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INTRAFLAGELLAR TRANSPORT Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have for the first time seen a motor protein moving cargo during intracellular transport in a living organism. "This provides a potentially very exciting assay for studying motor proteins generally in vivo," says Jonathan M. Scholey, senior author of the study published recently in Nature (J.T. Orozco et al., "Movement of motor and cargo along cilia," Nature, 398:674, April 22, 1999). Using fluorescence microscopy, Sch

Biochemist John Carson uses The Virtual Cell to compare experimental and simulation results. Biologists are generating a vast amount of data on the molecular events that occur in the cell. Since a computer might the best tool for researchers to integrate all the information and sort out the complexities of a typical biological process, the next logical step would be to develop appropriate software for the job. A team at the University of Connecticut (UConn) Health Center in Farmington is attemp

Studies are slowly restarting at the Veterans Administration Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System (VAGLAHS) after an unprecedented suspension of research last March 26.1 Investigators, meanwhile, are dealing with the fallout, and many are waiting to learn the fates of their protocols. They're also struggling still to understand why such drastic action was taken because of administrative failures. "We're all ... amazed this could happen, and I think all of us feel we're being blamed for what is

A mouse in which vitiligo has been induced as part of a recent NCI study. When the subjects of experimental melanoma vaccine studies lose pigment in their skin after receiving treatment, few of them seem to mind. They overlook the cosmetically undesirable side effect because it's an excellent prognostic sign. For about 20 years, cancer research immunologists have known that some patients with melanoma develop vitiligo, an autoimmune disease--or, as some investigators contend, a complex of dis

The federal government should give more money to medical schools and teaching hospitals, two recent reports recommend. But managers of academic health centers shouldn't expect such a windfall, says one administrator. "I would not risk the viability of my own institution by waiting for federal funds," comments Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health, executive dean, and president and CEO, Duke University Health Systems Inc., at Duke University Medical Center. Snyderman agrees with two recent rep

Graphic: Leza Berardone The hallowed halls of medical academia may shudder at the thought of their denizens' life's work in research, teaching, and clinical care being reduced to numbers. But several administrators at the 125 medical schools in the United States feel they can implement a management system that measures outcomes in research, teaching effort, and clinical-work revenue/cost--and still preserve academic excellence. In fact, the system could bring, they say, some sorely needed acco

MAD LEMURS A study of lemurs infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), clarifies the pathogenesis of the abnormal proteinase-resistant protein (PrP) or "prion" protein now thought to cause encephalopathic diseases. Also, more zoo animals could have the disease than previously thought (N. Bons et al., "Natural and experimental oral infection of nonhuman primates by bovine spongiform encephalopathy agents," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96:4046-51, March 30, 1999)

Volume 13, #9The Scientist April 26, 1999 Biological Sciences, Psychology Doctorate Awards Maintain Pace Date: April 26, 1999 This table is presented in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) for optimal viewing:

It may not be much longer before an oral medication for multiple sclerosis (MS) hits the market. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, have reported1 successfully treating animals with an oral preparation of glatiramer acetate, also known as Copolymer 1 (Cop1). Moreover, a Phase I trial in humans conducted last summer in France showed that it is safe and well tolerated, according to multiple sources familiar with the unpublished results. Multiple sclerosis--which

Saying they were not asking for a lot of money compared to what is being spent in just a few days in the war in Kosovo, officials of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) called on Congress this month to double the National Cancer Institute's budget to $5 billion for fiscal year 2000 and increase it 20 percent per year for the succeeding four years. Such a boost would increase the federal government's annual investment in cancer research to $10 billion in five years. The plea cam

John D. Roberts Arthur J. Hundhausen John Clarke R. John Collier Arnold O. Beckman C. Grant Willson The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will present awards today to 17 scientists whose work defined, refined, or advanced a field. The awards will be presented during the NAS's 136th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Scientists elected to NAS in 1998 also will be inducted at the meeting. The NAS's highest honor, the Public Welfare Medal, goes to Arnold O. Beckman, founder of both Beckma

Pfizer's Anipryl is designed to treat dogs with Cognitive Dysfunction Syndrome. A new market is emerging for the use of human psychoactive drugs on pets with behavioral problems. The first two such medications to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval, both of them for dogs, became available early this year. Novartis Animal Health of Greensboro, N.C., now markets clomipramine hydrochloride, a tricyclic antidepressant used for obsessive-compulsive disorder in humans, under the