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Information And Mobility During a single month a few years ago, one newsweekly referred to the U.S. as "the Information Society," and another called it "the Mobile Society" - and that gave Al Becker an idea. The 41-year-old Becker is an inventor who, since dropping out of MIT in the late 1960s, has started three firms specializing in computer-related products. After selling the second company in 1986, he began looking around for a new invention. Seeing the two newsweeklies together, he realized

Scientists inside and outside the industry debate the commercial possibility of using antibodies as enzymes WASHINGTON - Catalytic antibodies are the stuff of Steven Benkovic's dreams. He hopes these immune system molecules, when put to work speeding up chemical reactions, will function as magic bullets to fight disease and infection. Benkovic, a physical organic chemist at Pennsylvania State University, is not alone in his reverie. More and more scientists and their corporate cohorts are env

WASHINGTON -- University of Utah administrator Jean Nash began to wonder two years ago whether her institution or the individual scientist owns research data generated in the laboratory. As the director of the Utah Resource for Genetic and Epidemiological Research, Nash was trying to develop management guidelines for the burgeoning amounts of information flowing out of her center and its affiliated medical school. But she discovered that, in her words, "there were no university guidelines. And

Short of funding, a cell biologist sells her own `BlueGene' T-shirts to finance controversial research on the reovirus DEL MAR, CALIF. -- Scientists who challenge conventional wisdom sometimes must go to great lengths to get recognition for their ideas. So colleagues should not be surprised when they see Ruth Kavenoff at this week's meeting of the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) in Anaheim, Calif., wearing her research on her chest. Kavenoff, a 46-year-old cell biologist, will be recog

With several pharmaceutical products about to emerge from the pipeline, the firm sets its sights on becoming a `Merck of the year 2000' MALVERN, PA. -- When chemist Vincent Zurawski left Massachusetts General Hospital in 1979 to help found a new biotech company, Centocor Inc., he was like perhaps hundreds of other bright young scientists of his generation. He had an urge to scratch an entrepreneurial itch. "There was no doubt in my mind," recalls Zurawski, "that we were going to create a bill

Bush has attended each of the White House panel's meetings, raising hopes that PCAST will have an impact on science policy WASHINGTON -- On the job for barely three months, the members of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology are pleased that President Bush has attended at least a portion of each of their meetings. Powerful figures in their own right, they know that direct access to the Oval Office is one important measure of political clout in this city. But the 12 me

Thinking Small Presidential science adviser Allan Bromley says that the president's 1992 budget will provide succor--at least on paper--for those who believe that money to support small academic science is being diverted to megaprojects and large centers linked to industry. Bromley made that promise during a speech last month at the annual R&D symposium sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Referring to his meetings with Richard Darman, director of the Office

New federal rules for proficiency testing, personnel, and waived tests worry scientists in clinical laboratories WASHINGTON -- When the 90th annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology convenes this week in Anaheim, Calif., the talk in the halls will almost certainly be about new federal regulations for clinical laboratories. Those proposed regulations, which implement the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, will affect tens of thousands of micro- biologists. The 1

Join The NIH Fold NIH will give out 112 Academic Research Enhancement Awards this year in a program that helps U.S. colleges and universities that are not typically funded by NIH. The awards are for projects of up to three years and $75,000 in direct costs; no more than $35,000 can be spent in any one year. The project must be relevant to NIH programs and can be for feasibility or pilot studies, or for small-scale, health-related research. The college or university must not have received a biom

Ronald Breslow, Samuel Latham Mitchill Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, has been awarded the Swiss Chemical Society's 1990 Paracelsus Prize, named in honor of the 16th-century Swiss chemist, surgeon, and philosopher. The prize, first awarded in 1941, is given biannually by the Basel, Switzerland-based society and honors leading scientists in the field of chemistry. Accompanying the prize is an award of 20,000 Swiss francs ($12,000). Breslow, 59, was cited for his contributions t

With the 20th anniversary of Earth Day just recently passed, the time was right to recognize a scientist for his discovery of an "environmentally friendly" product. John E. Franz, distinguished science fellow at the Monsanto Agricultural Products Co. in St. Louis, has recently received the 1990 Perkin Medal, given by the American Section of the Society of Chemical Industry. Established in 1906, the medal is named in honor of Sir William Henry Perkin, who developed the first synthetic dye in 18

Marjorie C. Caserio is one of only a small number of women who chair a university science department. And on July 1, she will be joining an even more elite group. Caserio, who heads the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine, has been selected as vice chancellor for academic affairs at UC-San Diego. After an expected approval by the UC Board of Regents soon, Caserio will assume one of the top administrative posts at UC-San Diego. "There are few women in academic admin