac qualities
to his perfumes, Raymond C. Rosen, a psychiatrist at the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in
Piscataway, states that the search for the perfect
aphrodisiac has been a perennial cultural pursuit throughout
history. He is updating this search, investigating the
effects of certain "prosexual" drugs like dopamine and
oxytocins. Such research, says Rosen, has contributed
immensely to an understanding of the mechanisms of sexual
response, and provides new treatment options for sexual
disorders like impotence and erectile dysfunction.
Working at the cellular and genetic level, Debra Wolgemuth,
a developmental biologist at the Center for Reproductive
Sciences of the Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons, is studying the development of the testes,
finding applications for her work that go beyond sexual
function.
"Some of the genes that control how these cells divide have
been implicated as oncogenic [cancer-causing genes] in other
systems, like sarcomas and leukemias," says Wolgemuth.
At Indiana University, R. Stephen Howard, a graduate student
in the laboratory of biologist Curtis Lively, has come up
with an explanation of why sex exists at all.
This may not be a moot point, as some might think, says
Howard, because in terms of the energy needed, asexual
reproduction is a more economical way to transmit genes to
one's progeny.
Previous attempts to explain the evolution of sex considered
one of two theories, one being that the recombination and
segregation of genes arising from sexual reproduction
provided a means of escaping from harmful mutations that
would accumulate in the gene if reproduction were asexual.
"The second theory we call the `Red Queen' model--after the
Alice in Wonderland character--has to do with avoiding
infections by parasites," says Howard. "There is a genetic
basis to host-parasite interactions, and by reproducing
sexually, the host can scramble its genetic makeup [through
recombination] so that the parasite no longer recognizes the
host genes." Evidence for this lies in the observations by
Lively that certain species of snails in New Zealand go from
asexual to sexual modes when exposed to trematode parasites.
Howard and Lively believe that the combination of both
phenomena is actually responsible for the evolution of sex.
"Genetic recombination underlies both explanations," says
Howard. The two devised a computer program to simulate the
effects of mutation accumulation and parasitism, which bears
out the strength of their model.
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
-----------------------------------------------------------
TI : SEX: STILL A BAD WORD FOR SOME PEOPLE
AU : NEERAJA SANKARAN
TY : RESEARCH
PG : 15
Although it is a widespread field of study, sex research--
particularly that dealing with human sexuality--is still
subject to stigma, many scientists agree.
"It's okay to use sex for advertising--Pepsi, beer, and
Calvin Klein jeans--but when it comes to research, sex is
still a bad word," says Robert Friar, a professor at Ferris
State University in Big Rapids, Mich., where he teaches
anatomy and physiology and a course on human sexuality.
That this stigma comes hand in hand with difficulties in
obtaining research funds is a reason that many are reluctant
to classify themselves as sex researchers, say scientists
like Howard Ruppell, executive director of the Society for
the Scientific Study of Sex, headquartered in Mount Vernon,
Iowa, and an adjunct professor of social work at the
University of Iowa, and James Weinrich of the department of
psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.
"There are several issues that need addressing in the
field," says Weinrich, who trained as an evolutionary
biologist and has been doing research on sexual behavior for
several years. "They are important both in terms of human
health--behavioral studies relating to the spread of HIV,
for instance--and from the standpoint of intellectual
interest."
But obtaining grants for conducting such studies is often
difficult, he says, citing the example of a study by Richard
Udry of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill,
aiming to survey adolescent sexual behavior patterns. This
study had received funding from the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Disease in May 1991, but was almost
immediately canceled by Louis Sullivan, then the Secretary
of Health and Human Services, on the grounds that it would
undermine the administration's message to teenagers to not
engage in sex.
In a 1992 address to the Society for the Scientific Study of
Sex (later printed as "The politics of sex re- search,"
Journal of Sex Research, 30[2]: 103-10, May 1993), Udry said
that the reasons for the cancellation reflected certain
attitudes toward sex research: that it legitimized
nontraditional sexual behavior, and promoted the kind of
behavior it measured.
