CONTENTS

July 2006


FEATURES
PROTEINS BY DESIGN
New functional proteins are being built on advances in modeling and structure prediction
By David Baker
A COMPLEMENTARY PATHWAY
How one group of researchers brought a scientific idea to the clinic for a rare disease
By Ishani Ganguli
A Complement Renaissance
By M. Kathryn Liszewski
and John P. Atkinson
Web Extra:
Margarita Soto: A life with PNH
By Ishani Ganguli
LIVING BATTERIES
Using sugars, sludge, and the sea floor, can bacteria power the next green-energy alternative?
By Jack Lucentini
Taming Electricgens
How electricity-generating microbes can keep going, and going - faster
By Derek Lovley
A NASTY MOTHER
Think only the religious right is anti-science? How about the spiritual left?
By Lee M. Silver
ALSO THIS MONTH

ZEALOTS FOR SCIENCE

Being mindful of the extremes, science can remain a pursuit of reality
By Richard Gallagher

MAIL

The future of scientific meetings; Merck's future; On foxes and hedgehogs; Refining the h-index; Conventional treatments vs. gene therapy

THE AGENDA

Dolly turns 10; BCG vaccine turns 85; A complementary book; Fuel cell forum

PROTEOMICS IN THE KITCHEN

By Jeffrey M. Perkel

AN ARCHAEAL PATHOGEN

By Jeffrey M. Perkel

NO INTELLIGENT DESIGN, NO $

By David Secko

BIOLOGY FIGHTS COMPUTER VIRUSES

By Stephen Pincock

THE DEATH OF BIOLOGY

By Ishani Ganguli

"HELA" HERSELF

Celebrating the woman who gave the world its first immortalized cell line
By Terry Sharrer

THE CHIEF OF BIOETHICS

Why the fact that bioethics is difficult to explain is a positive development
By Glenn McGee

FAREWELL TO BABEL

Will science become monolingual?
By Jack Woodall

THE NETWORK WITHIN

Ilya Shmulevich brings creative computation to deciphering gene regulation
By Melissa Lee Philips

THE BIG PICTURE IN
MICROBIAL GENOMICS

A revolution aids the study of unculturable microorganisms
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

UBIQUITIN'S DUALITY

By Karyn Hede

STEM CELL WOES

By Charles Q. Choi

POLLUTANTS TRAVEL NORTH

By Jill U. Adams

PAPERS TO WATCH

 

PUSHING PLASTICITY

 

CDK FASHIONS

 

SCIENTIST TO WATCH

Katherine Fitzgerald:
Waiting, but not in vain
By Ishani Ganguli

GIVE P2P A CHANCE

Why you should be using peer-to-peer networks to share your data
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

WHICH TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR ASSAY SHOULD YOU USE?

Five ways to match DNA sequences with their cognate binding proteins
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

HOW IT WORKS

Atomic Force Microscopy
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

THE ART OF THE TECH TRANSFER DEAL

When considering a relationship with industry, anticipate the worst
By Ronald I. Eisenstein

PUBLIC CONCERN FOR PRIVATE FUNDING

The source of research dollars is shifting. Will this affect the direction of academic research?
By Ned Stafford

PATENT PEER REVIEW

By Ted Agres

MORE DRUGS PUSHED INTO TRIALS

By Aaron J. Bouchie

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

By Clare Kittredge

BUYER'S MARKET

Current employment options favor companies as well as less-experienced workers
By Betsy Alberty

MAKING YOUR CASE

How to avoid the biggest presentation mistakes
By Jeffrey M. Perkel

THE FIRST IMMORTAL CELL LINE

By Terry Sharrer