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Does China need biotechnology? The answer from China seems to be an emphatic yes. We have only 7% of the world's land, and yet are feeding 22% of the world's population. China's per capita tillable land and per capita consumption of fresh water are both one-fourth those of the world's averages. It is estimated that our population will reach 1.6 billion by 2030 (from 1.3 billion now) and food consumption will reach 650 million tons, compared with present production of 500 million tons. On top of

A private company whose credo, according to its co-Presidents, DavidFischhoff & Mark Trusheim, is "work hard, have fun, kick butt", seems tohave decided to take a softer approach. It will be giving away valuableagricultural genetic data to the public research community, through aunique public-private agreement between the The Arabidopsis InformationResource (TAIR), funded by the US National Science Foundation, and thecompany - the American plant research partnership, Cereon Genomics.The numb

Graphic: Cathleen Heard Law enforcement officials routinely use DNA fingerprinting as a tool to get the guilty punished. Defense lawyers often rely on the same tool to free the innocent. Though their labs may be less dramatic settings than criminal courtrooms, life science researchers also use DNA fingerprinting, but rather than capturing criminals, their goal is to keep tabs on a different sort of culprit: infectious disease. The technology has revolutionized the way diseases are tracked and th

The unveiling of the DNA sequences of human chromosomes represents a new chapter in the unfolding story of genomics, but one with roots in the half-century-old field of cytogenetics. Chromosome-level looks can reveal the specific genes behind certain traits and disorders while providing information on genome organization. The diminutive chromosome 21--the smallest of the human contingent, despite its number as next to last--is the fourth to be described. Its debut in mid-May attracted attentio

Recent studies have shown that isolates of Campylobacter jejuni bacteria, major culprits in food poisoning, are gaining resistance to fluoroquinolone antibiotics, currently the drugs of choice in treating the disorder. Therefore, makers of agricultural antibiotics will soon need to take antibiotic resistance into account as part of the approval process, says Sharon Thompson, associate director for veterinary medical and international affairs at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). A requireme

In 1951, a wealthy Swedish count named Leonard Bernadotte organized a meeting of Nobel laureates in the scenic town of Lindau, Germany. His goal was to attract foreign scientists to a country whose own scientists had become isolated as a result of World War II. In the 50 years since, the purpose of the annual meetings, which alternate their focus among the Nobel categories of chemistry, physics, and physiology or medicine, has changed significantly. No longer just a mechanism for attracting fore

The death of University of Pennsylvania gene therapy patient Jesse Gelsinger continues to have implications for Penn's Institute for Human Gene Therapy (IHGT) and for Health and Human Services (HHS) policy in general. Based on recommendations of a six-member independent panel led by William H. Danforth, chancellor emeritus of Washington University in St. Louis, Penn recently announced a restructuring of the IHGT. A day earlier, HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala had announced new protections for hum

Photo: Jeff MillerBruce Christensen As public health officials on the East Coast keep an eye out for anything that hints of West Nile virus this year, researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, are hoping their ongoing basic research will help put a monkey wrench into the genetic machinery that lets mosquitoes transmit deadly and debilitating illnesses. Bruce Christensen, professor of animal health and biomedical sciences, and his team of 15 researchers, technicians, and undergraduates

Biomedical scientists from 16 countries who are supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's (HHMI) International Research Scholars program will meet as a group for the first time this month in Maryland. The meeting provides a forum for both technical presentations and discussions about how researchers in different parts of the world might work together more effectively. Since 1991 HHMI has awarded more than $53 million in five-year grants to 177 research scientists working at their home i

Organismal-level biologists from the more than 70 professional societies involved in the American Institute of Biological Sciences (AIBS) have recently come together to set common goals in such areas as policy and education. The process started last November when 57 leaders from the member societies gathered for the inaugural Presidents' Summit, the first event of its kind in AIBS's 53-year history. After an extended weekend of prioritizing and synthesizing ideas, the leaders identified 11 initi

They're in your labs, classes, and journal clubs. You may advise them, or they may advise you. You may even be one of them. "They" are foreign-born life scientists, whose numbers and prominence have increased greatly over the past 20 years. But far from exulting in their undeniable achievements,1 many researchers who have come to the United States from abroad are in a state of quiet desperation. They're caught up in the increasingly clogged and dysfunctional immigration system run by the

Graphic: Cathleen Heard The pharmaceutical industry instantly took note when the federal government granted U.S. patent number 6,048,850 to the University of Rochester on April 11, 2000. The patent for "Method of inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis in a human host," described as "broad," "dominant," and "blocking" in the lexicon of the patent attorney, had a distinct everything-but-the-kitchen sink flavor about it. The patent covers inhibitors of the enzyme cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) that include n