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Director oversaw experiment that led to death of 18-year-old patient in 1999.

The 2002 awards recognize the impact of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics.

Two new reports press the UK government to inject cash into science research to attract the best recruits.

Nobel laureate grew $20 million-a-year NASA Astrobiology Institute from the ground up since becoming first-ever director in 1999.

Ben A. Hitt is living proof that you can leave biomedical research without saying goodbye forever. More than 20 years since turning out the lights in the lab for what he thought was the last time, Hitt is not only back, he's in demand. Now chief scientist for Correlogic Systems, in Bethesda, Md., his phone hasn't stopped ringing since Feb. 16, when a paper in The Lancet1 announced that Proteome Quest, the pattern-recognition software he created, had identified a pattern among five serum proteins

The once white-hot investment climate for proteomics has cooled, sending companies scrambling to recast themselves. Biotech analysts and investors say interest in proteomics companies peaked about a year ago with a rash of them competing in the technology and database sectors. In Europe, proteomics companies have also experienced a downturn, with biotech stocks falling 40% from their peak in 2000. Developing a new generation of technology and digitally mapping the proteome was, relatively speaki

If mapping the entire human proteome isn't challenge enough, consider this: The Human Proteome Organization, created this past year, aims to coordinate the efforts of the many public and private groups moving into the proteomic field.1 HUPO president Samir Hanash hopes an April 29 meeting at the National Institutes of Health will solidify plans and collaborations to characterize all blood serum proteins, create a library of antibodies to every human protein, and put the data collected in a user

A study group appointed by the 5,200-member Society of Toxicology, based in Reston, Va., recently issued a draft position paper affirming the safety of foods made from genetically modified (GM) crops. If approved by the society's full membership and council, the report should make biotech enthusiasts happy: It supports key principles governing federal regulatory policy and nixes pet arguments made by the technology's critics. The draft report was posted on a 'members only' page of the society'

Amorphophallus titanum—the botanical mouthful is the Latin name for Titan arum, a Sumatran cousin of the common philodendron. Unlike the diminutive houseplant, Titan lives up to its label by producing giant leaves more than 20 feet long and 50 feet around. Only one leaf appears each growing season, springing from an underground storage organ, or tuber, that can weigh more than 100 pounds. The tropical Titan doesn't do sex very often—just a few times in its 40-year life span—but

Just three weeks before E.T. flew back into movie theaters to celebrate his 20th anniversary, a group of interdisciplinary scientists, science fiction authors, teachers, and others interested in the real quest for extraterrestrial life assembled in the Silicon Valley for the 19th annual CONTACT conference (www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/contact). This year, as part of the conference, 12 scientists from various fields coalesced around the theme "Is life rife in the Universe?" in a day-long symposium at th

The Ames, Iowa-based Council for Agricultural Science and Technology recently issued a report on the dangers posed by invasive pests to agriculture, public health, and natural ecosystems. A six-member task force co-chaired by Don Huber of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., and Martin Hugh-Jones of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, documented research on the problem and recommended how to alleviate it. "If a pest can enter the United States, over time, it will find a way here, s

Colin Blakemore's boundless energy—physical and intellectual—is quite fitting in a man who has run 18 marathons. His preference to be addressed as Colin (no honorifics please!) is in keeping with his quiet and unassuming manner, which is all the more impressive in a man who has created the equivalent of two parallel careers—one in neuroscience and the other in science communication. Blakemore got off to an exceptionally early and impressive start in both vocations—he comp