Targeted Genetics officials anticipate that the cause of death of a subject in their gene therapy clinical trial in July will be disseminated histoplasmosis -- a fungal infection -- and not connected to the trial drug, H. Stewart Parker, CEO of Targeted Genetics, told The Scientist.

The finding will be announced at the Monday (September 17) National Institutes of Health Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee meeting.

"We believe strongly that it's very unlikely that this drug had anything to do... Click to continue

The University of New Hampshire sent a letter Friday (September 7) to the banned chair of the biochemistry and molecular biology department, saying that he can be reinstated but no longer as the chair of the department, a faculty member in the department just informed The Scientist.

As I reported in July, John Collins, who has been chair of the department for two years, was banned from campus on June 29, a day after kicking a trash can,... Click to continue

BioMed Central (a sister company of The Scientist) announced today that Microsoft will be sponsoring BMC's annual research awards -- funding two $5000 prizes for research of major significance published in any of BMC's open access journals in 2007.

Lee Dirks, the director of scholarly communication for Microsoft Research (a research branch of Microsoft that also collaborates with colleges and universities) said in the press release: "We... Click to continue