"I cannot overstate the number of lost lives, pain, and
suffering caused by AIDS that could have been avoided had we
possessed the kind of information we get from such surveys
on sexual behavior," says Weinrich.
"I think it is easier to do sex research on animals rather
than humans--both technically as well as from funding
standpoints," concedes Carole Carter-Porges of the zoology
department at the University of Maryland in College Park.
Researchers like Debra Wolgemuth and C. Dominique Toran-
Allerand at Columbia University's Center for Reproductive
Sciences in New York, while working on aspects of the
reproductive system, do not see themselves as sex
researchers.
"The NIH recognizes that my work is not sex research," says
Toran-Allerand, who studies the effects of hormones on brain
development. "I am primarily a developmental biologist
looking at cell lineages in the gonads," says Wolgemuth.
"Sex research has more to do with behavioral studies and
surveys."
"While most of the members [of the Society for the
Scientific Study of Sex] are psychiatrists, I would welcome
the attendance of more basic researchers, like molecular and
cell biologists, at our meetings," says Ruppell. "Sexology
was labeled a discipline at the turn of the century, and
I've got to think that for many researchers, calling
themselves sex researchers or not is just a matter of self-
definition."
"I think we need to close ranks as sex researchers, no
matter what level we are looking at," says Weinrich.
"Otherwise any one of us may find ourselves--like Udry--
looking at a cutback merely on the grounds that someone
somewhere finds the word `sex' objectionable."
--N.S.
FOR FURTHER READING
Books:
* D. de Kretser, ed., Molecular Biology of the Male
Reproductive System. San Diego, Academic Press Inc., 1993.
* S. LeVay, The Sexual Brain. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press,
1993.
* J. Weinrich, Sexual Landscapes. New York, Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1987.
Magazine/Journal Articles:
* C.S. Carter, L.L. Getz, "Monogamy and the prairie vole,"
Scientific American, 268(6):100-6, 1993.
* R.D. Fernald, "Cichlids in love," The Sciences, 33(4):27-
31, July/August 1993.
* T. Fisher, "Confessions of a closet sex researcher,"
Journal of Sex Research, 26(1):144-7, 1989.
* W.A. Henry III, "Born gay?" Time, 142(4):36-9, July 26,
1993.
* R. Pool, "Evidence for the homosexuality gene," Science,
261:291-2, 1993.
* N. Touchette, "Vole mates: Vasopressin keeps the home
fires burning," Journal of NIH Research, 6:41-6, 1994.
----------
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ON THIS STORY, PLEASE WRITE TO US AT EITHER ONE OF THE
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U.S.A.
(The Scientist, Vol:8, #5, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
HOT PAPERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TI : CHEMISTRY
TY : RESEARCH (HOT PAPERS)
PG : 16
D.F. Hunt, R.A. Henderson, J. Shabanowitz, K. Sakaguchi, H.
Michel, N. Sevilir, A.L. Cox, E. Appella, V.H. Engelhard,
"Characterization of peptides bound to the class I MHC
molecule HLA-A2.1 by mass spectrometry," Science, 255:1261-
3, 1992.
D.F. Hunt, H. Michel, T.A. Dickinson, J. Sha-banowitz, A.L.
Cox, K. Sakaguchi, E. Appella, H.M. Grey, A. Sette,
"Peptides presented to the immune system by the murine class
II major histocompatibility complex molecule I-Ad," Science,
256:1817-20, 1992.
Donald F. Hunt (Departments of Chemistry and Pathology,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville): "A complex mixture
containing more than 10,000 peptide fragments derived from
cellular proteins is displayed on the cell surface in
association with molecules of the major histocompatibility
complex (MHC), class I glycoproteins. Cytotoxic T
lymphocytes (CTL) bind to class I molecules, sample the
peptides being presented, and lyse those cells that display
unusual fragments derived from viruses or tumors.
