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The field of human genetics has never been "politically correct." The first gene screens created in the 1970s, for sickle cell disease and Tay-Sachs disease, targeted African American and Ashkenazi (eastern European) Jewish populations, respectively. This targeting made economic sense as these conditions are more prevalent within these populations. It isn't that genes discriminate, but that the human tendency to select mates like themselves tends to keep particular gene variants within certain g

Three dozen scientists, officials, and executives from academia, government, and business are speaking this week at a conference in McLean, Va., titled "Human Proteome Project: Genes Were Easy." This event, which is expected to draw at least 400 other participants, is the first sizable public meeting devoted to the possibility and advisability of a proteome project, according to organizer Chris Spivey, a conference director at Cambridge Healthtech Institute in Newton Upper Falls, Mass. The Vir

Graphic: Leza Berardone Researchers in Canada and Denmark are employing mass spectrometry, three-dimensional tissue biology, and supercomputing to blaze a trail in functional proteomics research. In the process, they're putting their company, MDS Proteomics Inc., on the fast track in the latest race to develop new drug targets and eventually better treatments for all kinds of diseases. By using this combination of technologies, MDS Proteomics is accelerating the process of identifying, analyzin

Graphic: Leza BerardoneOne recent morning at the Applied Biosystems proteomics research center in Framingham, Mass., scientist Jason Marchese patiently used a pipettor to place tiny samples onto a 2-inch-by-2-inch plate. He was surrounded by technology as simple as 2-D gel electrophoresis apparatus and as cutting-edge as a high-throughput system that uses automated robotics for multidimensional liquid chromatography separation of proteins and an automated workstation that uses the latest in mass

Graphic: Leza BerardoneA technique not deemed "sexy" enough for commercialization a decade ago may finally find its niche in proteomics. SomaLogic Inc. of Boulder, Colo. is pioneering aptamers, which are modified DNA molecules that bind specific proteins in body fluid samples. Aptamers are initially selected for specific binding activities from a huge starting pool, then variants are obtained during subsequent rounds of amplification. The technology builds on the ability of aptamers to bind tena

Sentiments expressed at a March 12 National Academy of Sciences workshop suggest that scientists and policy-makers remain very concerned about data access issues related to the now infamous Shelby Amendment. The amendment, a two-line provision added by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) to an omnibus appropriations law for fiscal year 1999, subjects federally funded scientific research to requests for data made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).1 Its inclusion sparked a debate between indust

When a research team led by Ingo Potrykus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and Peter Beyer of the University of Freiburg in Germany announced last year that they had produced beta carotene, or provitamin A, in rice grains,1 the news created quite a stir.2 For one thing, getting "golden rice," as it was quickly dubbed (for its color, not its monetary value) required a biotech tour de force. Potrykus and Beyer inserted two genes from daffodil and one from a bacterium into ri

The Federal government's Interagency Task Force on Microbial Resistance has issued an 84-item plan to combat the growing public health problem presented by microbes' increasing ability to shrug off antibiotics. This recently released first part of the plan is aimed at domestic concerns, including the use of antibiotics and other drugs in agriculture (H. Black, "Agricultural antibiotics scrutinized," The Scientist, 14[12]:1, June 12, 2000). The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to withdra

As the UK government considers a limited foot-and-mouth disease vaccination programme, there's evidence that the current vaccines aren't perfect but high doses could help stop transmission.

Delegates at a conference last week called for more academic institutions to make theses and dissertations available online.

The National Health Service faces a substantial compensation bill from patients who contracted hepatitis C from infected blood supplies.

The UK could be preparing to vaccinate farm animals against foot-and-mouth disease. But will the vaccines be effective against the current strain?