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Photo: Myrna E. WatanabeBoston University's "MobileLab," a bus outfitted with biotech lab equipment, visited the Connecticut state capitol in Hartford May 1, the day Connecticut United for Research Excellence announced plans for a like vehicle called "Connecticut's BioBus." In 1999, the U.S. biotechnology industry employed 153,000 people, up 48.5 percent from 1995, according to Ernst & Young. In the state of Connecticut alone, total bioscience (biotech and pharmaceutical) R&D expenditures equal

In the aftermath of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger's death last September during a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy trial, intensified regulation of such studies will be a major topic at the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT) annual meeting, May 31-June 4 in Denver. "I think the important thing is to really keep focus," says society president Savio L. Woo, director of the Institute for Gene Therapy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Medical research is a risky business, and we can't

Congress Revisits Stem Cell Issue As Congress begins a new session, the topic of stem cell research is once again on the agenda. Yet the short session and the issue's contentiousness make new legislation in 2000 unlikely. At an April 25 congressional briefing, scientists gave an update on stem cell research and applications in advance of an April 26 hearing. The briefing also reintroduced the stem cell research guidelines presented last fall by the American Association for the Advancement of Sc

In the aftermath of 18-year-old Jesse Gelsinger's death last September during a University of Pennsylvania gene therapy trial, intensified regulation of such studies will be a major topic at the American Society of Gene Therapy (ASGT) annual meeting, May 31-June 4 in Denver. "I think the important thing is to really keep focus," says society president Savio L. Woo, director of the Institute for Gene Therapy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "Medical research is a risky business, and we can't

Institutional review boards (IRBs)--whether independent or located at hospitals, academic health centers, or universities--have an imposing charge: They must sift through and analyze a profusion of clinical research trials to ensure that participating human subjects will be treated ethically and without undue risk. But for a variety of reasons, many IRBs aren't getting the job done--this according to an April report from the Office of Inspector General (OIG) in the U.S. Department of Health and

When the federal Office for Protection from Research Risks (OPRR) ordered Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to halt all human subject research in January, it was another punitive measure in that agency's 14-month-long series of actions that sent a clear message to the research community: Researchers spending federal tax dollars should diligently consider ethics in their work. This particular case, however, especially troubled genetics researchers. It involved the father of a research

Bacteria are winning, and infectious disease doctors are worried. Disease-causing microbes are increasingly able to defeat the best antimicrobial drugs available. No "superbug" has yet emerged, resistant to all antibiotics and therefore untreatable. But that day may not be too far off. "There's increasing panic among infectious disease specialists,'' admits Jonathan Blum, a clinician and researcher at Harvard Medical School. Particularly worrisome to those specialists is a strain k

Courtesy of MonsantoRice, the most widely consumed staple food grain, is harvested on about 10 percent of the world's arable land. Researchers are cranking out genomes faster than many scientists can digest them. Just 10 days after publication of Drosophila's sequence (see page 10), Monsanto Co. announced it will soon release a rough draft of the rice genome containing 400 million bases of DNA. Rice is the world's most important food crop. The International Rice Research Institute in the Phi

The word astronomical aptly describes current price estimates for a manned jaunt to Mars: $40,000 per pound. "That's an expensive can of Coke" for astronauts making the trip, says Brian Sauser of NASA's New Jersey Specialized Center of Research and Training (NSCORT). So NSCORT's mission is not to figure out how to ship food, air, and energy to Mars, but to create and re-create it up there. Speaking at a recent meeting of Science Writers in New York, the New York science writer's associati

Women in Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research (WICR) will dissolve as an independent organization and become a council in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). In essence WICR is going back to its roots. According to Mary Jean Sawey, immediate past president of WICR and research associate professor of radiation oncology at Temple University Medical School, several years ago many female scientists felt they needed a vehicle to promote advancement of women in cancer-related bio

In December of 1999, after digesting three months of public comment on a preliminary draft, the National Institutes of Health released the final version of a policy entitled "Principles and Guidelines for Sharing of Biomedical Research Resources."1 The policy advises NIH grantees on, among other things, the appropriate way to disseminate unique research tools--everything from cell lines to reagents to animal models to laboratory equipment to computer software--that arise out of grant funding. It

Graphic: Cathleen Heard When the days grew short enough by last November to finally send mosquitoes away from the backyards and parks of New York City, residents and public health officials alike breathed a collective sigh of relief. Mosquitoes has brought West Nile virus encephalitis, sickening 62 and killing seven. Lingering worst-case scenarios envisioned virus-ridden mosquitoes overwintering in the subways, emerging come springtime to spread disease again. As those outside the Apple joked ab