"In a second stage of the immune response, antibodies
secreted by B cells bind to and inactivate viral particles
dumped into the extracellular medium as a result of cell
lysis. Labeled proteins are ingested or endocytosed by
macrophage cells that then degrade the foreign proteins to
peptides in endosomal compartments, and present the
fragments back on the cell surface in conjunction with class
II molecules. T helper cells recognize the peptide fragments
of foreign proteins presented on the surface of class II
molecules, become activated, multiply, and secrete molecules
that stimulate multiplication of B cells, and the synthesis
of still more antibody. Memory B cells primed to attack the
virus if it is encountered in the future are also created as
a result of the aforementioned process.
"Characterization of the peptides presented to the immune
system is an important goal because it is a necessary first
step in the development of vaccines or other
immunoregulators against such disease states as AIDS,
influenza, melanoma, and various autoimmune disorders. To
accomplish the task of sequencing peptide in the
aforementioned mixtures at the subpicomole level, new
methodology was developed and described in these papers. The
approach involves the combination of microcapillary high-
performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass
spectrometry. Peptides are broken apart in the mass
spectrometer to a collection of fragments, each of which
differed in length by a single amino acid building block.
"Most of the amino acids have unique chemical compositions
and therefore unique masses. Subtraction of the masses for
two fragments that differ in length by a single residue
affords the mass and thus the identity of the extra building
block in the longer of the two fragments. The complete amino
acid sequence for any peptide is deduced by applying the
subtraction procedure mentioned previously to all fragments
produced in the mass spectrometer. By coupling
microcapillary chromatography to the spectrometer, it is
possible to sequence individual peptides present in mixtures
that contain as many as several thousand components. The
sample quantity required for this analysis is only 10 to 30
femtomoles, less than one millionth of that which can be
seen with the naked eye and 100 times less than that needed
for the Edman degradation procedure. Sequence information is
generated in a matter of seconds on many components of a
complex mixture of peptides.
"Recently, this methodology has been coupled with an
exquisitely sensitive bioassay that makes it possible to
identify and sequence disease-specific peptides presented to
the immune system in a mixture containing the normal 10,000
self peptides (R.A. Henderson, et al., Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, 90:10275-9, 1993)."
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
------------------------------------------------------------
TI : MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
TY : RESEARCH (HOT PAPERS)
PG : 16
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
H. Monyer, R. Sprengle, R. Schoepfer, A. Herb, M. Higuchi,
H. Lomeli, N. Burnashev, B. Sakmann, P.H. Seeburg,
"Heteromeric NMDA receptors: Molecular and functional
distinction of subtypes," Science, 256:1217-21, 1992.
Peter H. Seeburg (Center for Molecular Biology, University
of Heidelberg): "In our brain, nerve cells communicate by
chemical transmission at specialized structures termed
synapses. Most excitatory synapses use the neurotransmitter
L-glutamate, which activates specific receptor channels in
the postsynaptic membrane. Molecularly and functionally
different glutamate-activated channels are expressed by the
brain, presumably tailored to the requirements of the
particular synapses carrying them. The N-methyl-D-aspartate
(NMDA) receptor is one of these channels and is a major
mediator of excitatory neurotransmission. Its properties are
high permeability for Ca2+ and slow gating kinetics.
Moreover, this receptor channel is blocked by extracellular
Mg2+ ions.
"The strength of this block depends on the membrane
potential. Around the cell's resting potential the block is
in place; upon excitation and, hence, the neuron
depolarization of the cell's membrane, the block is released
and the channel activated by glutamate can flux Ca2+ ions.
Ca2+ ions entering the cell via the NMDA receptor can
trigger long-term changes in synaptic efficacy. These
changes are thought to underlie phenomena of synaptic
plasticity and certain forms of learning and memory.
"Glutamate-activated receptor channels are complex membrane
proteins assembled from homologous subunits. Our work has
focused on unraveling the molecular building blocks of NMDA
receptors. Following the discovery of a principal subunit,
termed NMDAR1 by S. Nakanishi and his collaborators (K.
Moriyoshi, et al., Nature, 354:31-7, 1991), we succeeded in
cloning cDNAs encoding a small family of NMDAR2 subunits.
These subunits, although showing little similarity in terms
of primary structure with NMDAR1, can nevertheless assemble
with NMDAR1 to form functional hetero-oligomeric NMDA
receptor channels in vitro. Hence, the simplest functional
configuration for an NMDA receptor is a binary combination
of NMDAR1 and any one of four NMDAR2 subunits.
