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Bill Clinton wants corn

By Alison McCook | April 12, 2006

The mood at linkurl:BIO yesterday;http://www.bio.org/ preceding Bill Clinton's speech felt more like a rock concert than a keynote address. In fact, I was very nearly carried away in a stampede when the conference organizers finally opened the barriers to the hall. When everyone finally got settled in, there was rapt attention during Clinton's 45-minute speech. True to form, he spoke with perfect organization, seamlessly citing statistics and facts without ever looking at notes. His theme for t

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Clinton is at BIO-- or is he?

By Alison McCook | April 11, 2006

Former president Bill Clinton is scheduled to speak at the 2006 linkurl:BIO meeting;http://www.bio.org/events/2006/ today. But when I arrived this morning, I saw large signs alerting the media that the event was closed to the press. Why would BIO prevent the media from reporting on likely the biggest speaker that?s ever attended the conference? Surely this would be a huge plug for the organization. When I spoke to BIO media officials, they told me the decision came from Clinton?s people, not th

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Is pharma putting more money into early R&D?

By Alison McCook | April 11, 2006

This morning at the 2006 linkurl:BIO meeting;://www.bio.org/events/2006/ in Chicago, I listened to a panel of high profile executives at a range of companies within the biotech/pharma sector, all of whom seemed to agree that pharmaceutical companies are taking more risks in recent years by investing in earlier-stage products. This is a major shift for the industry, which has traditionally chosen to spend more money on later-stage products with more data to suggest they work, rather than throw th

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Research gems in Botswana

By Stephen Pincock | April 8, 2006

Gaborone, the capital of Botswana, is a small city with roughly 200,000 residents. After Windhoek in linkurl:Namibia;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/23270/, where I was yesterday, it seems a little rough around the edges. I'm in town as part of a 10 day linkurl:trip to Africa;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/23265/ on behalf of The Scientist to talk to researchers about the linkurl:state of science;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/23266/ on the continent. The city ma

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Is bird flu in the UK?

By Stephen Pincock | April 6, 2006

British scientists are expected to reveal today (Thursday) whether a dead swan found on the Scottish coast was infected with H5N1 avian influenza, Scottish authorities said last night. linkurl:Preliminary tests;http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/04/05231331 on the swan showed that it was infected with highly pathogenic H5 avian flu, but the exact strain is not yet known. With infected birds having turned up elsewhere in Europe, the UK has been anticipating the possible arrival of th

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Namibia's academic appeal

By Stephen Pincock | April 5, 2006

I arrived in Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, this morning, as part of a 10 day linkurl:trip to Africa;http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/23265/ on behalf of The Scientist to talk to researchers about the state of science on the continent. In no time, I was being whisked over to the linkurl:University of Namibia;http://www.unam.na/ by molecular biologist Kazhila Chinsembu. Chinsembu is originally from Zambia but has been at the University of Namibia for four years. As we drove t

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Meeting key figure in African science

By Stephen Pincock | April 4, 2006

Today was the first day of a 10 day trip to Africa on behalf of The Scientist to talk to researchers about the linkurl:state of science;http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/22793/ on the continent. On my inaugural stop, I visited John Mugabe, director of the science and technology council of the linkurl:New Economic Partnership for African Development;http://www.nepad.org/ (NEPAD), whose office is in a research campus on the edge of Pretoria, South Africa. Mugabe is not a vociferous man

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The state of science in South Africa

By Stephen Pincock | April 4, 2006

Sixty-one years ago, South Africa's linkurl:Council for Scientific and Industrial Research;http://www.csir.co.za/plsql/ptl0002/ptl0002_pge001_home was established by a parliamentary decree that specifically required it to undertake research that improves the linkurl:wellbeing;http://www.the-scientist.com/news/display/23120/ of the country's people. Given this, I wasn't really surprised, on visiting CSIR's sprawling campus on the outskirts of the city of Pretoria, to find biosciences researchers

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Epi-embryonic stem cells?

By Alison McCook | April 1, 2006

Researchers have provided clues about a potentially new source of human stem cells that are physically close to the actual embryo, but miles away from the controversy surrounding its use in research. Last night, at the linkurl:Keystone meeting;http://www.keystonesymposia.org/Meetings/ViewMeetings.cfm?MeetingID=786 on stem cells, linkurl:Ursula Manuelpillai;http://www.med.monash.edu.au/ob-gyn/staff/ursulam.html at the Monash Institute of Medical Research in Victoria, Australia presented a poster

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Glimpses of stem cell medicine

By Alison McCook | April 1, 2006

After three days of discussions about stem cell machinery, the organizers concluded the linkurl:Keystone meeting;http://www.keystonesymposia.org/Meetings/ViewMeetings.cfm?MeetingID=786 on stem cell biology today by treating participants to data showing what these cells can already do in humans. These efforts appear not quite as differentiated as stem cells themselves, but are hopefully on their way to becoming so. Tonight, Michele De Luca from the Veneto Eye Bank Foundation and the University o

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