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Graphic: Leza Berardone The hallowed halls of medical academia may shudder at the thought of their denizens' life's work in research, teaching, and clinical care being reduced to numbers. But several administrators at the 125 medical schools in the United States feel they can implement a management system that measures outcomes in research, teaching effort, and clinical-work revenue/cost--and still preserve academic excellence. In fact, the system could bring, they say, some sorely needed acco

MAD LEMURS A study of lemurs infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), clarifies the pathogenesis of the abnormal proteinase-resistant protein (PrP) or "prion" protein now thought to cause encephalopathic diseases. Also, more zoo animals could have the disease than previously thought (N. Bons et al., "Natural and experimental oral infection of nonhuman primates by bovine spongiform encephalopathy agents," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96:4046-51, March 30, 1999)

Volume 13, #9The Scientist April 26, 1999 Biological Sciences, Psychology Doctorate Awards Maintain Pace Date: April 26, 1999 This table is presented in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) for optimal viewing:

It may not be much longer before an oral medication for multiple sclerosis (MS) hits the market. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have reported1 successfully treating animals with an oral preparation of glatiramer acetate, also known as Copolymer 1 (Cop1). Moreover, a Phase I trial in humans conducted last summer in France showed that it is safe and well tolerated, according to multiple sources familiar with the unpublished results. Multiple sclerosis--which

Saying they were not asking for a lot of money compared to what is being spent in just a few days in the war in Kosovo, officials of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) called on Congress this month to double the National Cancer Institute's budget to $5 billion for fiscal year 2000 and increase it 20 percent per year for the succeeding four years. Such a boost would increase the federal government's annual investment in cancer research to $10 billion in five years. The plea cam

John D. Roberts Arthur J. Hundhausen John Clarke R. John Collier Arnold O. Beckman C. Grant Willson The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will present awards today to 17 scientists whose work defined, refined, or advanced a field. The awards will be presented during the NAS's 136th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Scientists elected to NAS in 1998 also will be inducted at the meeting. The NAS's highest honor, the Public Welfare Medal, goes to Arnold O. Beckman, founder of both Beckma

Pfizer's Anipryl is designed to treat dogs with Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome. A new market is emerging for the use of human psychoactive drugs on pets with behavioral problems. The first two such medications to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, both of them for dogs, became available early this year. Novartis Animal Health of Greensboro, N.C., now markets clomipramine hydrochloride, a tricyclic antidepressant used for obsessive-compulsive disorder in humans, under the

While prominent scientists plead with legislators to reconsider their conservative stance on funding human embryonic stem (ES) cell research, a six-year-old company in Baltimore is quietly making the matter moot. In a just-released tour-de-force research report, it is no longer quite so quiet.1 Researchers at Osiris Therapeutics and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine coaxed human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) from adults' bone marrow to develop into cartilage, fat, and bone cells

As the role of college and university president increasingly becomes that of chief fundraiser, the trend is to fill the post with an individual whose administrative experience outweighs his or her academic credentials. Politicians and business leaders--people with an eye on sources of money, from legislatures or bottom-line savings--also fit the fundraising requirements. David Baltimore Despite this trend, a small number of people trained in the biological sciences have become college preside

Anger, uncertainty, and confusion followed in the wake of the unprecedented suspension of research March 26 at the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Health Care System (VAGLAHS), the largest center of its kind in the country. "Everything has come to a screeching halt," said VAGLAHS spokeswoman Marianne Davis, who estimated some 1,200 protocols and hundreds of researchers were stopped in their tracks. The order--which applies to the five Los Angeles-area facilities and seven outpatien

When Herbert Boyer of the University of California and Stanley Cohen of Stanford University found a way to recombine DNA molecules in test tubes using restriction enzymes,1 they crossed the ultimate milestone in genetic engineering in the early 1970s. They also set the stage for a firestorm of controversy. Scientists and nonscientists feared that the new technology could be used to create hazardous biological materials. Could, for example, pathogenic genes cloned into E.coli plasmids transform

Peanuts may be losing their bite PEANUT ALLERGY VACCINE Peanuts are more than just an annoyance on airplanes--for a few dozen people each year, they cause deadly anaphylactic shock. The only protection is knowledge of one's allergy and avoidance of the offending food. But most peanut-associated allergic deaths occur from peanut extracts added to prepared foods--additives that sometimes remain unlisted on labels. A peanut allergy vaccine could prevent such deaths. Kam Leong, a professor of biom