"We found that these configurations differ in channel
properties depending on which NMDAR2 subunit participates in
channel assembly. Differences in properties include the
strength of the Mg2+ block and the gating kinetics of the
channel. We also found that the individual NMDAR2 subunits
are expressed in different areas of the mammalian brain.
Thus, the importance of our findings lies in the
characterization of the molecular components of NMDA
receptor channels and in the delineation of the biophysical
properties of individual NMDA receptor subtypes."
----------
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(The Scientist, Vol:8, #6, March 21, 1994)
(Copyright, The Scientist, Inc.)
================================
NEXT:
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
----------------------------------------------------------
TI : Computers Make Gains In Enhancing Electrophoresis
AU : FRANKLIN HOKE
TY : TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY
PG : 18
After dramatic jumps in capability through the 1980s,
computer tools to pull hard data from the bands, blots, and
spots of gel electrophoresis separations have continued to
post significant advances in the past few years.
Protein biochemists, geneticists, and the many other
biological researchers who rely on electrophoresis can now
bring to bear a wide array of powerful hardware and software
on their image-enhancement, quantification, and analysis
tasks.
While providing researchers with a growing capability to
manipulate digital images, the technology at the same time
has the potential to allow creation of erroneous--even,
perhaps, fraudulent--images. Thus, several software
developers are also contemplating ways to protect the
integrity of the original data supporting the images (see
accompanying story).
The sophistication of the available technology varies
largely according to need, especially in terms of data
acquisition. Some systems using 8-bit charge-coupled-device
(CCD) video cameras for data capture in 256 shades of gray
and working in conjunction with basic multi-use image-
analysis software can be had for a few thousand dollars.
Some full-featured integrated systems can reach toward
$100,000. Such a system might, for example, be able to scan
and analyze radioactively tagged separations with a storage
phosphor technology that is orders of magnitude faster and
more sensitive than film.
With this technology a growing presence in biological labs--
most now have some kind of electrophoresis unit--interest in
being able to read, record, and interpret results with
greater specificity has also increased. Accurately measuring
the relative amounts of separated proteins present in each
gel band--a densitometry task--is an example of the kind of
computer-aided analysis now widely available.
"If you take densitometry, which is the technique most
people are familiar with, the question is, `Do those black
spots on the film represent predictable, quantifiable
changes in some biological process?'" says James W. Nelson,
a protein biochemist and product manager for software
development at Molecular Dynamics Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.
"Our software allows the researcher to measure, within the
limits of the precision of the autoradiography that
generated the film, what quantifiable changes these
represent in the [biological] system they're studying."
Molecular Dynamics offers several highly capable gel-reading
devices supported by its ImageQuant software. The Windows-
operating-system-based package costs $3,000. The supported
devices include a version of the Computing Densitometer at
$25,400, the FluorImager at $74,900, and a version of the
PhosphorImager at $83,500. These are 12- or 16-bit data-
acquisition instruments that, with the ImageQuant software,
are able to work in 4,096 shades of gray.
The Bio Image modular system from Millipore Corp. of
Bedford, Mass., is a similarly sophisticated combined
hardware-and-software system based on Unix-based
workstations from Sun Microsystems Inc. of Mountain View,
Calif. Bio-Rad Laboratories of Hercules, Calif., markets the
storage-phosphor-based Molecular Imager System, along with
Phosphor Analyst software, for $48,500, and the Imaging
Densitometer, with software, for $12,500.
Once a gel image or data set is captured, the analytical
tasks possible include densitometry measurements, molecular
weights assessment, subtraction comparisons between lanes
and gel runs, and, with many systems, image enhancement for
display or publication.
The new image-enhancement features of these systems, while
adding capabilities, have also raised new questions. Journal
editors and scientists are debating what the acceptable
limits of image enhancement may be and how the integrity of
the data underlying computer-generated images can be
guaranteed (C. Anderson, Science, 263:317-8, 1994).
For now, no standard procedures have emerged, and education
and raised awareness of the issues seems to be the best
policy.
"For desktop publishing purposes, you sometimes have to
modify the contrast of the image in order to get a good
print that looks like what you saw," says Darryl Ray, a cell
biologist and president of San Leandro, Calif.-based Alpha
Innotech Corp. "However, in doing that you change the
[underlying] gray level information. That makes the image
not useful for quantitation after that point. So, we
recommend that people save the images in an original file
format, where, if the original pixel value was, say, 105
[out of 256 gray levels], it's saved as 105."
Alpha Innotech's IS-1000 Digital Imaging System, at $13,990,
is a DOS-based personal computer system that includes a
high-performance CCD camera with interference filters, image
enhancement and analysis software, and a thermal printer for
output.
Simplicity's Virtues
Not every researcher or laboratory needs the analytical
power offered by such middle- to high-end systems. Some may
simply be looking for the ability to perform minimal
quantification of their gel electrophoresis results.
"Every biological laboratory has a gel electrophoresis
unit," says Craig Rappaport, a technical support specialist
with Jandel Scientific, San Rafael, Calif. "And yet the only
way to read these gels has been with these hardware-software
turnkey products that can be fairly expensive. Those without
the grants money to buy these things have been doing it in a
number of ways. They might put it on a lightbox and eyeball
it. Or they might just hold it up to the light and eyeball
it. And there hasn't really been much in between."
Jandel's solution is a general-purpose image-analysis
program called SigmaScan/Image, priced at $495. According to
Rappaport, the software can be used with a relatively
inexpensive 8-bit CCD video camera, for example, thus
allowing budget-conscious researchers access to basic
densitometry functions.
"Our whole idea is that you've got a bunch of people out
there driving [luxury cars], and everybody else is riding a
horse," Rappaport says. "It doesn't make sense."
Images digitized into standard file formats, such as TIFF,
by a variety of other devices and systems can be analyzed by
a generic image-analysis system such as Sigma-Scan/Image.
Among these are gel-documentation images from such systems
as the Foto/Analyst Visionary system from Fotodyne Inc. of
Hartland, Wis.; the Eagle Eye system from La Jolla, Calif.-
based Stratagene Cloning Systems; and the GDS 5000 system
from U.V. Products Inc. of San Gabriel, Calif. These are
documentation-only systems for which analysis software is
either optional or not provided (C.D. Potter, The Scientist,
Oct. 4, 1993, page 18).
While systems that capture data for both analysis and
display as images on computer monitors are becoming more
common, some software-analysis systems work only with the
data, providing no photograph-like imaging tools.
The GS 300 Dual-Speed Scanning Densitometer from San
Francisco-based Hoefer Scientific Instruments, for example,
works with the company's Densitometry Acquisition and
Analysis System software to display densitometry peaks and
predict molecular weights. This particular densitometer, at
$2,345, is a reliable, well-established laboratory
instrument, according to Karen Enz, a technical support
specialist with Hoefer. The software responsible for
analysis, however, is fully up to date and "quite a few
generations ahead of the densitometer," Enz says. It is
priced at $1,995.
MAINTAINING DIGITAL INTEGRITY
With the use of computers for primary data capture, display,
and analysis becoming more and more pervasive, it is common
now for there to be no photographic negative or laboratory
notebook backing up published images and data
interpretations of gel electrophoresis experiments. The
degree of enhancement exercised with a given image, then,
becomes difficult to review for possible misrepresentation,
whether intentional or accidental.
Scientists say that, while no incidents of deception through
digital image alteration have been reported, steps may have
to be taken to protect data integrity. The Food and Drug
Administration, reliant on electrophoresis studies as an
aspect of its pharmaceutical regulatory work, for instance,
may be called upon to develop procedures to protect original
data from over-enhancement. Software manufacturers, too, may
be asked to provide tamper-proof original data files that
can later be consulted by reviewers, colleagues, and even
the courts. Already, some have begun to incorporate these
concerns into their designs.
"We provide in our analysis software no tools by which
researchers can modify the original raw data image," says
Molecular Dynamics' James Nelson.
"The only tool we provide them is